WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Calla Crossley This is the Cali Crossley Show. We're looking at Governor Patrick's career through the lens of the Black Bay State. A new report finds that he's successfully represented black interests on Beacon Hill without compromising his broad support across the commonwealth from appointing hundreds of blacks to high positions to his executive orders and legislative initiatives. The report finds that Patrick has successfully governed by using a universal approach that frames black interests as interests that matter to all. We'll look at his specific achievements. We'll also ask how casinos and fare hikes and service cuts square with this sunny scenario. From there we check in with Occupy the Hood which is still going strong. The movement is dedicated to representing people of color in the Occupy Wall Street Mission. Up next the powers for positive change from the State House to the hood. First the news. 2 4 0 0 0 companies in March advertise

the highest number of job openings for years. The Labor Department says employers posted three point seventy four million positions up from a revised three point five seven million in February. The increase suggests the lackluster hiring gains in March and April could be temporary. Greek politicians have started a second day of talks to form a government there is no outright winner from Sunday's election with the conservatives failure to form a coalition it's the turn of the radical left wing series which came in second winning 17 percent of the vote. From Athens Johnson Ruppel us reports a country is in danger of being left without a government enjoying popular support. Mr suspected of human trafficking. But then he said authorities went back on their promise putting his wife and his son in jeopardy if they were sent back to their native Albania. Joshua Rosenkranz a lawyer for the family applauded the US government for being flexible and he said correcting a serious wrong Carrie

Johnson NPR News Washington. A student loan bill that would keep rates from doubling for millions of students before July 1st deadline is stalled in Congress today Senate Republicans blocked the legislation from debate. As President Obama continues to woo middle class voters in his re-election bid the GOP presumptive nominee Mitt Romney is unleashing attacks on the president's economic record. This hour Romney's at a community college in Lansing Michigan where he's criticizing the slow recovery of the economy. There won't be enough good jobs in America to succeed in this great country. This we know in our hearts the lessons of the last four years teaches a great deal about the next four years if we continue in the same direction with the same president. We must not. Voters in Wisconsin meanwhile are electing a Democratic candidates challenge Republican Governor Scott Walker next month's recall election. NPR's David Schaper reports a leading Democrat in today's primary lost to Walker just 18 months ago.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who narrowly lost a walker had November of 2010 is looking for a rematch saying many voters have told him they made a mistake in supporting the Republican then. Barrett has a formidable primary opponent and former Dane County executive Kathleen fall. She is backed by most of the public employee unions that made this recall election happen by collecting close to a million signatures on recall petitions. The winner of the Democratic primary faces Walker June 5th in what is expected to be a vicious and expensive negative campaign. David Schaper NPR News Milwaukee. At last check on Wall Street the Dow is down one hundred sixty nine points to twelve thousand eight hundred forty. This is NPR News. Good afternoon from the WGBH radio newsroom in Boston I'm Christina Quinn with the local stories we're following. Thousands of Boston residents have lost power this afternoon after a problem in a same substation that caused a March 13th blackout that lasted for several days. About thirteen thousand five hundred customers are affected from the Charles River to the Fenway area to Columbus Avenue in the

south and over to Clarendon Street and back to the Charles River and star spokesman Mike Duran said in a statement that they are currently working to assess the situation and restore power as quickly as possible. A child advocacy group is calling on the newly appointed interim executive director of the Massachusetts gaming commission to waive a confidentiality agreement he entered into alleging child sexual abuse. Massachusetts Citizens for children said the commission has a duty to ask Carl Stanley McGee to disclose terms of the settlement Commission Chairman Steven Crosby has said the panel knew McGee had been accused of assaulting a 15 year old boy in the steam room of a Florida resort in 2007 across he said the commission felt comfortable hiring McGee because Florida prosecutors determined there was no evidence to corroborate the allegation. McGee began working for the Commission this week in Rhode Island a government watchdog is seeking a new ethics regulation requiring elected officials to report all gifts over $25 that they get because of their position. The group Common Cause says it would bring more transparency to government. The proposed rule would require the reporting of any gift over 25 dollars no matter who gives it.

