Pictured above: Jaylen Smith is the youngest African American to be elected mayor in U.S. history. (Kenneth Heard)
Jaylen Smith starts his days like most 19-year-olds. He wakes up at his parents’ home, eats breakfast, worries about the college courses he’s taking, gets into his used car and heads to work.
The difference, though, is that while others his age may go to work at a fast-food restaurant or convenience store, Smith heads west on Second Street into Earle’s downtown and pulls into the city hall’s employee parking. He enters through the building’s back door, greets other workers arriving and walks through the hallways to his office.
Smith, who graduated from Earle High School last year, is the town’s mayor. It’s a position he earned by 50 votes in the city’s November 2022 election when he was 18.
He’s the youngest African American ever to be a mayor in the country’s history and among a handful of teenagers to have held a city’s leadership position.
Being the mayor of Earle is not an easy task. The Crittenden County town of 2,000 lost more than 1,000 residents over the past 20 years. There are not many jobs available in Earle, and many leave the town in search of better opportunities after graduating high school. The unemployment rate in Earle is 13 percent.
Smith’s goal as mayor is to bring in new businesses, develop more housing and double Earle’s population within four years. He also wants to restore hope to a town that has lost a sense of optimism over the past decade.
Smith’s story has all the trappings of so many scripts about young people following their dreams. This time, an 18-year-old senior in high school, enamored with politics and helping others, opts to run for town mayor. He beats his opponent, a former street-and-sanitation supervisor, 235 votes to 185 votes, and the job is his.
“You can do what your heart desires,” he said, sounding more like a wizened life coach than a teenager. “You should follow your dreams. Only you can stop you.”
Of course, Smith isn’t just anyone. He began wearing suits to school when he was in the ninth grade, said Angela Jones, an administrative assistant at Earle High School. He became a member of the school’s student government association and was impressed by how the group could create policies to help students. It left a lasting impression on him.
“I’ve not seen any student like Jaylen in many years,” Jones said. “He was an excellent student. He asked a lot of questions, and if you didn’t answer them fully, you got more questions from him. He asked, “Why? a lot.”
Now, nearly a year into his four-year term, Smith is used to working 12-hour days. He gets to City Hall at 8 a.m. and, especially on days when the city council meets, stays late. He constantly checks his cell phone for texts or one of the two computers in his office for emails. From one computer, music softly emanates. Smith listens to a rotation of gospel, country and contemporary Christian music.
While browsing the internet one day, he discovered that United Airlines was offering summer internships to high school students. He printed the information to show to Earle school administrators.
“It’s what I expected,” he said of the job, “but I was ready to go to work. High school work prepared me for this, but I’m learning every day.”
On his first day as mayor, Smith had to deal with flooding after heavy rains deluged the area. It was a problem that has plagued parts of Earle for decades.
“I had our guys clean out the sewers and drainage systems,” he said. “Within about 30 minutes, the water began flowing out.”
Smith is a hands-on type mayor, administrative assistant Victoria Mathis said.
“He’s amazing,” she said. “He’s ‘work, work, work.’ He’s willing to get in and do the job, not just command others. He does it.”
At least once a week, Smith enters City Hall dragging a vacuum cleaner behind him. He brings the vacuum from home and cleans his own office. When one of the city’s trash trucks was out for repair and two people were required to team up on another truck, Smith jumped on the back of one and took off, helping workers empty garbage containers on the city’s curbs.
“He sets goals,” Mathis said. “Then he gets in the trenches. It makes you want to do more for the city.”
Smith’s parents are from nearby Crawfordsville. They moved to Earle in 2000, and four years later, their son was born.
Smith first wanted to be a police officer or an Arkansas State Police trooper, his mother, Sonya Perkins, said. Smith was a good student and did not pose any problems for his parents, but he didn’t stand out until he joined the student government association in high school.
“His whole demeanor changed then,” Perkins said. “The light came on. He saw how he could help change things for the better.”
As a senior in high school, Smith helped plan the senior class trip to Panama Beach, Fla. When he learned some of his classmates could not afford it, he raised money for their expenses by cutting yards and working other jobs.
“He’d wear suits to class,” Jones said. “People thought he was a teacher. They’d ask about the new teacher, and I’d say, ‘What teacher?’ They’d point to Jaylen, and I’d say, ‘He’s a student.’”
When Smith filed to run for mayor, he didn’t tell his parents. They learned about it from a post on Facebook.
Since taking office, Smith has met with Vice President Kamala Harris three times, once visiting her home for Black History Month this past February. He’s also discussed the demographics of Generation Z youngsters with President Joe Biden and talked about restoring hope for the nation after the fractious Donald Trump administration.
In September, Smith traveled to Brooklyn to talk to college students about following their dreams, and he will soon go to Brazil for a conference of African American mayors.
In addition to growth, Smith’s goals include bringing in a grocery store — something the town has not seen in decades. There are also plans for a new liquor store, a gas station and a 500-unit apartment complex on the horizon.
Smith secured a $300,000 state grant to help repair city streets, and he wants to create overnight shifts for the Earle Police Department to ensure 24-hour police protection.
A lot of his ideas hang on change, which has evaded Earle in the past. The downtown area is evidence of that. The City Hall annex has been there since 1905, when the town was founded.
Davis Auto is next door, promising reliable used cars, and further up the road, the Glory Grill boasts of its “Mercy Burger.”
Even the name of the town is a throwback to a much earlier time, since the town is named after Josiah Francis Earle, a Confederate cavalry soldier and member of the Ku Klux Klan.
When he was first elected, some residents were a tad concerned about Smith’s age.
“I ain’t going to tell no tales,” said Clara Dyson, a cashier at the local Valero convenience store on U.S. 64. “I was nervous, but he’s done a real good job.”
Willie Gray, an employee of the Glory Grill, said she’s been pleased with his progress, as well.
“We’ve had a lot of older [mayors] who didn’t do much,” she said. “He’s done all right as far as I can tell. He’s trying to help people.”
It’s been a busy, whirlwind life for Smith this past year, and it promises to continue that way. He’s taking online classes at Arkansas State University Mid-South in West Memphis with the intention of earning a business administration degree.
Smith is planning ahead too. He wants to run for a second four-year term as mayor in 2028. Then he intends to run for Arkansas’ 1st Congressional U.S. District seat and eventually for president.
“I’ve seen the progress here,” he said of his first year of work, “but I’ve not seen the change in people. We haven’t changed in 40 years. We haven’t gotten new habits in place yet. In order to make real progress, we need to make the change.”
Channeling another Arkansan who once aspired for the White House and got there, Smith insisted, “We need to get hope back to Earle.”
READ ALSO: Spotlight on Small Business: Mended Souls Sea Moss
