| Charles Barron | |
|---|---|
| Councilman Charles Barron | |
| Member of the New York City Council from the 42nd District | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 2001 |
|
| Preceded by | Priscilla Wooten |
| Constituency | East New York, Brownsville, East Flatbush, and Canarsie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 7, 1950 Brooklyn, NY |
| Political party | Democratic Party (United States) previously Black Panther Party |
| Other political affiliations |
New Black Panther Party[1] Nation of Islam[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Inez Barron[2] |
| Residence | Brooklyn, New York |
| Alma mater | Hunter College City Tech |
| Profession | public speaker politician |
Charles Barron (born October 7, 1950[3]) is a Democratic politician who represents the 42nd District of New York City in the New York City Council. He is a former Black Panther with staunch beliefs in affirmative action, reparations for slavery, Ebonics training for teachers,[4][5][6] and a dislike of capitalism.[7]
Barron led protests and community activism in the East New York section of Brooklyn in the 1980s.[8] He transitioned into elected office in 1997 at the urging of his supporters in East New York. He has remained highly popular in his district, and has served in the Council since 2001.
As a City Councilman, he gained a reputation for his inflammatory style.[9] During his time as Councilman, he had a political rivalry with Speaker Christine Quinn, voting against her twice. He has unsuccessfully run for mayor of New York City, Brooklyn Borough President, and narrowly lost a primary for the House seat in the 10th Congressional district, which shares his constituency. Since 2006, Barron felt disaffected from the Democratic Party and increasingly called for greater Black self-determination, launching a new "Black and Latino-led Freedom Party."[10] On this third-party line, Barron ran for Governor in 2010, finishing 6th in a field of 7 candidates. Because of term limits, he will leave the City Council in 2013, and has expressed interest in expanding his Freedom Party to new states in the future.[10]
He has a taste for Nehru suits, and wears them to public gatherings.[11]
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In 1969, when he was 18 years old, Barron was recruited to the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party by a member named Mark Holder.[12][13] Barron distributed newspapers for the Party, and developed an interest in politics. He studied the Third World independence movement, as well as the ideas of such leaders as Kwame Nkrumah (president of Ghana) and Ahmed Sékou Touré (president of Guinea). Barron became increasingly critical of the United States foreign policy. He opposed the Duvaliers in Haiti, Pinochet in Chile, Marcos in the Philippines, Pahlavi of Iran, and Somoza of Nicaragua. He recalled in 2010, "It was strange, because everybody I was against, America was for."[12] Barron gravitated towards Marxism and especially the Maoist ideology that was important to the original Black Panther Party.
that's why I still say I'm a Black Panther to my heart because in the 10-Point Program we talked about an immediate end to police brutality and exemption from us going into the military because we're not going to fight against countries and people of color abroad when we don't even have our freedom domestically and we fought for housing and clothing, shelter and relevant education, and this was all part of the 10-Point Program of the Black Panther Party which is still what I'm fighting for today.
After his time in the Black Panthers, Barron attended New York City Technical College (then known as New York City Community College), and obtained an associate's degree. He later attended Hunter College where he earned a bachelor of arts in sociology with a minor in elementary education.
