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He’s been hailed by Time magazine as the ‘Savior of Newark.’ Esquire labeled him one of the country’s ’40 Best and Brightest.’  The titles comprise just the tip of his accolade iceberg.

Cory Booker, social activist, lawyer, and urban reformer, spoke to a big crowd in Persson Auditorium on Monday.  The event was sponsored by the Sophomore Year Experience and the Department for Educational Studies.

Booker, 34, received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1991 and a master’s in sociology in 1992 from Stanford University. He then went to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and received an honors degree in modern history in 1994. In 1997, he earned his law degree from Yale University.

Students in the audience seemed enthralled with his speech that was filled with humor and personal anecdotes detailing his quest to renovate rundown sections of his hometown of Newark, N.J.

In less than seven years, Booker managed to give the once nightmarish Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard area of the city a face-lift through his grassroots nonprofit organization called Newark Now.

He explained that he had moved to a boarding house for recovering drug addicts, which was next to a crack house, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Booker admitted he felt powerless, and wondered if he would be able to enact changes in a section of the city seemingly committed to malevolence.  He met Virginia Jones, tenant president of a nearby housing project. 

‘You need to understand that the world you see outside of you is the one inside of you,’ she said to him, after he described the images of despair around him.  ‘If all you see is the negative and the hopeless, then you’ll live a life of despair.  If you can see the hope, you can make a change.’

Jones revolutionized Booker’s thinking.  He realized he needed to understand his values and ‘realize the powers he never thought he had.’

The two began a coalition to transform the neighborhood.  Booker was able to slow the drug trafficking, help dealers seek help, improve school facilities and add a health clinic, open a healthcare center, create a charter school, open public housing projects, and host a job fair.  The transformation resonated across the state and into surrounding areas.

Booker relayed a series of struggles he faced over the next few years, including 10 days he spent living in a tent outside of his building in protest of the city’s refusal to enlist police to stymie drug trafficking.  He garnered the support of many members of his community.

‘There is no problem larger than us that we can’t solve if we come together and fight together,’ he said.  ‘There are tangible problems that rip at the fabric of our nation’s future.  We must be willing to stand up from these problems and come together and fix them.’

‘The people of this nation must stand up for who they are to wipe out the foes of bigotry and hatred.  People stood up for us, and we must stand up now for ourselves.  The changes we want must be caused by the people who make those changes; by us,’ he said.

Booker, who served four years as a city councilman in Newark, encouraged the audience to uncover who they are and what their dreams and aspirations are.  When they believe in themselves and their values, he said, they can truly make a difference.

Many in the audience said they were exhilarated by Booker’s speech.

‘For me, coming from New Jersey, I could identify with the problems he explained.  To know he’s involved in politics there makes me comforted.  I’m calling my high school tomorrow and getting him to speak there,’ said first-year Tiffany Kuehner.

‘He was an amazing speaker. What he’s doing on the local level makes me want to get out there and do things too,’ first-year Lauren Donnelly echoed.

One woman questioned why Booker was not running for president.  He responded by saying he was more interested in urban development, urban reform, and working on a regional level where changes and ameliorations are immediate. 

Maybe Booker is destined for things on a grander scale and he just doesn’t know it yet.

‘His outlook on life makes you strive to perform and strive to make a difference,’ said first-year Ian Maron-Kolitch.  ‘He’s the next Martin Luther King, and he’s standing in our midst. Look for him in Washington in 20 years.’