Politics
Seven African American Mayors You Haven’t Heard About Yet
Michael Coleman
Columbus, OH
Columbus is home to Mayor Coleman, a Democrat bent on whipping the city into greener and more business-friendly shape. An Obama supporter, lawyer and father of three, Coleman has held the post since 2000. A champion of neighborhood rehabilitation efforts, he’s overseen the construction of several LEED-certified buildings in the city. He’s also the Mary Poppins of gang abolishment, having tallied nearly 600 arrests in a six-year period (with the help of the police, of course).
Kevin Johnson
Sacramento, CA
Serving as Sacramento’s first black mayor, Johnson is also a former professional basketball player — a three-time NBA All-Star to be exact. Johnson’s fame seasoned his 2008 election campaign – he won with nearly 58 percent of the popular vote in a runoff — and subsequent incumbency. As mayor, he’s focused on business development and improving public education. In 1989, Johnson started a program called the St. Hope Academy which focuses on arts, education and civic leadership. Although accused of sexual misconduct during the 2008 election, charges against Johnson were never filed. He keeps company with high-profile political leaders, President Obama included.
Mia Love
Saratoga Springs, UT
Not only is she the first woman elected mayor of Saratoga Springs, Love made history by being the first black woman elected mayor in the entire state. Only the third mayor of the city of less 20,000 residents, her election in 2008 introduced a voice eager to promote business development and eradicate joblessness in Utah.
Cedric Glover
Shreveport, LA
A lifelong resident of Shreveport, Glover is the first black mayor of the city. In 1990, he became the youngest person to sit on the city council, where he chaired the public safety committee. Glover, now 45, spearheaded a “War on Liquor” to stop alcohol sales to minors. He also added to the city’s parks budget and served on the boards of local nonprofits. By the time Glover was 30, he was a state legislator. Ten years later, in 2006, Glover won the mayoral vote. More recently, Mayor Glover passed a historical proposition to repair the water and sewage system, stamping out a Tea Party led campaign against the initiative.
Dave Bing
Detroit, MI
Currently, Detroit suffers from a widening deficit, falling tax revenue, rampant joblessness and Mayor Bing is right in the middle of it.
The city’s rebound from its former problem-riddled mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, now comes down to the former professional basketball hall-of-famer and former steel businessman. Bing was elected in May 2009 to replace Detroit’s interim mayor, Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., and then reelected to a full term in November 2009. Pre-mayor status, Bing retired from his 12-year NBA career to start his own company, Bing Steel. Their first major client was the hometown auto giant General Motors.
Now in a fight with city workers and unions about layoffs and pension squeezes, Bing, a Democrat, is trying to save the Motor City by positioning money (and earmarking taxes) not just to the manufacturing sector, but entertainment, citywide beautification and technology (Psst! He’s active and interactive on Twitter). Bing is also behind the tax hikes and the talks for making city employees pay more for healthcare, but he insists that his plan will keep the state of Michigan out of a municipal takeover.
Heather McTeer-Hudson
Greenville, MS
A two-term mayor, and the first black one, McTeer-Hudson is an ambitious one. Recently, the 35-year-old Spelman College and Tulane University graduate announced her 2012 bid for the Second District Congressional seat in Mississippi, a seat long-held by Democrat Bennie Thompson. While born and raised in Greenville, McTeer-Hudson is far from being just any old municipal leader. She’s been appointed by the Environmental Protection Agency to chair its local government group on determining community-level environmental issues nationwide. She’s a lawyer bent on fixing the poverty level in Greenville, and after practicing law for so long, McTeer-Hudson was elected in 2003 as the city’s mayor and again in 2007.
Noted as one of the youngest black mayors in the country, McTeer-Gudson was the president of the National Conference of Black Mayors from 2008 through 2009. Still a practicing attorney and active participant in local education and joblessness discussions, her decision to race veteran Bennie Thompson for the second district of Mississippi is something Thompson said he is taking very seriously.
Source: The Atlanta Post