The group says current ethics rules require the reporting of gifts over $100 if they come from a quote interested person which doesn't include organizations. In sports game five of the NBA playoffs between the Celtics and the hawks is tonight in Atlanta with Boston looking to wrap up the series and the Red Sox play Royals in Game 2 a three game series in Kansas City. Daniel Bard is starting for Boston and Danny Duffy is pitching for the royals. The weather forecast for this afternoon cloudy with showers likely near steady temperature in the mid 50s. Right now we have some light rain in Boston 54 degrees in Worcester it's overcast at 55 and 56 degrees in Providence. You're listening to eighty nine point seven WGBH the time is one of six. Good afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley. Today we're talking about Governor Patrick's political career by way of what he's done for black citizens in the Bay State. A new report out of the Trotter Institute finds Governor Patrick has successfully represented black interests without alienating his broad support across the state. Joining me to

talk through this report are Robbie Parry and Kelly Bates. Ravi Perry wrote this report he's also a professor of political science at Clark University. Kelly Bates is our political contributor and the executive director of the access strategies fund. Welcome back you two. He said here Robbie let's start with you so the key point of this report is that he's managed to constituencies that you know are hard to manage or some people thought they would be hard to manage and that is his black citizen constituency and everybody else which is the job he signed up for by the way I just want to run out of money. Why is this a big deal. Well it's a big deal because scholars we have had a hard time really finding examples that we could quantify and qualify with methodological data that demonstrates that you can as a minority politician in this case an

African-American politician represent minority interest. Wow you govern A-MEI Jordi population and what we find in Governor Patrick's case is that he absolutely in fact has been successful and he's really the only state level of the highest ranking In other words an American politician to date other than some preliminary analyses that some are doing like myself on President Obama in his first term. You know I was a yet to be concluded but he's the highest ranking African-American official today that we can we have a full term for which we can actually analyze what he has been able to do. It's historic because it says two things one. You can run and win in a state that only has 7 percent black population and still represent black interest and not alienate yourself with white voters which is important. People forget about Massachusetts is that for many many years. I think

16 years prior we had Republican governors in this state and so this is not a liberal hotbed state as many in the national media often characterized the state as and so it's interesting that he's been able to do this and still maintain some significant support. So that says something about him but also says something as well about the theory and the theory is that if you're a minority politician you have to deemphasize race in order to get elected and be stay in office. And we have found that this is a theory that is losing some significance and there are a host of examples of kind of what some people have called a third class or a new wave of black politicians well before you know I don't want to go down that path just yet but. But your you made your point that he can win and be successful and achieve some things for a black constituency without having to you know give up

everything but before we go further and I turn to Kelly for her response I want to be clear about what do you mean by quote unquote black interests. That's a great question. So a black interest is an interest that has a disproportionate impact on the African-American community. The reality is African-Americans have the same interest if you look at national polling data as every other major group in this country we we care about jobs education etc. but what makes them black interest is because we are disproportionately in some cases negatively affected by them. And as a result I codify them as black. OK. So give me an example just just so I WE'RE ON THE SAME PAGE ONE example for example would be education where you can say that education is a black interest because we know that education is really the opportunity equalizer for many in the black community and that without access to education making it affordable and having

completed those degrees many African-Americans would not be protecting the middle class in the socioeconomic status that they are today. And so if the black interest because without successful educational initiatives policies programs by elected officials for example then African-Americans would not be where ever they are today in terms of progress. So close in that loop then if a Governor Patrick has. Push through some policies that impact the access that boost access for minority students and therefore he has served a black interest as well as interests of other people. Examiner Well all right. So Kelly how do you respond to the overall you know take of this report that Governor Patrick has gone a different way but he's managed to serve the black interest as well as the rest of the Commonwealth. I have found this report very illuminating because this is a question that we talk a lot about in the black political community in terms of how successful has the governor been in representing black

interests and you know my background is working with black political activists black community organizers black leaders of nonprofit community organizations and black voters. And it's interesting because I think a lot of them would grade Governor Patrick maybe around six or a seven in terms of that this with a plan B in the 10 being the highest. You also have to remember that they are they are comparing him to other politicians So for example even though they have a. A challenging history they look at someone like a senator Dianne Wilkerson a former city councilor Chuck Turner albeit in very different positions granted who were very explicitly politicians who focused on racial justice and focused on policies that benefited the black community very explicitly. And so they do could do a comparison where as the governor you know has been in a much different position where he's had to govern an entire state in a very difficult difficult climate. So they would probably put him in a they'd probably

put them in a higher you know number like a 9 or 10 and maybe someone like Governor Patrick has a six or seven because they don't necessarily have the data that you know our author of this report has that would show very concretely the policies that he has put forth for the black community so they look at a certain there's a likability for him. They certainly have seen some of his accomplishments for the black community namely For example what he did around criminal records changes his focus on public education his focus around housing and homelessness. But. They will take a lot if you asked the average black voter they wouldn't necessarily be able to name some of those policies so I think this report is very important to have out in the public because I don't think people would point to some of these successes I don't think they actually know about it. It's it's how people view him and what they've seen. They saw and his initial term focus on casinos they saw focus on you know jobs but they saw focus on

