New political legacies

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by Jonathan Casiano

Passing political power from one generation to the next is as old as politics itself.

The Adamses. The Kennedys. The Keans. The Bushes. Names synonymous with privilege, prestige and public service.

Now, as the first generation of black leaders elected after the civil rights movement eye retirement, they are finding the successors where white politicians have always looked -- their own families.

Across the country, from Detroit to New York City, St. Louis to Atlanta, black politicians are passing the baton to offspring. Over the past decade, the children of five prominent black politicians have taken seats in Congress, and numerous others have won city and state contests.

Newark is no exception. This year's city council race will feature the sons of Newark's three most prominent politicians -- Mayor Sharpe James, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-10th Dist.) and state Sen. Ron Rice. Councilman Ras Baraka, son of civil rights pioneer Amiri Baraka, also will appear on the ballot.

Though none of the four candidates is assured victory, historians and academics specializing in African-American politics say their candidacies are a watershed moment in black politics.

"It's really a critical moment," said Khalilah Brown-Dean, assistant professor of political science and African-American studies at Yale University. "The old guard of black political leaders are trying to pass the torch and they're developing a very solid base within their own families and then spreading outward."

Ronald Walters, director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, said it is no surprise the second generation of black politicians will include many of the same surnames as the first, which were swept into office after the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

"They're capitalizing on the family name and doing pretty much the same thing white politicians have always done," said Walters, who served as an adviser to Jesse Jackson during both his presidential campaigns. "It looks like American politics. If somebody gets name recognition, why wouldn't young people who want to go into politics use it?"

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According to David Bositis, a senior political analyst with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, the generational shift began around 1994 when Marc Morial succeeded his father, Ernest "Dutch" Morial as mayor of New Orleans. The following year, Jesse Jackson Jr. was elected to Congress from Illinois. In 1996, Harold Ford Jr. took his father's seat in Congress representing Memphis.

Since then, the children of black politicians have made inroads at all levels of government.

In Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is the son of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. In Florida, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek took over his mother's district unopposed.

"Plumbers' sons become plumbers. Politicians' sons become politicians," Bositis said. "It's sort of like the natural order of things."

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