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Mel King endorses Yoon for mayor

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 10, 2009 12:28 PM

By Globe Staff

Mayoral candidate Sam Yoon has won the endorsement of Mel King, the trailblazing community organizer whose failed 1983 campaign for mayor of Boston made history.

Mel King (Globe file photograph)

In a press release issued by Yoon's campaign, King said it was time to rally behind a new generation of leadership "focused on making the city better for children and youth."

"We need to raise our expectations of what the city can do for young people," King said in the press release. "The school-to-prison rate is too high and the graduation rate is too low. Sam offers leadership driven by people and communities, the kind of leadership that will engage residents in improving the health and education of all the city’s children."

King served as a state representative from Boston from 1973 until 1983, when he ran against the political establishment and sought to become the city's first black mayor. King ultimately lost by a 2-to-1 margin to Ray Flynn, but the campaign has been celebrated as rising above prejudice in a time of racial strife.

The full release from the Yoon campaign follows below:

BOSTON – Boston City Councilor-at-Large and mayoral candidate Sam Yoon received the endorsement today of former mayoral candidate, state representative, and community leader Mel King.

King, who energized Boston’s communities in his landmark run for mayor in 1983, said it was time to rally behind a new generation of leadership – one focused on making the city better for children and youth.

“We need to raise our expectations of what the city can do for young people,” said King. “The school-to-prison rate is too high and the graduation rate is too low. Sam offers leadership driven by people and communities, the kind of leadership that will engage residents in improving the health and education of all the city’s children.”

King said he was moved by Yoon’s focus to change the culture and climate of violence and improve public schools.

“The issue for me is the children and the youth in the city,” said King. “Sam’s campaign is working to get all of us involved in making the city and the schools better. We have the opportunity for this year to be the year when Boston embraces the idea that all the city’s children are our children. It is Sam’s leadership and vision in this area that I believe we need.”

“The quality of our schools and the creation of a sound physical education program should be the first order of business,” said King. “Sam will ensure resources for our schools – not in response to a media report - but because of Sam’s belief that it is our responsibility and that our children are deserving.”

King taught as an adjunct professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for twenty-five years. After his retirement in the spring of 1996, King founded the South End Technology Center, a collaborative between MIT and Tent City, which provides free and low-cost access and training in technology.

As King’s work over the years has been focused on children and youth, he sees Yoon’s campaign as a critical approach to those challenges.

Yoon said he was humbled by the endorsement from King.

“I am deeply honored to have Mel King’s support,” said Yoon. “Mel’s work, both in and out of government, has had a big influence on me and my decision to run.”

King served as a State Representative for the 9th Suffolk district from 1974-1982. In 1983, he made history as the first African-American candidate to win the preliminary election for mayor. His campaign’s support from minority groups became known as the “Rainbow Coalition,” a forerunner to Jesse Jackson’s coalition of the same name in his presidential runs. King went on to finish second in the general election to Ray Flynn in a race that generated national attention.