Anger, shock, and a call for new leaders

In a city where blacks have long struggled for power, a notoriously small corps of black political leaders was suddenly much smaller yesterday. In Roxbury, many seethed over what they said was the deliberate targeting of black politicians, while clergy and community activists began to talk of opportunities for a new generation of political leaders.

The early morning arrest of City Councilor Chuck Turner followed hard on the heels of state Senator Dianne Wilkerson's indictment and resignation in a widening corruption probe, taking two of Roxbury's most prominent and ardent political representatives.

If Turner falls amid accusations he accepted a $1,000 bribe and lied about it to the FBI, Charles C. Yancey would become the only black member of the 13-member City Council. After Wilkerson's resignation Wednesday, five of the 24 state legislators who represent Boston are African-American.

Two veteran representatives, Byron Rushing and Gloria L. Fox, have been mentioned in affidavits relating to the Wilkerson and Turner investigations. They have not been charged with crimes.

"I am very disheartened that something like this has happened, after the misfortune with Senator Wilkerson," said Bruce C. Bolling, Boston's first black City Council president and an elder statesman in Boston's black political circles. "It's kind of like a double slap in the face."

Surveying the tumultuous political landscape, some senior political figures and clergy members were pinning their hopes on the possibility that a new generation of black political leaders will emerge.

"Our focus should not be on the alleged missteps of one person, but how it could present itself as an opportunity to cultivate new talent," said Darnell Williams, president and chief executive of the Urban League of Massachusetts. "The political ramifications are very huge. What we have to have is a skull session, a brain trust, that will allow us to understand where we've been and where we are and how we can best serve the needs of the community in a very transparent way, in a way that will regain the trust of not only the black community, but the larger community."

Wilkerson, a 53-year-old former NAACP lawyer, and Turner, 68, a firebrand activist, each were steeped in Boston's bruising racial past, when the path to political power was repeatedly cut off by powerful white politicians who drew districts designed to protect their political bases. Both were beloved in their districts, in part because they were perceived as stalwart combatants against the establishment.

But some black community leaders now wonder whether the time is right for a new political mold. The Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, pastor of the Azusa Christian Community, said the next wave of black candidates must embody a more "centrist and pragmatic leadership."

The arrests signal "an opportunity for the black community to regroup and reprioritize strategies," said Kevin Peterson, executive director of the Ella J. Baker House, a neighborhood organization.

What those strategies might look like was far from certain. But some common themes were emerging.

Some stressed a shift away from the focus on race that shaped much of the careers of Wilkerson and Turner.

Ego Ezedi, the executive director of the Roxbury YMCA who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 2003, said: "I am not a black politician. I have never represented myself as that. I'm a public servant who happens to be black.

"This is not a black-white issue; it's an ethics issue," he said of the arrests of Wilkerson and Turner.

Ezedi added that he draws more inspiration from the way Barack Obama's campaign energized younger voters. "It's important for all of us to transcend boundaries of race when it comes to politics," he said, "and what better time than now, especially when you look at what's happening nationally?"

Carlos Henriquez, 31, who unsuccessfully challenged Turner last year, said he, like many in Roxbury, was in shock.

"You lose two great talents with two very powerful positions where you can help people, but I think there's other people in the community, other leaders in the community, who are still in a position where they're active, and I think there's a healthy group of young people in the neighborhood, as well," he said. "I think the whole community will be fine. Political leadership will continue to be there."

Scotland Willis, 41, a management consultant from Roxbury who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 1999, said he was considering another run for city or state office. "I don't think this represents a disruption in the ability of African-Americans or anyone else, for that matter, to run for office," he said. "We all come with competencies and what we're able to do as individuals."

The Rev. Ray Hammond, pastor of Bethel AME Church in Jamaica Plain who has known Turner for 40 years, said many absorbing the news of Turner's arrest were stunned. "The inevitable consequence of this is that there will be change," he said. "But I don't think any one of us would have wanted it to happen this way."

But in Dudley Square, the heart of the Roxbury district that elected Turner and Wilkerson, residents were not ready to turn to a new generation of political leaders. Many were angry at the FBI for targeting two of the neighborhood's biggest champions.

"People of color and people like myself for years have looked up to Chuck Turner and Dianne Wilkerson as role models," said Dan Dotson, 38. "We're all human; we all make mistakes. Don't punish them for the one wrong they did and not reward them for all the right they've done."

In front of Turner's district office, plastered with campaign signs that read, "Chuck Turner: Bold, Bald, Bright," Eudora Clayton shook her head when asked about the charges.

"I think it's a witch hunt, like the KKK is alive and well in Boston," she said. "They can arrest him, but they can't see what some of the other politicians are doing right in front of their eyes."

"The two strongest black leaders are being challenged and attacked in a way that has never happened before, and the community is reeling now," said Boyce Slayman, the longtime Roxbury political activist who managed Wilkerson's aborted Senate campaign this year. "My phone has been ringing off the hook all day, and they're trying to understand what . . . is going on."

Slayman said the community "is going to be a lot more skeptical and a lot more unified than it has before."

"It's too soon to talk about succession," he said. ". . . How does the community defend itself against the assault against its leadership?"

David Abel of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com