Waterloo's first black mayor a 'bridge' (DMR)

[Cairycat]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/kyle-munson/2016/01/02/waterloo-first-black-mayor-quentin-hart-bridge-entire-community/77418498/

Very good story about Quentin Hart, Waterloo's first black mayor, as he takes office.

From the article:

He wanted to be in the middle of the bridge — a deeply symbolic spot in this city, as if suspended between two worlds — when he first heard the election results. He had kept this same vigil on at least three previous election nights.

Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act and seven years after President Barack Obama won the White House, it may strike some as overblown to note how a Midwestern city of fewer than 70,000 residents, like many others before it, finally reflects modern demographics in its top job and has shed old prejudice at the ballot box.

But election of its first black mayor bears special meaning in a city that arguably more than any other in Iowa, has been bitterly divided by race.

Hart, 44, aims to transcend Waterloo's historical boundaries and unify his city, which in recent years also has seen a growing number of Latino, Burmese and Bosnian residents.