Why did Newark produce Cory Booker, and Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick?

[English]

I asked this question in the latest thread about Kwame's federal troubles: where is our Cory Booker? Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark. His story is inspiring [[featured in the documentaries Street Fight and Brick City), and not only is he educated, he walked the talk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Booker

Across the country, Kwame Kilpatrick's generation of post-Civil Rights leaders of color has made strides beyond the same old tired back and forth about race, black vs. white, us vs. them. There's Cory Booker in Newark, Adrian Fenty in D.C., and more controversially, Deval Patrick in MD and Harold Ford, formerly of Tennessee [[snicker). These politicians seem to have more in common with their Generation X peers and aren't nearly as concerned with black nationalism and the rhetoric of the 1960s and 1970s as Kwame and his administration were.

What happened in Detroit? Why hasn't our city produced a Cory Booker? The people of Newark seem lucky indeed.

[Bearinabox]

Part of the answer may be that Newark didn't produce Cory Booker. He wasn't born into the city's political establishment the way Kilpatrick was here, and never actually lived in the city until he was an adult. I'm not saying Detroit can't be turned around by native Detroiters, but I do think our political culture is far too insular to be healthy.

[detbest]

English, my take is part of the reason why a Corey Booker came about in Newark was due to the previous mayor Sharpe James. James had a lot of corruption and ethical clouds hanging over him when in office. Booker had a lot of the qualities that James appeared to be lacking as these were qualities that the voters put a premium on.

I think this reflects voters tendency to seek qualities in a successor that the most recent office holder lacked. For instance in Detroit, we went from Coleman Young to Dennis Archer. Part of Archer's appeal was that he was so different than Coleman. We then went from Archer to Kilpatrick, again two very different types of mayors. After Kilpatrick you have Bing who possessed a lot of qualities that Kwame didn't have.

In answering your question, following a Dennis Archer, Detroit voters did not place a premium on ethical qualities because these largely were not an issue under Archer and became less of a concern with the voters. In electing Kilpatrick voters placed a premium on other issues. That obviously changed with the voters experiencing the Kilpatrick years and Bing's election. While in Newark, these concerns about ethics and corruption were a prime reason for Booker getting elected due to the problems stemming from the previous mayor.

[Bearinabox]

English, my take is part of the reason why a Corey Booker came about in Newark was due to the previous mayor Sharpe James. James had a lot of corruption and ethical clouds hanging over him when in office. Booker had a lot of the qualities that James appeared to be lacking as these were qualities that the voters put a premium on.

I think this reflects voters tendency to seek qualities in a successor that the most recent office holder lacked. For instance in Detroit, we went from Coleman Young to Dennis Archer. Part of Archer's appeal was that he was so different than Coleman. We then went from Archer to Kilpatrick, again two very different types of mayors. After Kilpatrick you have Bing who possessed a lot of qualities that Kwame didn't have.

In answering your question, following a Dennis Archer, Detroit voters did not place a premium on ethical qualities because these largely were not an issue under Archer and became less of a concern with the voters. In electing Kilpatrick voters placed a premium on other issues. That obviously changed with the voters experiencing the Kilpatrick years and Bing's election. While in Newark, these concerns about ethics and corruption were a prime reason for Booker getting elected due to the problems stemming from the previous mayor.

Well, the question of whether Detroit voters would elect a Cory Booker type is entirely hypothetical, because nobody like that has ever run for office here. I think the problem here lies more with the candidate pool than with the voters.

[English]

Thanks everyone for the responses! I honestly don't know why this is the case, as Jersey is certainly no racial paradise.

Well, the question of whether Detroit voters would elect a Cory Booker type is entirely hypothetical, because nobody like that has ever run for office here. I think the problem here lies more with the candidate pool than with the voters.

This is exactly what I'm thinking, Bearinabox. My theory is that Detroit has produced Cory Bookers, but you couldn't pay them to return to the city. As I've said ad nauseam, my youngest uncle is a Stanford grad. He hasn't lived in the city since he was 18 years old and packed a suitcase for Palo Alto in 1984.

