Filibuster CartoonsTitle: Mayoral shockers (click to view)
Date: October 21, 2010
Canadians across the land were shocked to learn that Calgary, of all places, had elected the country's first ever Muslim-Canadian mayor this week. Naheed Nenshi, a young, left-leaning political activist of Indo-African descent, was the surprise victor in a tight three-way race against two more conservative (and white) rivals. Until now, none of Canada's major cities have even had a non-white mayor before, so to go all the way to non-white Muslim... well, it's a lot to take in.
It's the Calgary factor that has most people surprised, however, since the city is known for being an epicenter of political conservatism in Canada. Its university is known for churning out many of the country's leading right-wingers (including Stephen Harper), all nine of its MPs are Conservatives, and its former mayor is Ralph Klein, who later went on to become one of Canada's most boisterously reactionary provincial premiers. It would be like Houston, Texas, electing an open lesbian as their mayor... except that already happened, too.
These sorts of case studies — conservative communities electing individuals who seem to contradict their supposed bigotries — are quite fascinating, and more common than you might think. It's especially interesting when you consider how little the cities themselves seem to care, in contrast to outsiders.
The problem is that we tend to analyze the Calgary or Houston elections from a liberal, cosmopolitan perspective, in which things like race and sexuality are these huge, huge deals that we all care and talk so much about. Minorities politicians from cosmopolitan areas thus tend to wear these identities with great pride and flamboyance, self-righteously highlighting
just how important it is that they are running for office, and what a progressive act it would be to elect them. And sometimes it works, and sometimes it turns people off enormously.
In more conservative communities, it seems, minority candidates either downplay or don't care to make a big deal of their minority-ness. Sometimes this is, sadly, out of fear of riling up bigots, but just as often it's because the public at large is indifferent to such appeals. If you're trying to get elected in a community with few minorities to begin with, and one that lacks a well-established multicultural infrastructure, then your race, religion, or sexuality becomes a fairly neutral property. It's different, sure, but difference in the context of a self-confidently homogeneous populace is far less threatening — or even interesting.
The case could also be made that minorities in such communities also have to work a lot harder to be taken seriously, since the deck of bigotry may be stacked against them, and they lack access to the dominant white-male-whatever power structure that runs the show. This is definitely the thesis I've heard used to explain the success of Condoleezza Rice, for instance, or why Ann Richards of Texas was one of the first females to ever be elected governor of a US state. Unless you're comfortable remaining part of the underclass, you'll have to work twice as hard as everyone around you. And ambitious go-getters — of any race — eventually wind up in positions of power.
By the way, speaking of white male power structures, the other big mayor-related news of the last month was the announcement of Chicago's mayor Richard Daley that he plans to finally step down when his current term ends in 2011. Daley has been serving since 1989, and has held an iconic place in American politics as one of the last "Boss Tweed" style mayors, with an entire statewide political machine at his disposal. Mayor Daley's father was also mayor for several decades (of course), and many expected the son to follow in the footsteps of the elder, and keep getting re-elected until he eventually keeled over in office. But now, for whatever reason, the younger Daley has said no, and is going to exit city hall under his own free will, rather than in a casket.
Who's the mayor of your city? Is he or she unconventional in any way, or just a tired symbol of the ruling establishment? I'd be curious to hear.
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