Community Greets Freedom Party Slate

Once again, several hundred community members flocked to the Siloam Presbyterian Church. This time the occasion was the presentation of the complete Freedom Party Slate. Eva M. Doyle, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, came from Buffalo. Attorney General candidate Ramon Jimenez journeyed from the South Bronx.
Freedom Party Gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron was greeted with enthusiastic applause when he said, “Freedom Party! Freedom Party! I want you to meet together for the very first time Charles Barron for Governor, Lieutenant Governor candidate of our party Eva M. Doyle, and candidate for Attorney General Ramon Jimenez. I am so excited.”
Barron made this declaration: “I want to say to all gathered, we are going to get these signatures. We are going to get on the ballot. We are going to get more than 50,000 votes after we get on the ballot. And when we do, we are going to rock this state like it has never been rocked before. This will be the first time in the history of this state that we have a Black and Latino, Latino and Black-led party.  We welcome all to join our party. As you see in this room today, we have white supporters, and we thank you for your support.”
“It is time for this state to have a party of Black and Latino people unbought, unbossed and uncontrolled by the corporate interests in this state,” said Barron. “This is a party that is going to say no to war. The Freedom Party is saying no to balancing the budget on the backs of poor and working-class families in this state.”
Describing the current economic climate in New York State, Barron said, “Wall Street made $61 billion dollar profit last year, while everybody else was broke, in the middle of a economic crises. Tax the rich. What about a personal income tax surcharge: Those who make $500,000/ year – 1.5%;  one million a year/ 3.5%; five million a year/ 4.5%; those making ten million or more a year/ 5.5%. There are over 26 million people in NYS, only 63,000 people make that kind of money. If you tax them, you can get anywhere from $8-12 billion a year and the budget will be balanced.  How about a stock transfer tax – 10-15 cents on those stocks that are being transferred every year? You can get over $2 billion every year on a stock transfer tax. We will have a surplus.”
Barron outlined several other issues the Freedom Party will address. “We are the only party, the only team that is going to raise the question of police brutality and terror in our neighborhoods,” he said. “Not only stop-and-frisk, but also the abusive use of deadly force. They need to put down the guns and pick up some humanity and stop killing our people for no justifiable reason. We are going to be the only party that says to this nation that you have to rebuild and return our people to New Orleans. We are going to be the only party that says keep your welfare, keep your affirmative action, give us our reparations. It is a debt owed. We are going to be the only party that says the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Party members – those who are languishing in prison because of their political beliefs, their political actions – did their time.  Free our political prisoners.”
Barron closed his remarks by saying, “We are going to be the only party that says to this nation we are no longer going to sit back and allow you to put a racist state structure in NYS. That cannot happen. Fannie Lou Hamer got sick and tired of being sick and tired. She formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party for the same reason that we are starting the Freedom Party. Fannie Lou Hamer has to be smiling upon us. For you Fannie Lou Hamer, we say Freedom Party!”
In his introduction of the Freedom Party candidate for Lt. Gov., Barron said, “Mrs. Eva M. Doyle is an Afrocentric educator for 30 years. She has written several books. She writes for the Buffalo Criterion. Chrystal Peebles-Stokes, one of the legislators in Buffalo, said that when she heard that we had Mrs. Doyle with us, we got the most honorable, highly respected from Buffalo.”
Mrs. Doyle said, “I bring you greetings from a great number of hardworking people in Buffalo. We are excited about the Freedom Party. I brought with me today 300 signatures. As I speak now, brothers and sisters are on the battlefield in Buffalo collecting even more signatures.”
“I am doing double duty here,” said Doyle. “I am recording this for my newspaper column ‘Eye on History’, for the Criterion Newspaper, the oldest Black newspaper in western New York. I have been writing the column Eye on History for almost 32 straight years without stop. I describe it as the only weekly column on Black history in Western NY. I have taught as a teacher in the Buffalo public schools for 30 years. I believe in teaching Black history, not just in February but all year long.”
“As I was flying into NY, I thought about the Statue of Liberty. I told my students that the original Statue of Liberty was that of a Black woman,” Mrs. Doyle said. “The tablet she holds in her hand is a symbol of the Abolitionist Movement. I have written 11 books. When I finish this book on the Black Statue of Liberty, it will be my 12th book. I tell my students that Black history is all around us, even on the dollar bill.”
Eva Doyle told the crowd how she came to be on the ticket. “When I was asked to become candidate for Lt. Gov. under the Freedom Party, I must tell you I did not immediately say yes. As a matter of fact, I said no. I can’t do this,” she said. “But then something started to happen. People in Buffalo started to call me. Erie County legislator Billie Jean Grant said, ‘Please give this a little more thought.’ Attorney Alton Maddox called me just about every day. He is the most persuasive attorney I have ever met. Mr. Ted Perkins is the host of a radio show in Buffalo called Perkins Corner. I was listening to his show, relaxing. Alton Maddox was on the show and asked ‘Who do you think would be a good candidate for lt. gov.?’ Mr. Perkins said, ‘Well, what about Eva Doyle?’ I almost fell out of my chair.”
