Jaylen Smith inspires the youngest African American mayor

By Alaina Coats

Published January 15, 2023

Jaylen Smith is a natural-born leader. Confident and eloquent are just two of the obvious ways to describe his unique style.

At just 18-years-old, Smith holds the keys to his hometown of Earle, Ark. as its newly elected mayor. Two hundred and thirty-five votes were all it took to defeat his opponent, Nemi Matthews, in a tight, run-off race that created quite the buzz for the family-oriented, rural town of roughly 3.2 square miles and about 1,800 residents. Straight out of high school, Smith put his city“on the map” with a monumental endeavor. And on January 2, 2023 he officially made history becoming the nation’s youngest African American ever elected, sworn in, and serving as mayor.

“The people are ready for change and are ready to see their city thriving,” Mayor Smith said in an exclusive interview in which he spoke passionately about his vision for transforming his native city into a renewed place of safety and prosperity. “It’s going to take all of us getting involved and being engaged in the process of what’s going on in the community. It’s going to take the mayor, the city council, and the people working together as a team to move our city forward,” he said.

Mature beyond his years, Mayor Smith is affectionately known by many in his community as “an old soul” because his motives are always guided by the things that will benefit those around him. “Moving forward” became his unofficial slogan and theme surrounding his mayoral campaign, a declaration that has its roots in Mayor Smith’s unwavering faith and his fearlessness in declaring it as the guiding influence to his political success. “Habakkuk 2:2 says write the vision and makeit plain and it will come at an appointed time.” Mayor Smith said reciting the biblical scripture effortlessly. “I wrote the vision and made it plain and it came and now it’s a reality,” he said.

His vision is one that is not far off from GA Senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock, Senior Pastor of the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Sen. Warnock contended against Republican candidate and retired NFL athlete Herschel Walker in a run-off election that captured the attention of the entire country with the catchphrase, “put your shoes on and get ready.” It was a simple message that reminded voters that everyday there’s a new opportunity to pursue and to prepare for. Sen. Warnock secured his seat in the Senate as well as the democratic majority rule with an unapologetic political campaign that was heavily guided by his moral principles and by his faith.

He and Mayor Smith both won their elections on the same night, Dec. 6, 2022. Mayor Smith’s voice is a vital extension of an emerging generation of leaders known as Generation Z. “Gen Zers” are adolescents and young adults ages 15-25 who have been widely identified to have a natural desire to approach the traditions of society in bold and unconventional ways. They are unashamedly willing to speak freely about their beliefs, forward-thinkers, visionaries, and risk-takers who show little hesitation taking on complex challenges that directly impact their personal lives and the lives of others in a meaningful way.

“I think bigger,” Mayor Smith said of his approach to running for mayor. “I’ve always had a passion for people and making a difference. I wanted to make a difference in my community before I move on to the next phase of my life,” he said.

For Mayor Smith, the possibilities are endless as he consistently demonstrates several highly sought-after leadership traits that makes him a stand-out candidate in any professional arena that he may choose to enter. Skills like being a visionary, courageous, creative, a responsible, and action-oriented come easy to Smith. Not to mention his dedication to service which is also a trait that also comes naturally. “I grew up with a helping hand,” he told me. While campaigning, he fed the homeless, held city wide clean-ups, bicycle rides, as well as food and water drives.” To gain insight from other experienced politicians, he shadowed mayors in other states like Mississippi, Missouri, Kentucky, and New Jersey.

Mayor Smith describes the tight-knit community of Earle located in Crittenden County about forty miles east of Memphis, TN to be “his heart.” Surrounded by plentiful fields of blossoming agriculture like vegetables and cotton, the city has lots of potential to thrive socially and economically.

In his first 100 days of office, Mayor Smith made a promise to the city to address three main issues. First, he plans to tend to the city’s public safety concerns by fortifying it with an around-the-clock police department. Budgeting setbacks have hindered the city from operating at optimum capacity. Next, Mayor Smith wants to restore a sense of pride back to the city by beautifying the land. Keeping the roads clean and improving public transportation. He has plans to rid the city of their sewage and flooding issues by ensuring city drains stay clean and free of debris. He also has plans to demolish old, abandoned houses and renovate those that can be salvaged as residential property. He intends to also bring more students into the city with his new housing initiative.

