Black’s “Slip” at Meeting is Slap Across the Face of Millions — Every Student in NYC Public Schools and Their Parents

For the Sake of the Children, Cathie Black Must Go

The latest Freudian juxtapositions of school’s Chancellor Cathie Black — on the even of Martin Luther King Jr. anniversary celebrations –were “more fuel for the fire” in the growing effort to oust Ms. Black from her position, said Councilman Charles Barron in a press conference held  this past Tuesday, outside the Tweed Building, home of the Department of Education, and it’s chancellor, Cathie Black.
Attorney Roger Wareham and Freedom Party candidate for Attorney General, Ramon Jimenez, the legal team that challenged the appointment of Cathie Black as chancellor of New York City public schools, joined Barron in denouncing Chancellor Black.
Wareham said that the lawsuit they had brought in the context of a movement to stop Cathie Black as New York City Chancellor, had been rejected by an Albany court.  “We’ve been reviewing the judge’s decision, and find there are grounds for us to appeal, and we will be filing and pushing this as far as we can.”
Attorney Wareham said that the court decision “deferred to the expertise of the administrator”, in this case, Dr. David Steiner  Commissioner of the New York State Department of Education.  “We think Mr. Steiner’s opinion (to waive education requirements allowing Ms. Black to take the office) was arbitrary and capricious and that the statements made by Cathie Black subsequent to assuming office, are proof positive that she is unqualified, and we maintain that we are correct” in that assessment.  We will follow every means possible to stop this.”
The statements that Wareham is referring to were made at a Daily News editorial meeting.  “Overcrowding is throughout the entire school system.  My understanding is that someone told her ‘We just have class sizes that are unmanageable,’ and Black replied, ‘Well, can’t you just use birth control?’”    Barron said that people were stunned and gave a “nervous chuckle.”
“Not only did she offend people of color, but in her statement about Sophie’s Choice, she offended the Jewish community.  Sophie’s Choice was a film about a Jewish mother who had to determine which one of her children was going to be killed by the Nazis.”
Speaking of the meaning of Chancellor Black’s statements, Barron said,  “For her to bring up Sophie’s Choice when she’s talking about prioritizing spending in the school system and to bring up birth control when alking about oversized classes, was incredibly outrageous and incompetent, ignorant and unacceptable.   Afterwards, even some of the white parents said the were outraged and called it an insult.  She should have offered solutions.  And even now after she’s apologized and said ‘I was joking’,” and the mayor’s apologized, they still haven’t gotten any solutions.”
Barron called this latest blunder more fuel for the “Cathie Black Must Go, Movement,” saying   She’s a danger to the education of our children, and the Mayor should be ashamed of himself, on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebration, to be supporting Cathie Black.”

“Cathie Black Must Go!” Lawsuit and Protests Begin

by Amadi Ajamu
The fight against Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor-designee Cathie Black  will be waged in the streets and in the courts. Freedom Party leaders laid out their “plan of action” at Sistas’ Place Coffee House in Brooklyn on Monday evening. The standing-room only crowd of concerned parents, grandparents, educators, clergy, activists, lawyers and others listened intently to Viola Plummer as she opened the meeting. “At approximately 5:00 PM today, Bloomberg arrogantly steamrolled the laws guiding the selection of Education Chancellor and installed the inept, unqualified, former publishing corporate exec Cathie Black to educate over one million of our children. It is clear that the Bloomberg media conglomerate has identified a lucrative market. It is called the Department of Education,” she said.
“The fight to remove Cathie Black will move forward! We are in this for the duration. We need people who will keep fighting for our children after the TV cameras leave, and it is no longer on the front page. We have got to stay the course no matter what. And we need each of you to inspire people like yourselves to join us, and fight until we remove Black,” said Plummer.
“Black must go! Black must go!” the crowd roared.
Veteran educator Jitu Weusi then gave an extensive history of the long battles for a quality education for our children in the public schools. “We are going to have Black removed. It is our responsibility to fight for our children,” he stated. Radio personality Bob Law, Attorney Roger Wareham and Councilman Charles Barron were also in attendance.
Councilman Barron laid out the particulars of the “plan of action”. “There are several things we must do immediately. First, we will request a TRO (temporary restraining order) and file an Article 78 in court this week against Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Steiner. Cathie Black must be removed, our children deserve better. This is what happens when you have mayoral control of the schools. Bloomberg has no respect for educators, parents or students. Second, we will hold regular mass protests in front of the Tweed Building at 52 Chambers Street, Downtown NYC. The first demonstration will be on Thursday (Dec. 2) at 4 PM,” he began.
“Third, mass protests in front of the homes of Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Steiner and Cathie Black will be held. Fourth, we must demand an end to mayoral control of schools and stop Bloomberg’s atrocious abuse of power. We are also exploring the possibility of a boycott of the schools. Black must go!” Barron concluded.

