Marshall Curry's Street Fight

Throughout all levels of American politics incumbents running for reelection have a huge and systematic advantage over their challengers. In this paper, the incumbency advantage will be examined through the lens of James “Jim” McDermott’s continual reelection in Washington’s 7th Congressional District and Sharpe James, the longtime mayor of Newark. James’ incumbency advantage is especially interesting in the context of 2002 mayoral campaign, where he was nearly unseated by Cory Booker. Both McDermott and James served their constituents for over 30 years and developed sizable incumbency advantages, though in some cases they were used in different ways. Looking at the differences demographically between Newark and Washington’s 7th Congressional District can be striking, but if instead the incumbency advantage is considered, the similarities are wide reaching and fascinating. In this paper, six major elements of incumbency advantage will be looked at: name recognition, party advantage, redistricting, constituency service, focus on candidates and special incumbent privileges.

The Book “Fist Stick Knife Gun” by Geoffrey Canada is a biographical account of his childhood in the south Bronx. He and his 4 brothers were raised by only their mother. She would survive on no more than ten dollars a week. He moved several times as a child until finally landing on union avenue, the place were many of his life lessons were learned and at times applied. He learned about the ranking process of kids on union Ave. and how the only way to improve your status was to use your fists to fight your way up the chain. Looking back Geoffrey Canada notices the major shift in attitudes concerning the rules of the streets. What once was harmless fist fighting has now turned over to

Although tensions existed between both blocs, Harold Washington was able to prove that African American, like whites, could effectively run politics. The Mayor was able to renew the face of Chicago politics through a “rainbow coalition” that entailed the inclusion to high positions in the city government of “minorities, women, progressive whites and gays”. City agencies were more accountable, funds for social services were now given “to churches, social service organizations, and community organizations” so in this way there was not a patronage system been execute. He provided to many different communities the power needed to progress, a vision never seen before in Chicago. However, the City Council Wars saw an increased in the number committees going from 29 to 37 benefiting the “majority bloc supporters with chairmanships” and the budget for more council staff also grew. The end of Council Wars occurred when elections for aldermen took place in seven wards where racial inequality existed in Byrne’s remapping (CH7).

Show the community that we are involved in it in a very meaningful way. This was the strategy that Adam chose because it shows that he truly cares about the community and not just doing these nice activities to appear appealing to the community. The important thing about this is that it obviously needs to have a positive outcome. The first thing that we desired this approach to do was to gain the support of the community leaders. These community leaders include natural leaders within the community, Union Leaders, and politically active citizens. One example of these community leaders was Lisa Boggs. She is a Civic Association Leader and is on the Ward Committee. This was important because it helped us gain the support of republicans who have not voted democrat in a very long time. While being meaningfully involved in the community and gaining the trust of the community leaders Adam did not ask for an endorsement until the very end. He did this on purpose because he believed that you have to show you are willing to help them before they will be ready to help you. In addition to showing his meaningful involvement in the community when we went canvassing Adam insisted that we leave a personal note on the literature that we left to show that we truly cared about talking with them. In addition to showing how much we truly cared about the community and gaining the trust of the community leaders, we also relied on Mike Stinziano and Dan Stewart to help gain the trust of the voters in our district. Democrats in the district know both of these men and trust them both. They helped our campaign immensely and this is obvious through Dan Stewart helped Adam get the support of the Somalian Voters. We won ninety percent of the Somalian vote. When it came time to start canvassing Adam decided he wanted us to start in The Westgate Neighborhood, specifically Ward 32 and work our way outwards. He believed this because this

The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia in the early 1970’s. The MOVE movement was one of “back-to-nature,” which was poorly understood by their urban neighbors and the local government and possibly by the organization itself (McCoy). John Africa, who is said to have been illiterate, founded MOVE. It was a loosely organized and sparsely populated organization. I argue that the failure of MOVE to “bow to the man” and the lack of police and government self-control, led to the abuse of power and police brutality that culminated on May 13, 1985 of which the magnitude Black’s theories fail to predict. Black’s theories on law, specifically “Socio Economic Status” and “Organization” and its bearing on the application of law, will be used

The Book "Fist Stick Knife Gun" by Geoffrey Canada is a biographical account of his childhood in the south Bronx. He and his 4 brothers were raised by only their mother. She would survive on no more than ten dollars a week. He moved several times as a child until finally landing on union avenue, the place were many of his life lessons were learned and at times applied. He learned about the ranking process of kids on union Ave. and how the only way to improve your status was to use your fists to fight your way up the chain. Looking back Geoffrey Canada notices the major shift in attitudes concerning the rules of the streets. What once was

