Longtime Boston civil rights activist Mel King, whose 1983 mayoral campaign helped the city fix some of the racial disparities sparked during the school bus crisis, has died. He was 94.
King served in the state legislature for nearly a decade before becoming the first black man to win a general mayoral contest in Boston, competing against another state representative, Ray Flynn.
Gov. Maura Healey ordered flags to be flown at half-mast at all state buildings on Wednesday and acknowledged King’s death, whom she described as a “dedicated civil servant and civil rights advocate.”
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The election was a test for the city, which had endured years of struggle following the court-ordered desegregation of public schools in the mid-1970s. Flynn, representing South Boston’s predominantly white, Irish neighborhood, was opposed to bus travel.
But instead of reigniting discord, the race had the opposite effect, being seen as respectful, even friendly at times.
King enlisted support from a number of racial groups and dubbed his movement the Rainbow Coalition—a name adopted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson during his presidential campaigns.
“What I think people want more than anything else is a sense of a vision that is inclusive and respectful and values who they are. What the Rainbow Coalition did was put that up front because anyone can be a member,” King said in a 1993 interview with The Boston Globe.
Mel King, a prominent Boston civil rights activist, died Tuesday at the age of 94. (John Blanding/The Boston Globe via AP, file)
Mayor Michelle Wu, the first woman and first person of color elected to lead Boston, offered her condolences to King’s family, saying, “His transformative ideas have shaped generations of organizers and leaders.”
Flynn said he first met King, who grew up in the city’s racially mixed South End, when the two played basketball as teenagers.
He said he felt an affinity for King, citing their shared working-class roots and shared work as state legislators.
“Mel King would fight for affordable housing for the people of South End and Roxbury, and I would do the same for the people of South Boston,” Flynn said. “We were just two neighborhood kids fighting hard for our constituents.”
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King would lose to Flynn by 30 points. But the race was seen as a turning point in a city once described as a collection of ethnic enclaves.
These divisions boiled over during the bus crisis, with South Boston High School becoming the center of racial tension when black students were bused to school as part of a court-ordered desegregation plan.
At the height of the crisis, crowds sometimes threw stones at buses carrying black students, and police were stationed on rooftops near the school.
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“The city was polarized. It was divided,” Flynn said. “The bus service has really brought out the worst in the city of Boston. The elections brought out the best. People all felt part of new opportunities.”
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