Black mayor of Mississippi town brings 'atomic bomb of change'
- Story Highlights
- Philadelphia, Mississippi, elects first black mayor
- Town of 8,000 is best known for its notorious past, the killings of 3
civil rights workers
- James Young won election by 46 votes; the town has a 55 percent white
population
- "When you've been treated the way we've been treated ... it's so
overwhelming"
updated 52 minutes ago
By Ed Lavandera
CNN Correspondent
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*PHILADELPHIA, Mississippi (CNN)* -- James Young still remembers the Ku Klux
Klan tormenting his neighborhood. He can still see his father holding a gun
on the living room couch ready to shoot anyone who threatened his family.
[image: James Young poses with one of his young supporters after winning
this week's election.]
James Young poses with one of his young supporters after winning this week's
election.
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Nothing about Young's childhood ever made him think he could be the mayor of
Philadelphia, Mississippi, the town best known for the killings of three
civil rights workers in 1964.
That's the way it was for black kids growing up in this crucible of racial
hostility -- big dreams were often squelched. Sitting on a sprawling
Southern front porch this week, Young broke down in tears about what it
means to be elected the town's first black mayor.
"When you've been treated the way we've been treated," he told CNN, choking
up and then pausing to wipe the tears from his face. [image: Video] *Watch
tearful Young describe victory
»*<http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/22/mississippi.black.mayor/index.html#cnnSTCVideo>
For a moment, he couldn't speak. He then regrouped, "That's why it's so
overwhelming to be a part of this history."
This week, the 53-year-old Young was elected the mayor of Philadelphia, a
town of about 8,000 in the east-central part of the state. Despite a 55
percent white majority, Young defeated Rayburn Waddell, a white, three-term
incumbent, by the slim margin of 46 votes. *See where the town is
located
»*<http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/22/mississippi.black.mayor/index.html#cnnSTCOther1>
Young described the victory as "an atomic bomb of change." Another resident
rejoiced, saying Young's win symbolized the scab finally falling off this
town's wound.
"I couldn't even have wrote that in a fairy tale," Young said. "Who would
have thought a little country boy like me would be mayor of Philadelphia,
Mississippi?"
Philadelphia was the site of one of the most notorious killings of the *civil
rights era* <http://topics.cnn.com/topics/civil_rights>. On June 21, 1964,
three civil rights workers -- James Chaney, a 21-year-old black man from
Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24, both activists
from New York -- were shot to death at the edge of town. The killings
inspired the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning."
"Philadelphia will always be connected to what happened here in 1964," said
Jim Prince, the publisher of the Neshoba Democrat newspaper.
"But the fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi, with its notorious past, could
elect a black man as mayor, it might be time to quit picking on
Philadelphia, Mississippi."
Young knows his slim margin of victory means he still has to earn the trust
of many more voters here. He knows there are still some in town who won't
vote for him because he's black, but he says that number gets smaller and
smaller as time passes.
"We have some -- a very small pocket -- that will never change. That's what
we've got to deal with," said Young.
The mayor-elect says his election symbolizes a dramatic shift away from his
hometown's racist past. And for many black residents, it means they can
finally call this place home.
"The places where we were locked out, I'm gonna have the key," he said. "The
places we couldn't go, I've got the key. No better way to say it than that."
Don't Miss
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America*<http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/black.in.america/>
He takes special pride that his victory comes the same year the nation swore
in its first African-American president in *Barack
Obama*<http://topics.cnn.com/topics/barack_obama>.
"It inspired people," Young said. "There are times and seasons, I think, for
everything. The season arrived and the people let me know it was my time."
The mayor-elect says he won by shaking hands and knocking on doors all over
town. But the groundwork for Young's climb to the top of Philadelphia's
political world started decades ago.
Young was one of the first black students to integrate Philadelphia's white
schools. After graduating from high school, he worked in a motor factory and
then as a hospital housekeeper.
A white boss noticed Young's charming people skills and recommended that he
become a paramedic. He eventually worked his way up to become the director
of the EMT unit, and that catapulted him to his first elected job as a
county supervisor in 1991.
He is also a Pentecostal minister preaching on Sunday and organizing weekly
Bible studies.
"I've been prepping for this. I felt like I knew enough people. I felt like
they knew me and that if I could convince them to just give me the
opportunity, things could happen," said Young.
Driving around Philadelphia in a 1981 Ford pickup truck, Young basked in the
glow of victory. He calls it the "honeymoon" period. As we drove down the
road, black and white residents cheered.
"We're so happy," screamed one lady.
Young shouted back, "We did it!"
Until he's sworn in as mayor, Young will work out of a makeshift transition
office provided by a prominent attorney. His victory might seem unlikely but
there's little time left to celebrate.
"It's an awesome feeling to have that kind of respect that people support
you in this way," Young said near the end of our interview. "I'll never let
the people down which called for that."
--
"I'm selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of
control, and at times hard to handle, but if you can't handle me at my
worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." ~Marilyn Monroe
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