biotech or tech tech jobs. These kinds of policies that were about to pull out and talk about I don't think people are as aware of. And that comes back to something that the statement that you make in your report Ravi which is about his being governing from a DE racialized position. Explain what you mean by that. What's de racialization when it comes to a Governor Patrick and how he has put forth certain policies. Well and. Racial politics which I study most scholars have found that minority politicians fit into one of only two camps either they are racialized politicians where they significantly explicitly identify policies and programs that might benefit a particular racial group and they are very explicit about that and in doing so some examples that come to my like Maynard Jackson that Lana fighting for the minority contracting respective to the airport and Harto Jackson International Airport

or Carl Stokes in Cleveland for example. Then you have the racialized examples which came apart in the one thousand eighty and the racialization was first defined in the mid 1970s and essentially all was limited to the campaign context where we were saying wow is it can African-American in this case actually run in majority white jurisdictions and win well. The theory was that they're going to have to significantly emphasize the significance of race in order to gain white support and so that became the racialization conducting a campaign in a stylistic fashion as goes the definition by McCormack and Jones and their classic work in the 1970s which says that you are significantly avoiding race specific issues. And some examples are some claim Andrew

Young fit in that category not Landau though I slightly disagree with their former mayor Andrew Young Yes some would say that the first African-American mayor the modder governor in the modern era Douglas Wilder in Virginia fit that framework as well. And there are a host of others that came along in the 80s and 90s that seem to have suggested that this was the way to go in order to be successful as an African-American politician. What that simply says is that. If you then look at politicians rhetoric or their policy programs or their initiatives on the campaign trail what however you view them that they should be not talking about race specifically. You would not hear terms such as black or African-American or Caucasian or Latino they would be framing issues in a broader way rhetorically but also in terms of their policies they would be introducing policies that do not have opposed to

Cuellar targeted benefit to a specific community as well. And that's what the racialization is. And of course as the report finds is that I do think that he per Governor Patrick perhaps ran as a DE racialized candidate no words he does fit the racialized candidate. But as a governor as someone who has now governs the state and has done so now for almost two terms that that has his record there does not fit that racialization the racialization dichotomy. Well so to your point then Kelly if folks of color are not recognizing his policies would that be because he's subsumed his rhetoric into the broader context. As Robin has very carefully explained what directionals durational ization means. Yes I think so. And you know for example when he when he was in trouble a little bit running for re-election he had to go back and really

recreate what his accomplishments were and he had to communicate them. That was the necessary strategy for him to win. And his accomplishments the accomplishments he focused on were pretty broad and things like bringing you know wind energy to the Cape you know things like that as opposed to focusing on some of the other kinds of policy changes that he made that benefited the black community. So I think there's certainly a lack of just understanding appreciation for some of the work that he's done. I do think you know he talks about these candidates who are more excuse me the politicians or do racialized what I've seen from Governor Patrick and what he does that still keeps black community members supportive of him even if they don't know his successes for the black community. Is he still weaves into his messaging and his personal story. Meaning I get you you know hell talk about growing up in Chicago and growing up poor and it's all code that black folks know. You know it's like he's talked in my experience we didn't have nothing. They get that. He

also will tailor his message sometimes when he is speaking amongst the black community he won't use the words that the professor was saying is true he won't necessarily say race or black but he uses words that our community understands you're referring to us and him and his wife. You know Diane Patrick are very much a part of the fabric of the black community and attend events and are very much put themselves out there in a visible way and his and some people see in the streets and in his you know in his conference rooms they see other black people at high levels in government so there are cues that he's still sending to members of the black community that says OK he's still paying attention to our concerns even if they don't necessarily know all the policy victories. Well when we come back I'm interested in talking about that even with what you just said. Kelly there are those at this particularly politically charged time who will say if he says anything you know I was black and it turns it to your bringing up race and it alienates a lot of folks. So I mean he can be

racialized as much as he wants to some extent and people just don't want to hear it even if it's part of his story and I'm curious about Ravi and Keli how you look at that in light of this report. So we're talking about Governor Patrick and how he has successfully managed to represent the interests of black citizens in the Bay State without losing his broad support across the commonwealth. And just a note while we're discussing the governor I want to address that his oldest daughter Sarah has been hospitalized after becoming ill. And at this time we do not know more about her status but reporters here WGBH are on top of that story. So stay with us. The conversation continues an eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston Public Radio. We love our contributors. That means you. And Comcast Internet essential Internet Essentials is available to help families in need. Families with students qualified for free school

