Mayor Lee Swaney Character Analysis in Outcasts United

The mayor of Clarkston, who is elected in 2001 while branding himself as a “champion of Old Clarkston.” Mayor Swaney vacillates between helping and hindering the Fugees. At first, he helps Luma use the field at Armistead Park on a trial basis, but then he rescinds this offer early, leaving them without a field. After St. John publishes his article on the Fugees, Swaney faces a deluge of criticism and the town allows Luma to use the field once more.

Mayor Lee Swaney Quotes in Outcasts United

The Outcasts United quotes below are all either spoken by Mayor Lee Swaney or refer to Mayor Lee Swaney. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Refugees, Discrimination, and Resilience Theme Icon

).

In 2001, Lee Swaney—a longtime city council member who called himself a champion of “old Clarkston,” that is, Clarkston before the refugees—ran for mayor.

Related Characters: Warren St. John (speaker), Mayor Lee Swaney

Related Symbols: Fields

Page Number and Citation: 31

Explanation and Analysis:

Swaney’s proposal changed the energy in the room. The council’s questions became gentler. They talked among themselves and agreed that six months sounded like a reasonable amount of time for a trial period.

There was a motion, and a second.

The motion passed unanimously. Luma nodded in thanks and stifled a smile. The Fugees, for now at least, had a home.

Related Characters: Warren St. John (speaker), Luma al-Mufleh, Mayor Lee Swaney

Related Symbols: Fields

Page Number and Citation: 140

Explanation and Analysis:

Pull back farther, and you got a sense of where Clarkston sat in America—tucked in a green corner of the country beneath the gray ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Pull back again, and the blue oceans came into view, then other continents and countries—Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq—all looking deceptively calm. Pull back farther still and the curved horizons of the planet revealed themselves—a beautiful ball of green, white, blue, slate, and brown. Someday, somewhere down there, the Fugees would find a home.

Related Characters: Warren St. John (speaker), Luma al-Mufleh, Mayor Lee Swaney

Related Symbols: Fields

Page Number and Citation: 218-219

Explanation and Analysis:

Mayor Lee Swaney Character Timeline in Outcasts United

The timeline below shows where the character Mayor Lee Swaney appears in Outcasts United. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Mayor Lee Swaney likes to say that, before refugees started arriving, Clarkston, Georgia was a “sleepy little town... (full context)

In 2001, Lee Swaney runs for mayor as “a champion of ‘Old Clarkston,’” meaning Clarkston before the refugees, and... (full context)

Community and Teamwork vs. Division Theme Icon

Mayor Swaney decides to act, inviting the heads of resettlement agencies to a town hall meeting to... (full context)

The next day, Luma drives down to City Hall to ask Mayor Swaney whether they can use another field, Armistead field, in Milam Park. It has grass, is... (full context)

Luma answers their questions, and Mayor Swaney interjects to point out that the field at Armistead is unused. He says he doesn’t... (full context)

Luma calls Mayor Swaney , but he won’t take her call. Later, Luma discovers that the letter was authorized... (full context)

...on the Fugees that St. John wrote while working on Outcasts United. As a result, Mayor Swaney is deluged with angry phone calls and emails. In the wake of public outcry, the... (full context)