From what I saw as a student at Renaissance, and as a teacher at Cass Tech, there are a fair number of potential Bookers that we've produced. But the economic and especially the social milieu of Detroit doesn't give them much hope that their efforts will be successful. Why? The poorest residents of Newark and the poorest residents of Detroit came from the same places in the South, right? They arose from the same historical context, right?

So why is Detroit so different?

[EastsideAl]

My theory is that Detroit has produced Cory Bookers, but you couldn't pay them to return to the city. As I've said ad nauseam, my youngest uncle is a Stanford grad. He hasn't lived in the city since he was 18 years old and packed a suitcase for Palo Alto in 1984.

So why is Detroit so different?

Newark has the enormous advantage of its proximity to the relatively active, diverse, and healthy economies of NYC and northern NJ. Detroit is at the heart of an increasingly poor and shrinking region tied largely to a single industry that has been dying a slow death for decades and is producing few, if any, jobs. There are almost no reasons for a young person with any resources, economic or intellectual, to stay here or come here from somewhere else.

[detbest]

Well, the question of whether Detroit voters would elect a Cory Booker type is entirely hypothetical, because nobody like that has ever run for office here. I think the problem here lies more with the candidate pool than with the voters.

I think Dennis Archer was very similar to Booker. The major difference being their age at the time Archer was first elected. Many of the same criticisms raised against Booker were similar to the ones raised against Archer when he first ran for office.

[pffft]

An important factor is that KK, as the son of Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick and Bernard, has been told from the cradle that he's entitled, he's a king among men...way over the top. No wonder a normal house isn't good enough for him in Houston...never will be. That's for the little people...

[Bearinabox]

An important factor is that KK, as the son of Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick and Bernard, has been told from the cradle that he's entitled, he's a king among men...way over the top. No wonder a normal house isn't good enough for him in Houston...never will be. That's for the little people...

One of Booker's biggest strengths, IMO, is his willingness to go out in the streets and interact with ordinary people, address their concerns, and find out what makes them tick. Kilpatrick spent a lot of time talking at his constituents, but I don't know that he ever really listened to them, and Dave Bing seems entirely indifferent to their existence.

Booker knows a good publicity stunt when he sees one. Take this example from the Wikipedia page:

Booker made news when on December 31, 2009, a constituent used Twitter to ask the mayor to send someone to her father's house to shovel his driveway because her father, who was 65 years old, was going to attempt to do it himself. Booker responded by tweeting; "I will do it myself where does he live?" Other people volunteered, including one person who offered his help on Twitter and 20 minutes later the mayor and some volunteers showed up and shoveled the man's driveway.

I mean, how can you not love a mayor who does that? Can you see Dave Bing personally shoveling somebody's driveway? Kwame? Hell, Ken Cockrel? Me neither.

[lilpup]

I think Dennis Archer was very similar to Booker. The major difference being their age at the time Archer was first elected. Many of the same criticisms raised against Booker were similar to the ones raised against Archer when he first ran for office.

Agreed.

If someone ethical like Archer had followed him there would have been a good chance to break the back of corruption in city government. Instead an ultimate con man got the job and not only revitalized but grew the culture of corruption while in office.

The first thing I thought of today when I saw the headline was KK's racist and race-baiting rant at his last State of the City speech. That tactic seems to have largely stopped working now in the wake of his disaster trail.

[McIPor]

Its the corruption, cronyism and pay to play that have been feeding the brain drain, and flight from the city for years. Educated people have come and tried to make a difference and left over and over. Reasonable, ethical people don't fit into a system where you're rewarded based on where you live, who you know, the color of your skin, or how much you'll pay rather than qualifications, and experience. Its actually often the opposite.

[Patrick]

Maybe Detroit's extreme racial divide has somethomg to do with it? Maybe it fosters a certain extreme way of thinking not found in any other American city?

[McIPor]

It looks more and more that Kwame was a continuation of the political cronyism of his father and mothers generations than a break from it. In contrast, Booker ran against the same problem in Newark and won.

