WP: Deval Patrick: A Long Way From Home

[DeepModem Mom]

A Long Way From Home
Deval Patrick Ran From the Gangs in Chicago. In Boston, He's Running Again -- For Governor.
By Wil Haygood
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; Page C01


The candidate with students in Wilmington, Mass. "I think Democrats concentrate too much on how to win and have forgotten to tell people why we ought to win," he says. (C.J. Gunther/Washington Post)

BOSTON -- It wasn't Mississippi and it wasn't Alabama. But in the 1970s, many blacks were frightened just to climb the steps of Charlestown High. Police officers had to escort students to their classrooms while this tightknit white neighborhood howled and demonstrated against integration.

And now, here is Deval Patrick, 50, a black man and the Democratic candidate for governor, gliding through his main campaign headquarters.

In Charlestown.

Only one other black man -- L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia -- has been elected governor of a state in America. The race is a roiling political drama, drawing the kind of interest here that is usually reserved for the Red Sox or the Patriots. Patrick, who faces the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, on Election Day, has a double-digit lead in the polls.

If he's successful, Patrick would not be the first black elected statewide in Massachusetts. That distinction belongs to Edward Brooke, who in 1966 became the first black elected to the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. Nevertheless, the state's racial history has been bloody and complex, both brutal and glorious....

***

Deval Patrick was a witness to some of this turmoil. But his story starts not in Massachusetts, where blacks are only 7 percent of the state population, but in Chicago, that mecca of the black migration from the South....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102401447.html

[meegbear]

1. Incredible ...

In 2 separate polls he's 20+ points ahead of the repug challenger and everytime the repug goes negative on him, his positive rating takes a 2-3 point hit and rebounds, while her negative rating goes up by 5.

I know there's plenty of time for things to change, but I got a good feeling about this man being my next governor.

[Caution]

2. I hope his election puts to rest the notion that Boston is a racist town

There is only a 7% black population state-wide and Mr. Patrick has a 27 point lead in the polls. When Mr. Patrick becomes Governor it will be another proud moment in MA history.

[Marrah_G]

3. Brings tears to my eyes...

Boston does have a history of racism. I grew up in a town where the first black family moved in in the early 80's. Other then that the only faces other then white were the Metco kids bussed out from Boston. Yes Massachusetts is progressive and democratic. I think things are much better here on racial matters then they once were. Not perfect, but it seems each generation here makes definite progress.


Here is a little example:

My grandmother was a sweet little Irish lady that I adored, born in 1899. In the mid 1980s she became to old to care for herself and even though my aunt still lived there we knew she needed help. My grandmother has lived all her live completely segregated from other races and what she didn't know scared her. Well, the family hired a live-in Jamaican nurse named Frederica. My grandmother was NOT happy and I remember being shocked when I realized that she was actually making judgments based on race. Well Frederica was terrific and I credit her with making my grandmothers last few year happy ones. She stayed until my grandmother died 7-8 years later and over the years my grandmother grew to love her as a friend instead of fearing her as she had been raised. She became part of the family. She and my aunt still talk today.

Cut to my father- mid 1980's. I was maybe 15 and I hear him on the phone talking about sports and he used the N word. I freaked and literally whipped a shoe across the room at him screaming. I love my father and over the years he has changed, but at that very moment he fell off the pedestal daughters tend to put their fathers on.

I look back and see those as a sort of generational turning point. Within my own generation here I see very little racism (yes maybe its hidden sometimes)and within my children's generation I see none of it. My kids could care less what color their friends are or whether or not they are straight or gay. We live in a middle class neighborhood of mixed races and ethnicities. No one fights.

I look at Deval Patrick and I see hope and I see wisdom and I see a love for this state that I have not seen in a long time. Does it matter that he is black? Surprisingly I think it does, but in a positive way. I think it shows how far we have come as a state. People look at him and they remember how hard it was and how tough he had to be to make it and frankly we need that kind of strength. He is the epitome of change. When I hear him speak I can't help but think that there is a man that will be president someday.

I have a gay, MARRIED (legally) Mayor (first in the nation!) and now we will have a black governor at the same time. To me that just shows that I live in a state that IS progressive and is evolving.


TOGETHER WE CAN!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Great post, Marrah -- thanks! nt