Donald Payne: 1934-2012

I hear a lot of people talk about justice and peace, but New Jersey's first black congressman, Donald Payne, who died from colon cancer at 77 yesterday, lived justice and peace. He spent his 23 years in Congress working for economic justice at home, with an emphasis on education and on greater opportunities for the poor.  He also worked on bringing peace and stability to troubled areas abroad, which included trying to help bring a stop to the killing in the Darfur region of Sudan, securing money for AIDS drugs for sub-Saharan Africa, and supporting the peace process in Northern Ireland between the Catholics and the Protestants. As the first black president of the National Council of YMCAs and as both a city councilman in his hometown of Newark and an Essex County, New Jersey freeholder, Payne devoted a great deal of time to public and philanthropic service, always trying to achieve progress on issues that he believed would move America and the world forward.

For all of his accomplishments, though, Payne was remarkably low-key and soft-spoken, not wanting to brag too much about his record. He just pushed ahead in an effort to get the job done. He was able to cross racial barriers and relate to the white ethnic groups in Newark politics (back before so many white Newarkers decamped to the suburbs), and none of the virulent racism that has existed in Essex County was ever directed at him. In fact, Payne was a rather affable gentleman who was well-liked by everyone . . . and as one Essex County political figure, councilwoman Renée Baskerville of suburban Montclair, noted, he was also a very good dancer. In short, Payne was a model of civility and kindness, the sort of politician you don't find too often in Washington nowadays.

And now there's one fewer. Donald Payne will be missed. :-(