James C. Hayes: Alaska's first black mayor - mayor of Fairbanks

Ebony, Oct, 1993

Frigid North warms up to the upbeat style of minister and former pipeline worker

Some Blacks may respond with a "Thanks, but no thanks," to Alaska's often stormy, sometimes raging winters. But Fairbanks' first Black mayor, James C. Hayes, thinks the city's politics are fairer than its weather.

Although Blacks, many of whom are stationed at the municipality's local military bases, make up only 12 percent of the population of Alaska's second-largest city, Haye's cross-cultural political base helps debunk the myth that White voters won't support Black politicians.

But not all of Fairbanks' Black residents feel their city, snuggled in Alaska's Tanana Valley, is the color-blind Utopia they would like it to be. The local NAAACP recently began investigating Black civilian complaints of racial discrimination and harassment at both Ft. Wainwright Army and Eilson Air Force bases. And while Hayes agrees that racial tensions are present, he also says that fact should not keep Blacks from pursuing the state's oil-rich opportunities.

"In Fairbanks people tend to accept you as you are," says Hayes, who ran unopposed. "They just want to hear you platform and hear what you believe in, and then see you go out and work really hard. That's been the key to my success.

A fiscally conservative, socially moderate Democrat, Hayes, 46, began his undefeated political career in 1973, shortly after graduating from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has advanced steadily from a seat on the local school board and city council to the mayor's chair in city hall. But he says his mother, Juanita Metoyer, deserves the credit for bringing him to Fairbanks and instilling in him the strong work ethic so popular with all his constituents.

Metoyer's inspirational story began in 1955. That's when she packed up her belonging and her dogged determination to make a fresh start following her divorce. She then joined a Baptist minister's family, and with a 7-year-old Hayes, took the long drive from Sacramento, Calif., to a new life in Fairbanks.

Eager to earn his keep, and industrious even as a youngster, Hayes shined shoes at the local barbershop and hawked newspapers. The odd jobs enabled him to help his mother, who worked as a domestic and cooked in cafes on the city's South Side, to take care of him.

Family has always been an important center in Haye's life. In addition to his duties as mayor, he also serves as an assistant pastor at Lily of the Valley Church of God in Christ, where his father-in-law pastors. There he delivers a sermon once or twice a month. Over the years, religion, too, has played an increasingly integral role in his personal and political lives.

"I think religion complements being mayor, because the belief that I have in God helps me to survive the attacks I get from time to time," says Hayes, who also works full-time as an investigator of consumer fraud in the state's attorney's office.

Hayes and his wife of 19 years, Chris, a former secretary at the Fairbanks Municipal Utilities System, live with their 17-year-old son, James Jr. Their daughter, LaNene Hayes-Pruitt, and her husband live in Florida.

In his limited spare time, he likes to fish, collect silver dollars and bicycle with Chris and James around the city's picture-postcard landscapes.

But he shudders when recalls past ice-fogged winters when the temperature has dipped to minus 60. "It would be so foggy you couldn't see across the street. But in the last two or three winters, it hasn't been too bad."

One of the primary responsibilities that came with the mayor's chair was figuring out a way to keep the city running smoothly during its brutal winters. Last year, 141 inches of snow ravaged the city. One of Hayes' first actions as mayor was to appoint a committee to examine the public works department's efforts at snow removal.

Another challenge the mayor faces is negotiating with the city's nine different bargaining unions. Since Fairbanks operates under a tax cap and does not collect a sales tax, he's hoping for union concessions. But City Clerk Toni Nigro, who says Hayes' skills as a mediator and a conciliator are some of his greatest attributes, echoes the political faith Fairbanks' voters have placed in their mayor.

Hayes says that despite Fairbanks' brutal winters, the city is an excellent place to raise a family and to give something back to the community.

"For anyone who has a desire to raise a family, get involved in the community and contribute something," he says, "this is the place."