LYNN — Nicole Mcclain contemplates her status as the first-ever Black woman to run for a citywide City Council election.
“It’s perplexing,” said Mcclain, who announced in late March that she is seeking a councilor-at-large seat. “I’m not sure why it has taken until 2021. I think it’s overdue. Absolutely.”
Mcclain looks around and doesn’t see too many people of color in local government — something she finds rather odd considering the makeup of Lynn’s residents.
“When our city is minority-majority, it shows there’s a lack of representation in cultural thought,” she said. “If I’m able to run successfully, and win, I could support our local government and be that voice, and see things from a culturally diverse point of view. Just to provide another perspective is an honor for me, actually.”
Mcclain is the founder of the North Shore Juneteenth Association — Juneteenth being the oldest nationally-celebrated commemoration of the end of slavery. And while she has been quick to take on civic roles such as Juneteenth, she was reluctant to take this step.
“I wasn’t always enthusiastic about it,” she said. “But I have spoken to people who have taken this step (run for office) and they say it changes your influence, and that it changes your voice in a good way.”
Mostly, Mcclain feels a need to include more of the community in citywide decisions.
“Things happen that everybody isn’t made aware of,” she said. “I’d like to be a part of that change. That is long overdue. Communication between local government and the community has been fractured. That needs correction.
“Everybody’s not going to win all the time,” she said. “But the losing team can’t be the same people all the time. And that’s a big problem in the city of Lynn.”
Recent grassroots efforts to erect a Black Lives Matter mural near the Lynn District Court and City Hall illustrate her point in a big way, she said.
“First, I believe that the BLM mural is about inclusion,” she said. “It’s about saying this group of people that hasn’t been represented in our country is now being seen, and it’s overdue. We need to let everyone know in our culturally-diverse city that our Black community matters — that what we’re going through, and what we’ve gone through, matters.”
She feels the city had not really listened to the group proposing the mural, led by Damianny Garrido and Carlos Prudencio of Lynn English, prior to the Tuesday night meeting when it decided to hear the proposal. Nor, she said, did it understand why the proposed location mattered as well.
And, she said, the entire issue — including a proposal for a “Diversity Square” that would house the BLM mural on Exchange Street — encapsulates one of her biggest issues.
“They (the city council) did not bring (Diversity Square) to anyone’s attention,” she said. “To decide this Diversity Square without any public input at all … I believe there’s hesitation on the part of local government because of their own personal views. But what this really should be is a way to reach our younger generation of residents and show them how the process works, how things get done. And they’re not taking this opportunity.”
On the other hand, Mcclain said, she doesn’t want to dismiss progress that has been made in the area of race relations in Lynn either.
“I’m not going to say there haven’t been advances,” she said. “We’ve been able to come to an agreement with the body cameras for police. There have also been interviews being done for a diversity officer in City Hall. Things have been moving along. There have been some good steps in that direction.”
Mcclain, who is 41 and lives in East Lynn, said she would also like to see the city make more of an effort to embrace its youth.
“I see kids get out of school and their first inclination is to leave Lynn,” she said. “They don’t feel as if the city has anything for them. I think we need to show them the trades, bring them to GE, bring them to places where they could be employed, and where we could retain some of their talent.”
She identifies the new development throughout the city as another issue. Not that it’s happening as much as the ripple effect it might cause.
“My view is we need development without displacement,” Mcclain said. “I’ve always wanted to see Lynn become a beautiful place. I’ve always been envious of Salem and other places. I’ve always wanted to see Lynn become that, but not at the expense of our residents. My view is we have to have some affordable housing for our residents too.”
