I probably have no business writing about black leaders. I'm an outsider if not a stranger to black culture, and sad to say, I barely even have any black friends. But several media pieces have caught my eye lately, and on this rare January more pregnant with the promise of hope than of after-Christmas sales, perhaps I'll take some liberties.
I have certainly taken an interest in politics rather late in life. When I was little, history just seemed like a collection of dry facts, and politics even worse - just people conniving to outdo each other with secrets and compromises. But politics has begun to grow on me, as both a necessary evil to get things done in the world and as a window into the human condition in all of its tortuous glory.
It's hard to watch a film like Streetfight and not be drawn in by the treacherous struggle of local politics. The two subjects have great names to run for office. Sharpe James - born to be plastered on a lawn sign - and Cory Booker. James is a recognizable villain - a crooked machine politician evincing telltale signs of paranoia and ruthlessness who, true to form, was convicted in 2008 for five counts of fraud involving abuse of his position.
James seems to me an archetypal black politician in the mold of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (who both appear in the film in support of James), someone who lived through the civil rights era and no doubt endured hardships and overcame tremendous obstacles, but whose ideals have worn threadbare along the way. They exploit their seemingly inexhaustable street cred to enrich and entrench themselves, often at the expense of their constituencies.
What's truly sad is the twisted manipulation of people like James of their own constituencies, subverting and setting back the progress of their own poor communities. To me, the most compelling footage in Streetfight were the interviews with Booker campaign workers who wear forlorn looks of shame when discussing the wicked contradictions of James's campaign jabs. How can we teach our children to get good educations, and then call them white when they do? If James's cohorts had the chance to send their children to Yale and Stanford, wouldn't they do it? Such cutting logic is lost on James's supporters, who in several scenes resorted to simply screaming "Sharpe James" in the face of all opposition. But threatened by physical intimidation, social pressure, and worse employed by the James campaign, it's hard to blame them for giving in.
It's hard to judge Booker objectively from the film. The filmmaker clearly sides with him, because of the two candidates only Booker woudl submit to filming, and Booker presents an immensely camera-ready persona and polished rhetoric that no doubt comforts the film's intended audience of well-heeled liberals. But with that caveat in mind, Booker seems to be what he appears, and I recognized as my own his fervent conviction to make good on the sacrifices of his parents and grandparents for the betterment of society.
Booker won the 2006 mayoral race in a landslide against James lackey Ronald Rice, and he has gained media attention during the Obama campaign as a proponent of the "racial deliciousness" of America, a subtle argument for non-assimilation that appeals to me for its oddball cheesiness yet hidden subtlety. He is clearly a politician with no small ambition and self-regard, but in the muddy melee of local politics as portrayed in Streetfight, he stays above the belt. Regardless, Streetfight is an exhilarating watch, whether you're a student of local politics or want some insight into the workings of a provocative rising American leader.
On another note, I was catching up on back episodes of The Colbert Report over the winter break and saw two episodes interviewing prominent black leaders who both work to improve education in the inner city (Booker too was recently featured). One was Harvard Professor and economics wunderkind Roland Fryer, and the other was Geoffrey Canada, a community activist president of the New York nonprofit Harlem Children's Zone. So who was more articulate, wielding wit and science alike against the formidable Colbert - professor or activist? While Colbert handily trounced Fryer with a well-placed jab at his educational incentive scheme (in math problem form!), Canada never strayed the course and managed to deliver the most compelling 5-minute pitch for early-childhood educational intervention I've ever seen. Go figure.
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