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I'm Brian MacRae from WGBH has classical Mandarin. Normally I think of summer as kind of a drag. So how would you like to escape to the clean crisp air of the Swiss Alps for six days of great food sightseeing and incredible live classical music with plenty of time left over for shopping or just relaxing. Then join us for a classical New England learning tour through the Swiss Alps August 25th through September 2nd. Space is limited and time is running out. Each year you secure your spot at WGBH dot org slash learning tours. Morning essential. This is NPR News. Good morning from the WGBH radio news from in Boston I'm Bobbsey was a smart choice to start your day. Bobbsey and Morning Edition on eighty nine point seven. WGBH. Welcome back to the Calla Crossley Show. If you're just joining us we're talking about Governor Deval Patrick a new report out of the Trotter Institute finds he's successfully represented black interests without alienating his broad support across the state. I'm joined by the

author of this report Robbie Perry. He is a professor of political science at Clark University. Also with this is our political contributor Kelly Bates. She's the executive director of Access strategies fun. So we're talking about Governor Patrick managing to do racialize his approach and his rhetoric in order to help build a broad base of support. But at the same time as your report has carefully noted he has managed to support many black interest. And I just wanted to read. This is after he won in the first time in 2006 something that he said in his acceptance speech which is a part of your report. Governor Patrick said you are every black man woman and child in Massachusetts and America and every other striver of every other race and kind who is reminded tonight that the American dream is for you too. Now that seems OK Kelly to be. Very inclusive everybody but to state specifically to make an outreach to black folk was saying something coming from the DE

racialized approach that he's taken. And even then a lot of people say well why do you have to say you know somebody is black Can you speak to that. Both of those things that y at that point did he manage to include black folks do you think in his rhetoric and why it becomes such a political football when he mentions it. Well I think both in the case of Governor Patrick and our president who by the way have shared similar campaign staff who for the most part at the top here have been white although very diverse. There was a certain latitude given to him and to the president in the beginning because of their historical wins. I mean everyone understood that this was the first the first black governor of Massachusetts and certainly and the presidency's case as well. So there was a latitude I think about acknowledging the importance and symbolism of that moment that this was a first. And so I think you saw more of that rhetoric early on and I think the report does back that up. I've seen less of that

as time has gone on. And it is always a political football because you you know certainly you want to acknowledge the presence of race. You know as a black politician if you have an understanding of you know the way the world works and the various disparities that affect your community you cannot hide them at the same time. You raise an issue like that and there is going to always be a segment of white voters and maybe some black voters too who want to understand why can't you just be color blind in your analysis. Well you can't be color blind in your analysis because you know Governor Patrick well knows that there are disparities and if you just look at employment the black community it's you know it's twice as bad and so he's aware of that and he understands that but he's picking the moment and the time to talk about something. You know President Obama's speech on race you know was was something that you probably didn't hope he would have to do but because of the surrounding context he felt like he had to seize that moment. But again that wasn't

something that was a proactive approach and in fact my understanding a lot of the people who surrounded the campaigns of the governor and the president you know. Would push them back sometimes and say you know maybe you don't want to go there and they do have a knowledge base about what the voters will understand at the same time. You you when you don't let someone be them Full be their full selves as a politician and everybody brings their culture and their perspective to the table. You do lose something and I often wonder what has the governor lost or the president lost at times on a personal basis or in terms their connection with other black Americans when they distance themselves. And it's a very very tough balance very very tough balance and it's a winning strategy to be more racialized. So it's a very very you know difficult thing that they have to deal with on the other hand. I think the key is making sure you act when necessary and when there is just such clear ways that you can make an impact in the black community you have an opportunity there may not be

someone else there who has that I that you have. And I think around issues like reforming the criminal records laws and making it easier for formerly incarcerated people to get jobs and taking that you know thing off the employment applications it's as if you've been arrested or convicted that was very important I mean the governor understood that the black community wanted that but also let me say by the way he was pushed to do a lot of these things that let me remind. You know that a lot of these things he wasn't really coming out of the gate supporting the black community got frustrated after that first year when they saw the focus on casinos and transportation you know consolidation of his administration. Wait what about us like we've been waiting for so long to have someone like you in here we expect and demand that you pay attention to our community. That's when they really started to focus on him around the strategy around criminal records and public education and he felt like he had to do something especially as he neared his re-election campaign because frankly he knew that he still needed those black voters as much as he needed the

white voters. So you know he did a calculus and I'm sure his campaign did too to say you know wait a second. We now need to start delivering some things for black community and letting them know we're delivering those things. That's my guest Kelly Bates. She is executive director of the access strategies fund and our political contributor. So Rob Kelly has brought up a couple issues that a lot of black folks were quite upset about. Like around the casinos and most recently around the BTA because any number of studies have demonstrated that the a lot of the ridership are persons of color specifically African American people who need that to get to work and other issues so this is a big deal. And he has very much stepped out of that and said them let the legislature do with the legislature does if they decide to do something. But he's not you know spoken up in the way that some people would like him to to say you know really this is this is a definite impact on a certain community and I'm concerned about it. How do you respond to that in