A PEOPLES’ VICTORY!

Scottsboro Boys Minstrel Show on Broadway Closes
by Amadi Ajamu

The final performances of the Scottsboro Boys Broadway production will be held on December 12, 2010.  After weekly protests led by the Freedom Party, renowned producers John Kander and Susan Stroman had to lower the curtains and go to Black. Sources familiar with the show have said the show has been losing over $300,000 a week and could not continue.

Scottsboro Boys, the Broadway minstrel comedy show depicting the 1930’s racist miscarriage of justice, propelled the Freedom Party to direct and immediate action. Party members and allies held several protest rallies in front of the Lyceum Theater during weekend matinee performances.
“This minstrel makes a mockery of a racist judicial travesty with total disregard for the humanity and suffering of the young men that mars the history of the United States then and now. Cite the ongoing struggle for justice and reparations for Central Park 5, 1989. Five teenage boys who served up to 15 years in prison for a rape of a white female Wall Street broker they did not commit,” said Omowale Clay, Freedom Party spokesperson.

“We could not stand by and allow this show to continue without standing up in resistance. It is an atrocity and should and we are elated that it will close on December 12th.”

Several media critics including writers for the New York Amsterdam News and the New York Times have concurred that the throwback to the 1800′s was offensive and disgraceful.

Halftime Instructions for the Freedom Party

By Alton Maddox
The Freedom Party has to collect 15,000 valid signatures for the gubernatorial candidacy of Councilman Charles Barron with at least 100 “valid” signatures in 15 congressional districts.  The signatures of the Freedom Party are expected to be challenged by another political party because unbridled, political power in the hands of Blacks is not only novel but also threatening to white supremacy.
 Nine of these 15 congressional districts, with the highest percentage of Black residents, on whole or in part, are situated in New York City.  Two are located in Long Island.  Two others are located in the mid-Hudson Valley and another is located in Albany and Schenectady.
The final congressional district is the 28th Congressional District, which is situated mainly in Buffalo and Rochester.  Only four congressional districts in New York have more Blacks than the 28th. Within three days, it had collected the minimum number of signatures.
There are six additional congressional districts that the Freedom Party have targeted for at least 100 “valid” signatures.  Four of these congressional districts are situated in New York City.  These are the 5th, 8th, 9th and 14th Congressional Districts.  They are respectively represented by Gary Ackerman, Jerrold Nadler, Anthony Weiner and Carolyn Maloney.
All petition carriers will have dropped off their petitions by Tuesday, July 27 at designated drop-off centers.  This will allow the Freedom Party to approximate its mid-term achievements so far.  It will also allow the campaign to clean up the petitions on a normal schedule instead of cleaning up already-collected signatures in the eleventh hour.
I expect that the second half will be far more productive than the first half which also required organizing the statewide, political campaign.
Councilman Barron accepted the political challenge in June.  The campaign for signatures started on July 7.
It also takes some time to recruit and train volunteers who must understand that organization is a bottom-to-top approach.  The volunteers must carry the candidates and not the reverse.  This is also how a bee colony works. This ensures continuity and longevity.
All supporters must be focused and instep for the final stretch.   Personal assignments for the final stretch must be identified and executed.  This is especially true for houses of worship, commercial districts, social events and underreported congressional districts.  For more information, call UAM at 718-834-9034.
Weekly Meetings at the Elks Plaza, 1068 Harriet Tubman (Fulton Street) nr. Classon Ave. in Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m. Take the “C” train to Franklin Ave.

