Black leaders: Rival to Walsh must ‘step up’
Plan to put ‘scare’ into Marty
A minority candidate needs to step up and challenge Mayor Martin J. Walsh for failing to live up to his promises in next year’s election, black community leaders say amid an outreach program now in the works that could bring more black voters to the polls next year.
“We elected Marty because he’s a nice guy, now we want Marty to deliver and the only way he’ll do it is if we scare him enough,” said Horace Small, executive director of the Union of Minority Neighborhoods.
“Until leadership steps up to the fore, things are not going to change. It requires someone to step up, like a Tito, like an Ayanna,” Small said, referring to City Councilors Tito Jackson and Ayanna Pressley.
The Herald reported Monday that buzz has been building around Jackson as a potential challenger for Walsh after the District 7 councilor took highly critical stances against the mayor on school and police issues. Jackson has declined to say if he’ll run, and Pressley’s office did not return multiple requests for comment yesterday.
The Rev. Miniard Culpepper, pastor of Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Dorchester, said he believes a number of minority leaders are mulling runs, but he declined to give names. He said a minority candidate would push Walsh to address concerns head-on, such as issues as diversity at City Hall, especially in a city whose population since 2000 has been more than 50 percent nonwhite.
“Certain things just have to be said and if someone doesn’t run, they’re not going to be said,” Culpepper told the Herald, adding he was disappointed in the dearth of black appointments to top city posts, particularly Boston Public Schools superintendent.
“I’m convinced any time you have a majority-minority city, the leadership should reflect the majority-minority population. I don’t think the mayor gets it,” said Culpepper, who backed John Connolly against Walsh in 2013.
NAACP President Michael Curry said a majority nonwhite population doesn’t always translate to larger minority voter turnout. That’s why the NAACP and MassVOTE are coordinating the Boston 500 Initiative, in which 500 of the city’s black “supervoters” each commit to bringing an additional 20 people to the polls this year and next.
Curry said the plan was not aimed at any particular candidate, but would be a game changer in getting candidates to address minority issues.
“It’s about the will of black voters coming to the polls — when elected officials know you’re coming, things get done, promises get made,” Curry said. “If you mobilize voters, you give them the courage to do things that are transformational.”
And despite promises, Walsh has not addressed issues the community is concerned about, Small said, particularly rising housing costs that are forcing minority residents out of the city. If a candidate doesn’t address that soon, Small said, there might not be enough minority voters left in the city to get that candidate elected.
“This town is becoming more and more unaffordable and there’s nothing Marty is doing to try and look at that problem,” Small said. “We do have a limited-time warranty. In 10 years, Tito may not be in the city.”