The New Face Of America

Like the entertainers and athletes who preceded them as crossover pioneers, a new generation of black Democratic politicians are increasing their political success by offering a broad-based, non-threatening agenda to whites while retaining racial integrity with black voters. A new generation of black politicians — including moderate-liberal Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker (pictured right), liberal Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (pictured left) and moderate-liberal Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala., pictured center) — is challenging the Bible-toting civil rights leaders rather than joining them in reflexive protest marches.

“What I discovered is that the successful ones start from the outside by appealing to white voters first and work back toward their base of black voters”, said PBS anchor Gwen Ifill, the author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. She said that younger black politicians avoid exhibiting any sense of grievance, which tends to frighten white voters.

Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree Jr. taught many of these black politicians and finds it amazing that so many have used their law school education for public service. He calls them the “Joshua generation,” trailing older civil rights leaders, whom he calls the “Moses generation.” “They have expanded the notion of civil rights,” said Professor Ogletree, who advised the Obama campaign. “For them, it wasn’t enough to have the right to eat in a restaurant or stay in a hotel — it was about them making it possible for others to own the restaurant or the hotel.”