A Blueprint for the Freedom Party

By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
While a political party may be established at any time, a political party with ballot status in New York can only occur during a gubernatorial election which, in New York, is every four years. A general election for governor of New York will occur on November 2, 2010. To achieve ballot status, the political party must collect 50,000 votes.
If a political party fails to collect 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial election, it will lose ballot status for the next four years. This means that its statewide candidate for governor must gather 15,000 valid signatures once again. The Working Families Party, for example, lost its ballot status four years ago.
The Freedom Party intends for its petitioning in 2010 to be “one and done”. Once it acquires ballot status, it may nominate its gubernatorial candidate. An example is the nomination of Andrew Cuomo for governor in 2010. By petitioning, however, the person carrying the petition of Charles Barron gets the opportunity to engage the voters during the petition drive.
It is very important to distinguish a designating petition from an independent nominating petition. A designating petition is associated with a primary. On the other hand, an independent nominating petition is associated with a general election.
Any registered voter can vote in a general election and any registered voter can sign any independent designating petition. The names of the statewide slate of the Freedom Party will appear on the ballot in November and not on the ballot in September. The general election happens in November. In New York, only an enrolled member of a political party can vote in its primary.
Before Smith v. Allwright (1944), Blacks were usually barred from voting in primaries. They were referred to as “white primaries”. In this country, there have always been barriers to voting. Universal suffrage is not respected. Thurgood Marshall hailed Smith v. Allwright as his greatest legal victory.
Marshall elevated politics over education. Brown v. Board of Education would be decided in 1954. The sine qua non of politics is the selection and not the election of candidates. The South operated under a one-party system; namely, states’ rights. This was the overt agenda of the Democratic Party before 1968.

Terrorism was the instrument employed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce “white primaries.” Co-optation is the tool employed today. Leading Blacks are paid-off not to resist white supremacy. This enables white supremacists to hand-pick “our” Black elected officials. Thus, Black voters endorse their own oppression.
Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party was established to abolish slavery. The “founding fathers” of the Democratic Party include Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. They were white supremacists. Jefferson penned “Notes on Virginia”. Jackson nominated Roger Taney to head the U.S. Supreme Court. Taney wrote the Dred Scott decision. White Democrats still honor them.
The disenfranchisement of Black and Latino felons must be a concern of the Freedom Party. Our voting ranks are being depleted. In New York, half of the parolees and probationers are Black and a third are Latino. Only Maine, Vermont, Utah and Massachusetts lack a criminal disenfranchisement statute of “one type or another”.
Felony convictions are wreaking havoc in New York. Although the Rockefeller drug law has been softened, New York still refuses to enact “second chance” legislation for ex-felons. Decent employment opportunities still continue to escape them. The lack of “second chance” legislation boosts recidivism.
The three-fifths provision of the U.S. Constitution still apply to Black felons without equivocation. It was sanctioned by the Thirteenth Amendment. Thus, Black and Latino felons are counted in their places of incarceration and not their actual places of residence. They are incarcerated in areas that are hostile to Blacks and Latinos.
Political leverage will be important for the Freedom Party and it will start on August 11. This should be our initial shock in New York politics. It will start with our submission of at least 100,000 signatures to the Board of Elections. This would be more that six times the statutory minimum of 15,000 valid signatures.
In 1994, the Freedom Party was a novice in politics. Yet, the party was able to collect more than 53,000 signatures without the organization nor personnel that exists today. Today, the Freedom Party should be able to easily double its efforts of 1994 although our access to the Black media is more accessible than it was in 1994.
In 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, could not leave home without the Independence Party. In 2010, Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has said that he is unable to leave home without the Independence Party. When Councilman Barron secures 500,000 votes, no Democrat nor Republican candidate for statewide office will be able to leave home without the Freedom Party.

