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David N. Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York City, died Nov. 23 at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.
He was elected mayor in 1989, succeeding Edward Koch, and after one term was succeeded by Rudolph Giuliani in 1993.
Dinkins pledged to be “mayor of all people” at his inauguration ceremony on New Year’s Day, 1990, where he was publicly sworn in as the 106th mayor, CNY reported at that time.
He dedicated his administration to helping “the children of New York” and closed his inauguration speech saying, “No matter how rich and powerful we become, we cannot be satisfied when so many children experience the sunset of opportunity at the very dawn of their existence.”
One of the controversies during Dinkins’ term as mayor was the planned distribution of condoms in public schools.
In a forceful Sunday Mass homily and at a meeting Sept. 30, 1990, Cardinal O’Connor blasted a plan to distribute condoms in New York City public schools, calling the proposal an “unmitigated disaster” that would encourage teenagers to have sex.
In his homily at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, CNY reported, Cardinal O’Connor predicted the Church would be criticized for its opposition to the condom giveaway. “We will be called callous—that we’re trying to impose our Catholic values on others, that we don’t care if children get pregnant, don’t care if children get disease,” he said.
“That’s calumny,” Cardinal O’Connor said. “We care enough that we want it done right. The only way is abstinence. The only way we can overcome the cares of our day is by talking about sin.”
Later that same day, at a meeting of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, Cardinal O’Connor called on Catholics throughout the archdiocese to “deluge” the city schools chancellor and the mayor with letters about the condom plan.
Dinkins, the New York Times said last week, was a compromise selection for voters exhausted by racial strife, corruption, crime and fiscal turmoil, and he proved to be an able caretaker, historians say, rather than an innovator.
The New York Times article noted that Dinkins inherited huge budget deficits that grew larger, faced some of the worst crime problems in the city’s history and dealt with them by expanding the police to record levels. He kept city libraries open, revitalized Times Square and rehabilitated housing in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem.
