|
 |
Week 45
November 5 - November 11
|
|
|
David Dinkins Elected First Black Mayor of New York
by: Dr. Clint Wilson
A Black man, David Dinkins, became the first of his race to become mayor of the largest city in the United States when the ballots were tallied following the November election of 1989.
Although African Americans comprised no more than 25 percent of the electorate Dinkins prevailed over several candidates including former mayor Edward Koch and current mayor Rudolph Giuliani in a hotly contested campaign that began in the primary elections.
Dinkins, who was reared in Trenton, N.J., moved to Harlem and rose through the political ranks to become Manhattan borough president. He was a graduate of Howard University and took his law degree from Brooklyn College. The Black Press informed its readers of his monumental achievement in major headline stories across the nation.
David Dinkins: New York Mayor-Elect
David Dinkins won a mud-splattered race and became New York City’s first Black mayor by appealing to the loyalty of Democrats and sticking to a soothing campaign theme that stressed the need for unity and reconciliation in a divided city.
Dinkins, 62, strived throughout the campaign to retain his dignity in the face of often bitter assaults on his personal honesty and on his often-muddled financial affairs.
And as recently as Tuesday morning, when the grandfatherly Manhattan borough president cast his vote with his wife, Joyce, by his side, he continued to insist that race was not the primary issue in the campaign.
Far more important, Dinkins said, was the unity he would bring to a city torn by racial tensions and gripped by a spiraling list of inner-city problems.
Just three weeks before the September Democratic primary, tensions escalated dramatically after a deadly racial attack on a Black teenager in ...
|
|