light of your report which is overwhelmingly positive. Well he might be responding choosing not to respond publicly but is responding in other legislative ways that we don't really frankly pay much attention to. Part of my report I emphasize the significant number of legislative introductions the bills that he his office wrote that he sends to the General Court the houses the House and State Senate and respective to black interest and only three of those got passed. And so that means that 15 to 20 of them did not actually get passed and they're still sitting in committee. They have not been taken up their vote has not occurred on many of them. And I think that his strategy is often to fight those battles with the legislature which ironically again a Democratic legislature for the most part fight those battles in the

in the framework of the legislature's power politics and not necessarily in the public eye. And that that is where those of us who are not beginning perhaps feel as though he is distancing himself. But. I would argue that if we pay attention to what he is doing and how he is communicating to the legislature and if we find there that he is not then responding to those issues then that is something that we put Should we ship perhaps bring it up more clearly in the public eye. But in many cases in issues that many African-Americans feel as though he has been death on he in fact is actually been very strong on. But he sent those those legislative introductions to the people who need to sign them and they have not had to come up for a vote.

Well and thats an engine thats an interesting question about party politics because this is a general court that you have here in Massachusetts as its called. And the fact that many of these bills that his office and he himself has have drafted and brought forth that have particular target benefits for African-Americans have not been actually even put to the floor for a vote. It is concerning yet you know the same time you know we're painting a rosy picture here but I you know I always I think about what are some classic race issues around the state around the country you know let's look at racial profiling for example what happened to our young Trayvon Martin in Florida. There is a bill pending right now in the Massachusetts legislature that would basically put the laws put a law on the books like Florida for people to be able to basically shoot to kill. Right. Some of these stand kind of stand your ground exactly right. And you know if when I tell you of Senator Dianne Wilkerson were here I mean that

that we would have known. First of all most voters don't even know that that law was was pending and legislature if Senator Dianne Wilkerson were here the black community would have known about it and would have been on top of it. That's something that a governor Patrick should be paying attention to and should be raising. I mean it's I do believe and I do have I don't have unreasonable expectations for a black politician but I would hope that someone like him would would take the lead and say wait a second this is my state. And I want to raise the consciousness of the state about this issue he is a civil rights attorney after all so I think he could do more frankly and has the expertise to do more to come out on issues that he has a knowledge base around and frankly he knows his community cares about. When I started that issue he actually has said that he is against that and if it came to his desk he would veto it. I thought he said that with regard to three strikes I wasn't sure he said this about racial profiling. I was pretty sure he did. OK very good. I think he's been very quiet on that and also the other thing is our community cares a lot about the kind of social services that we need public assistance public

benefits public education which by the way is funded through tax resources. Governor Patrick has been so quiet as all the elected officials have about how to raise new revenue in our state to support the needs of all communities who are struggling and in particular black communities who are struggling. I think some of the black voters that I know that have concerns about him are very very deeply concerned about the fact that he has not taken a stand on how we raise real revenues like for example. Raising income taxes for example he's done things like the sales tax a little things but frankly that does not cover the base. Now granted it's a very difficult time in a very difficult climate to try to get you know tax policy up there on Beacon Hill but you know at some point someone's got to have the courage to do it and the black community is kind of looking and saying well when are you going to do something about this you're in your second term and you know frankly now is the time people are really struggling they're watching to see if he's going to take any leadership on this especially after the legislators are re-elected in 2012. I've heard that they made to start taking up

this issue again and I think people are going to be looking at that. What is the danger or if there is in a you know he's on his way out. He'll have probably some other extensive political career. But of these Dee racialized candidates and it should be made clear that there are many others around the country not just President Obama. You referenced Gwen Eiffel's book The Breakthrough Politics and Race in the Age of Obama and which identifies a number of people around the country. Former congressman Alabama Congressman Artur Davis Cory Booker who's the mayor of Newark. These are examples of people as she defined it in her book. A new kind of politician who is black or of color who first does outreach outside of the base and then turns to the base to get elected. Where's all the civil rights politicians the ones from that era built a base and then did the outreach. And that's a very different perspective. It speaks to your deranged durational of the racialization I'm trying to say this.

