South African presidential candidate tours Nubian Square
Mmusi Maimane finds inspiration in a vibrant commercial center of Boston’s Black community
On the wet and wintry afternoon of Jan. 24, Mmusi Maimane sat on a tour bus with colleagues, business owners and Boston’s Black community leaders.
The bus wound its way through the narrow streets of Nubian Square, past the all-African restaurant Suya Joint on Dudley Street and Frugal Bookstore on Warren Street, before stopping briefly at Nubian Markets where the group paused to nosh on pastries and fruit.
Maimane is no ordinary tourist trying to savor an authentic slice of a diverse community in Boston.
He is a candidate running for president of South Africa and he got a sampling of the future of economic prosperity in one of the main commercial hubs in Boston’s Black community. On this visit, Maimane shared his vision for a more vibrant South Africa and listened as Boston community leaders shared their plans for an “economically revitalized” Nubian Square.
“As I walk around, there’s something special that you want to preserve about coming into spaces that look…diverse and inclusive,” he said at one of the stops. “That speaks to me because so many of the spaces people end up in are so divided. As I walk around, I’m hopeful, inspired and revering of leaders that are here.”
Maimane, the leader of independent political party Build One South Africa, is the former head of the Democratic Alliance, his country’s primary opposition party. He said he aimed to strengthen ties with Massachusetts and U.S. leaders for the kick-off of his political campaign.
His visit to Boston in some ways recalled that of Nelson Mandela, the South African leader who came to the city in 1990 following his release from prison. Maimane said he was “blown away” by Nubian Square’s development and inspired by the area’s leadership.
Mmusi Maimane (center) in discussion at Nubian Markets with (from left) Geri
Denterlein, Kelley Chunn, Richard Taylor, Rev. Willie Bodrick, II. PHOTO: SOUL SOLID VISUALS
Maimane’s U.S. excursion included short stints in Washington, D.C., and Boston, where he visited The Embrace statue on Boston Common and toured the Senate chambers with Senate President Karen Spilka and South Africa-born Sen. Jason Lewis.
In Nubian Square, Maimane was joined by Richard Taylor, developer at Nubian Ascends; Robert George, director of Roxbury Main Streets; Ira Jackson, lecturer at Harvard; Peter Bauer, co-founder of tech company Mimecast; Aisha Francis, president and CEO of Franklin Cummings Tech, previously known as Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology; and others.
Nubian Square “offers an opportunity to understand what participatory development has to offer [and represents] an opportunity to increase economic development and lift up [the] community,” Francis said.
She is spearheading Franklin Cummings Tech’s relocation from the South End to Nubian Square, a move that she said would boost career opportunities in Roxbury.
She said Maimane’s visit spurred bilateral discussions about urban planning, participatory development, education, investment and economic development in Boston and South Africa.
Nubian Square is Roxbury’s primary commercial hub and the heart of African American culture. Yet, community leaders said there is still work to be done to fully revitalize the square.
On the tour, Taylor emphasized the gaps in Nubian Square’s development that he said were the result of years of redlining and divestment. He pointed to underutilized parking lots, closed restaurants and “empty buildings that are not adding to the vibrancy of what we do,” he said.
Taylor and the other local leaders on the tour discussed their efforts to reinvigorate Nubian Square and close Boston’s vast racial wealth gap, starting with Roxbury — plans that echoed Maimane’s ambitions for South Africa.
He called Nubian Square’s progress “unbelievable” and said he was “envious,” that Nubian Square is “a real testimony of triumph.” He also used the opportunity to emphasize his reasons for running for president.
Maimane said his goal is to bring “jobs, jobs, jobs” to an “economically stagnant” South Africa. His U.S. trip allowed him to meet potential investors, and his Boston visit clarified the city’s global impact, he said.
He said he hopes to continue South Africa’s relationship with Boston and the United States.
“All of us are placed on a particular continent for a particular purpose at a particular time and…there is a moment [in] which we need to step up and say, ‘We cannot continue to live with one race oppressing another. We cannot continue to live with so many excluded from economic prosperity,’” Maimane said.
Toward the end of his tour, Maimane strolled through the aisles of Nubian Markets, a grocery store and café offering foods from the African diaspora.
Asim Shakur-DuVall, one of the store’s managers, said Maimane’s visit underscored the store’s purpose.
Maimane “seems to really enjoy seeing some familiar products and just really supported the mission of what we were trying to do here, which is to shine light on all the beautiful different cultures around Africa,” Shakur-DuVall said.