In 1979, he joined the National Black United Front (NBUF), and was the founding chairperson of its Harlem Chapter. In 1982, as head of the Harlem Chapter, Barron was arrested with Preston Wilcox from the Institute of African Research because they, with roughly 12 to 20 other protesters, attempted to "forcibly remove" a white employee from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. They intended to remove Robert Morris, a white historian, who was appointed chief archivist for the Center. The members of the group were charged with harassment and criminal trespassing.[14] Shortly after the incident, Barron was appointed chief of staff to the Reverend Herbert Daughtry, chairperson of the NBUF. From 1982-87 Barron served as Secretary General of African Peoples Christian Organization (APCO). He traveled across the United States visiting college campuses, churches, prisons and communities "organizing around international, national and local issues".[15]
Barron participated in the "day of unrest" on December 21, 1987 to protest racism in the New York City Police Department and the local courts. The protest involved blocking eastbound traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping subway trains in several stations, and disrupting automobile traffic during the evening rush hour. More than 70 protesters were arrested; most were charged with obstruction of government administration and disorderly conduct. The few who had actually stood on the subway tracks including Barron, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Rev. Timothy Mitchell, Assemblyman Roger Greene, and lawyer C. Vernon Mason were additionally charged with criminal trespass. All were held overnight in jail, which elicited further complaints of racial bias.[16][17] Sharpton, Mitchell and Barron were convicted in February 1990, with Mitchell and Barron being jailed for 45 days.[18] Barron spent another 25 days in jail, with Sharpton, for a protest related to the Tawana Brawley rape allegations.[19]
In 2001, Barron was one of several black leaders who mounted pressure on federal officials to return the skeletons of buried Africans which had been exhumed for research.[20]
In 1983, Barron moved to East New York, where he and his wife founded the Dynamics of Leadership Company. He spoke at many organizations and schools, teaching principles of negotiation, team-building, emotional intelligence, and leadership. He made over $100,000 a year for several years as a public speaker, and was paid by Harvard and Yale to speak on their campuses.[21] In 1988, he published two children's books, Up You Mighty People, You Can Accomplish What You Will and Look For Me in the Whirlwind, written about the life of Marcus Garvey.
Barron continued his political activism in East New York, and established himself as a grassroots activist in the community. He created a new local branch of the Black United Front called the East New York United Front. He and community allies successfully prevented the City of New York from erecting a wood-burning incinerator in that neighborhood.[22] In 1996, they fought against the building of a natural gas generator.[23] Barron's opposition to the incinerator "catapulted" him into politics, as he said, "I got sick and tired of being at City Council hearings and listening to people who were less intelligent than I was, who were less committed than I was."[24] In 1997, Barron raised tensions with Council member Priscilla Wooten, calling her policies "backward" and criticizing her for not taking enough initiative with regard to community development in East New York.[22] Barron was endorsed by David Dinkins[25] and Al Sharpton, who said Wooten's support for Giuliani was a "cardinal sin"[26] Barron ran against Wooten in 1997 but lost.[26][27] Wooten made multiple legal charges to keep Barron off of the ballot, but her attempts were thrown out of court.[28] He ran in 2001, when term limits prevented her from running again. He defeated Wooten's son, Donald, becoming the City Councillor of the 42nd District.[29] He was re-elected in 2005[30][31] and 2009,[32] each time with over 85% of the popular vote.
Barron has introduced a number of bills relevant to the black community. He proposed creating a commission in New York City to study the effects of slavery on modern African Americans and use city funding for reparations.[33] He also proposed a bill to support restitution from companies that have benefited from past slavery. Barron proposed bills to honor America's African American heritage, including bills to celebrate Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey Day, Frederick Douglas, Paul Robeson, and W.E.B. DuBois. He also drafted a bill that would ask George W. Bush to cancel all debts African nations owe the U.S.[34]
Barron has sought clemency on multiple occasions for individuals he considers "political prisoners".
In 2002, he was appointed chair of the Higher Education Committee by the City Council's Speaker, Gifford Miller. Barron criticized the City University of New York for raising admission standards through the use of entrance exams and the elimination of remedial courses; he said, "I think racism comes behind standards."[39] Barron advanced the view that the university raised admission standards in order to restrict access to minority students. He argued that college-age students should not be denied admission to four-year colleges because of failures at the pre-college level. He further argued that CUNY's four-year colleges initiated open admission at a time when the student body was predominantly white, dramatically increasing the number of black students at the four-year colleges; however, when the City University ended open admissions the number of black students declined while changes in the proportions of other ethnic groups were minimal.