Mrs. Doyle gave two reasons why she accepted. She said she is participating “in the memory and spirit of the great Fannie Lou Hamer.” Mrs. Doyle spoke of her husband. “I lost my husband last March 2009. Brother Romeo Muhammad. We were married 44 years. If Brother Romeo was here, he would be in this room. He would be behind me 150%. Brother Romeo was a member of the Nation of Islam for 42 straight years. Now I am a member of the church – First Shiloh Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York.  A lot of people have asked me ‘How did you get along with Brother Romeo, a member of the Nation of Islam, and you are a member of the church?’ My husband always believed no matter what religion you were in, what faith you had, we are all Black people.  We are in the same struggle. I know Brother Romeo is smiling down on us. I know Brother Romeo would give me his blessings. He would have beat me to New York City. He would have paved the way, shaking everybody’s hand.”
Barron fought back tears while introducing Freedom Party candidate Ramon Jimenez. “When we think of Ramon, we think of Richie Perez,” Barron said. “Richie Perez was my friend. Whenever we wanted to bring the African-American and Latino community together, we called Richie Perez. I know he is smiling on us now, watching Ramon carry that mantle of making sure Blacks and Latinos stick together. Ramon comes in the spirit of Richie Perez.
Ramon Jimenez: “It is good to be back home. I was a Brooklynite until I was 8 years old. In the Bronx, we have a lot of struggles taking place. We have the Yankee Stadium struggle, where $1.5 billion was spent to build a mega-palace in the poorest congressional district in the United States.  They promised jobs. Let me tell you how many community people got a job in the demolition of Yankee Stadium. One.”
“The Freedom Party is about a movement. We are the mere instruments of that movement,” Jimenez said. “I have organized the South Bronx for many years. When I organized tenants, they are Black and Latino. When I organize parents, they are Black and Latino. When I work with the Woodlawn workers, they are Black and Latino. On the streets, at the base, Black and Latino unity is there every day.”
According to Jimenez, “Historically, some of the greatest movements took place in NY – City College, the movement for Black and Puerto Rican Studies, the Jesse Jackson campaign, saving Hostos Community College. Sometimes we don’t understand unity politics. The rich understand unity politics. The landlords, when they have to come together, come together. When the developers have to come together, come together over their common interests. We let little things divide us. This is the time. We got the biggest slap in the face with what the Democratic Party did. It is not just the Democratic Party. I used to work for the Workers’ Compensation Board as a judge. I used to be the head judge. In the 1980′s when I was a judge, there were 5 or 6 Black and Latino commissioners. Today, there is one Black commissioner. In the 1980′s when I was a judge, there were 15 Black and Latino judges at Worker’s Comp. Today, there is one.  It’s not just the Democratic Party. It is all over.  In a city that is 35% white, 70% of Bloomberg’s managers are white and Blacks and Latinos are being locked out.”
“It is a great honor to be invited to be a part of this ticket. We need a Freedom Party,” Jimenez said. “If we don’t have a Freedom Party, who is going to raise the issue of Wall Street being taxed? Do you think Andrew Cuomo or Rick Lazio is going to raise it? Who is going to raise the issue of gentrification? In an article the other day, Cuomo was investigating housing discrimination. I thought to myself, ‘You are late. It is the end of your term, and you just discovered discrimination in housing?’ In the South Bronx, we have tenant groups, antiviolence groups. The Freedom Party is the only one to talk about their issues. We have a chance to make history. I don’t want to rise from my people; I want to rise with my people! Freedom Party!”
Several whites were in attendance, including two ladies from the Million Worker March Movement. One said, “New York has been a place of Democratic seats having a lot of power. Republicans obviously don’t offer any alternative. Neither party is representing working-class people. In fact, they have taken a very strong pro-Wall Street stance. The laws that exist in the state of New York, like the Taylor Law that prohibits the public sector from striking, has taken the teeth right out of the labor movement. I think that this kind of party is a development that is giving grounds for more progressive politics, for more participation of the average person, who are not represented locally, not represented in Congress. Our tax dollars are used, but we don’t get the benefit.  Workers are not being represented.  We are asked to work, pay the taxes, bear the brunt of all the crises capitalists have thrust upon us. And we don’t get the benefits of it. I think this party will provide a potential platform for people to become politically active, put their demands forward, fight for them and force concessions.”
Kevin Powell, Democratic candidate for congress in the 10th Congressional District in Brooklyn. “I am a Democrat, but I came to listen and show support for Charles Barron and the folks here because they supported my campaign. I support third, fourth, fifth parties in this country. We need more than one or two parties. I definitely support that. I just want to listen. That is why I am here – to listen.”

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.