WASHINGTON — Over 16 years in politics, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser cultivated a reputation as a measured, pro-business technocrat adept at the less flashy aspects of government: managing the budget, spurring development, and addressing the concerns of a city which is home to transient federal workers and a thriving — and largely Black — middle-class constituency.
But in a matter of months Bowser, 47, has catapulted toward the front of the national stage, as she has grappled with the pandemic, pushed for D.C. statehood, and become an outspoken critic of President Trump and his aggressive response to protests against racism and police brutality. Her boldest retort — “Black Lives Matter” painted in bright, yellow capital letters on two blocks of asphalt leading up to the White House — has been imitated in other cities.
For the Black women who see themselves or their dreams in her political journey, she is a powerhouse and fellow sister in the fight against the racism and sexism.
“I applaud her wholeheartedly,” Baton Rouge, La., Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said of Bowser’s efforts to take on the president and the racism that permeates society. “As an African American woman, I don’t think you tolerate it, you have to confront it, which I think is what Mayor Bowser has done.”
And yet, Bowser is also part of an old guard of Black mayors and city officials who came of age politically in another season of the civil rights struggle and find themselves now on the front lines in a time of protest that is, and feels, very different. Focused on ensuring economic growth, low crime rates, and other broadly beneficial policies, this seasoned cohort of leaders is increasingly out of sync with energized multiracial and multigenerational coalitions of young people and progressive activists demanding that they do more to uplift the most vulnerable, reign in police, and overthrow policies that are disproportionately depriving Black and Latino residents of their livelihoods.
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