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Quick! Where is Slovenia on a world map?
I know I'm not alone in drawing a blank with that simple geography pop quiz. But that might change for some black Americans with the word that the tiny Eastern European nation has elected a black man as mayor of Piran.
Peter Bossman, a Ghana-born doctor, is believed to be the first black man to win a major election in an Eastern European nation.
Bossman, 54, has already drawn the nickname "Obama of Piran" with his victory and promised to bring electric cars to his city and boost tourism.
Slovenia, which broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, has a population of about 2 million. Piran is a coastal city of about 17,000 residents and shares sister city status with Indianapolis.
Bossman moved to the region in the 1970's to study medicine and stayed after marrying a fellow student from neighboring Croatia.
Though he isn't a newcomer to the country, Africans make up a just a small sliver of the Slovenian population, so it's good to see that Bossman was able to get voters to look past his race and focus on the policies he outlined during his campaign run.
Comments: (2)
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By: Karl on 11/12/2010 1:01AM
Amazing. Eastern Europe is impoverished and seems to be extremely ethnocentric. I'm really surprised this happened.
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By: SteveLC on 11/03/2010 6:00PM
I wish Peter Bossman years of good and successful leadership. However, I hope that he will not receive the level of hate and racism that USA President Obama received eight days after being in office.
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