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Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr., a mayoral candidate in the Oct. 15 special election, gets motorists attention at the bustling intersection of Lamar, Pendleton and Kimble. (Photos by Wiley Henry) |
An installment of the Tri-State Defender series crafted to paint a more complete picture of the candidates for Mayor of Memphis.“Honk your horn,” Arianna Ervin shouted over the roar of traffic. Those who heard her faint voice, including a police officer waiting for the light to change green, honked.
Last Friday, at the three-way intersection of Lamar, Penelton and Kimble, Adrianna, 8, Damarras Stroud, 17, and DeAirio Stroud, 13, waved black and white “Whalum for Mayor” campaign signs.
Between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. motorists got a glimpse of the trio’s candidate, Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum Jr., waving at the passersby.
Campaigning in rush-hour traffic is an unconventional form of advertising that works, said Whalum, a candidate for mayor in the Oct. 15 special election to replace former mayor Willie W. Herenton.
“And I’m not a student of conventional thinking,” said the mayoral hopeful in black trousers, a black polo shirt and dark shades to shield his eyes from the glaring sunlight.
Meanwhile, a motorist pulled up to the intersection, locked eyes with Whalum and said, “I got you.”
Whalum took full advantage of this moment. “I need your help. But I don’t have a lot of money. I do what I do,” the school board commissioner and pastor of The New Olivet Baptist Church said. “That’s all I can do. Remember me. Thank you, man.”
A living ad, the candidate said, is just as effective as a billboard and doesn’t cost anything but time and commitment. “It’s about marketing. You’re moving and giving eye contact.”
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Whalum chats with a motorist who stopped to offer a little encouragement. |
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Campaign workers Marixa Wilson (left), Arianna Ervin, 8, DeAirio Stroud, 13, and Damarras Stroud, 17, ask motorists to support Whalum for mayor.
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Whalum said his father, the late Kenneth T. Whalum Sr., first mastered this strategy when he won a seat on the Memphis City Council (1988-1996) while serving as pastor of Olivet Baptist Church.
“I grew up in my daddy’s house,” said Whalum. “My daddy was involved with a group of ministers who brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis the first time. So I had to be involved in politics.”
Dr. King’s death in Memphis ignited a burning desire in Whalum, who at 12 vowed to attend law school and return to Memphis to serve its citizens.
“That’s when I made up in my mind that I’m going to do something,” said Whalum. “That set the trajectory of my life. That’s why I’m standing on this corner right now.”
Whalum went on to graduate from Morehouse College in Atlanta in 1978 and Philadelphia’s Temple University School of Law in 1981.
“I came back and went into politics right away. Then I was called to preach,” said Whalum, who graduated magna cum laude from Memphis Theological Seminary studying for his Master of Divinity.
At 14, Whalum said he thought his father was going to die. “He never told us what the deal was. But he had a serious problem with his colon; it was cancer.”
Fearing the worst, Whalum said his mother pointed to a passage in Proverbs and urged him to read it: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”
Whalum points to his Christian upbringing and his father’s influence that shaped him as a man and prepared him to become a “leader with principle, integrity and character.”
Known for his candor and outspokenness, Whalum said his three sons – Kenneth lll, Kortland and Kameron — are following his lead as independent thinkers.
“They’re grown now and I feel like they are ready to take on the world. That’s the approach I take with the young men of my church, the young ladies of my church,” said Whalum, who married his wife, Sheila, in 1982.
If elected to fill Herenton’s unexpired term, Whalum said he would serve one full term and then hand over the reins of government to the younger generation.
“They are brilliant,” he concedes. “The first step is to give them an opportunity to shape their own future. Then you follow through. ...You appoint young people and give them a responsibility; give them a chance to fail.”
The Memphis Youth Manifesto, a youth summit that Whalum organized this summer, is a blueprint for this transition. It has given children and youth a forum to weigh in on local challenges.
“The vast majority of old people want young people to step up. That’s what we’re going to see in this election. It’s a shame that, at 52, I’m one of the youngest candidates in the race for mayor of Memphis.”
Win or lose, Whalum said he intends to transform politics in Memphis by advocating for young people and expanding B-A-M-M (Bust-A-Move-Monday), an economic empowerment program designed to bolster African-American-owned businesses.
“People know me in Memphis for economic empowerment,” said Whalum. “I’m standing on my 30 years of what I have done, not what I’m gonna do. When I get in office I’ll continue to implement those principles.”
Whalum said he understands the nature of politics and that he is “a dark horse” in this race. But those long odds didn’t keep him from signing on. “If there had been somebody in the race that I thought would be a good leader, I wouldn’t have run,” he told the Tri-State Defender.
More than 16 mayoral hopefuls have pulled petitions for the job, including Herenton himself, who vacated the seat on July 30 after serving nearly 18 years.
Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton Jr. is considered the favorite among some pundits, said Whalum. “So was Hilary Clinton (now the Secretary of State in the Obama administration). But Hilary did not win.”
Should there be a consensus candidate to prevent the vote from being split more than a dozen times among the African American candidates?
“It depends on whose consensus it is,” said Whalum. “There is going to be a consensus candidate and I guarantee it. It’s going to be whoever wins no matter how many ways the vote is split.”
When asked if there is a conflict in his role as church pastor and his quest for higher political office, Whalum said, “Absolutely not! I’m going to do both as long as I live. Political involvement is the mission of the church.
Anybody who says Whalum ought not to run because he’s a preacher ... that you can’t mix church with state, that’s a loser. Nobody was more political than Jesus.”
Maybe voters should elect a preacher as mayor, said Whalum. “How many people have gone to prison in the Tennessee Waltz? About a dozen. Not one was an ordain preacher.”