As this rather tame election season comes to a close, City Councilor Tito Jackson and current Mayor Marty Walsh are vying for the position as Mayor of Boston. As a strong incumbent, Walsh has many goals to continue the progress he has brought to Boston. Tito Jackson is the current city councilor for District 7 in Boston, which consists of Roxbury, Dorchester, the South End, and Fenway. While both of them are democrats, they have proved to be fierce competition for each other, even though Walsh’s current polling is about 35 percentage points over Jackson. Jackson has big plans for “his” Boston, while Walsh wants to continue to make Boston a better place overall by continuing change. Due to his previous successes, continuing policies, and

Throughout the campaign, Booker and his supporters faced fierce opposition from Sharpe James. Sharpe employed questionable tactics to gain an upper hand over Booker. Sharpe abused his power to compromise Booker’s

“It was time, I thought, for someone to stand up for what’s right; and it might as well be me.” Ivan Allen Jr. wrote these words in a journal just days after the Atlanta mayoral election of 1961. Allen Jr. made the decision early on in his political career to base his choice-making not on the polls, but on his own moral values. He possessed a certain quiet strength that made him an admirable character in the political scene. His fortitude of character and bravery enabled him to become one of the most impactful mayors in our nation’s history.

Personal phone calls and mail orders is an additional way of raising money. This area relies more on his ability to attract voters by laying the foundation of who he is and how his agenda will help the constituents of the 5th district prosper. Josh Gottheimer was born and grew up in Livingston New Jersey, which resides in the 11th district, right below the 5th. Being from around that area gives him a huge advantage because he is familiar with the people there and what they need the most. He needs to create a reason as to why the voters should vote for him and not the opposition. “I believe that we need more people in Congress who are willing to work across the aisle – with Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – to get things done for our families and for children.” (Gottheimer) This message of inclusiveness and cooperation will play well, especially because of the political environment that we live in. He must keep his message simple enough to reach a broad range of people. Pamphlets that are distributed by mail should be comprised of a few major components. People are attracted to the simplicity in political brochures. A pamphlet with his face and a few crucial aspects of his agenda will be efficient enough to garner donations. His ability to raise substantial amounts of money and have his policies reach and resonate with residents will make or break his campaign.

The Newark uprising of 1967 was the result of many different forms of injustices directed against the black community in Newark. Police brutality was one of the major factors that contributed to the people’s uprising. When governor Hughes appointed a committee to investigate the causes of the uprising and the ways to improve the relationship between the police and the Newark’s community, there were many testimonies and evidences that proved that police brutality was one of the major causes leading to the uprising. Despite all the data and the evidences that the Governor’s Commission Report (GSCCD) included and the testimonies of many people that witnessed the uprising, the Report of the New Jersey State Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) rejected the findings to the Governor’s Commission Report and claimed that police brutality was just a stereotype in the African American neighborhoods. They suggested that the main reason that caused the uprising was the “weakness of official response” (PBA Report ix) to criminal acts done by members of the black community. This paper will focus mainly on assessing the arguments made by the PBA report and comparing them with the GSCCD report and the testimonies of the witnesses of the uprising.

Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.

African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist, Malcolm X, in his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet”, articulates his views on how the nation should be reacting to current civil rights events and the discrimination taking place throughout the nation. Malcolm X’s purpose is to convey how crucial it is for citizens push for change and choose between ‘the ballot or the bullet’. He utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos in order to persuade citizens to take action in Cleveland. Ohio.

While the population is diverse, the economic and class structure are not. The city is segregated amongst social and class lines that have caused conflict between the residence and the police force for some time (Inkeep, 2015). Because of these past interactions between the Baltimore citizens and police, the events pose sociological interests that are different from other recent riots and protests. In addition, the context is different because unlike past riots where ethnic race was a contributor, this riot was more about social injustice

Uprisings against police crimes, protests on Israeli occupation, lobbying for gay rights, striking for a higher minimum wage, etc. are all fought with the same fist and same power: that of the people. Just in recent months, black activists in Chicago have traveled with student groups to Palestine in opposition of apartheid, and Palestinians marched beside the black community during the Black Lives Matter movement. Political prisoner Angela Davis lead the community hand-in-hand with Rasmea Odeh, a contemporary victim of political repression. The same can be said about so many other organizations and communities here in Chicago. The struggles of so many across the globe are unified here in Chicago by the thread of tyranny and injustice. This unifying thread only serves to symbolize how struggles belong to no single body or group of people, but are obstacles that must be overcome by the global