Racing Ahead

The current era is dominated by wedge issues designed to tear our society apart. In order to combat these divisive narratives, it is incumbent upon us all to identify truths capable of cementing the common ground that makes our nation a bastion of hope and prosperity.

To that end, I'd like to share a positive trend related to the subjects of race & power in America. Specifically, I want to highlight the number of big cities that have elected mayors of color.

Record Pace

While I recognize that this stat is but one pixel in a highly complex picture, I think it matters more than it might appear. Unlike presidents, governors, and legislative officeholders, mayors are exclusively involved in the day-to-day lives of the people they represent. Thus, in many ways, men and women on this rung of the political ladder have the strongest personal connection to voters.

If the USA was as racist as it is sometimes made out to be, wouldn't only a handful of our densest population centers choose non-white individuals to lead them? Sure, the hundred largest cities* constitute a relatively small 19% of names on the census and -- yes -- demographics can vary widely between downtown L.A. and rural Louisiana. Nevertheless, it needs to be stated that roughly 75% of those aforementioned metropolises have had at least one minority mayor.

Perhaps the most telling component of that figure is that about half (46%) of today's top dogs fall into this category. When you include mayors who directly preceded the current officeholder, the percentage jumps to over 60%! Rewinding the clock a decade or so further shows that a full 71 of the 100 spots have accomplished this feat in the 21st Century. [Only Henderson, Tampa, and Mesa need to pull from the 1900s to find the last orator who qualifies.]

In several cases, cities have had numerous mayors of color. For example, my own locale (DC) has solely had black leaders since 1967. Now, some may argue that's a function of who is on the rolls. To be fair, we were a majority African American city until not that long ago. [Memphis, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Newark still are.] But that doesn't explain black leaders in El Paso, Colorado Springs, Seattle, L.A., Omaha, Long Beach, Sacramento, Tulsa, and Fort Wayne, considering 15% or fewer of their constituents "look like them."

A Real Achievement

For those who want to claim I am cherry-picking an arbitrary vector, let me be the first to concur. I'm guilty of that accusation, no doubt. There are obviously sections of the map where the first person of color sworn into local government might not come until after we land on Mercury. Besides, naysayers would be quick to insist the evidence I've cited is not a disinfectant for underlying racism in those regions. This assertion is indubitably true, as well. When all it takes is one bad apple to keep a negative trope alive, it's safe to assume that we will never fully eradicate the issue.

But that misses the whole point of this column. Instead of dwelling on an intractable problem, why not celebrate the positives? Like how much better things are compared to 1925 or versus the majority of the modern world? By extension, my mayoral metric is at least worthy of rumination.

We are one of the least racist countries on the planet. Period. The media loves to feed us heaping portions of doom and gloom about our inherent biases, but we know it's a pile of mostly empty rhetoric. For every speculative list that pretends South Africa or Pakistan are somehow more welcoming places, I can reference dozens of tangible faces that demonstrate otherwise.

No matter how you slice it, ballot box results regularly prove America embraces the melting pot mentality. Whether we're discussing shades of skin, sexual preference, or religious background, our neighbors are not afraid to support folks whose lives are markedly different.

Note: the post above may contain commentary reflecting the author's opinion.

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*Top 100 population rankings vary by outlet. We chose to avoid partial year data; which led us to this source focused on 2024 estimates.