Community Rallies Around John White and Family

Diverse community members and organizations brought nothing but love to CEMOTAP’s support rally for John White and his family Despite the sweltering heat, Nazarene Congregational Church was packed with supporters. John White sat humbly in the first pew, with his wife Sonia and sons Nahshon and Aaron directly behind him. Rev. Conrad Tillard, Dr. James McIntosh and Betty Dopson warmly welcomed the gatherers.
Dr. Leonard Jeffries, said”Looking at our history as a people, we have never deserved what has happened to us over the past 500 years. We have shown we are resilient, we have the ability to restore ourselves, we have the ability to overcome the greatest of obstacles. That tradition will still hold with the John White family and the work we can do to help them succeed. I hope the governor would find the strength to do what the system can’t do – the judicial system and the Black leadership can’t do because they are trying to find a niche in the system of white supremacy – hopefully the governor will surprise everybody and do the right thing.” Jeffries was referring to the governor’s power to grant pardons.
Attorney-at-War Alton Maddox likened John White’s situation to that of Emmet Till. “We can’t really defend John White until we can put ourselves in his shoes. No one can explain to you what this brother is going through. Trying to still maintain a family. Trying to maintain a home dealing with mounting legal expenses. Trying to deal with the continuing racism that he has to face.”
“Some people believe you don’t have the right to take a white man’s life or a white boy’s life, I don’t care what the circumstances are,” said Maddox. “There are some people who still have the mindset of Money, Mississippi, the place where Emmett Till found his fate. I’ve been concerned with the lack of present memory of what happened August 28,1955, some 55 years later. It opened our eyes to a different kind of atrocity. I was thinking about what would have happened if John White had been Emmett Till’s uncle, and they had come to John White’s house looking for his nephew. And the level of consciousness that he had and the love that he had as opposed to brother White. We may have still had Emmett Till with us.”
Maddox said, “We are here in the midst of a hero. Somebody who not only had the right to kill anybody who trespasses on his house, threaten to rape his wife and kill his son. He had the obligation. And he exercised that as any other human being would do. We are the only people in the world where somebody is prosecuted for the human right or animal right of self-defense. We are the only ones. This brother finds himself in this predicament.”
Connecting John White’s situation to the political process, Maddox said ‘”This issue goes back to our being in the Democratic Party -the party of Thomas Jefferson who authored the Notes on Virginia, which in his mind had us so down on the totem pole, that even Benjamin Banneker had to respond to his de-humanization of us. And Andrew Jackson, who gave us Justice Roger Tatum, who gave us the Dred Scott decision, which is still the law of the land today, because the 14th amendment was never ratified. Had the 14th amendment been ratified, John White wouldn’t be sitting here today. Because he would be celebrated as a hero. But because we do not really understand what is at stake, we continue to finance the Democratic Party. The Lord works in mysterious ways. What that really meant was the Lord works in certain ways. Sometimes you don’t focus in on what the target appears to be, but you focus on something other than the target that actually connects what you are focusing on to the target.
Maddox believes “We have our next best chance in organizing a Freedom Party. The only remedy for brother White today is in the political process. We can’t trust the courts. We couldn’t trust the 2nd Judicial Department, which affirmed the opinion of the lower court. We can’t trust the NY Court of Appeals. We certainly can’t trust the U.S. Supreme Court. What we can trust is ourselves. We have the power. If we misuse it, we are going to kill the hopes and dreams of future generations if we use it wrong. Hopefully, we will support this family until justice has been accomplished. This should be a continued commitment, not only to John White, but to what has been always our two major problems in the United States: the right of free speech and the right to bear arms. This case represents Negroes with guns.”
Omowale Clay spoke on behalf of the December 12 Movement. He said “The hardest thing for a young Black man to do is to grow into a man. Black men have the responsibility to teach manhood to young warriors.” He asked, “Is the issue guns or Black hands on guns? We stand and represent our people all the way back to slave ships. Cowardice is something that is nurtured. We have been trained to act in a way that is opposed to the interests of our people.”
Clay said, “When your son comes to you in danger and threatened, ask yourself, ‘Will I have what it takes?’ We have the right to defend ourselves, our family, and our children. Anyone who violates that has a problem.”
Looking directly at John White, Clay said “To us, you are our hero. We say to your family, we honor and respect you. Your character has taught many Black men how to be men. We won’t forget that.”
Michael Greys, from 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, gave an eloquent account of the series of events John White found himself immersed in. “Imagine yourself in John White’s shoes for one hour, Greys said. “Just last week, the Suffolk County prosecutor was still trying to put White in jail.”
The story according to Greys: “His son was at a party. Using Aaron’s name, so-called friend Longo put something on MySpace suggesting sexual desires for a young white woman. At the party, the young white girl was uncomfortable. Aaron was asked to leave, and he did. En route, Aaron got a call from five armed young men who instructed him to ‘be in front of your house when we get there’. But Aaron said to himself, ‘I have a father.’ Aaron woke his father out of his sleep while putting his phone on speaker. John White heard the young men threaten to rape his wife and kill his son. John told his wife to call 911. Concerned for the well-being of her husband and son, she did not. Meanwhile, John went into the garage to get his gun (it was not kept in the house). John then ordered the drunken young men to move off his property. One of the young men, who had weapons (bats) said ‘What you gonna do, you old skinny nigger?’ John White was able to back them from his house to the curb. John turned his back to go back to his house. Ciccero came behind John and tried to take the weapon. It discharged, hitting Ciccero in the head.” Greys said, “Ciccero caused his own death, with help from his friends. The hospital is a 10-12 minute drive from White’s house, yet Ciccero’s friends took more than an hour to get him to the hospital. The court is supposed to be the tryer of facts. The court never asked why they took an hour or more to get to the hospital.”
According to Greys, Cicero’s friends were allowed to diminish the role they played in the incident. “They testified against John White,” said Greys, “The court treated them as witnesses. They were not charged with threatening or menacing.” (According to published reports, Ciccero’s friends were granted immunity in exchange for their testimony.) “John White was told he should have stayed in his house and wait for Suffolk County Police,” Greys said. He then asked, “Do we have the right to defend ourselves?”
Greys described the court atmosphere during White’s trial. Minister Abdul Haffiz, formerly Kevin Muhammad, from Harlem’s Mosque #7, and members of both the Nation of Islam and the Fruit of Islam, attended the trial, as well as members of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care attended the trial regularly, and sat between John White and the family and friends of Ciccero. “Every day after court, Blacks were kept in the court, while the whites were allowed to leave. They let the whites clear the corridor and go to their cars,” Greys said. “When the all clear signal came from the parking lot, the Blacks were allowed to leave. After John White’s sentencing, Ciccero’s father told reporters ‘Wait until Aaron gets shot.’”

