Boston is primed to elect its first minority mayor, Gov. Deval Patrick said yesterday on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s
“I Have a Dream” speech.
“People in public life are constantly underestimating the voters,” Patrick said. “The voters are ready. They’re ready to be trusted with fact. They’re ready to be trusted with vision, including big vision about the future. And they’re ready to engage, and I think we’re seeing that in the city, I think we’re seeing that in the commonwealth.”
Six of the 12 candidates vying
to replace Mayor Thomas M.
Menino are minorities, including City Councilor Felix Arroyo; John Barros, a former school committee member; Charles Clemons, a former Boston police officer; former Menino aide and ex-state lawmaker Charlotte Golar Richie; City Councilor Charles Yancey; and David James Wyatt.
And the impact of a victory by one of the candidates has not been lost, even on Menino, who made waves earlier this month when he declared on Boston Herald Radio that if Golar Richie, the only female candidate in the race, were to win, it’d be “national news.”
Patrick said he’s been following the race heading to the Sept. 24 primary, and “without getting into how it’s going,” credited Menino, in part, for the diversity the field has built.
“I believe Boston is ready to shed its image of the racial tensions that surrounded busing and elect leadership that is representative of its diversity,” Barros said.
Via: Boston Herald
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