This Tuesday I went to see a screening of Marshall Curry’s film Street Fight at the Cornell Cinema. The documentary covered the 2002 race for mayor in Newark, New Jersey in which Cory Booker, a political newcomer, ran against Sharpe James who had been mayor of the city for over 30 years.

I was amazed at the level of corruption that existed in the city government during this race. Curry interviewed many residents who described being threatened by the city police with the loss of their businesses if they openly endorsed Booker, and the film showed footage of police officers tearing down Cory Booker signs on Election Day. Sharpe James himself made derogatory comments about Booker and accused him of being a “carpetbagger” and not really African American. I kept expecting throughout the whole film that Cory Booker would win, so at the end I was very surprised and disturbed that the James political machine was ultimately able to beat Booker through the use of these corrupt tactics.

At the end of the film, Marshall Curry took questions from the audience and talked about the reception of the film. For me the most memorable part of his talk was when he described the international reaction to the film, and how people from all over the world have told him that this race was similar to elections in their hometowns. This film really made me aware of the amount of political corruption that is still present in our society and around the world.