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Photo: Mike Derer |
An abridged version of this article
appeared in the print magazine.
When Cory Booker moved to Newark in 1995, he had
no intention of becoming a politician in New Jersey’s largest municipality,
a predominantly black city that was shaped by racial riots
in 1967 and recently has been called one of the poorest of
its size in the nation. The Yale law graduate took up residence
in Newark’s troubled Central Ward to start a nonprofit
neighborhood legal organization. By 1998, he was the youngest
councilman in Newark history. In May, he was elected mayor
3 to 1, the largest margin of victory ever recorded in
Newark.
The
city council seat was the first step in an embattled political
trajectory. Booker, ’91, MA ’92, lost
his 2002 mayoral contest to Sharpe James by 6 percentage
points; the racial politics that surfaced during the campaign
gained national attention and were captured in the 2005
Academy Award-nominated documentary Street
Fight. According
to media reports, James, a 16-year incumbent, falsely claimed
that Booker was white, Jewish, gay and a Republican. “I
was surprised and disappointed,” Booker
says. “There are real racial realities in our country,
and some people exploit racial essentialism for narrow
political gains.” James decided not to seek re-election
this year.
In the past four years, Booker split his time
as a partner in his law firm and with his nonprofit grassroots
organization, Newark Now. As mayor, he plans to focus on
reducing crime, empowering youth, strengthening the economy
and reforming City Hall.
Although the Democratic Leadership
Council named him one of “100 To Watch,” Booker
says he has not made plans for his political future. “My
abiding purpose has been making change in urban America,
and more specifically, Newark,” he says. It’s
going to be a long effort, and my life will be tremendously
different. It’s hard
to think about what I’ll want to do. I prefer to think
about the present.” |
