By Frederick A. Hurst / Reprinted from October 1, 2021

I’ve heard and read many reasons why Boston failed to elect its first Black mayor but most didn’t impress me. They may have been good excuses but hardly good reasons. There is no good reason why Boston squandered such an historical opportunity to elect one of the three very qualified Black mayoral candidates. But I am convinced that Black Springfield can learn a lot from Black Boston’s failure.
Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some good explanations that, when combined with the excuses, almost guaranteed the Black candidates would all lose, including acting mayor Kim Janey who any political junky would have expected to have the best chance of winning.
To begin with, endorsements of nonblack candidates by prominent Black Bostonians didn’t help. Black Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins threw his support to City Councilor Michelle Wu, the Asian candidate for mayor who eventually topped the ticket. And Lydia Edwards, a Black female Boston City Councilor who wasn’t also running for mayor, also endorsed Wu while the former Black Boston police chief, William Gross, backed City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George, a self-proclaimed minority who came in second.
But the most telling commentary on the election by well-known former state representative Byron Rushing tells the story best. The long-time community advocate for Black unity was quoted in The Boston Globe (September 16, 2021) on Election Day before the results were known as saying: “This is not a unifying election for the Black community…,” and then went on to say that the Black community should have rallied around a single candidate after which he told the Globe reporter that he had voted for Wu, one of the two nonblack winners.
Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, a member of one of the most prominent Boston political families, wrote in a Boston Herald article (September 16, 2021): “When folks spoke of consolidating efforts around one person of color, people were accused of blocking democracy. Bull. I call it sound politics.”
Of course Ferriabough Bolling is right. She pointed out in her article how former Boston State Senator Dianne Wilkerson (Springfield’s own) was castigated for forming a group to unite the Black vote around one candidate even though that is precisely what should have happened but did not. As a result, those Black voters who voted Black divided their votes among three Black candidates and surrendered the community’s best advantage for electing a Black mayor.
Low Black voter turnout was even more damaging. One of the last polls taken before the election showed that only 55% of Black voters polled intended to vote for one of the three Black candidates, which also explains why the power of the Black vote was watered down. A quote from Boston Globe writer Jenee Osterheldt (September 16, 2021) tells it all. She wrote: “In part, there was a low voter turnout. Less than a sixth of our (Boston) population (25% Black), not even 110,000 people, voted. We still haven’t learned our lesson when it comes to local elections and primaries. Every vote matters and waiting for the big show can sacrifice real change.”
And the voter turnout in the Black community was the lowest. Of the three Black candidates, Andrea Campbell came in third with 21,221 votes, Acting Mayor Kim Janey came in fourth with 20,946 and last place Black candidate John Barros, with his very low name recognition, last with 3,436 votes. Of course, the vote might have been different if White progressive “friends” had voted for Black candidates but in 50 majority white precincts Janey prevailed in none. But, with the help of the progressive White vote, Wu took more than 30% of the vote to come in first and Essaibi-George took more than 22% with the help of the moderate to conservative White vote. Clearly, Campbell or Janey could have easily been one of the top two winners especially if their White progressive “friends” had also not abandoned them.
Many blame Kim Janey for losing her election and the opportunity for electing a Black mayor while overlooking the fact that she went into the election with a 66% approval rating for her relatively brief performance as acting mayor. If you’ve ever lost an election or been close to someone who has then you know how unrelenting the Monday morning quarterbacks can be. Andrea Campbell had announced her mayoral race long before Mayor Marty Walsh was tapped for labor secretary as did Michelle Wu. Campbell had amassed a sizeable war chest and had every reason to believe Janey would support her. But Janey, as president of the City Council, became acting mayor after Walsh left for Washington and was left with little choice but to run for mayor just as Tom Mennino had done before her. The acting mayor seat is simply too advantageous of an election platform to ignore. Unfortunately and understandably, Campbell appeared to feel betrayed and not only refused to step away from the mayor’s race, but she relentlessly attacked Janey at every turn. It appears to have hurt them both. But even worse, as demographics continue to shift, their losses may have forever ruined the chance for Boston to elect a Black mayor.
I’m telling the story in our Springfield Point of View paper for the simple reason that I foresee a similar fate for Black Springfield. To quote my January 2021 Point of View New Year’s prediction I and II:
“Without question, the seeds of hope for Black politics in Springfield have been sown in the last few years by a younger, brighter crowd of Black politicians who have occupied local seats on the Springfield City Council and School Committee and by many other younger involved Black folks who are determined to make change in the way things happen (or don’t happen) in the city.”

“My second prediction for 2021 is that Black politics in Springfield will become even more divided as the poison of the past descends on it like a dark cloud enveloping and consuming the youthful promise for its future. Permanent schisms will develop among Springfield’s young Black leaders – and one significant cause of the schisms will be the lingering influence of remnants of the “old guard.” The consequence will be that the impressive progress made by the younger political leaders and their social peers will completely dissipate and the Black community of Springfield will continue to suffer for decades in the future from the same relative political stagnation that characterized so much of our political past…”
Frankly, I still don’t know which prediction will come true. Unlike Boston, Springfield doesn’t have the luxury of running five minorities for Mayor, three of whom would be Black, because for the foreseeable future there will be a strong White mayoral candidate even though Springfield, like Boston, is a minority majority city with Hispanics outnumbering both the White and Black populations. So, when one begins to study the possibilities, it’s pretty clear that Springfield’s Black community has some serious choices to make and those choices must be made soon because the chances of Springfield ever having a Black mayor are rapidly diminishing.
I can tell you now―no Uncle Tom will ever be elected mayor of Springfield. You know them all. They’re too weak and too busy sucking up to the powers-that-be to lead Springfield into the future. They earn short term rewards for themselves and a few others at the expense of most of the community for the dubious honor of being celebrated as leaders, especially from those whom they suck up to like lap dogs. If we expect to elect a Black mayor, we cannot afford to be wasting a lot of time messing around with these Uncle Toms any longer. If we are serious, we need to call them out and move on to the future.
One thing I know about the two female Black candidates for mayor of Boston is that both were strong and outspoken and highly respected. They were friends who were thrown against each other by unforeseen circumstances that neither could have predicted. They got caught in a maelstrom of events that are unlikely to repeat themselves in Black Springfield where we now have plenty of strong, young Black political leaders who qualify to be mayor. (I must admit to a bias toward one.)
But, the negative outcome in Boston can be repeated in Springfield in other ways because the only way Springfield will ever have a Black mayor is if the Black community pulls together behind one strong, qualified, committed candidate who can unite the entire city…one who understands the need for a coalition between Black, White and Hispanic and Asian communities and who has a vision broad enough to encompass the future of them all.
The Uncle Toms and the slicksters and the shysters don’t count. They should be called out by the young leaders and not coddled. They represent the past and a distorted present devoid of inspiration or future vision. Black Springfield can do better. Springfield can do better. But we better start now while we can and not make the mistake of leaving things to chance. ■