Mayor Dinkins and the Gorgeous Mosaic

When I first moved to New York in the late 80s, the city was a loud, brash, and fairly unsettling place. We had a loud, brash and fairly unsettling mayor named Ed Koch, who, in lieu of checking the Gallup Polls, would wander the streets of New York asking, "So how'm I doin'?" Because he was scary-tall and sounded like a teamster, little college freshmen girls like me would quickly respond, "Just fine!" and scurry away.

But around the time I started graduate school, something miraculous happened. The people of New York elected a new mayor named David Dinkins. David Dinkins was a black man, but that wasn't the miraculous part. The miracle was that the new mayor of New York was a gentleman. He was kind, compassionate, soft-spoken and gracious. He had a quiet majesty that enveloped him like a royal robe. And when David Dinkins, the first and only black mayor of New York City, was sworn in, I was so proud to be black and so proud to be a New Yorker.

The thing that I loved the most about David Dinkins' term as mayor of one of the most diverse cities on the planet was his description of racial/ethnic integration. He didn't describe New York as a melting pot or a salad like most people do. He called it a gorgeous mosaic. This had special meaning for me because one of the things that I loved the most about exploring the city was discovering the mosaic art everywhere.

This also had special meaning for me because I always saw my world not so much as a melting pot of different cultures, but as this dazzling kaleidoscope of blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos, Caribbeans, etc., each with their own distinct and individual gifts to my personal universe.

David Dinkins gave me an expression to describe what I love the most about my life.

Viva the gorgeous mosaic.