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Charles Barron is currently a Democratic New York City Councilmember. A former member of the Black Panthers that has contemplated running for mayor of New York City in the 2005 election, and in 2006 was a primary candidate for a seat in the U.S. Congress.
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Charles Barron considered running for mayor of New York city in the 2005 election in part because he felt that "white men have too much power in this city" and he had to do his best to redistribute the political power.[1] He announced his plans to run for mayor of New York City in 2005 and went so far as to raise funds and campaign before he reconsidered.
His campaign was not as successful as he had hoped: he was always in direct competition with C. Virginia Fields, the only other black candidate on the ballot, and was short on necessary funds for running a viable campaign, especially against Democratic heavyweights such as Fernando Ferrer and Gifford Miller. Therefore, he had no choice but to drop out.
Instead, he chose to endorse Fields from the Democratic Party 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 made weak by two candidates.[2] He supported Fields because he felt she was the best candidate to beat Michael Bloomberg.
He also denounced another Democratic contender, Fernando Ferrer. He was especially upset with Ferrer's comments regarding the Diallo shooting, which was a hot topic among black voters in the election. He said the comments brought "irreversible" damage to Ferrer's campaign and hoped he would drop out of the race and endorse Fields.[3]
On Feb 12, 2006, Charles Barron officially announced that he would be running in the U.S. House of Representatives Democratic primary for the 10th Congressional District of New York, which includes his New York City district.[4] He ran against the 24-year incumbent, Democratic Representative Edolphus Towns.
On September 12, 2006, Barron lost to Towns by approximately eight percentage points. Many observers attributed the victory of Towns to an anti-incumbent vote, which Barron split with another primary opponent, Roger Green.
Elected in 2001, Charles Barron represents parts of the neighborhoods East New York, Brownsville, East Flatbush, and Canarsie, all of which are located in the borough of Brooklyn. He was re-elected in the 2003, 2005 and 2007 municipal elections. He currently chairs the Council's higher education committee.
In April 2008, he personally drove Foxy Brown out of prison after she finished her sentence.
Barron is a member of the Democratic party. His major issues include affirmative action, reparations for slavery, and improving the living conditions for blacks through closing the wealth gap, reducing police brutality, and fighting racism. He has described himself as "pro-black" and has great interest in establishing more representatives for the black community, so that they can control their own economy and political future. [5]
Despite his party affiliation on paper, Barron has expressed dismay with the Democratic Party on several occasions. He considers the party too right-wing and says "the leadership of the Democratic Party has lost their connection with the once loyal black masses."[6] The Republican Party, on the other hand, he feels "is not an option" for black voters, and so he believes a new third party should be made to represent American blacks.
Barron has taken on an array of controversial issues, such as voting for non-citizens and amnesty for illegal immigrants ("don't criminalize, legalize"). He appeared on the television program The O'Reilly Factor[7] and 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 1800s 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 white 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.[8]
He also believes the New York City Police Department and the city government are more often enemies than allies of the black community, citing violence and surveillance by the police and the government departments as proof. He has often spoken against police brutality, saying that crime is not the fault of the black community. Rather, it is economic plight that brings crime, he believes, and crime can only be reduced by economic opportunities and advancement.[9] In fact, he went on to say that without economic opportunities for blacks, "every black community is a powder keg."
Charles Barron has frequently raised eyebrows by trying to change the presentation of history in the United States. He is very vocal about publicizing black history, including erecting portraits of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, as important leaders of American history. In his view, many of the current monuments erected to the founding fathers and original white American leaders subtly represent slavery. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, for example, were slaveowners who he feels are remembered as false liberators because they still supported the institution of slavery. He has often proposed changes in New York City such as renaming buildings and schools as well as decorating them with mementos of black history to better represent the black community's struggle and contributions to the United States.
Barron has long criticized the prominent statue of Thomas Jefferson in the City Council chamber he works at, which he claims represents a "white, slave-owning pedophile."[10] However, when he criticized the new speaker for the Council, Christine C. Quinn, his seat was changed to one next to the statue, which was seen as a punishment. Quinn's spokespeople stated that it was merely coincidental. Barron did not express bitterness against Speaker Quinn, saying, "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."[11]
Barron says he does not salute the flag or believe in the Pledge of Allegiance, saying the entire pledge is "a lie" that states equality and justice for all, which are not true in America and were especially untrue in black history.[12] In 2004, he strongly objected to a move by the City Council that would begin each meeting with a voluntary Pledge.[13]
Charles Barron strongly supports New York City's unions, notably the predominantly African-American Transport Workers Union (TWU). During the 2005 transit workers' strike, Mayor Bloomberg called the TWU "thuggish", causing Barron and Rev. Al Sharpton to challenge the mayor. Barron said, in answer to the remarks:
Mayor Bloomberg denounced Barron's actions as "injecting race into the situation."
