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In many black intellectual circles there is now a fierce argument over whether the new 'post-racial' campaigns are simply a means to an end - that sacrificing black identity politics will allow black leaders to better tackle racial injustice. Or are they, paradoxically, a bad thing for many poor black communities whose concerns could be abandoned.
The jury is out. Critics say politicians such as Booker and Obama, by raising issues such as absent black fathers, are pandering to the racism of the white majority in order to win office. 'Some think the election of Obama could be a double-edged sword. Some of what he has said could give strength to those who falsely argue black Americans are marginalised by their own choices,' Fergus said.
But others say the opposite. They say the new generation of black politicians simply want to make all their constituents' lives better and move beyond race. Getting elected first is key, they argue, because only then can they push for social change. 'It's only in office that black leaders can then begin to legislate,' Gillespie said.
Perhaps an answer will emerge only if Obama wins the White House. That is a real possibility, undreamed of even two decades ago. But then America's racial politics are changing. Certainly few people 41 years ago, during the race riots in Newark, would have imagined that the first mayor to produce a memorial to them would be like Cory Booker: young, black, popular with whites and loved by the police. There are even whispers of much bigger things ahead in his political future. Even Manning had good words for the impact the mayor has had on a city that desperately needed help: 'I'll say this for Cory Booker. There isn't drugs being sold outside my house any more. I appreciate that.'