SSP101
Jason Chester
Professor Fitch
5/21/09
Political Experience
Borough President of the Bronx’s Inauguration
The place Lehman College, the event was the inauguration of Ruben Diaz Jr. He once
walked the same hallways of LaGuardia as I do now. He graduated and went on to Lehman
College. All while being in the state assembly he was a college student and someone who stood
for the people and the things he believed. Some people think since being part of a faith and
family based political structure of the Bronx it was easy for him to get in. Your father is a pastor
and a state senator so it is only time that you too will serve. More than likely one of his two sons
if not both will also be a politician. Only time can tell. What I see is when he speaks, he’s down
to earth. He’s human, he’ll make a mistake in a speech and smile about it, and he’ll speak in a
tone where you can feel he is being empathetic and passionate for what he stands for. The things
he has done which involved the passing of an asthma bill when he as in the assembly, and being
there for the community in the time of the Amedou Diallo shooting, shows his integrity and
loyalty. Although unique and outstanding one could question if his actions were political
movements that he took advantage of to move him further. Regardless, of whether or not his
actions were honest and morally motivated or mere tools to get him elected to higher officer. I
could say he did help a lot of people with his the passing of his bills and his fight for civil rights.
The people lucked out and so did he.
This event for me was to be a sheep in wolves clothing amongst the many wolves of our
society. I was in the presence of not only the high ranking officials of our city and state such as
Governor Patterson, Mayor Bloomberg, City Comptroller Thompson, and State Comptroller
Dianopli. I also saw the other Borough presidents, the local council people, the local board and
chair district managers of the Bronx. I called them wolves because on two occasions this
metaphor was mentioned to me. The first was when the woman giving the prayer said that
“Ruben Diaz Jr is our shepherd and we are his flock that he must watch over, and may he lead us
to greener pastures.” The other time is when a professor friend of mine said “People are sheep
who follow and look to be led. If you realize this then you can be that wolf amongst the other
wolves.” Now in hindsight, I don’t want to be a wolf or anyone that takes advantage of others
who no less, but I would like to lead and help everyone progress. I was invited by a faculty
member who serves on his community board as chairperson. I sat with district managers and
other community board chairs. In a way I was an elite but I sat with people who are all wolves.
Now most of them have good intentions. All of the community board members are volunteers
who give time back to their community and work with politicians to better their neighborhoods.
The district managers are higher and paid to help resolved issues and are always there at every
major that is alarming to the neighborhood. It is a highly stressful job but can be rewarding.
There were many members of the NYPD Brass as well as community affairs officers. An
interesting notion was to see the bus load of church members who came. I believe these buses
were chartered by Diaz’s campaign which helped him to fill up the seats and make him look like
a guy who encourages voters, and of course thanks contributors to his campaign. Aside from the
many neighborhood people and other people who had to be there for political reasons such as
Officials, officers, and board members. I saw local business men and people that were managers
of hospitals, land and environmental development facilities, as well as capital investors who plan
on investing in the Bronx trying to align relationships with politicians. I over heard a
representative for the millionaires who want to invest in the rebuilding of the Kingsbridge
armory talk to a board member about they propose, and how they plan on working with him on
the things the community needs in order for them to get the ok to start the process. This was all
mostly in the first twenty minutes the event had not even begun.
The event altogether was very nice. They had two national anthems sung. One for
America the other for Puerto Rico, it was then followed by ceremonial spiritual speeches. One by
a Rabbi who said “any attack on a house of worship, is an attack on all houses of worship.” This
was met with much applaud. Of the many speakers I was impressed by Patterson’s because being
blind he had to memorize his speech, unless he had an air piece where everything was played in
his ear, and he was just repeating it. He was a lot funnier than I thought he would be and seemed
genuine a true representative of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Bloomberg’s speech was probably the
smartest and most political. All the other speakers, from Malcolm Smith, Dinapoli, Comptroller
Thompson, and Sheldon Silver were all from the heart and mostly praised Ruben Diaz Jr.
Bloomberg praised him as well but he added all the things he has done for the Bronx and then
mentioned all of the plans he has. He talked about his work with Ruben on cleaning up hunts
point and the new train station they cut the ribbon on earlier today. He talked about the numbers
and figures. Made sure he said the word “jobs” several times and the words “plans to” along with
“many programs” this I think was his of showing potential voters what he has done and intends
to do. Whether this worked or not, I’m not sure but it showed Bloomberg will try to promote
himself as elite any chance he gets even when giving praise to another person.
I realized today amongst handshakes and smiles. I fit in amongst these people. Whether
or not it is my destiny I can’t be sure. I only know I have lived in this system and have been
oppressed by it. I want to be someone who redesigns it and promotes fairness, a better quality of
life for all. I strive for an open minded approach to another’s values as a believer in unity and
stronger foundation of love and unselfishness. Some say the system is embedded in us being
selfish and looking out for only ourselves. I say things can be better once people take a look at
the big picture and see what works. When we take a look at all the other societies from the past
and the present, study what has failed and what has worked we must realize. Our greed and
corruption will make us fail; our wars and prejudices will kill and harm those we love. We need
to stand as a generation that will be competitive but must not kick those that are down. We must
help our neighbors as we build along side them. The system must be and even sided see saw,
because when one side is carrying more weight that the other eventually we topple over. Outside
of the event before it began I was greeted by a young woman who asked me if I was registered to
vote. I told her yes and then we had a short conversation on exactly what she was doing. She
was working with Walter Nestler, who I spoke with. He was running for City Council under the
Green Party. He’s a landscape architect who wants to win and promote a more environmentally
friendly city. His future mostly people believe he will lose, His attitude is “if I can at least bring
attention to myself and the things I push for causing my opponents’ to then have to do the same,
I win in that sense”. We talked about the future of the city, and the corruption, the best answer he
gave is what I believe to. He said “when you’ve been alive as long as I have, you see the
tendency of how things repeat.” I asked “are we headed towards the seventies?” he said “we’re
not far from there.” This is my approach to best future we can have, and I know things can’t be
perfect and we’ll always have some sort of difficulty but overall I want to study the past and see
how mistakes were made, and avoid the tragedies being repeated. It is our will to live the best
life, and it is our right to have that.