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Freedom Party Submits 43,500 Signatures

On Monday, August 16, the Freedom Party Express delivered 43,500 signatures to the Board of Elections in Albany. Freedom Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor Eva Doyle was there waiting for Gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron. Together, they submitted their petitions at 4:50PM.

Standing proudly behind three tall stacks of petitions, Charles Barron said, “Today, we are here to say that the people of New York State have spoken. They said it loudly through this petitioning process that [gathered] over 43,500 signatures. The only gubernatorial candidate, the only attorney general candidate, the only lieutenant candidate that took our case to the people is the Freedom Party. The all-white state slate of the Democratic Party is unacceptable. We are not choosing between Democrats and Republicans. We are choosing Freedom today!”
Barron declared, “This is a movement that is unbought and unbossed, and un-controlled by the white male corporate interests in this state. We are saying to this state, no longer are we going to allow the Democrats to take the Black vote for granted, the Republicans to ignore us, or the white progressives on the Left to use us. We are here to say that the Freedom Party represents dignity. The Freedom Party represents self-respect. The Freedom Party represents self-determination. The Freedom Party is the people’s party.  We are going to control the institutions that control our lives.”
Speaking of race, Barron said, “No longer will we let this state be quiet on race. Race matters. Racism permeates every institution in this state. We are going to let it be known, loud and clear, we are sick and tired, like Fannie Lou Hamer said. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired of racism. You can’t get rid of racism pretending it doesn’t exist. There is no post-racial society. Racism impacts every individual as well as every institution. You have to be a race-conscious state, a gender-conscious state, a class-conscious state. We have to get rid of the three evils -racism, classism and sexism – in delivering goods and services to the people of this state.”
“The people that you see behind us, they said we didn’t have any support. They said we weren’t going to make the ballot. They said that we couldn’t get the petitions. They thought we wouldn’t be able to get the signatures. Not only did we get nearly three times the amount, they thought we were not going to be sophisticated enough to get 100 signatures in 15 different congressional districts,” said Barron. “Well, we got at least 20-30 signatures in all 29 districts. And we got over 100 signatures in 23 congressional districts in this state. Tell Cuomo to match that. Tell Lazio to match that. And in 15 congressional districts, we got over 300 signatures.”
Barron described how the Freedom Party was born with limited resources. “They said we didn’t have the money to put a campaign together. They said we didn’t have enough money. Let me tell you something. Money doesn’t vote. People vote. We have the greatest resource a campaign could have – people. Not one of these persons behind us – over 200 in the streets – not one of them would accept a penny,” Barron said. “They did it for Harriet Tubman. Fannie Lou Hamer. Malcolm X. Martin Luther King. Dr. Khalid Muhammad. Sonny Carson. Richie Perez.  Don Pedro Abisos Compos. Lolita Labron. John Henrik Clarke. We did it for all our ancestors that came before us. We did it for all that spilled blood so that we could be here today. If there is anybody you don’t like, like the Black Panther Party and all the political prisoners – we did it for them, too.”
Speaking about young people, Barron said, “We did it for our young people trying to get jobs. We talk a lot about our young people wearing their pants under their behinds. That is an embarrassing thing, and we do tell them to pull up their pants. But what about all of those young people who have their pants up? What about all of those young people who have degrees and can’t get a job? What about young people who are in church? What about young people who are in organizations trying to make a change, like the Malcolm X Grassroots Organization? We can talk about the negative, and we have to deal with that, too many of our young people are dying and killing each other. But there are a lot of young people doing the right thing. This society is not giving them their due.  Take care of them and the pants will come up because they know that is the route to go.”
Barron said the Freedom Party’s openness can improve NYS. “On this day, on behalf of our slate, this party is a Black and Latino-led party that is open to everyone. When we take care of  Blacks and Latinos, the state will be better off. Giving us living-wage jobs, you can keep your welfare. If you give us youth centers and workforce development programs in our community, you can keep your prisons. Build some more schools,” he said. “The Freedom Party is a party for all the people of this state. It will be absolutely led by Blacks and Latinos. I speak today for our lieutenant governor, Eva Doyle, from Buffalo. Sister Eva Doyle and the Buffalo community brought in over three thousand signatures. I speak today for our attorney general candidate Ramon Jimenez. His organization brought in over two thousand signatures. We are the most diverse party in the state. We are here to stay.”
“Let the debates begin! I can’t wait,” Barron declared. “Tell Cuomo I am looking for him. Tell Lazio he better get out of the way. And if they try to say we are some fringe organization, and we can’t be in the debates, we are going to break the door down.”
Barron thanked Attorney-at-War Alton Maddox, United African Movement, December 12 Movement, CEMOTAP, Operation Power, and 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care who helped this latest incarnation of the Freedom Party get off the ground. Barron said, “We have to mention the Freedom Party under Alton Maddox years ago, that laid the groundwork for us to be successful today. I want to introduce a young lady who worked very hard with Jitu Weusi and myself. We started the Unity Party in 1998. We got over 20 thousand signatures, got on the ballot and Mary France Daniels was the candidate for governor . She received over 10,000 votes. We are building on the work of Mary France Daniels.”
Freedom Party Co-chair Viola Plummer spoke in a loud, crisp voice: “We are absolutely determined to make the Freedom Party a party of the people of this state. It needs to be crystal clear that the Freedom Party will not be bought. Neither will we be intimidated by those of you and them who say we don’t have any money. In capitalism, there are two poles: one is capital, meaning money; and the other is labor, meaning people. They can never match us in the labor.”
Freedom Party Co-chair Jitu Weusi said, “I want to tell the 43,000 people who signed these petitions, I want to thank them for signing the petitions of the Freedom Party. I want to tell them that they cannot lose track of us. This is just the beginning. They have to stay with us – whether we go to court, whether we are on the media, whether we are in the debates. They have to stay with us. And they have to insist  that we get a hearing. They have to make their voices heard. That is their job as a result of signing these petitions. If everybody sent a $5 bill to the Freedom Party, 456 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn 11216… If we got 43,000 $5 bills, we will take care of business.”
Asked if his Democratic registration would impede his run on the Freedom Party line, Barron said, “We are all registered Democrats right now. We are telling the people of New York, you can keep your Democratic Party registration. We want all those who support us and vote for us, whether you are a Democrat, Independent. In the November election, it doesn’t matter. I am still a registered Democrat. We reserve the right of self-determination. To determine our strategy. The Working Families Party doesn’t have everybody as WFP registrants. They have Democrats supporting them. We are telling our people if you want to do the September primary and November, keep your Democratic Party registration. Support the Freedom Party in November.”
Regarding challenges Barron said, “Bring it. We dare them to challenge us. Why would you want to challenge 43,000 signatures? We are going to say to the people of this state, anybody that challenges these petitions obviously wants to keep the state all white.”
Freedom Party campaign manager and radio talk show host Bob Law said, “We made magic happen with your commitment. We couldn’t pay for this talent and energy anyway. This is how movements build; fundamental change occurs. Just filing those signatures is a significant victory. It says to the power brokers in this state, that there is already a new political force that they will have to contend with.”
Ramon Jimenez, Freedom Party candidate for attorney general said, “I think 43,000 signatures is an incredible historical accomplishment. It is a statement. A lot of people in NYS have said we want the Freedom Party on the [ballot] line. I am very excited and happy with that number.”

