Cory Booker -- a Democratic mayoral candidate for Newark, N.J. -- has had enough of the ivory tower.
After receiving an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and attending Yale Law School, Booker decided that in order to enact change in the inner city, he needed to go to the root of the problem.
He said that his mother told him, "You can learn more from a woman on the sixth floor of the projects than [from] a fancy professor."
Booker took this message to heart; he searched Newark for the worst possible neighborhood and moved there in order to learn how to deal with real inner-city problems.
Booker told a story of tragedies and triumphs, and described the injustices that still exist in his hometown of Newark, along with what he plans to do about them.
Booker, a former city councilman, told a group of mostly graduate students at the Fels Institute of Government Friday that initially he did not want to become involved in politics.
In fact, he said he searched all over Newark for anyone who could represent his neighborhood's interests in City Council, and, after finding no one, was compelled to run himself.
"As a city councilman, I didn't get any support," Booker said.
He added that during his time on the City Council, his peers refused to back any of his measures for inner-city improvement, his life was threatened and his cars were constantly ticketed.
Contributor concerns seemed to outweigh constituent concerns in Newark's city politics, and that did not sit well with Booker.
Booker told the group of approximately 35 that he finally realized that if no one was going to help him institute change, he would do it himself.
When local drug dealers bothered his neighborhood, he went on a hunger strike outside the building they occupied.
His strike received statewide attention and got the mayor, who was previously unwilling to help, to pledge to make a park in the community.
Booker's do-it-yourself attitude has put him in the race for mayor of Newark. He said that he hopes to inspire the city's growth, and wants to institute a government that can meet the needs of its constituents.
"I've found that all of life's lessons can be grouped into a few profound principles," Booker said.
One of the most important lessons he said he learned was to keep up hope.
Students said they enjoyed the speech.
"Mr. Booker has a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and he seems like the type of person that would get things done given the opportunity," said Wharton junior Jason Ziven, who added that it was his interest in politics that drew him to the lecture.
Booker's appearence at Penn was part of the Fels Institute of Government's Distinguished Lecture Series.
