Charles Barron
Charles Barron is an American activist and politician who served in the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn's 42nd district from 2022 to 2023. He previously held the same seat from 2002 to 2013, and served in the New York Assembly from the 60th district between 2015 and 2022.
A self-described "elected activist", Barron ran for Mayor of New York City in 2005. In 2006 he was narrowly defeated by Edolphus Towns in the Democratic Party primary for the U.S. House of Representatives. He ran again in the Democratic primary for New York's 8th congressional district, which was being vacated by Towns, but lost to State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, 28% to 72%.
Barron began his career working as a community activist in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn in the 1980s. He became chief of staff for Rev. Herbert Daughtry before running for the New York city council, where he served from 2001 to 2013.
Early years and education
Barron was born on October 7, 1950. For six years his family lived in Corona, Queens, then moved to the Lillian Wald housing project in Lower Manhattan. He attended Seward Park High School in Lower Manhattan, but left before graduating, but later earned his GED. He went on to attend New York City Technical College, earning an associate degree, and Hunter College, where he graduated with a B.A. in Sociology.Early activism
Black Panther Party
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. Barron distributed newspapers for the party, and developed an interest in politics. He studied the Third World independence movement and the ideas of African leaders as Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sékou Touré. Barron became increasingly critical of U.S. 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."National Black United Front
In 1979, Barron joined the National Black United Front, 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" Robert Morris, a white historian, from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Morris had been appointed chief archivist of the center. The members of the group were charged with harassment and criminal trespassing.Shortly after the incident, Barron was appointed chief of staff to the Reverend Herbert Daughtry, chairperson of the NBUF and minister at Brooklyn's House of the Lord Church. 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, including Harvard and Yale, teaching principles of negotiation, team-building, emotional intelligence, and leadership. From 1982 to 1987, Barron served as secretary general of the African Peoples Christian Organization. He traveled across the United States visiting college campuses, churches, prisons and communities "organizing around international, national and local issues."
On December 21, 1987, Barron participated in a "day of outrage" to protest racism in the New York City Police Department and local courts. The protest involved blocking traffic during the evening rush hour, including eastbound traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as stopping subway trains in several stations. More than 70 protesters were arrested; most were charged with obstruction of government administration and disorderly conduct. Among the few who actually stood on the subway tracks included Barron, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Rev. Timothy Mitchell, Assemblyman Roger Greene, and lawyer C. Vernon Mason, who were additionally charged with criminal trespass. All were held overnight in jail, which elicited further claims of racial bias. Sharpton, Mitchell and Barron were convicted in February 1990, with Mitchell and Barron being jailed for 45 days. Barron spent another 25 days in jail, with Sharpton, for a protest related to the Tawana Brawley rape allegations.
In 1988, Barron 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.
One successful accomplishment of Barron and his allies was preventing the construction by the city of a wood-burning incinerator in the neighborhood. In 1996, Barron and community groups also fought the building of a natural gas generator. Barron said his opposition to the incinerator is what catapulted him into electoral politics.
City Council
In 1997, Barron ran for the city council. He attacked the incumbent, East New York councilmember Priscilla Wooten, for supporting Mayor Rudy Giuliani, saying her politics were out of date and she did not take enough initiative for neighborhood and community development. Barron was endorsed by black leaders David Dinkins and Al Sharpton, but he ended up losing to Wooten. Barron ran again in 2001, when term limits prevented Wooten from running. He defeated her son, Donald Wooten, and became City Councillor for the 42nd District. Barron was re-elected in 2005 and 2009, each time with over 85% of the popular vote.In 2002, Barron was appointed chair of the city council's Higher Education Committee. As chair, he criticized the City University of New York for eliminating remedial courses and raising admission standards, claiming CUNY raised the standards in order to restrict minority student access. He argued that students should not be denied admission to CUNY because of their performance at the pre-college level, adding that when the CUNY ended open admissions the number of black students declined while changes in the proportions of other ethnic groups were minimal.
In January 2006, Barron was the only Council member to vote against Christine Quinn by voting for Bill de Blasio for the speakership position. Quinn moved his seat in the chamber to one next to a statue of the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, whom Barron has criticized. 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."
In late 2009, Barron intensified his opposition to Quinn, proposing 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. Barron challenged Quinn for the speakership but was defeated by a council vote of 48 to 1. Quinn then organized a 47–1 vote removing Barron as chairman of the Higher Education Committee. Barron stated that the move to strip him of the committee chairmanship was racist. Quinn disagreed, stating that the Council needed chairpersons "that are unifying forces." In January 2010, Barron ran against Quinn for the position of Speaker, and lost 50–1. During the vote, his supporters shouted "sellout" and "Uncle Tom" to black members who voted for Quinn.
2005 New York City mayoral campaign
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". He raised funds and campaigned but in early February 2005, dropped out and threw his support to 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 six months, and Gifford Miller raised $1 million in 6 months. 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. 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."During the campaign, he criticized rival Democrat Fernando Ferrer for the latter's 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.
In 2006, Barron expressed his disaffection from the Democratic Party, disappointed by the large number of cross-endorsements Bloomberg received from Democrats. 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."
2006 Congressional campaigns
In 2006, Barron ran for a House seat representing the 10th district, which includes East New York. He ran against the 24-year incumbent, Democrat Edolphus Towns, and lost by 8 points. Although considered a potentially strong contender in the 2008 Congressional election, he chose not to run.2010 gubernatorial campaign
On June 14, 2010, Barron announced he had formed a new party, the New York Democratic Freedom Party, and would challenge Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Cuomo. He noted that Cuomo had picked a white politician to run for the position of Lieutenant Governor and that all the other statewide Democratic Party candidates were white. 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 expressed resentment towards the Democratic Party, saying it had taken African-Americans for granted: "It's time for us to be for us. It's time for us to be a self-determining people." Barron aimed to get 50,000 votes in the governor's race, enough to gain ballot access for the party, but ended up with 24,560 votes out of over 3,000,000 cast. More than 75% of the votes cast for Barron originated in New York City.
A month after Cuomo began his term as governor, on February 21, 2011, Barron interrupted a Cuomo speech in Brooklyn, leading the crowd in chants of "tax the rich". He criticized Cuomo's budget proposals, which called for deep cuts in health care and education spending, and his decision not to extend the state's so-called millionaire's tax, which expires at the end of 2012.