On September 12, 2002, Barron was host to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe at New York City Hall, praising him as a liberator for black Africans in then-Rhodesia. Among the attendees of the event were about a dozen city councillors besides Barron, most of whom were Black or Latino.[40]
Since Christine Quinn's rise to the position of Speaker in the City Council, Barron has had a deep-seated rivalry with her. In January 2006, after being the only Council member to vote against the new Speaker, his seat in the chamber was changed to one next to a statue of Thomas Jefferson, whom he despised.[41] Barron told reporters, "I don't think it was deliberate, but it does bother me to be placed so near Jefferson, who was a slaveholder, a hypocrite, and a rapist."[42] When black Councilman Leroy Comrie did not vote for a bill to rename a street after black nationalist Sonny Carson, Barron's chief of staff, Viola Plummer, said she would thwart the member's run for Queens Borough President. Plummer told reporters, "If it takes an assassination of his ass, he will not be borough president in the borough where I live."[43] She later said the "assassination" would only be political, but the threatening language led Speaker Quinn to fire Plummer.[44] Plummer, with the support of Barron, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against Quinn to regain the chief-of-staff job.[45]
In 2007, Barron and several activists defiantly renamed a park for Sonny Carson, despite the City Council rejecting the idea.[46] Throughout 2008 and 2009, Barron held protests and took part in a lawsuit to re-instate term limits on the mayor and city councilmembers. He had pledged not to run for a third term in 2008,[47] but changed his mind, winning a third term in 2009. In 2009, Barron intensified his rivalry with Quinn, and proposed a "Democratic Reform Movement" with City Councillor Tony Avella to shift power away from the Council Speaker to rank-and-file members. Barron and Avella proposed electing a black or Latino member as Speaker to replace Quinn.[48] Barron challenged Quinn for the Speakership but was roundly defeated by a Council vote of 48 to 1. Subsequently, Quinn, who in the role of Speaker, determines Committee chairpersonships, organized a vote to remove Barron from his chairmanship of the Higher Education Committee. Barron lost 47-1. His nay vote was the only vote in his favor.[49][50][51]
Barron said that the move to strip him of the committee chairmanship was "racist," and speculated that it was partly in response to a shouting match that had occurred about two months earlier between him and City University trustee Jeffrey Weisenfeld at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building. At the ceremony, Barron had complained on the podium that he and some black attendees had been discriminated against in the seating and other ceremony-related arrangements. Weisenfeld shouted from the audience that Barron was being disruptive and the two then traded several insults. Barron called him a "sickening racist" and repeatedly told him to "shut up." Barron later told reporters that Wiesenfeld was "a right-wing, ignorant, racist fool.”[52] In firing Barron, Quinn said that the Council needs chairpersons "that are unifying forces."[53] In January 2010, Barron again ran against Quinn for the position of Speaker, and lost 50-1. During the vote, Barron's supporters shouted "sellout" and "Uncle Tom" to black Council members who voted for Quinn.[54]
On February 3, 2011, Barron was among hundreds of angry parents and students who protested loudly during a hearing to close 12 schools classified as failing.[55] On March 3, Barron celebrated with supporters as they learned that their protests had been successful, as Cathie Black had reversed her decision and would keep PS 114 in Canarsie open.[56][57][58]
Also on February 3, 2011, the New York City Council held a hearing to discuss the implications of building a Walmart store in Brooklyn. One of the neighborhoods considered by Walmart was East New York. Barron called Walmart a "roving plantation" and said "There are no slaves in East New York. We will not be your slave workers."[59][60] Barron interrupted a speech by Governor Cuomo on February 21, 2011, leading the crowd in chants of "tax the rich". He criticized Cuomo's budget proposals, which called for deep cuts statewide.[61]
Barron has been involved in activism against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Several of his statements have been explicitly anti-Israel, including a speech in which he said Israel should not be a state.[62] Barron has also been called a Holocaust revisionist, as he hinted that he believed fewer than 6 million Jews died in the Holocaust. He has also said the true Semites are the blacks, not the Jews.[62] When reflecting on the 1991 Crown Heights riots, Barron said, "Even when leaders moved in to quell the violence, they never dealt with the perception that Jews get preferential treatment in Crown Heights. They only make up 20 percent of the population, but they've always walked these streets as if they owned them, and acted as if they were the only ones that mattered."[63] Barron criticized the Hasidic Jewish population, saying "There is a way of thinking that says black life is not as good as Jewish life. That way of thinking has real consequences. It puts a chip on the shoulders of those made to feel inferior and gives a false sense of entitlement to those placed on high. The fact that they [Jews] have their own ambulance service and volunteer police detail in the heart of the community speaks to that."[63]
