Mayor of Selma joins CU forum in Anabel Taylor

The Cornell Political Forum is sponsoring "Governing Divided Communities," today, Oct. 4, a discussion featuring James Perkins Jr., mayor of Selma, Ala., and Alan Cohen, mayor of Ithaca. The forum, free and open to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. in the auditorium of Anabel Taylor Hall.

Joining the discussion, which will address the challenges and possibilities of governing diverse and contentious cities, will be Cornell faculty members James Turner, professor of Africana studies, and Michael Jones-Correa, associate professor of government. There also will be opportunities for give-and-take between the panelists and audience members.

Perkins, 48, the first African-American mayor of Selma, last year defeated the incumbent, a former segregationist who had held the seat for 36 years. The racially divided city of Selma, which is 65 percent African American, is the site of the famous "Bloody Sunday" civil rights march to Montgomery on March 7, 1965, a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement. And, as Perkins has said, little there has changed. Soon after Perkins' election in October of 2000, white residents of Selma erected a cast-iron statue, on city-owned property, of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and the founder of the Ku Klux Klan.

During his term, Perkins has tried to unify the city, stem "white flight" and improve conditions for African Americans whose neighborhoods have suffered from neglect.

A product of the Selma public school system, Perkins was among the first group of black students to enter the city's former A.G. Parish High School under the guidelines of mandatory desegregation, and later was in the first graduating class of what became Selma High School. He received his B.S. in mathematics from Alabama A&M University. After working for Caterpillar Tractor Co. in Illinois as a systems analyst and Martin Marietta Corp. as a project manager, he returned to Alabama in 1980 to start his own business, Business Ventures Inc.

Among the co-sponsors of the Oct. 4 forum are several Cornell student organizations, colleges and departments, the Theater of Ideas, and the office of the Vice Provost for Diversity and Faculty Development.

The Cornell Political Forum sponsors debates on important issues such as civil rights.