I mentioned this last week in a calm brief conversation about this report that in my visits to my local McDonald's I happened to have heard on a couple of occasions a group of men black and Latino who are very mad at Governor Patrick at Felix Arroyo of Tito Jackson they identified all of the politicians of color because they have not in their opinion articulate it in a way that they can hear that you're doing something on my behalf. Colorful language used. But very emphatic about being unhappy. And I wonder if there I hear your take your point Ravi about his doing stuff behind the background. But is there a damage about disconnecting with the community if you don't in some way say hey this one right here goes to one specific group. And I got to say something about it because I know the experience to your point Kelly is there a damage distance and I think there is and although let me just go back to example what's interesting and again I don't have the data to back this up. Maybe the professor can help me. I bet you a lot of those guys or women will probably vote for them again

because we still want our folks and it's an interesting dynamic but that being said I think there's a personal loss personal danger and policy danger the personal danger is I really think something very. Happens to a politician and a black politician. If they do feel strongly about black issues and they don't have enough courage or don't bring them up to the forefront the way that they want I think you know it's got to be something you think about it's got to be something that you question yourself about and wrestle with and so I think that can have an impact just on how you see yourself. I think it has a policy impact though because if you don't he may indeed have made these policy overtures toward the black community. But if his administration and his staff don't hear him talking about the black community explicitly when they go to implement those policies they're not going to necessarily be looking at the racial impact of those policies or or implementing them in a way that has an eye toward racial equity. So I think that can be problematic because you take your cues from your

boss and if your boss is not in that to maybe you don't need to sing that tune. So I think you can have a danger and how the policies are actually implemented and on the soul of the person. And you know Senator Dianne Wilkerson or a councilor Chuck Turner probably didn't have to wrestle with that personal conflict they had to wrestle with other ones and people saying you're not effective because all you do is talk about those folks and I just know you don't have a bigger interest. So I think it can have an impact. But it's interesting. Even with all the. The anger or frustration that someone might have directed toward a candidate of color my experience those same voters will go you know what I'm going to go back and put them back in because they're still paying maybe a little bit more attention than others. And the mirror effect people just really want to see themselves there. Well I want I want to clarify something my report finds is that Governor Patrick in fact runs. And as a candidate the racialized but in

fact the evidence suggests that he governs as someone who governs in the interests of African-Americans because he can successfully frame them as interests that matter to everyone. So you want to think that I think that part but I'm addressing the fact that folks of color they don't hear it as articulated directed toward them. Right and so so that actually does have kind of piggybacking what Kelly was saying that does have a actually a political problem we have actually found recently that the racialized candidates who also govern as the racialized politicians they then tend to now in the 21st century tend to be losing actual election. Adrian Fenty in D.C. lost handily. His Democratic primary and that was largely the reason Artur Davis lost handily. His his effort to be governor and Alabama. What we're finding is that the D racialization effect

which has been demonstrated in the 80s and 90s to be so important order to elect an African-American candidate that running as the racialization know as the racialization candidate for re-election actually limits your ability to actually be elected a second time. And that is something that is that is a fairly unique finding which is why Well Governor Patrick has done is so significant because he has not raised the racialized and this report's finding as a governor or has he nor has he the racialized but rather he has found a way to articulate the needs and interest of African-Americans in ways that allow whites to actually understand what those interest are and still support him for it because they don't feel a need as a result and allow blacks to fill up counted and accounted for in his public policy initiatives. That is a new type of

governing strategy that is that does not fit into the D-Rays do zation or racialization boxes so to speak. I have carded universalizing black interest as interest that matter to everyone. And that is borrow from Target universalistic framework. That was really out of the legal scholarship of John Powell who is now at Berkeley. And it shows that it actually works. And that's what's significant about it and so if people are not hearing it what I would encourage people to do is to actually pay attention to some of the transparency of these many cases of these minority politicians particularly Governor Patrick Governor Patrick has on his website all of his policy introductions and legislative introductions executive orders etc. it's there for you to read. And essentially part of the project what I did was go through that record and in addition to receiving

information from his office of what he is attempt to do in terms of the respect of the black interest and then the story becomes different so I think it's important that education be be understood as a tool to inform African-Americans that if they do still think that their minority politicians are not representing their interests for them first frankly to do their homework to make sure that that is the case because it might be just that the media is not reporting it. In my. And that is separate from the fact that whether or not the politicians actually doing something about what I have found for example that Governor Patrick has introduced roughly one policy or initiative a program or implemented one in the interest of African-Americans every two months while in office that's pretty significant given the population of blacks in this state is only 7 percent. That I think then speaks to. You know given what Rob has just said Kelly that Governor Patrick's a pretty talented politician. I mean you know people look at this and they think OK well that looks like it's easy to do actually it's not

easy to do. So he's balanced on a narrow beam here and he's managing to stay up there. He was the you know incredibly skillful. He's very artful in how he works with the legislature. He is very good at being a public speaker and bringing the community behind him. And he was really smart at one point him in his campaign when right before his re-election campaign they were very worried about whether the black community was going to come out and vote for him and they needed those voters. And they made a concerted effort to make it clear what the accomplishments were in the black community they they hired a lot of campaign staff who had deep relationships in the black community and really reversed what was starting to be a serious disappointment in him from the black community because remember what I was saying before and those early stages people were really seeing what they wanted to see they had to put a lot of pressure on him. So he's very skillful and the people around him have been very skillful as well to

