The Legacy of Charles E. Scott

The Legacy of Charles E. Scott.

Charles E. Scott was a Black Worcester City Councillor in the early 20^th Century.  For a Black man to become a Worcester City Councilor was an accomplishment at a time when the Kluxers were strong in the United States and in Central New England. It is even more remarkable as he was not born in Worcester, but he came from Sterling Massachusetts. At that time according to the Dr. Thomas Doughton, the Methodist Church in Sterling was encouraging Black people from the South to join their church.

No Black man has become a Worcester City Councillor since the death of Charles E. Scott. Stacey Deboise Luster had become a Worcester City Councillor in 1990s, a first for a Black woman, but Charles Scott was the last Black male City Councillor.

Even today there is something of a barrier for those not native to Worcester to gaining elected office.  Charles Scott married Agnes Gimby a Nipmuc who was native to Worcester and had some influence. Perhaps that saying of a strong woman being behind a strong man is true. Charles Scott and his family especially his grandsons Ron and Keith deserve all of the honor and praise this City can give them. Moe Bergman the City Councillor deserves credit for expediting the plaque of Charles Scott.

Sometimes I have thoughts that the honoring of Charles Scott has been influenced by the Black Lives Matter new civil rights movement. During the old civil rights movement there were always tokens improvements given in hopes of forestalling greater social justice. 

The real legacy of Charles Scott might be the City Council elections of 2015 which hopefully will be more integrated than most City elections. William Coleman says he might run again, but he is apprehensive of the crowded field. Krystian King has already declared; he ran for State Representative a couple of years ago and lost by a narrow margin. Juan Gomez a former City Councillor and Executive Director of Centro Las Americas told me that he is running. A new coming Linda Parham, known for her work with the NAACP, is according to a source running for City Council. I have not been able to reach Ms. Parham to confirm.

There was a rumor that Sarai Rivera would run for an at large Councillor seat and for Mayor. She told me that this is not true and she would run in her district. She said that Mayor Joe Petty was doing a good job and she was backing him. When I asked Mayor Petty about the Mayoral race he said he was running and that Councillor Gaffney has a right to run against him. Mayor Petty did seem unduly concerned about Councillor Gaffney.

Mayor Petty is sometimes hard to read. I rode a commuter van to Boston with the Councillor Petty for a couple of years and he was always under control and pleasant. However one day I mentioned to him that I was going to bring an anti war petition to City Council. He said in a moment of candor that he wished I would stop harassing the Council. Later he said that I had the right to bring the petition. I can only guess that Councillor Gaffney’s run for Mayor is at least an annoyance to Mayor Petty.

Councillor Gaffney is well disliked by many in the Black community for his “I went to school and work at the same time speech” during the Black Lives Matter discussions. Councillor Lukes who because of her “I support the cops” resolution is more disliked by the same people, came to the Charles E. Scott event, although I did not see any Black person speak with her.

This issue of race in America is the leading political issue even when masked as something else. Thank you Councillor Scott for another opportunity to bring it forward.