In July 2009, Barron, former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Dead Prez rapper M1, and several rabbis were among 200 participants in the Viva Palestina relief convoy organized by United Kingdom member of parliament George Galloway. The convoy penetrated the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza, which was ruled by Hamas, to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza's one and a half million inhabitants. Barron, McKinney, and 200 volunteers signed a letter addressed to President Obama, asking for his assistance in allowing them to proceed into Gaza.[64][65]
Barron made statements comparing the situation in Gaza to concentration camps, prompting accusations of anti-semitism from Jewish leaders.[66][67]
Charles Barron entered the race for mayor of New York city in 2005. According to the New York Post, he stated that one of his reasons for running was to redress an unfair balance of power between Whites and blacks in New York City: "White men have too much power in this city".[68] He raised funds and campaigned but in early February 2005, dropped out and threw his support to the other African-American candidate in the election, C. Virginia Fields. His campaign funding amounted to about $49,000, far less than that of some of other Democratic candidates; Fernando Ferrer raised $1.2 million in 6 months and Gifford Miller, $1 million in 6 months.[69] Barron chose to endorse Fields rather than attempt a long-shot campaign. "I think two blacks in the race cancel each other out," he said, indicating a fear that the black vote would be divided and weakened by the choice of two candidates.[70] Barron vowed that he would run again, saying "I will be back. I will be mayor of New York City before I leave this planet. It may be in 2009 or it may not be until 2013, but I will be mayor someday."[71]
During the campaign, he criticized rival Democrat Fernando Ferrer for his comments regarding the Amadou Diallo shooting. Barron said the comments brought "irreversible" damage to Ferrer's campaign and hoped Ferrer would drop out of the race and endorse Fields.[72]
In 2006, Barron expressed his disaffection from the Democratic Party, disappointed by the large number of cross-endorsements Bloomberg received from Democrats.[73] He said the Party was in need of a "political audit" and had "moved so far to the right that they might as well be called Republicrats." He told the Amsterdam News, "Black folks need to consider a mass exodus from the Democratic Party and build a new party of their own, because the Democrats have turned their backs on them on too many occasions. We should not give any party blind loyalty and support. Instead, we should really form a grassroots, Black-agenda-based third-party option."[73]
Charles Barron ran for a House seat representing the 10th district, which includes East New York.[74] He ran against the 24-year incumbent, Democrat Edolphus Towns, and lost by 8 points. Although considered a serious contender for the 2008 election, he chose not to run. Barron told a reporter that he disliked the idea of spending "five days a week in Washington" when he would be better able to bring change for his constituents by staying in New York City.[75]
On June 14, 2010, Barron announced that he was challenging Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Cuomo because Barron was annoyed that Cuomo picked Rochester mayor Robert Duffy, instead of an African-American politician, for the position of Lieutenant Governor. Barron created the New York Democratic Freedom Party in protest of Cuomo's all-White ticket.[76][77] When speaking about Cuomo, Barron said, "He’s done nothing to deserve our support; he’s hurt the black community. Remember he was with his father, when his father built more prisons than any other governor in the history of New York State. Andrew was with daddy and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree...Andrew’s arrogant, he’s just like his father." Barron's Freedom Party needed 15,000 petition signatures in order to be on the November 2, 2010 ballot, and his campaign collected 43,000.[78] A rival City Councilman, Lewis Fidler, said the Party was "morally wrong" for being race-based, and threatened to challenge the signature count in court.[79] Barron countered, saying the Party was "about blacks and Latinos voting for their dignity" and accused Fidler of being a "puppet" to Cuomo.[79] Barron expressed resentment towards the Democratic Party, saying it "has taken us for granted. It's time for us to be for us. It's time for us to be a self-determining people."[80] Barron aimed to get 50,000 votes in the governor's race, enough to gain ballot access for his Freedom Party.[81] He finished in second-to-last place, drawing 24,560 votes. Outside of New York City, Barron drew fewer than 5,000 votes out of over 3,000,000 cast.[82]
Barron has sided with black leaders in supporting victims of police brutality, including Amadou Diallo. He has said that crime is not the fault of the black community, but rather, is a consequence of the community's economic plight. Barron said that crime could only be reduced by economic opportunities and advancement, and without economic opportunities, "every black community is a powder keg."[7][83]
In response to the NYPD shooting of three individuals—including the fatal shooting of a 23 year-old prospective bridegroom, Sean Bell outside of a Jamaica, Queens strip club in 2006, Barron made a number of controversial statements, including one that implied that members of Bell's community would be justified in exercising non-peaceful or violent methods in response to his death.[84] Barron has publicly stated that "we don't shoot anybody, they shoot us."