“John White’s life is valuable. John White’s family’s life is valuable,” Greys said. “If we lose this opportunity, the entire country is in trouble.”
Gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron said “Racism id no the badge. It is easy to see racism in police brutality. Racism is also in the budget. We can’t just organize around symptoms. If the machine is producing unemployment, homelessness, inadequate health care, police brutality, and mis-education, we need to use leverage politics to change the system,” said Barron. “We can pick, choose, or be the next people in powerful positions.”
Labor activist Brenda Stokely spoke of her grandfather and grandmother, both of whom had to violently defend themselves against being lynched. Stan Kinnard referenced Robert Williamson’s book “Negroes with Guns” and Malcolm X’s “Ballot or Bullet” speech and recalled Mayor Koch applauding Bernard Goetz, who shot several Black youths on a NYC subway.
The rally raised more than $6,000 in cash and checks for the John White family and another $6,000 in pledges.
Flanked by his family, John White thanked 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, the Nation of Islam, CEMOTAP, and “all the people who came to our aid and support. I give all honor and glory to God.”

View From Here: The Freedom Party – Waking Giant

“Say it loud! I’m Black and I’m Proud!” When we entered the Siloam Presbyterian Church, whose 161 year-old history includes the congregation taking up a $25 collection for the visiting John Brown on his way to Harper’s Ferry, the beat of James Brown was reverberating from the large meeting room up the stairs and over the Sanctuary. There we were engulfed by the heat of over 250 pulsating souls charged with the electricity of the moment as an exhorter preacher-woman of activism stood in front and reminded the crowd, many with more gray in their hair than not, that the formation of a Black-led Freedom Party was a cause whose time has come. And being there among the standing-room only coming together of people, who like Fannie Lou Hamer, are “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” was to know that whether it was Montgomery, Alabama before the bus boycott or Selma before the great march, this is what the ground floor of a movement looks like. This is how it begins. Ain’t No Stoppin’ us Now!”
Viola Plummer told the assembly that the Freedom Party is about power and respect in the political process and organizing to achieve it. That was what brought this gathering behind the standard-bearer of the Freedom Party, former Black Panther and current City Councilman Charles Barron.
The petitioning process begins July 6, and this seasoned group is particularly well-suited to that task. The technology of the signature getting has not changed. It remains hand-to-hand-combat. And this first wave of activists bring their old-school patience and people-skills combined with, in some cases, decades of experience in navigating the infamously treacherous New York City petitioning review process. It will be hard work and long hours. In all likelihood, they will get their signatures and they will be good.
Nest will be the education of the masses and with conditions being what they are, the audience will be receptive to the message that a vote for Andrew Cuomo from the Black community is clearly a vote for Massa and there is no freedom in it. It demonstrates nothing except a willingness to be taken for granted. The Democratic Party has already anointed Cuomo governor, so that’s done as far as they’re concerned. The needs of the African-American community are simply of no interest to them. They are strange but not unusual in that way. Even June 29th’s New York Times Echoed Charles Barron’s complaint with the Democratic Party ticket, reporting on the amazing whiteness of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s administration. “The city’s non-Hispanic white population is now 35%.But Mr. Bloomberg presides over an administration in which more than 70% of the senior jobs are held by whites.” This explains why we see Dennis Walcott, Deputy Mayor for Operations, at so many events representing the mayor. He’s the designated guy.
This political system makes decisions based on a white supremacist legacy, a sort of “Post-Traumatic White Supremacist Syndrome” where the centuries of indoctrination in the belief of white superiority, is difficult to shake.
An example of the difference this thinking makes in real-world actions was the Division of Economic and Financial Opportunity created by Mayor David Dinkins, which was bringing fairness to New York City contracting and was on the way to creating businesses and jobs in the African-American community but the Giuliani administration killed it. Now Governor David Paterson is having agencies unbundle their contracts to include minority and women suppliers, increasing that purchasing by tens of millions of dollars. To see that those kinds of initiatives are continued in the next administration, African-Americans have to demonstrate they have the power to take away massive numbers of votes and break the back of any candidate that does not get with the program.
This business of being disorganized while everywhere we look, other groups come together and march sharply up to the front of the line, has to come to an end.
The consciousness-raising, the fund-raising and the vote getting will need to harness the mass communication ability of the Web-savvy, PDA-equipped generation. All of the eighteen-year-olds who are ready to vote speak to each other by text and keep up with current events through their mobile devices. With their ability to communicate so quickly they are a sudden army, waiting to be roused. Waiting to plead their own cause as young African-American people.
What is needed is a coming together around the recognition of the unique history of African-Americans and a willingness to demand that history be addressed in policy changes. When the Freedom Party garners several hundred thousand votes, then we’ll see something new start to happen.