It helped that Booker was a Stanford grad, Rhodes scholar, Yale law grad, community organizer and inspiring induvidual.

Interesting he was criticised as a "carpet bagger", "not black enough", and "suburbanite" when he first ran. Detroit needs to stop focusing on the past, city and suburbs, and race, and focus on what can be done now and in the future.

[mwilbert]

One mayor is chance--as was mentioned, Sharpe James was nothing to write home about. Booker is an outlier on the positive side, Kilpatrick was one on the negative.

On the other hand Coleman Young was re-elected four times while the city collapsed around him. I'm not saying that was all on him, just as I don't blame our current but not overly successful governor for Michigan's problems, but you have to think at some point in there someone else might have been given a shot. But I'd point out that Sharpe James served five terms as well. So I'm not really sure there is a significant difference between Detroit and Newark in those terms.

I did find it scary is that Kilpatrick was re-elected--what on earth were people thinking? At least it was fairly close. I think he wouldn't have gotten a third term. I hope.

[English]

One mayor is chance--as was mentioned, Sharpe James was nothing to write home about. Booker is an outlier on the positive side, Kilpatrick was one on the negative.

On the other hand Coleman Young was re-elected four times while the city collapsed around him. I'm not saying that was all on him, just as I don't blame our current but not overly successful governor for Michigan's problems, but you have to think at some point in there someone else might have been given a shot. But I'd point out that Sharpe James served five terms as well. So I'm not really sure there is a significant difference between Detroit and Newark in those terms.

I did find it scary is that Kilpatrick was re-elected--what on earth were people thinking? At least it was fairly close.

I thought that Hendrix was going to win in 2005 myself. However, for some reason, Detroiters just don't like him. They had the chance to select him over Bing, and didn't.

Understood re: Coleman Young. I didn't get the hype, but my grandparents held him up as sacred. I think he could have been a symbol for black progress but maybe he should have been more like Andrew Young in Atlanta and other mayors who didn't seem out for revenge. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind... just because others treated us pretty badly for centuries, we are not justified in putting the middle finger up the second we won't get lynched for doing so. It was always a stupid strategy. Kingian nonviolence served us better than the black nationalists' threat of violence.

I thought Archer was pretty good. I met him a few times as an honors student at Renaissance, and was hugely disappointed when popular opinion of him went south while I was in undergrad. By the time I got back home, he'd decided not to run again.

I think that Archer and Bing are comparable. The majority of the Detroit establishment that remains haven't embraced them, but view them as outsiders. The problem with growing decent folks out of Detroit soil is that the social milieu of postmodern metropolitan Detroit has selected for certain personality factors that are incompatible with the development of 21st century socialization skills. I say that without malice, but from the bottom of my heart, because I was raised here myself. However, our tunnel vision [[both inside and outside of the city) doesn't make for very good politicians.

Maybe that's it. We are a city and a region of pragmatists, yet what we need are visionaries.

[DetroitDad]

What has really always amazed me is that there are millions of people living outside city property, who appear to never think about, or are okay with living in a society surrounding a big donut hole of lawlessness, greed, and corruption; the breeding grounds of the problems their own children and grand children will soon be faced with.

The time to act is now against corruption and crime, but they just won't do it, they won't

[firstandten]

Going back to the time KK was first elected I think the people of Detroit thought they had there Cory Booker or Adrien Fenty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Fenty

The people saw KK as someone young, smart and unlike the previous two went to a top-tier HBCU , where in some sections of our community I think Harvard, Yale even Stanford would have been seen as too corporalist. The people saw that versus Gil Hill, new blood and fresh ideals could be used to help Detroit. Thats understandable. The mistake the people made was electing him to the second term. However, knowing what we know now, too many palms had been greased, and the election may also have been stolen from Hendrix.

I believe Detroit wants and actually thought they had a Cory Booker or Fenty in its mist. I believe that person exist in the city but they would not be "black enough" for key segments of the population. KK even though he is a Gen X person is more in tune with the Civil Rights movement generation because of his upbringing and that helps him in a city like Detroit.

