Brooklyn Politics: The Changing Same

In a race marked by racial tensions and the declining fortune of the Brooklyn Democratic machine, Yvette Clarke squeaked out a Democratic primary victory in central Brooklyn’s 11th Congressional district on Sept. 12. Clarke came in with 31 percent of the vote, just ahead of insurgent candidate David Yassky’s 26 percent.

Clarke is daughter of former political scion Una Clarke, and has, at best, a lackluster record in her five-year tenure on the city council. Much to the chagrin of her constituents, she also supports the Atlantic Yards development project. But her victory was met by a collective sigh of relief for much of the district’s Black and Caribbean community.

Her opponent, Yassky, was no ordinary candidate: He’s white and Jewish, two signifiers that carry meaning in central Brooklyn, a community where many still bear the scars of the Crown Heights riots in 1991. Created as a result of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 11th elected Shirley Chisholm as the first Carribean woman to Congress. Chisholm used the seat for the benefit of her community, while creating a broad political base that eventually led her to run for president in 1972.

In contrast, Yassky is a political centrist who was backed by the city real estate companies (he also supports the Atlantic Yards project). He hoped to take advantage of the influx of white young urban professionals who are now forming a cultural and political bloc in central Brooklyn. He moved three blocks into the 11th, with hopes of sailing to Washington on white support and a divided Black vote. Two other African-American candidates, State Senator Carl Andrews and Chris Owens, son of the district’s retiring Congressman Major Owens, were also running in the primary.

Many in the Black community denounced Yassky’s run as pure opportunism. During Yassky’s campaign swing through the Wyckoff Gardens housing development, a chocolate donut was hurled at his contingent. Ironically, a police officer serving security detail caught the fructose-glazed missile. No one was hurt, including Mayor Bloomberg who accompanied Yassky to tout new security measures at the projects.

“They wouldn’t let a Black candidate run in a white community,” one Wyckoff resident commented on Yassky’s campaign.

Still, a bigger question loomed in this election: the question of political power, particularly in African and Caribbean communities. When Brooklyn Democratic head Clarence Norman, one of the most powerful men in the New York State assembly, was convicted on embezzlement charges, it represented the overall weakening of the Black political center in New York City.

Term limits for city councilmembers have led to a feeding frenzy in which traditionally staid politicians are drooling at the chance to gain a position of some stability. In Brooklyn that means the continuation of a legacy system that looks like a scene from The Godfather. Various families, such as the Boylands out of East New York, the Clarkes and the Owens, fight for turf. With the impending retirement of the old guard (Major Owens and possibly Charles Rangel if the Democrats don’t win the House), the primary in the 11th signals a tremendous power shift among local Democratic politicos.

Fear of losing this traditional Black district provided the impetus for political unity. For the first time in many years, a Black Brooklyn Empowerment Convention was called. Among the many topics were education, housing and police brutality. Still, the major draw was how to defeat Yassky and maintain the gains of civil rights in the district. Al Sharpton attempted to broker a deal where one of the candidates would drop out, but none agreed.

Progressives feared that the Brooklyn machine was only concerned with defeating the Yassky threat without fielding progressive candidates all around. A clear example of this was the lack of support behind Chris Owens. Owens ran on a strong antiwar campaign and is a vocal opponent of gentrification. In addition, Owens was the candidate of choice for many white progressives, which would have made him an attractive candidate. Yet Owens was a bit too independent for the Brooklyn machine, as indicated by his attempts to win the Green Party ballot.

One would hope that this election would become the staging ground for a broader unity of Black activists ranging from moderates to radicals in order to work on issues like schools, health care and ever-increasing gentrification. Yet Clarke’s victory leaves one feeling that the Brooklyn machine is more than happy with the status quo. Without a real opponent in the general election in November, Clarke is sure to become the next congresswoman in the district. It seems that the community may have won the battle, but