FREEDOM PARTY IGNITES MOVEMENT

African-American Issues Brings Together Hundreds at Convention

Freedom Party Hosts First Statewide Convention
Several hundred from around the state packed the historic Siloam Presbyterian Church to ratify Council member Charles Barron as the Freedom Party’s candidate for governor. Barron named Eva Doyle as his running mate for Lieutenant Governor. Mrs. Doyle is a longtime activist, educator, columnist, book author and host of her own radio show called “Eye On History” that airs weekly on station WUFO in Buffalo, NY.
Barron appeared before the enthusiastic crowd wearing a black T-shirt emblazened with “Freedom Party” in bold white lettering and the party’s symbol, chains divided with the word “unchained.”
Freedom Party gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron’s address:
“We have to keep this momentum going. They are hoping we have a one-day event. That we will get all excited and then come tomorrow, it will have been just a good event. What they bet is that we won’t get the signatures. They know we are going to get the votes. They are betting we won’t get the signatures. Everything now is about those signatures. Getting on the ballot. We know that if we come with 40-50,000 signatures, they know we are going to get on that ballot, because there will be 15,000 good ones. And when we get on the ballot, we are going to rock this state. We’ve got to get on the ballot. We are going to be working on a platform. We are going to be working on a strategy. After we get the party, a structure. But right now, it’s money and signatures. That’s the bottom line – money and signatures. That is going to be the challenge for us. We know we can get 15,000 signatures. But what they want us to get is 100 from 15 different congressional districts. Thirteen are downstate. We are going to do that. No doubt.
Let me tell you why we are doing this. This is the perfect time for us to do it. This is the time for us to strike like we have never struck before. There comes a moment in history that you just can’t miss. They have the nerve to go to Rye, NY have their meeting – the State Democratic Party, with all of these Black leaders in the State Democratic Party. (Barron then described this year’s Democratic slate.) This was a political blackout. So since they don’t want you in, let’s step out. Do our thing. Let’s form an independent black-led party. Somebody said to me is this party only for black people? No. It’s going to be black-led, but anybody can join us. We welcome anybody but we are leading this. We said, you don’t want us, fine. Let’s do our own party. This is shaking them up.
The last time we did this, brother Jitu and I, we got Mary France Daniels, Ron Daniels wife on the ballot. She got on the ballot and got 10,000 votes. We got 20,000 signatures from 15 different congressional districts. This time, we are going to get on the ballot and get 50,000 votes and be an independent black-led party. The first one in the history of this state.
We have to do this for Fannie Lou Hamer. In 1963, she was beaten to a pulp trying to get a party, trying to get respect. They beat her badly in jail. Because the same structure in Mississippi – all white slate – is identical to the NYS structure. Identical to Mississippi in 1964. Fannie Lou Hamer fought and she got her Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She said she got sick and tired of being sick and tired. She took over the convention and the whole nation had to listen to Fannie Lou Hamer. Fannie Lou Hamer, to your spirit, we are continuing the fight. If she could do it in Mississippi in 1964, we can do it in NY.
We need a Freedom Party. We are sick of the two corporate-run parties. Corporations run this state. Who ever pays you, that’s the one who you dance to their tune. The Freedom Party is going to be free from corporations. It will be the people’s party. We will finance us so that we can be free. There is no two-party system there is one party – Republocrats. It doesn’t matter who gets in.
Mario Cuomo, Andrew’s daddy, built more prisons in NYS than any other governor in the history of this state. This is a man who took your vote for granted. Then put all your children in prison.
