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October 30, 2003

Vote wisely

The announcement of Louise Day Hicks’ death stirred painful memories for those old enough to remember. For about 20 years, from 1960 to 1980, she was Boston’s symbol of racial intolerance. In a city that was an aggregation of ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods, she was the doyenne of Irish hegemony.

Her battlefield was the Boston public schools. There was a delusion in South Boston, a traditional Irish working class enclave, that they owned the public schools located there. Her defense of neighborhood schools attracted support from West Roxbury and other areas intent on excluding the children of the growing black population.

Ironically, blacks were not opposed to the concept of neighborhood schools. The problem was that the financial resources of the school system were inequitably distributed. The schools in Roxbury were allowed to deteriorate, experienced teachers were less likely to be assigned there, and books and school materials were scarce.

Hicks launched her political career by being elected to the school committee in 1961. By 1967 she decided that she had the political strength to be elected mayor. Fortunately for Boston she was defeated by Kevin White. During her heyday, a political defeat was merely preparation for the next race. In 1970 she was elected to the US Congress from the 9th Congressional District, which includes most of Boston’s black community.

The late Joe Moakley ran as an independent in 1972 so he could face Hicks head on in the final election. Although Moakley, a son of South Boston, lost to Hicks there by 2,428 votes and he lost West Roxbury by 4,500 votes, he out-polled Hicks by 6,878 votes in Roxbury and Mattapan. That margin, plus the votes from the suburbs, put Moakley over the top. This defeat essentially ended Hicks’ political career.

Despite her exit from the political scene, Hicks’ successors continued the battle to segregate Boston’s schools until the matter was resolved by a federal district court opinion in 1974. Because of the stubborn refusal of the school committee to comply with the law, precious dollars had to be spent to finance the city’s school busing program required by the court.

Blacks who fought in those battles are profoundly aware that the conflict was more the result of ethnic competition for power and control rather than mere racial animosity. Fortunately, there has been a change in Boston. The overt expression of racial hostility has lessened, but there is little to indicate that Boston has really entered an era of power sharing.

Many older blacks who remember well the Louise Day Hicks era are concerned that those too young to have experienced those days will be deceived by today’s superficial spirit of racial détente. This concern is fueling support for Charles Yancey in the city council race against Ego Ezedi. There is a fear that young politicians will be beguiled by the new spirit of racial courtesy and forget that the ethnic competition for power is still alive and well.

There is one lesson from the Hicks era that is irrefutable. Voting is important. The black vote for Moakley in 1972 offset his losses in Irish strongholds and brought to an end the era of Hicks as a potent political force.

A politically involved black community will attract competent young candidates to present themselves for public office. But to be effective they will have to absorb the lessons learned by their elders.

 

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