Blacks and McGreevey By Jamal Watson/Jamal Watson

NEW YORK NEWS
Blacks offer lukewarm support for McGreevey
by JAMAL WATSON
Amsterdam News Staff
Originally posted 8/19/2004

Gloria White says she isn't vindictive, but these days the Trenton mother of three is glowing over the resignation of New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, who said that he would step down from office in November because he is gay and had a sexual relationship with another man outside of his marriage.

''I'm not a mean-spirited person, but I strongly believe that what goes around will eventually come around,'' said White, 56, who was one of thousands of New Jersey residents who lashed out at McGreevey last year when he publicly chastised poet Amiri Baraka and then fired him from his post as the state's poet laureate after Baraka wrote what some have called an ''anti-Semitic'' poem.

''I'm still mad at what he [McGreevey] did to Baraka, so I have very little sympathy for him at this time,'' said White, who has followed Baraka's work closely over the years. ''God just does not like ugly.''

Reaction in the Black community to McGreevey's resignation has been mixed, with some Blacks calling for the governor's ouster, while others have remained staunch supporters of the 47-year-old politician, who quickly rose through the ranks of New Jersey politics.

''Family members and friends stick together during tough times, and I consider myself a friend of Jim McGreevey,'' said State Senator Wayne R. Bryant (D-Camden), an African-American who chairs the powerful Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

''Jim McGreevey's leadership has achieved many good things and helped many New Jerseyans improve the quality of their lives,'' Bryant said. ''He can count on my support and continued friendship throughout this difficult time.''

Polls suggest that African-Americans have traditionally adhered to the principle that the personal life of a politician should be separate from their political duties, which is why many unabashedly supported former President Bill Clinton during his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky Even Rev. Jesse L. Jackson quickly received a warm embrace from Blacks after it became known that he cheated on his wife and fathered a child out of wedlock.

But some say that the lack of support for McGreevey, who has said that he is gay and had a relationship with a man, has much to do with the uneasiness that many Blacks feel toward homosexuals.

Reverend Jacques DeGraff, a political consultant who managed Reverend Al Sharpton's mayoral campaign, disagrees with that analysis, saying that McGreevey attempted to use his gay status as a means of shifting attention from a corruption scandal that allegedly involved putting the man who he had a sexual relationship with on the public payroll.

Golan Cipel, an Israeli, held prominent positions in McGreevey's administration, including director of Homeland Security for the state. He was later re-appointed to another state position after reporters questioned his credentials for the job.

In a statement released this week, Cipel said that he was a victim of McGreevey's repeated sexual advances, adding that he lacked the ''strength to disentangle myself from such an oppressive environment and from such a manipulative person.''

Some Blacks, including DeGraff, say that McGreevey should put the Democratic Party's interests before his own and should depart office before his announced November 15 date.

''The reality is that for many Blacks who are Democrats, there is a feeling that he has hurt the party,'' said DeGraff. ''Black folks are saying, ?'We are disappointed. You vigorously courted our vote and then you failed to uphold the minimal standards of public office.'"

DeGraff said that McGreevey's failure to step aside before November may cause a political backlash that might turn the governorship over to Republicans.

George Richardson, who served for eight years in the New Jersey Assembly in the 1960s, suspects that as pressure continues to mount, McGreevey may have to leave office early.

''Most Black people think he's been a good leader and they're willing to forgive a Democratic governor who has strayed a bit,'' said Richardson, who was the only African-American in the Statehouse for many years. ''But McGreevey was in serious political trouble before this scandal.''

Those scandals included campaign donations and botched political appointments.

But for Sabrina Harris, 21, of Newark, the biggest scandal McGreevey made was his decision to oust Baraka.

McGreevey called on Baraka to resign from the poet-laureate post for writing ''Somebody Blew Up America,'' a poem that the governor called ''anti-Semitic.'' When Baraka refused to resign, McGreevey urged the state legislature to pass legislation abolishing the position, effectively terminating the poet. In July of last year McGreevey signed into law a bill abolishing the position. Last April, Baraka filed a federal lawsuit against McGreevey.

''As much as I want to support him, I can't,'' said Harris, a nursing student. ''I can't stop thinking about how he dissed one of our own.''

Jamal Watson can be reached at [email protected].