We are saying today that the Freedom Party, when we come together, and they try to balance a budget, we are not going to let them spend it on Yankee Stadium and Steinbrenner. We are not going to let them spend the money on the Mets and the Nets arena, and then shut down day care centers and senior citizen centers. Don’t want to build any youth centers. Shutting our schools down. Having the nerve to have the homeless pay rent. How do you take MetroCards from our children and they have to demonstrate just to have you give them back? That kind of nonsense in this state must stop. The Freedom Party is going to put an end to that kind of madness.
The Freedom Party is going to talk about political prisoners. Nobody else will. There are brothers and sisters languishing in the state jails. They did their time. They gave them 25 to life, well they did 25 years. 25 good years in prison. Let them out. Let out freedom fighters out of prison. If it wasn’t for the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army and all of those groups that fought for liberation, we wouldn’t be in this church talking about Freedom Party today.
The Freedom Party is going to fight for our reparations. They paid the Jews. They paid the Japanese. Pay the Africans for your colonization of Africa. Pay the Africans for what you did to us in the Caribbean. Pay the Africans for what you did to us right here in America. America violated us, and reparations is a debt owed for service provided. You can’t work us for free, then tell us that happened a long time ago. We are going to put a commission together in this state, we are going to study the impact of slavery on our communities economically. Pay us our reparations. Then you can keep your welfare. We built this nation. 246 years of slavery, 100 years of Jim Crow and racism and you talk about you don’t owe us nothing. You benefitted off the wealth of our labor. It is time for us to be paid. The Freedom Party will raise these types of issues. It can happen. All things are possible.
It is time for us to stand up like men and women, like John White stood up for his family. Stand up for your family. Get your spine straight. Don’t be afraid. I don’t care about you threatening to take my life. You didn’t give me life and you never can take my life. There is a greater source, a greater power in charge of that. Take my freedom and put me in jail. Bring it. Freedom is a mental thing. I will never be in jail no matter how many bars are in front of me, because my mind will not allow me to be imprisoned. Take my material wealth. I could care less. Keep your little material wealth. I am not interested.
Here we have a $63 billion budget. The City Council passes the budget. We can tell this city that this is how we want the money spent because we are the new majority. Stand up and say the money is going to be spent in the ‘hood for our people because we said so and we have the power to do that. I am sick and tired of giving people power who won’t us it. Adam Clayton Powell said ‘Use what’s in your hand.’ You are going to have power in your hand and give it back to the power structure that is oppressing you. That is insane.
The Freedom Party is going to be talking about Black consciousness on behalf of Steve Biko and the Black consciousness movement. Blackness is definitely not a skin complexion. Pigmentation. It is not whether you have coarse hair or thick lips or African features. Blackness is a state of mind. Blackness is a commitment to Black people. Blackness is a commitment to our children. Blackness is being a man. That is what we need – men and women who are not afraid to be black. It is an agenda. It is about who we are in our community.
When we put the Freedom Party together, anybody who is not serious about our people, don’t mess with us. Because we are not playing.
We are going to rock this state. This state is going to be put on notice that from here on, the 2 million Black people in NYC, and the millions across the state now have a Freedom Party that is going to free us from all of those things that we were fearful of. Now it is coming to fruition. Freedom Party!!!”
We have to do this for Shirley Chisholm. Rosa Parks. Assata Shakur. We have to do this for all those who spilled blood before we got here. Let’s do this. Freedom Party!!!
By unanimous acclimation, Charles Barron was declared the Freedom Party’s candidate for governor.
The temporary headquarters of the Freedom Party is located at Sistas’Place on the corner of Nostrand and Jefferson Avenues. More pictures on page 12.