Recipe For Hitting The Front Page Of The Sunday Times: Just Add Sharpton

The, er, colorful race in Brooklyn’s 11th Congressional District hits the front page of the Sunday Times:

For the last four decades, the predominantly black population of central Brooklyn has been represented in Washington by one of its own, a tradition that dates to the 1968 victory of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.

But now, in a district whose boundaries were drawn to strengthen black voting power, residents are locked in a wrenching, racially charged debate over a white politician’s campaign for Congress.

. . .

As the forces of immigration and gentrification have altered the demographics of these communities, ethnic and racial blocs that once promoted their own candidates have fractured, with voters now choosing among politicians of various backgrounds.

Nowhere is the phenomenon more stark than in the contest for the 11th Congressional District, where American- and Caribbean-born blacks vie for power and a steady influx of whites has heightened the worry that blacks will be displaced, from their neighborhoods and from the political hierarchy. It is a fear that Mr. Yassky’s candidacy has intensified, so much so that a group of black and Hispanic politicians are discussing ways to make sure he loses.

The Times, while tiptoeing around some of the more, er, colorful (dammit, that word again!) parts of the story*, still snags a couple beauts from so-called “nonblacks”:

As [Yassky] campaigned that same Saturday in Ditmas Park, a part of Flatbush where home values have been rapidly rising, some nonblack voters expressed qualms about his candidacy. One white couple told Mr. Yassky that they planned to vote for Chris Owens. And at a greenmarket, Joe Wong, 29, an Asian-American, said that he, too, was leaning toward Mr. Owens because he opposed the Atlantic Yards development and because he had reservations about voting for a nonblack candidate.

“I’m not totally sold on that, but it’s just the fact that it was created as a majority-minority district and the fact that blacks are underrepresented in the Congress as it stands,” Mr. Wong said, adding that he did not support efforts to push Mr. Yassky out of the race.

“I’m not saying he wouldn’t do a good job representing the district and the minorities that are in the district,” he said, “it’s just I haven’t made up my mind whether or not that’s a good enough reason for me to vote for someone or not.”

Emphasis added because, well, isn’t how well someone represents a district sort of the idea in the first place?

*What, no Charles Barron openly questioning the existence of Barack Obama?