recognize OK there's a there's a time too. Have more universal rhetoric here and then there's a time to really kick into gear and let people know what we're actually doing. No he's very skillful in that way. He's also a good learner. You know he took a lot of beatings is too strong of a word. But you know he had to work with the speaker and the Senate president who are very strong figures and really tried to present himself as a formidable you know leader and he accomplished that. I mean I still think that in my personal opinion that a Senator Murray out of all three of them is is probably the strongest. But you know he's had to really learn and he didn't come to politics knowing politics I mean the black community did. I remember when when he came to speak at ABC which is a. A large nonprofit that provides public assistance to low income communities. He was just starting to come out and say I'm going to run for governor. No one no one in Massachusetts I mean these are political players knew who he was. Who is this guy you know

who's who's this guy where's he come from. And you know they knew he was African-American that was interesting. They knew he might be fairly moderate to left they weren't sure. But you know he also came out of working for Coca-Cola on corporate America but he was also a civil rights attorney he worked for Clinton. He had a lot of proving to do and he went all over the state and ran a very grassroots campaign and hired really good people and that campaign plan was the campaign plan for President Barack Obama. So you know this this shows you that both he as a candidate and his campaign operation were highly sophisticated and still are. All right well we'll leave it there. Thank you very much to the two of you we've been talking about Governor Patrick about how he's been able to represent the interest of black citizens without compromising his broad support. I've been speaking with Robert Perry a professor of political science at Clark University and our political contributor Kelly Bates. She's executive director of the access strategies fund. Thanks a lot you too. Coming up we check in with Occupy the Hood. You're listening to eighty nine point seven

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jewelry vacations even a brand new Toyota Prius donated by your New England Toyota dealer. Every. Bit supports the programs. Go. See the full list of items and place your bid. At auction. WGBH dot org. Context beyond the headline issues you want to know more about. Stories you'll want to share. News and depth online at WGBH news dot org. Welcome back to the Calla Crossley Show Occupy Boston has had a spring awakening protesting the end BTA and more recently Bank of America but Occupy the Hood never went to sleep. Joining me to talk about the latest developments coming out of the movement is your model Crawford. He's the leader of Occupy the Hood and the editor and publisher of Blackstone Ian Jamal Crawford welcome back.

Thank you. Good to be here. So the last time you were here you were here with one of the guys from Occupy Boston and it was shortly after a kind of partnership rally a coming together rally in October and there was going to be much more joint activity but that went away. That was never really our focus you know as I stated then and as I've been kind of clear about the whole time you know we've been around before anybody was talking about occupying anything. And we were not going to leave what we know was tried and true in our methods of organizing in our methods of outreach to people. We weren't you know too ready to just abandon everything that we had learned and experienced for the favor of this of this new thing called Occupy which you know is quite fantastic in a one time so was the pet rock. But these are things you know kind of kind of shape out so over the time that we tried to work together there was a lot

of tension dealing with the racism why supremacy and why privilege on some other issues as well treatment of women and also drug and alcohol abuse. And it just became plain to us that it was time to kind of separate but I met some some great people there some very dedicated people and they've you know been busy with whatever it is that they feel is those important and it needs attention and as have we. The term Occupy the Hood is new even though you've been a community organizer in the doing and the kinds of programs and projects that really goes under that umbrella have been ongoing. The actual occupy the terminology is fairly new so you've you have some of that Occupy movement if you will as a part of what you're doing now. Well the thing is that when we came in approached that term in that concept we recognized for what it is it's a tool something to be able to be used to to capture a new attention and to kind of galvanize some of this energy that

you know had everybody really up in in a fury across all across the country. So what we did is we did occupy the terminology that's all we did is we took the name everything else the stuff that we had already been doing and will continue to do. And in another year or so there may be another name that is the the super sexy name and we'll use that too because it's just a tool for organization and mobilization. When I came back Boston went on hiatus. What were you focused on under Occupy the Hood. I mean you know. Hiatus I wasn't even aware during the winter I mean when they call you know that oh yeah oh you know we fed people just in the past couple months we've fed over 500 people we fed hot meals. We've been conducting a food drive since November 11th of last year. We've organized several forums in different areas some which we've been you know dealing with some of the legislation that's been out three strikes to stand your ground law as well as other forms as well. The attack on black men and boys kind of dealing with some of the stuff behind the

