Word: vrdolyak
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...tinged election in 1983, Washington told rejoicing black supporters, "It's our turn now." But his attempt to take charge of the city hall machinery was frustrated for three years by die-hard opposition from the city council's white majority, led by the mayor's archenemy, Edward R. Vrdolyak...
...until a court-ordered special election in 1986 did Washington, who castigated Vrdolyak's allies as "crooks and lowlifes who climb out from under rocks," finally gain an effective majority on the 50-member city council. He tightened his grip on power with his overwhelming victory over Vrdolyak in April's mayoral election. So thorough was the drubbing that many of Vrdolyak's aldermanic supporters defected to Washington's camp. Vrdolyak, who presided over the tattered remnants of Daley's machine as chairman of the Cook County Democratic central committee, quit the party and became a Republican...
...Vrdolyak didn't want the votes of Blacks. Daley never had to confront his prejudice because in his time the Black vote was still disenfranchised. But while Daley never dealt with the Black vote; Vrdolyak did--and this latter day boss did not adapt to let Blacks into the machine on an equal level...
...question is whether the old machine style of powersharing between different ethnic voting blocks will work to keep the city at political peace or whether age-old racial divisions will prove too strong. Will racial prejudice in ethnic neighborhoods--spurred on by the baiting rhetoric of people like Vrdolyak who has begun to reach for the Republicans in neighborhoods he used to wardheel as a Democrat--make a white-Black sharing of power impossible as long as the Blacks are dominant...
...answer to this question not only will influence the political future of the city but also will be a telling sign for all of America, where unfortunately racial divisions have become more noticeable in recent years. Vrdolyak's response is not a promising omen for the American future. Hopefully other white politicians will learn to accept Blacks on equal terms...