Gus Newport while Mayor of Berkeley, 1979–1986.
Civil rights activist, former Mayor of Berkeley, CA, and champion of community self-determination, Eugene “Gus” Newport passed away this week at the age of 88. Remembrances like that of Chuck Idleson, published in Common Dreams, recall Gus’ remarkable trajectory— from young civil rights activist in the 1960’s, to unlikely Mayor of Berkeley in the 1980s, to international humanitarian advocate:
“Gus was the embodiment of the adage of a life well lived. His record of accomplishments from civil rights activism to groundbreaking political initiatives to far-sighted community economic development programs to global solidarity and elder statesman leadership could fill volumes.”
Gus started as a local organizer of the Black civil rights movement in Rochester, NY during the 1960s. As a leader of the Monroe County Nonpartisan League, the largest civil rights group in his hometown, he shepherded a successful police brutality case in federal court after the beating of a Black gas station attendant. Gaining national stature, Gus then went on to meet Malcolm X, who became a close associate and mentor.
Life later took Gus to Berkeley, CA, where he would serve as Mayor for seven years, cultivating a reputation as one of the most progressive and internationalist Mayors in America.
“In 1979, Gus was elected Berkeley Mayor, with the backing of the progressive Berkeley Citizens Action coalition on a platform of community economic control, serving two terms until 1986…
As Mayor, Gus would lead Berkeley to become the first city in the U.S. to divest from apartheid South Africa, the first city to create a domestic partner benefits program for LGBTQ+ families, a child care initiative to help working women, and innovative programs on affordable housing, rent control, policing reforms, environmental protections, and community development.”
Gus was also a leading figure of the Community Land Trust movement. In the mid-1980s, he became director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston, Massachusetts. There, he led the impoverished neighborhood in establishing a Community Land Trust, partnering with the Institute for Community Economics (founded by the Schumacher Center’s Bob Swann). The group used eminent domain authority from the city to secure large properties for affordable homeownership and other neighborhood amenities. Dudley Street has become a renowned example of the power of participatory community-building for the long term, addressing the root causes of poverty and decline in urban areas.
Through this experience, Gus recognized the transformative role CLTs could play in addressing the nation’s persistent wealth inequalities. As he wrote in 2005:
“What we learned was that the CLT did much more than provide a mechanism to hold the land. It provided a means to stabilize lives and the community through homeownership… [F]amily wealth/inherited assets are the key source of the wealth gap, as the black-white earnings gap due to income discrimination has narrowed considerably since the 1960s… African American families do not have access to this “leg up.”
By creating shared stewardship of land and a mechanism for the wealth generated through housing appreciation to be shared from one lower-income family to another, the CLT offers an antidote for these interrelated problems. The land trust can, in effect, substitute for inherited wealth…“
Then Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast. On the ground, Gus helped community land trusts preserve and rebuild traditionally African-American neighborhoods. When Susan Witt interviewed Gus during this time, he relayed his optimism for building community self-determination through rebuilding efforts. She summarized Gus’ sentiments at the time:
“The residents of North Gulfport and Turkey Creek know that it was their neighbors and friends who helped them through the trials of flooding and storm damage, not the government agencies. Their roots run deep, associations are long-lasting, and love of place is entwined with love of family.
They will stay and rebuild… work is ahead to bring this dream to reality, to resist the pressures of big development schemes, to allow the democratic power of local people to stand against the power of central government bureaucracy. Gus is helping these groups to rally allies to their cause and vision.”
We join with all those who honor Gus’ inspirational example. We echo the remembrance of Dudley Street Neighboorhood Initiative, some of those who knew him best:
“The former mayor of Berkeley, California, he spent his life nourishing community-building initiatives, and fighting to end gentrification and apartheid. His mission was to shift power and translate dreams into reality.”