Mississippi Town Breaks with its Past to Elect First Black Mayor

Mississippi Town Breaks with its Past to Elect First Black Mayor

 

      James Young's victory stands in stark contrast to

      climate which bred racism and segregation in the 1960s

 

Chris McGreal in Washington

guardian.co.uk,   Friday 22 May 2009 18.40 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/22/philadelphia-mississippi-race-segregation-mayor

 

James Young is just old enough to remember the era that

seared his small Mississippi town of Philadelphia on to

the national consciousness.

 

The infamous murders of three civil rights activists in

1964 laid bare the bitter racism and official

complicity in the lawlessness underpinning segregation

in the south, and years later prompted the film

Mississippi Burning.

 

But the racists soon lost the struggle to prevent

Philadelphia's black residents from voting and this

week it resulted in exactly what old Mississippi had

tried to prevent - the election of Young as the town's

first African-American mayor with white votes helping

deliver him victory.

 

"Philadelphia has some of the worst history and now

some of the best. This is a reversal of some of the

views that have been dominant in the community," Young

said today. "There was a time when this could not have

happened. Now it is accepted by everyone. There's not a

major riot in the streets because I'm black."

 

The 53 year-old Pentecostal minister's victory was

perhaps more evolution than revolution in the town of

7,300 people, about 40% of them black. African

Americans have been filling elected positions in

Philadelphia and the state for years with white

support, including Young who served on the local

legislature. The old racists who controlled the council

and police, and won popular support by opposing civil

rights, are dying off and their successors are marginalised.

 

Still, Young's election has an important symbolism in a

town that came to represent all that was wrong with the old south.

 

"It will erase the thought that we're just a southern

racist town," Dorothy Webb, 72, a white retired school

principal told the local newspaper.

 

The 1964 murders of the three civil rights workers - an

African-American man from Mississippi and two white New

Yorkers, all in their twenties - shocked the country

not only because of the crime but because of the

complicity of local officials in the killing and cover up.

 

As the FBI hunted for the missing activists, the local

sheriff, Lawrence Rainey, said they had gone into

hiding to embarrass Mississippi. The state governor,

Paul Johnson, suggested they were in Cuba.

 

During the search, the FBI discovered the bodies of

seven other black people who had been murdered in and

around Philadelphia without inquiry by the local

police. Even after the civil rights workers corpses

were found six weeks after they were shot, justice was

slow in coming. Mississippi officials declined to

prosecute. Seven people, including a police deputy and

a Ku Klux Klan leader eventually convicted on federal

civil rights charges, served only light sentences.

 

Mississippi took action for the first time only in 2005

when Edgar Ray "Preacher" Killen, a KKK organiser who

is now 84, was convicted of the three murders and

sentenced to 60 years in prison.

 

For years Philadelphia lived with the legacy of the

killings. Ronald Reagan chose the town to launch his

1980 presidential campaign with a speech about states'

rights, taken as a stand with southern whites opposed

to federal civil rights laws.

 

But however Philadelphia was still seen, it was also

changing as Young's own progress showed. He trained as

a paramedic and rose to head the county ambulance

service for 20 years. He was also elected to the local

legislature four times and served on the planning board

for 12 years.

 

That helped make him a safe choice in the election.

 

"A lot of barriers I would normally have had to

overcome were overcome because of my work in the

community," he said.

 

Still, Young doubts he could have won before.

 

"Ten years ago I think I would have had a good showing

but I wouldn't have won. But changes in our nation and

the age of people make it more acceptable. We're

getting more diverse younger citizens," he said.

 

By Young's count he picked up about 30% of the white

vote and won with only a 46% vote margin out of the

2,000 cast. That may not be a clear endorsement but it

still represents a significant shift from the past

because, while most whites did not vote for Young, he

says they will accept him as the legitimate mayor of

Philadelphia when he takes office in July.

 

Young was also helped by a few factors beyond his

control. His opponent, the incumbent mayor, Rayburn

Waddell, is elderly and after 12 years in office was

widely regarded as having run out of steam.

 

Then there was Barack Obama.

 

"Obama's election sent a message to our people that it

was possible. If we can elect a black man as president

we can elect a black man as mayor of Philadelphia. In

the last couple of weeks I was hearing that a lot in

the community," he said.

 

Young's wife, Sheryl, said it is all a further reminder

that the old Mississippi is dying.

 

"Most of the people who were so mean and hateful are

dead. They're gone. Whether they instilled something in

their children we don't know and we don't care," she

said. "Things have changed from being openly hateful.

It's a new day. Let's move on. We're not going to

forget it. But do I harbour it? No. We have to move on."

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