HELIOLITH

While visiting my parents on the East Coast, (and yes my dear co-author Talula), I had the opportunity to see the powerful documentary film, “Street Fight.” (Wikipedia | Official Site) It’s about Cory Booker’s (Wikipedia | Official Site) unsuccessful but relentless campaign for mayor of the city of Newark, N.J. in 2002. He ran against Sharpe James, who is now serving his 5th term as Mayor of Newark.

If you like documentaries and or good political stories, you’ll appreciate this film. Even though it was covering Cory, and seemed to do little to represent any convincing opinions that actually were pro-Sharpe (maybe there are none?) the way the story unfolded was skillfully edited and shot by Marshall Curry, the director/writer/producer. Sharpe’s clear anger and ill-will toward Marshall (as videographer), evidenced numerous times during the film made the filming itself more riveting and Sharpe’s character fall quickly in stature in the viewer’s eyes.

The depth of venom coming from Sharpe was really incredible. This, along with mafia-style intimidation of anyone who dared to support Booker, the burglary of Booker’s Voter-records, death-threats, and slander that any viewer could reasonably conclude would have been supported or ordered by Sharpe are enough to make anyone take pause and realize how far from the spirit of democracy U.S. politics can go. For a little background on the battle, beyond the film, this excellent piece entitled “The Madness of King James” by Arianna Huffington in Salon speaks quite clearly:

In elected office for 32 years, and feeling the heat of a surprisingly tight race, four-term mayor Sharpe James has leveled a variety of lunatic charges against his opponent, city councilman Cory Booker, accusing him of taking money from the KKK and the Taliban, collaborating with Jews to take over Newark, being a “faggot white boy” and (cover your ears, children) a Republican. What makes this mouth-foaming vitriol especially nutty is that Booker is an African-American, a Democrat and a Stanford and Yale Law School-educated Rhodes scholar, who, in case you’re wondering, is straight and hasn’t received a dime from David Duke or Mullah Omar.

Sharpe’s harsh and inane rhetoric reminded me much too much of the 2004 race between Bush and Kerry where so often the debate clearly went to Marlboro man versus preppy-boy, and many of us had the sinking feeling that image alone is what ends up mattering to most americans when it comes time to vote. I was a bit stunned that Jesse Jackson came out against Booker, as I’ve seen him on the side of good in the past.

Yet the very people who should be on his side or, at least, impartial are viciously attacking him. Jesse Jackson, who Booker campaigned for in 1988, called him “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” — a not so subtle echo of James’ claim that Booker isn’t black enough. “You have to learn to be an African-American,” King James said of his upstart rival. “And we don’t have time to train you.”

James, like so many desperate officeholders clinging to their station, is simply playing the “authenticity” card. It comes in many guises: In Newark it’s blackness, below the Mason-Dixon it’s good-old-boy bona fides, out West it’s rancher roots and in the suburbs it’s NIMBY street cred.

The New Natural in the New York Metro is a good article as well, but if you have the time, rent the movie! It’s worth it. Few individuals in politics impress me with the authenticity and consistency of a positive message. Cory’s weblog a week ago re-iterated the message,

No matter who is in the race we will continue our firm focus on Newark residents and conveying to them our vision for making Newark safe, making our schools stronger and making this economy in Newark serve the people who live in Newark.

This May, following the news on 3/27/06 that Sharpe has dropped out of the race, Booker will run against Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice, and hopefully Cory will be a shoe-in, for after what I’ve seen and read, he, along with the people of Newark, deserve it! It’s crystal clear that this kind of leadership is something that every city needs.