Cory Booker Documentary Shows the Toughness of Governing
By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers
If there's one lesson to be learned by watching Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, N.J., perform his duties in the five-part series Brick City, it's this: Governing is hard. In the Sundance Channel documentary series that debuts Monday, Booker's job—tackling a high crime rate and a sour economy—looks impossible. Booker, who was in Washington this week for a Brick City screening, tells Whispers that people may be more sympathetic to President Obama after watching one mayor struggle to govern one city. "It humanizes the characters, and you realize that everybody sincerely wants to make a difference and we're all earnestly fighting in the same trench," says Booker. "So hopefully it helps to arouse more compassion for [public servants] pushing every single day to make the country better."
Codirector Marc Levin sees this parallel, too. "For the last two years, we've heard the word change over and over again as the mantra, and I think the tagline Sundance chose, 'Change comes hard,' that's what the series is on the most human level," Levin says. Brick City follows the lives of the mayor, the police director, and Newark residents as they work to improve their community. "The year that it covers is the most dramatic year-to-year reduction of shootings and murders," says Booker.
Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker jumped into the project as an executive producer after seeing directors' Levin and Mark Benjamin's first shots of gritty Newark and its charismatic leader. Whitaker has taken an interest in politics and campaigned for Obama, but he didn't meet Booker until he started work on the film. Now he sees similarities between the two politicians. "They seem to really care about the common man," Whitaker says.
Check out our gallery of Whispers political caricatures.
Want your Whispers first? Check out U.S. News Weekly.
Tags: Barack Obama
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (1) | Print
Reader Comments
America or the American Dream Which is More Important
I have Always believed the shape of America is not completely the politicians fault. If anything It is a little more the fault of the people. I say this because of the type of Government we have.
Our Government is set up with checks and balances and the people are supposed to be a part of that but have got sidetracked with the American dream rather than affairs of state and morality issues.
It is not enough in A Democratic society to just vote. Those of you who kind of understand your children and have family meetings should know this. Everybody has there responsibilities and everybody has to do there part to keep things running smoothly.
Our country is the same. We must get in true contact with our government again. But there is more people to worry about now then when this country was formed So if we write letters all we get back is form letters without the politician actually reading our letters.
I do not know anybody that can read all the letters a president would get even if only 1 percent of America wrote him. And I doubt he gets to close that much in A day.
So the only way we can take back America is to start none violent think tanks or grass roots Groups and keep them small and work with other groups when needed to get as many names on petitions as possible. Because the less paper work that is well organized the more chances that it will be looked at.
If you care about your city, state, or country you will find away to get involved. But if you care more about the American dream, Well I just wonder How long we all can survive the American Dream.
Who started that anyway Some greedy Politician?.
Lets not be manipulated by Professional manipulators any more and Start manipulating them.
Don D. Brock
advertisement
