Dianne
Wilkerson’s Jamaica Plain and Beacon Hill supporters
who are unfamiliar with the Grove Hall area likely had no problem finding the
senator’s first post-primary rally last night. No matter which direction people
arrived from there were hordes of red-shirted Wilkerson enthusiasts greeting
folks and hoisting signs as if the eight-term incumbent hadn’t lost to
political newcomer Sonia Chang-Diaz less than one week earlier. Sure, Wilkerson
demanded a re-count in five of the Second Suffolk Senate District’s ten wards
(and got three of them granted); hence the press conference. But I hardly expected
so many cheerleaders.
On the ground I
realized that the Prince Hall congregation was not so much a press conference as
it was a gathering for still-believers, who by night’s end totaled at least 350
people – black and white, young and old, gay and straight. Former Boston NAACP
President Louis Elisa led the charge with a sentiment that would ring
throughout the evening: “This looks like it could be a harbinger of things to
come in the national election,” he said before calling up a minister whose
invocation in not so many words asked God to overturn this past week’s results.
The nearly
two-hour event brought a heavy speaker line-up, from local clergy and politicos
to community organizers and residents. Reverend Culpepper, who attended law school
with the senator, was the first to address why Wilkerson might have come up
short: “There were some powerful folks who put a lot of money into this
election to make sure Dianne was defeated,” he charged. “Now it’s time for us
to stand for Dianne; we lost the skirmish, but I’m claiming victory in the
battle tonight.” At this point it was clear that the senator had more than just
a recount up her sleeve.
By the time Boston
City Councilor Chuck Turner stepped up the joint was stuffed and the sandwich
buffet demolished. Turner wasted no time before accusing Chang-Diaz of having no
roots in Boston’s black and Latin communities; “That
seat Dianne sits on was created by this community,” he said, reflecting the entitlement
that many Roxbury, Mattapan and Dorchester
residents have for the senate post. The councilor finished with his argument
that one of several politicians from outside the black community – who have always
wanted Wilkerson’s seat but feared her incumbency – could easily snatch the
crown from Chang-Diaz in 2010.
The next culprit
was the press, with Chinese Progressive Association Executive Director Lydia
Lowe (quite accurately) accusing the Boston Globe of misreporting that Chinatown pulled for Chang-Diaz. ETHOS Executive Director
Dale Mitchell – a gay white advocate for the elderly – followed with a promise
to win back voters in his Jamaica Plain community. “This primary was a defeat
for all of us,” Mitchell said on the verge of tears over his neighborhood’s
unwillingness to unite behind Wilkerson.
Before the
senator came up, METCO Executive Director Jean McGuire summarized the prevalent
arguments against Chang-Diaz: most notably that Wilkerson lost because of
confusion over polling locations (complaint forms were located at the table up
front), and that the situation is tantamount to another four years of George
Bush. “Isn’t this Florida and Ohio all over again,”
she asked. “This will be the first time we don’t have a person of color in the
State House. If we don’t get Dianne back in the State House, then Obama can’t
help you.”
Emerging to
Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” Wilkerson came right out
with her inspiration for that moment on: “God is good,” she said. “The time for
tears is over.” The senator told supporters that despite the press reporting
differently, she won the Chinese and Latin wards. She then ran through an
abridged list of her accomplishments – from racial profiling reform and
wrongful conviction compensation to emergency contraception – before biblically
challenging Chang-Diaz head-on: “If you can’t handle the footmen, then you
can’t run with the horses,” she said. “I run with the horses…This district is
not for sale.”
About ten
minutes in Wilkerson got to the meat, telling folks over massive applause that
she will absolutely pursue a sticker campaign no matter what happens with
Saturday’s recount. “I would not do so if I did not believe that I could win,”
she said. “And this ain’t Lieberman; I’m
not an independent – I’m a Democrat.” How is she so sure of victory? “Last
Saturday I was prayed on by 80 ministers,” Wilkerson announced, “so I know
who’s guiding this one.”
The truth is
that while Wilkerson has the God squad on her side, she has some tangible
advantages as well. Recent history shows that she’s powerful enough to pull off
a successful write-in campaign; against Chang-Diaz nonetheless, and in a year
when record numbers of black voters were not expected to hit the polls for Barack
Obama.
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