Third, he wants to relieve the city of the stress of having to travel to neighboring city grocery stores. Bringing a grocery store as well as factories to the city will create more jobs for the people in the community and assist the elderly with ensuring they have adequate food to eat on a daily basis, Mayor Smith said.

Mayor Smith is optimistic about the city of Earle. He vows to make his city a great place to live, work, and raise a family. “God wanted me here and He attached me to this assignment to make Earle great,” he told me. “My favorite part about the city is that everyone is caring, loving, and welcoming. We’re like one big family,” he said. “When one family falls short, we all come together as a community and get the family what they need.”

The city of Earle has a fairly young demographics. Most adults in Earle are around 40-years-old with 20% of the population being seniors, 65 and older. The young people are the ones who really showed up for Mayor Smith at the polls which gave him the edge that he needed to make his historic win.

Their turnout on election day was proof that young adults know the power of their voices and are en- gaged in the decision-making processes that will affect their futures.

Mayor Smith calls many members of the Earle community his “village,” a collective of family members, friends, teachers, and mentors who helped prepare him for success at an early age. “All of my teachers from kindergarten to 12th grade were an inspiration to me,” he said. However, Carloss Guess, Mayor Smith’s manager who sat close by during our interview, is a special one among many who he credits as being a major influence on him throughout his academic and professional career. “She [Guess] was the first per- son that I told I was running for mayor and she told me to ‘go for it’,” he said.

In addition to his personal relationships, as a high school student at Earle High, Mayor Smith was involved in many campus organizations that helped shaped his interest in public service including the Student Government Association (SGA) where he served as president. SGA eventually became the catalyst for Smith’s pursuit of the mayor’s office. As SGA president, Mayor Smith became an active advocate for the student body keeping them up-to- date on important news and current events and bringing their concerns to the attention of appropriate student officials. SGA also allowed Mayor Smith the opportunity to be an active servant in his community, as well. He found creative ways to extend his expertise of advocacy to the less for- tunate and under-served residents around town, especially the homeless and the elderly com- munities in Earle and in surrounding cities like West Memphis, Marion, and Wynne. For exam- ple, he took the time to assist with running errands and bringing them a hot meal, and helping them with chores. Smith displays a love for his community with his acts of kindness and compassion.

Mayor Smith hopes that his election will inspire other young adults to run for political office in their hometowns. He declares that the time is now for young people to take the lead and change the narratives that fuel the negative statistics sur- rounding Black and Brown communities and young adults. “If we don’t change now, we will never change,” he said. He encourages the older generations to “give the young people a chance,” Mayor Smith told me as he passionately spoke against complacency and mediocrity in efforts to motivate change and to achieve favorable results in underrepresented cities and local communities. “When the young people want to step out on the faith [to make a difference in their communities], the older people have to be there to support them,” Mayor Smith said.

Young people, no doubt, offer unique contributions in leadership roles and in political spaces as a direct result of them being at the height of their intellectual capabilities, socially engaged, open to new ideas, and innovative creatives. Their talents arguably have the most potential to effectually invoke the most change considering their interconnectedness to other young adults and their willingness to readily embrace those who are of different races, backgrounds, and traditions.

“We were all born to be successful,” Mayor Smith said. “But everybody is going to be successful in different ways,” he told me. He wants the res- idents of the great city of Earle and those of generations to come who learn about his historic victory to remember that regardless of how your circumstances may seem or what people may say to deter you from achieving your goals, “keep moving for- ward…stay on course, be humble, and continue to thrive because if you don’t believe in yourself ‘who will?’,” Mayor Smith said.

Stay tuned for more on Mayor Smith’s journey as the new mayor of Earle, Ark. as Edition8 will continue to cover his term in office.