Charles Barron is a strong opponent of Mayor Bloomberg and loathed Rudolph Giuliani. When he was combating bias crimes in New York City, he said:
He criticized the City University of New York for increasing its admission standards through the use of entrance exams and the elimination of remedial courses, saying, "I think racism comes behind standards."[16]. Barron believed the university had ulterior motives that drove it to raise the academic standards which restricted access to minority students. He went further, saying that college-age students shouldn't be denied admission to four-year colleges because of failures in the school systems they grew up in. He also cited the fact that CUNY's four-year colleges had open admission at one time, when admission was predominantly white. However, CUNY has reported that the number of black students at its four-year colleges increased in the three years following the end of open admission, while changes in the proportions of other ethnic groups were minimal.
Charles Barron participated in the "day of unrest" on December 21, 1987 to protest racism in the city. The demonstration, which ended in the arrest of over 70 people, stalled service on the IRT subway lines for hours and created great tumult in the city. He, along with Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Timothy Mitchell and scores of protesters were found guilty of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct, forcing him to spend 45 days in jail.[17]
Barron was arrested during his time as head of the Black United Front's Harlem Chapter. In 1982, Charles Barron was arrested with Preston Wilcox from the Institute of African Research because they, with roughly 12 to 20 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. They were charged with harassment and criminal trespassing.[18]
Barron sought clemency for three people he considered "political prisoners", Anthony Bottom, Albert Washington, and Herman Bell, who were responsible for killing two police officers in 1971. When he proposed this issue to the City Council in 2002, it led to a heated debate and was rejected.[19]
Barron was host to Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, who came to the United States and spoke on the steps of City Hall. Mugabe is often considered a dictator by much of the West, but was praised at the event with cheers by the black audience. Mugabe's action of removing white farmers from Zimbabwe's farms was blamed by the United Nations for lowering corn production by 70% and leading to the starvation of more of Zimbabwe's population.[20] However, Barron claimed the meeting was convened for the simple purpose of finding facts. He also said he would be visiting Zimbabwe to determine whether reports about Mugabe were true.
In response to the NYPD shooting of three individuals—including the fatal shooting of 23 year-old prospective bridegroom, Sean Bell, outside of a Jamaica, Queens strip club—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. [1] Barron has publicly stated that "we don't shoot anybody, they shoot us."
Some regard Barron as a racist and radical leftist, holding to beliefs he formed while in the Black Panther Party. Some critics have called Barron a die-hard rebel fighting for black issues that are no longer relevant. He claims that criticisms of him being a "revolutionary" or "over-the-top" on black issues are simply the result of ignorance on the part of his white colleagues; he has, however, used the term "elected revolutionary" to describe himself[21]. He is adamant on issues that are less frequently discussed in the mainstream political discourse, such as the issue of reparations for slavery:
Barron received reprimands and a certain amount of notoriety[23] for a remark he made during a 2002 reparations rally:
He has also shown support for Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, calling him a "Humanitarian".
| Preceded by Priscilla Wooten |
New
York City Council, 42nd District 2002–present |
Incumbent |
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   | Mugabe's Victims: Mostly Black, Charles Barron Calls It 'One of the Most Stable Countries in Africa' - New York News - Mugabe's Victims: Mostly Black - page 1 |
| | Minstrel Show - The American Spectator : Minstrel Show |
| | Rep. Ed Towns Trying To Fight Off Two Challengers In Congressional Race - NY1 | 24 Hour Local News | Top Stories | Rep. Ed Towns Trying To Fight Off Two Challengers In Congressional Race |
| | Charles Barron: NYC Council Info. Page - www.NYCCOUNCIL.info - NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL |
| | Charles Barron: NYC Council Info. Page - New York City Council - Council Member - District: 42 |
| | "50 Shots" Protest - YouTube - "50 Shots" Protest - NYC |
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