Barron's name was floated with death threats on NYPD Rant, an internet forum, during 2007. Barron and the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement called for a prompt investigation, and security detail was increased.[85]
Barron has spoken passionately on the issue of reparations for slavery. In 2002, Barron received reprimands for a comment he made at a reparations rally:[86]
As Councilor, he drafted a bill in the Council to establish a commission towards reparations, and has spoken to black audiences on many occasions[87] urging them not to forget America owes reparations to African Americans.[88][89]
Barron believes that United States history is not accurately taught in schools, and has expressed interest in promoting African American history throughout the New York City public school system. He has drafted legislation mandating the teaching of African-American history in required school curriculum. He has used his position as Councilman to propose renaming buildings and schools as well as decorating them with mementos of black history. He wishes to publicize more black history, including erecting portraits of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, as important leaders in American history. In Barron's view, many of the current monuments erected to the founding fathers subtly represent slavery. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, for example, were slave owners whom he feels are remembered as false liberators because they still supported the institution of slavery.
Barron, appearing on the television program The O'Reilly Factor,[90] said the entire "immigration problem" is really a Black-White issue. He argued that Germans, Jews, Poles, Greeks, and Italians who immigrated to the United States during the late 19th century were welcomed because of the color of their skin, but now, "All of a sudden when the complexion of immigration changes, now it's 'these people'." He rejected rebuttals from host Bill O'Reilly on the grounds that the original European immigrants had received preferential treatment, stating "They had enough black people here already that were skilled and couldn't get the jobs that your people [referring to European-Americans] were able to get." O'Reilly accused Barron of trying to "let everyone into the country" simply "to change the complexion of America". Many viewers responded to this episode, upset that Barron would not concede that White immigrants indeed were discriminated against as well.[91]
He has advocated voting for non-citizens and amnesty for illegal immigrants ("don't criminalize, legalize").
Barron says he does not salute the flag or believe in the Pledge of Allegiance. Barron holds the view that saying the pledge is "a lie" that states equality and justice for all, which is not true for American blacks.[92] In 2004, he strongly objected to a move by the City Council that would begin each meeting with a voluntary Pledge.[93]
Barron has criticized capitalism, calling it a "deeply-rooted illness" within America.[94] Barron wrote a scathing editorial on the $700 billion bailout package in 2008, calling it the "biggest welfare check in the history of the planet". He said it was "a contradiction of capitalism" to give money to Wall Street during a slump while it had said for years that there was "no money for the people."[95]
Barron confronted gentrification of New York, saying "Housing policies are the new racism! That's the new Jim Crowism-pricing you out of housing!"[96]
Barron wrote an editorial praising Muammar Gaddafi for his work towards a United States of Africa. He called Barack Obama's bombing of Libya a "racist imperialist" move, suggesting that Obama wanted to control Libyan oil.[97] He criticized NATO's killing of Gaddafi's son and grandchildren, saying the United States and NATO were on a mission to assassinate him.[98]
Barron held a mortgage woes forum in 2007 to address concerns from residents who were in danger of house foreclosure. Barron said the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007 predominantly hurt African-Americans, who were lied to by predatory business practices.[99]
In 2009, Barron put pressure on owners of Obama Fried Chicken to change their store name, saying it exploited black stereotypes.[100] On September 27, 2011, which was Day 11 of the Occupy Wall Street event, Barron visited and spoke to the demonstrators, expressing his support.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Priscilla Wooten |
New York City Council, 42nd District 2002–present |
Incumbent |
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