[trstar]

Going back to the time KK was first elected I think the people of Detroit thought they had there Cory Booker or Adrien Fenty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Fenty

The people saw KK as someone young, smart and unlike the previous two went to a top-tier HBCU , where in some sections of our community I think Harvard, Yale even Stanford would have been seen as too corporalist. The people saw that versus Gil Hill, new blood and fresh ideals could be used to help Detroit. Thats understandable. The mistake the people made was electing him to the second term. However, knowing what we know now, too many palms had been greased, and the election may also have been stolen from Hendrix.

I believe Detroit wants and actually thought they had a Cory Booker or Fenty in its mist. I believe that person exist in the city but they would not be "black enough" for key segments of the population. KK even though he is a Gen X person is more in tune with the Civil Rights movement generation because of his upbringing and that helps him in a city like Detroit.

I couldn't agree with you more. We were fooled, by the pedigree, the assumed political savvy, and mostly the maturity. What we got was a spoiled brat, wanna player, and political buzz-word generator.

[Haikoont]

Just from this thread I learned that English was an honors student at Renaissance, has a contract to write a book and started a non-profit at age 16. Maybe he or she is our Cory Booker.

[English]

Just from this thread I learned that English was an honors student at Renaissance, has a contract to write a book and started a non-profit at age 16. Maybe he or she is our Cory Booker.

That's so kind of you. But I'm far too much of an egghead, extremely geeky, and have struggled with social skills since I was a kid walking up to Mim's candy store right off Davison and I-96. No politics in my future! I have classmates and friends who are into the political world. They have always been charismatic and passionate. They can have it. I'll volunteer, but I don't even want to be precinct captain, let alone run for office.

Thinking about it, if Dwight Schrute from *The Office* was a black and a woman, that would be me. An academic is what I've become, and academia is where I belong.

However, there are some really, really cool people in the Detroit civic and arts community from all backgrounds whom I've met. We just need to get them connected to the black churches and fraternal organizations in the city -- love 'em, hate 'em, or indifferent, you need some kind of machine to GOTV.

[d'oh]

Yes, GREAT post English...

[firstandten]

Yes, GREAT post English...

<<However, I tell my wife all the time that if Fieger ran for mayor I believe he could win. >>
Am I wrong or isn't Feiger just a show-boating clown?..

He might be that, but blacks in this town considers him a fighter for the rights of the little man/woman and the show-boating just adds to the appeal. [[Now the problem I might have with him is looking at his commercials it looks like he doesn't have one black attorney in his firm).

[English]

Yes, GREAT post English...

Thanks. Standard, garden variety pep talk, warmed over from my Cass Tech days. Not sure I'll ever get over my 2005 layoff... I miss that school, my fellow teachers, administrators, and staff, and teaching bright Detroit kids so badly. There was never, ever a dull moment in the classroom or in the halls. I had a rocky start, but all things considered, it was the best job I've ever had.

[R8RBOB]

Thanks. Standard, garden variety pep talk, warmed over from my Cass Tech days. Not sure I'll ever get over my 2005 layoff... I miss that school, my fellow teachers, administrators, and staff, and teaching bright Detroit kids so badly. There was never, ever a dull moment in the classroom or in the halls. I had a rocky start, but all things considered, it was the best job I've ever had.

I just remembered that you were a teacher. I had a brief job as a contractor for DPS when I returned to Detroit in 04. I give credit to teachers like yourself because I got to witness with my very own two eyes what teachers in the "D" had to go through with the students each and every day when I visited the schools. I graduated in '89 and the stuff I saw as I visited the schools left me with a deep sadness pondering what's next.

[English]

To be honest, I got lucky. I was never in the trenches. I student-taught at Davis Aerospace with my old teacher from Renaissance, got a job at my K-8 alma mater, Bates Academy, and then from there transferred to Cass Tech. I hung on as long as I could, and then got a teaching job outside of the city.

I think the schools are one step away from being taken over by a districtwide charter. I find that very sad. In Chicago, there are some schools being run by neighborhood co-ops. Maybe that could eventually work in Detroit.