Newark mayor calls for American unity

The talk was titled “The Past: A Testimony to the Impossible” and focused on race in American history.

Booker discussed the racial segregation and discrimination his parents faced during their youth, both before and after college.

Despite these challenges, Booker said, his parents encouraged him to appreciate both the good and the bad in America.

Booker, a Democrat who has been described by the media as a post-racial politican and often compared to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), succeeded long-time Newark Mayor Sharpe James in 2006, earning 72 percent of the vote against his opponent, state senator Ronald Rice.

Booker, a Rhodes Scholar, received his undergraduate degree from Stanford and his J.D. from Yale Law School. He unsuccessfully ran against James, who led Newark for about two decades, in 2002.

Booker grew up in the prosperous town of Harrington Park, N.J., but moved into Brick Towers, a housing project in Newark, when he decided to enter local politics after law school. He lived there until October 2006, when the building’s demolition began.

“True understanding of America ... does not avert its gaze from ugliness,” Booker explained, adding that only by embracing history can we “discover the beauty of who we truly are.”

He cited the story of Emmett Till, a black teenager who was murdered in Mississippi in 1955, as an example of unpleasant and disregarded truths throughout history, noting that the Till’s mother displayed her son’s mutilated body at his funeral to show the world the truth about what had happened.

Booker also spoke briefly about Martin Luther King, Jr., explaining that people should be cautious in “creating heroes” and that Americans should instead focus on the extraordinary deeds of ordinary people to “carry us forth.”

The unity of ordinary Americans is crucial to overcoming the perilous time in which we find ourselves, Booker said, adding that he believes the national anthem has the potential to bring people together.

“It’s the center song ... [the] most powerful playlist in humanity” Booker said, adding that he gets misty every time he hears it.

It’s “our turn now [to] sing the song of America ... and manifest our destiny,” he said.

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After the lecture, Booker returned to the stage for a question and answer session in which he expressed his support for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and briefly addressed the issues of the economy, calling the recent crisis a “wake-up call for everyone in the country.”

When the discussion was over, Booker was swarmed by audience members, most of whom were community members wanting to congratulate him.

“[I’ve been a] fan for a long time” Maxx Frost ‘12 said while waiting in line to speak with Booker. “He always seemed to open [my] eyes to something new.”

The Toni Morrison lectures, now in their third year, are named for the renowned author and emeritus professor and are intended to address issues of race. Booker will deliver two more lectures in the series today and Friday.