Trayvon Martin situation and others you know we also brought world renowned historian Renaud Cole Rashidi here and I actually in June we're bringing Last Poets. So we've done a combination of stuff you know community service stuff. To actually events to raise you know culture and awareness and then also to the political stuff in the state house and conducting forums to educate engage people. I don't think it's any secret that May 1st when the spring awakening of Occupy. Certainly in Boston and other cities around the country a number of critics a little bit more vocal of that movement saying OK guys we get it. But what are you going to do now other than build a camp as you said Occupy the Hood it's always been engaged in many activities. And I wonder as you go forward if people get sort of the overall sense of what the Occupy from your perspective movement was supposed to be about. Well for us was again we haven't had a lot of those critiques because we've been tied into issues that you know more are

grounded. But for instance you know nationally Occupy the Hood in many other tried and true organizations from across the country just did this thing already converged on D.C. to bring up the issue of political prisoners occupy from the media but it also had a broader focus with all political prisoners. And there stuff like that that is never going to go away. Stuff like dealing with the violence in our communities is never going to go away so really it's very difficult for me to figure out what occupied means to these different people is it is a you know these are the issues that came up during it. Is it an actual occupation an encampment of tents and all that. Is it these you know forums or these rather marches or rallies that are you know going to snarl traffic and disrupt and you know so we early on knew that those were not strategies or concepts that we were going to deal with so once again we just kept it with what we were comfortable with and what our experience has shown us has worked in and produced the most tangible results. So who is the 99 percent.

Well you know that is also a question because you know I know that in that spirit I think that the term itself has to kind of evoke some sort of brotherhood and commonality but I didn't feel very 99 ish when I was down there. Actually you know felt much like I felt in larger society I felt dismissed I felt marginalized and in many cases I felt despise and resent it. So that whole comradery of the 99. I think that you know that's it's kind of rhetoric and it's used often when it's convenient. But I don't know how true it is because what I experienced there was the same white privilege wise supremacy and racism and sexism that I've experienced you know in society at large oftentimes you know people say we have to be careful when we're fighting against someone to not become like the people we're fighting. So oftentimes I think that while the 99 percent wants to pull the higher moral card in many ways oftentimes they they conduct themselves much like the 1 percent that they're pointing the finger at. Is this a sad situation from your perspective I mean I'm I take your point you're going

to continue to work no matter what the new name of the movement may be because you have some some focus on and what needs to be happening in your community and what your community's needs are. You know but from you know just a larger standpoint is a kind of sad that you know one of the essences which was to bring people together of all of this is in this case actually not happened not for me I mean you know when I was called to first go down to the encampment I mean I had no big you know expectation and all of a sudden we were all going to join hands and you know sing Kumbaya barefoot in the rain. So I mean no for me is pretty much what was expected and a prediction based on what I knew of people who had not been involved in other movements had no binding philosophy or foundational structure. There was no accountability or leadership structure so I pretty much knew that there were going to be these problems and breakdowns and into you know the youth of the moment you know so that a lot of these people part of me I don't want to be dismissive of condescending but a lot of images you know young kids

and you know first time out in a in a quote movement or and as social justice and activity and very very green and very often times too naive to the ways of the world. So for instance coming from that place of white privilege you're a kid from the burbs and here you meet a black guy a black nationalist guy from Roxbury with 20 years organize in under a minute you know the twain shall never meet. So to speak what what would you like to see Occupy the Hood become and I recognize that I take your point about the name could change. The work remains the same. But as you look you know forward in the next couple of years and people at least are seem open to hearing about some issues. You know Bank of America protests the foreclosures all these kinds of issues that have been there but it seemed that at least for a moment in time occupy brought attention and more national way. And certainly Occupy the Hood did as well

so what would you like to see continue to happen. Basically you know what has been happening which is Occupy the Hood has kind of become like a galvanizing force like coalition building and many people who are from various different you know if you will of the revolution whether it's you know the political prisoner people or whether it's the you know people who are for the green stuff and doing community gardening and whatnot or for the folks who care about educational criminal justice kind of the Occupy the Hood banner has been able to. Allow several people from different states from different stations of life with different issues to work together under one umbrella so I would like to see that umbrella get solidified formalized actually be solid as an organizational legitimised so that there is more of an opportunity to generate resources purchase a building maybe have offices in different cities that will be able to be even more conducive to that type of coalition building.

All right. Thank you very much. Yes indeed. We've been talking about Occupy the Hood I've been speaking with General Crawford. He's the leader of Occupy the Hood and the editor and publisher of Black Stone Ian. You can keep on top of the Calla Crossley Show WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter and become a fan of the Calla Crossley Show on Facebook today show was engineer by Jane pic produced by Chelsea murders. Well Rose left and Abbey Ruzicka. We are a production of WGBH Boston Public Radio.