Our latest for EBONY: "The True Legacy of Ed Koch." Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch died on Friday and will be buried today. Despite a healthy dose of revisionism and hagiograhy by the media, Koch's true legacy should never be forgotten.
In the two days since his death, a significant amount of kilobytes, ink and virtual chatter has been devoted to Koch’s legacy. The combative former three-term mayor has been generally credited with reversing the city’s “fiscal and infrastructure challenges” that dominated the 1970s. The former congressman served three terms until David Dinkins defeated him in the 1989 Democratic primary and became the city's first—and so far, only—Black mayor.
But by the 1980s, Koch left a disturbing legacy on two key issues that have defined America: Race relations and HIV/AIDS.
"Ed Koch did a lot for the city. But his terms as mayor were marred by racial discord," C. Virginia Fields told EBONY.com. Fields is president of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, formerly serving on the New York City Council and as Manhattan Borough President. "It started with the closure of Harlem’s Sydenham Hospital in 1980."
Read the article HERE.
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