Christopher Peak Photo
Harp & Elicker at mayoral campaign forum.
With less than two weeks to go before a mayoral primary, someone publicly asked Justin Elicker that question — thrusting a nuanced discussion of race and politics out into the open.
The question concerned how the race of candidates should be weighed and discussed — especially in an election like the Sept. 10 Democratic mayoral primary, in which Elicker, a white man, is challenging an experienced incumbent black woman, Toni Harp.
It came, in various forms, from two African-American women Wednesday night at the end of a mayoral forum hosted by CERCLE, a group advocating for early child care programs.
Georgia Goldburn, the Hope Child Development Center’s director, popped the question. She asked why the Elicker’s campaign decided to repost on its website this New Haven Independent op-ed written by educator Gary Highsmith urging fellow African-Americans to “think beyond the candidates’ race by closely examining their records,” which prompted this impassioned debate among Independent commenters.
A follow-up question by Tamesha Robinson, CERCLE’s executive director, pressed Elicker on whether Highsmith’s article would lead to a job as schools superintendent if he wins the election.
The exchange prompted Elicker to openly address difficult questions about race and politics that have simmered barely below the surface during the campaign.
Policy differences aside, in a city that’s predominantly black and brown, would something be lost if a white man unseats a black woman? More pointedly, the first black woman to ever sit in that office? When is and isn’t race relevant in choosing candidates for public office? Should black voters be singled out for how race influences their vote? And what is owed to the outspoken black supporters of a white candidate challenging a black elected official?
The full text of the exchange follows.
Not “Stupid”
Georgia Goldburn at the forum.
GOLDBURN: My personal belief is that the Democratic Party doesn’t really serve people of color. I consider myself an independent who makes really good choices, and I pay a lot of attention to politics and what’s happening with politicians.
But in doing this work I also understand the importance of representation. I understand, especially in this climate, why people feel they need to have people that look like them and kind of reflect their lived experiences in these positions where policies are being made.
In 2016, I decided I was not going to vote for anybody, because Hillary Clinton made it very clear that black people were not important to her. And if I had to make the choice today, I would still make the choice that I did and wouldn’t vote for either one of them.
I feel like I’m a very sophisticated voter. So it was very insulting to me to see on your website — even though it wasn’t your op-ed — an op-ed that basically says you have people who may feel, right or wrong, that representation is important; that between the choice of people who are serving you really very well, I’m going to choose people that kind of look like me and reflect my lived experience.
I think it was absolutely insulting for a person to say that a person [with that perspective] is stupid. He never used that word, but he used a very sophisticated way to say people who make those choices are stupid.
He’s entitled to his opinion, but for me, when you put that on your website, it felt like you were endorsing the sentiment in that op-ed.
You are planning to become the mayor of a city that’s predominantly black and brown. I get the politics, the racial stuff, all of that: You’re not going to convince people on either side; you’re basically fighting for people the middle. If you have something on your website saying people in the middle are stupid if they feel like representation — whether it’s related to race or gender — is a stupid way to cast your vote, I just think it was so offensive.
I wanted to hear your position on that and what your thinking was about what was in that op-ed.
ELICKER: I appreciate you sharing your story and experience. As you said, I did not write that op-ed: Gary Highsmith, who has a very, very long history in New Haven and Hamden in the education system, wrote that. He did not run that by me. We put a lot of things on our website, like many articles that are affiliated with the campaign.
I do believe that it’s important for there to be many more people of color and women in leadership positions. I think that’s critical, particularly for me, if I’m going to be a white male running a majority black and brown city to surround myself and have department heads that are representative of all of New Haven. Of course, those people will also be highly qualified and have background and expertise.
But I think that’s really important, because people who have different lived experiences add a wealth of knowledge and expertise and a voice from the community at the leadership levels that is all too often not there. I think it’s critical that we have that kind of leadership.
I don’t believe people vote based on identity as much as you’ll hear the pundits say. And that’s one reason why I am knocking on doors all around New Haven and trying to earn every single person’s vote in this city. I’m spending a few hours a day calling people all over the city.
Because I think that this president is an example of someone that is trying to divide us and promote this idea that we are more different from each other than the same. I think that’s wrong. I think that brings us to a point where we’re not going to be productive at resolving these many issues, like early childhood education.
So I hear what you’re saying, and I appreciate you sharing it. The big picture here is that we do need more leaders of color, and we all have an ownership over the best leadership in this city and ensuring that those people reflect the diversity of this city.
Quid Pro Quo?
ROBINSON: I have a follow-up question to that. Representation is absolutely important. But if you are elected mayor, it’s more important who you would put as part of your administration, who would value the opinions, even if they’re the opposite of the people they are here to serve.
I also did not vote in 2016, and if I had to choose again, I would make the same choice. For me, I am an issues-based person. If you are for my issues, then I will vote for you.
But if you clearly state that you have a viewpoint of who I am in the way that I choose, then I don’t know if I want you, even if you look like me. I don’t know if I want you to be representing me at all. If you are elected mayor and if you were to appoint Mr. Highsmith, I personally, as a resident of New Haven, would feel offended by that appointment.
I want to speak directly to what you said, that it is more important in our society today to have people who are representative of their communities but it’s also important that these people don’t view their community with disdain. I’d like to hear what you think about that.
ELICKER: You’re right. Just to respond to that specific question, I don’t promise anyone anything in this election, except that I’m going to work hard and follow my heart and my conscience. To be clear, I‘m not promising anyone a job or anything in exchange for their support. I have not and I will never do that. I just want to be clear about that.
I appreciate your comment. The City of New Haven’s leadership needs to listen to the community, even if we, as a community, may end up in different places than each other. A respectful dialogue, listening and then action on things that the data shows is the right way to go and that the community believes is the right way to go is what we need to implement.
Not just listening. Listening’s really important — but this is something I hear around the city that people are really frustrated — that it’s not just listening but also implementing.
The one other thing I would add is Hillary Clinton is not running. Please vote for the Democrat, whoever they are, in this presidential election.
Watch the entire forum below.
Harp has never knocked on my door to introduce herself. Never contacted me through any means for that purpose. Not in any one of the elections she's been involved in.
She has a history of holding office, yet being unrepresentative, which goes far beyond her experience as a mayor. As it turns out, she was a State Senator since 1992. But I had not even heard of her name until she ran for mayor in 2013.
None of these discussions should be strictly about race. They should be about accountability, and the history of such. Accountability goes beyond race.