Neighborhood Ambiguities
Gena M. Watson
The political traditions used to secure elected office are embedded in the culture of many neighborhoods. These traditions include politicians, community leaders, and prospective candidates working together to help neighborhood organizations provide services to the residents of the community. These traditions and practices include joining a political club to support party initiatives and help the candidates endorsed by the club win election; attending neighborhood churches to share resources with influential clergy members the community depends on; and attending block parties, street fairs and traditional community festivities. These are shared strategies elected officials have used to secure and maintain elected office. For generations, African American churches have influenced United States politics and social activism and play a crucial role in large scale cultural change (Gryboski, 2024).
Community advocates depend on these political traditions and activism. However, it is often difficult to gain access to these groups as a political candidate. Community members do not typically consider themselves part of local political machines. According to Antionne Pierre, political director of the Brooklyn Movement Center a community advocate group, “If we want New York City to be a socially just place to live, we can’t just fight the fight. We have to build the infrastructure to protect and develop our infantry” (Pierre, 2025). Although certain groups have developed into impactful political stakeholders, they do not identify themselves as part of machine politics and often take offense to this association.
The Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA) is a predominantly African American Democratic club based in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a historically African-American neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.
Figure 1: Bedford Stuyvesant: 56th Assembly District And 36th City Council
The political traditions and activism of VIDA members such as Al Vann, Dr. Annette Robinson, Dr. John Flateau and Esmeralda Simmons helped to secure political representation in the 46th assembly district. Al Vann was the 36th Assembly District’s first Assemblyman in 1975, and Annette Robinson was elected its first city councilwoman in 1992.
As development in communities increases, the influx of new residents and groups also increases. Some argue (Smith, 2023) that this can benefit communities, including reduced crime, economic growth and diversity, and increased home values. The influx of white residents into urban communities of color is common across American cities. Although these new groups may belong to the same political party as incumbent residents, they may not espouse the same political traditions. This tension can produce political candidates with weak ties to and low levels of support in the community. For example, newly elected state senator Jabori Brisport, who was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the Working Families Party, was elected to the 25th senate district in New York in 2020, was considered by some to be a community outsider. Former City Council majority leader and former Councilwoman Laurie A. Cumbo said that the DSA is mostly comprised of white progressives who are not of or for the community, and they utilize individuals like Brisport to run for office to carry their agenda (Cumbo 2020). The socialists he stands with now have received harsh criticisms from older generations of Brooklynites and people of color (Cumbo 2020).
Cumbo convened a peaceful rally in front of her apartment, in response to him and about 200 people protesting outside her home about police budget cuts last Friday. “They’re the reason Harriet [Tubman] carried a gun,” said Foy, “because only someone with that character would bring a white lynch mob, and that’s what it was, a white lynch mob to a Black queen’s home to terrorize her and to terrorize her child.”
For over 34 years, the Brooklyn 25th district senate seat was held by community trailblazer State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, who worked closely with VIDA members Al Vann, Dr. Annette Robinson and Major Owens in communities such as Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Fort Greene, Brooklyn. In her retirement announcement in 2020, Montgomery endorsed former 46th district Assemblymember Tremaine Wright, also a member of VIDA and successor to Dr. Annette Robinson. Wright was raised in the 46th Assembly district where her family has a history of community activism. She was also the former chair of Community Board Three and a former business owner in the district. However, she lost the election to Jabori Brisport.
Shortly after it was confirmed that Brisport was the winner, former New York City Council Leader Laurie Cumbo criticized the methods used by unknown candidates of color with no proven leadership in the community to win elections (Roberts, 2020). She noted that these candidates did not adhere to the established political traditions of the community and relied on campaign funding from outside the district, along with novel social media strategies (Cumbo, 2020).
Other concerns include outsider candidates’ weak commitments to the community’s goals. Ascending to political office enables them and their backers to acquire power that will enable them to act as they see fit. As Joseph Allen (1993) writes, “the power of political communities is expressed in the actions of individual agents; and at the same time individuals’ power depends upon the relationships in which they stand in the social structure’ such as offices that carry with them formal ‘powers’ that is authority to act in designated ways” (p. 4). Some people view groups such as the DSA as attempting to acquire power by ascending to offices that will give them authority to act in designated ways in these communities.
At certain points, the DSA has supported several candidates, including Brisport, Che Chese, and Phara Souffrant, who were elected in gentrified African American communities such as Bedford Stuyvesant and Crown Heights Brooklyn, New York. Their representation places the DSA in a position to acquire power and influence in gentrifying African American communities.
Gentrification threatens the political power base of predominately African American communities. Gentrification increases property values, which causes increases to costs of living catalyzes displacement. These patterns of gentrification and displacement often map onto historical patterns of redlining, segregation, and discriminatory housing policies. Ironically, these historical patterns have also generated valuable political struggles within affected communities. Some who participate in those political struggles lay the foundation for political futures for themselves in which they continue to address these issues and serve the community.
African American candidates still rely on traditional electoral methods that have proven successful for them, such as dense community networks to organizations and political clubs. Today, they leverage digital tools including online fundraising and social media, along with support from political action committees (PACs) such as Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight, which raised over $100 million dollars for her 2021 Georgia gubernatorial race (Wilson, 2021).
But there is no substitute for sustained relationship building with community networks that address the needs of constituents, such as the Brooklyn Movement Center, which advocates for the needs of Brooklyn residents. As new political talent comes along and embraces proven successful electoral methods that leverage new community-based resources, including neighborhood churches to share resources with influential clergy members the community depends on for political achievement. Through these means, candidates continue to serve and support long-standing political goals, strategies, and constituencies.
References
Allen, J. L. (1993). Power and Political Community. The Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics, 13, 3–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23559553
E. Badger, R. Gebeloff, (4/27/2019). The Upshot. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/27/upshot/diversity-housing-maps-raleigh-gentrification.html
Cumbo, L. (7/22/20). https://www.facebook.com/laurie.cumbo/posts
Gryboski, M. (8/6/24). Politics in the Pews: The Impact of Black Church on Politics. The Christian Post.
https://www.christainpost.com/news/the-impact-of-black-churches-on-american-politics./
Roberts, N. (7/29/20). Socialist Democrats’ Election Successes Strike a Nerve for a Brooklyn Councilmember. BK Reader. https://www.bkreader.com/2020/7/29
Smith, R. (8/8/23). Gentrification Pros and Cons: A Double Edge Sword.
https://robertsmith.com/blog/gentrification-pros-and-cons/
Wilson, R. (7/9/21). Campaign: Stacey Abrams PAC Tops $100 Million Raised. The Hill. https://www.thehill.com/homenews/campaign/2021/7/9
The Brooklyn Movement Center (4/9/2025). Empowering Brooklyn. https://www.brooklynmovementcenter.org
Long, A. (6/23/20) Politic NY. https://politicsny.com2020/6/23/Cumbo Comes Through Brisport’s Block/
Gena M. Watson is the founder and executive director of the Organization for Economic Advancement, Inc. and has co-written legislation for Minority Women in Business and Enterprise which was passed into law in New York in 2014. Ms. Watson has worked as an adjunct lecturer for over seven years for the City University of New York and has been a member of several Brooklyn political clubs and performed community and political outreach extensively throughout New York.