In Revere, a city where about half of residents are white, the City Council is made up of 10 white men and one white woman.
However, with a preliminary city election coming up on Sept. 19, voters have an opportunity change that. The slate of 21 city council candidates contains several candidates of color running for both at-large and ward councilor seats.
“Ten years ago actually, I was the first candidate of color to run for a citywide office,” said Juan Jaramillo, who is running for at-large councilor. “Ten years ago if you had asked us organizers in the city when this day would come, especially after that election where the numbers just didn’t add up, that day was not coming anytime soon. That might take 10, 15 or 20 years to come.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Revere is 50.5% white, 4% Black, 5.1% Asian and 36.7% Hispanic or Latino, with 12.9% of residents identifying as two or more races. Still, for a long time, the city government has been largely white.
In May, Jacqueline Monterroso was sworn in as the first Latina to serve on the School Committee following a special election. She is currently the only person of color on Revere’s two primary elected bodies — City Council and School Committee.
Alex Rhalimi, another at-large candidate, says he would be the first Moroccan to hold elected office in the United States if he is successful. Rhalimi, who was born in Morocco but grew up in Revere, compared the current governmental makeup to that of Boston, where half of city councilors are people of color, and said it was time for Revere to do the same.
“Sometimes (people) are afraid to come to City Hall just because they don’t see themselves represented,” Rhalimi said. “That’s the reason why actually they don’t vote sometimes. … I think this election we’ll get more diverse communities to come out and vote.”
Ned Almeida, a nurse who is also running for an at-large seat, told the Revere Journal in his campaign announcement that he also hoped to promote diversity in the city.
“I have always believed that diversity makes a community stronger,” he told the newspaper. “Pulling all the best ideas and parts of different cultures together to build something bigger and better for all. Revere is on the verge of a renaissance and I hope that I can help serve our wonderfully diverse community and help Revere to continue to learn, progress and grow.”
Rhalimi, who speaks six languages, said that if elected he would work to create more transparency and communication between City Hall and the communities that are not often represented there.
Jaramillo said officials need to look at every policy with an equity lens, whether that means simply providing information in multiple languages or considering how ordinances affect different communities. He gave the example of Revere’s strict guidelines for purging voters from the rolls who do not fill out the city census, which could disproportionately affect voters who don’t speak English.
However, he said he was happy to see the changes happening in the city.
“When I started first grade, there was one class in the entire district that was bilingual. And now every grade level necessitates bilingual education in the school district,” said Jaramillo, whose family immigrated from Colombia. “Having elected officials that can legislate and lead with that … is hopefully going to produce some really good policy outcomes, not just for communities of color, but for working class communities.”