Freedom Party Submits 43,500 Signatures
On Monday, August 16, the Freedom Party Express delivered 43,500 signatures to the Board of Elections in Albany. Freedom Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor Eva Doyle was there waiting for Gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron. Together, they submitted their petitions at 4:50PM.Standing proudly behind three tall stacks of petitions, Charles Barron said, “Today, we are here to say that the people of New York State have spoken. They said it loudly through this petitioning process that [gathered] over 43,500 signatures. The only gubernatorial candidate, the only attorney general candidate, the only lieutenant candidate that took our case to the people is the Freedom Party. The all-white state slate of the Democratic Party is unacceptable. We are not choosing between Democrats and Republicans. We are choosing Freedom today!”Barron declared, “This is a movement that is unbought and unbossed, and un-controlled by the white male corporate interests in this state. We are saying to this state, no longer are we going to allow the Democrats to take the Black vote for granted, the Republicans to ignore us, or the white progressives on the Left to use us. We are here to say that the Freedom Party represents dignity. The Freedom Party represents self-respect. The Freedom Party represents self-determination. The Freedom Party is the people’s party.  We are going to control the institutions that control our lives.” Speaking of race, Barron said, “No longer will we let this state be quiet on race. Race matters. Racism permeates every institution in this state. We are going to let it be known, loud and clear, we are sick and tired, like Fannie Lou Hamer said. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired of racism. You can’t get rid of racism pretending it doesn’t exist. There is no post-racial society. Racism impacts every individual as well as every institution. You have to be a race-conscious state, a gender-conscious state, a class-conscious state. We have to get rid of the three evils -racism, classism and sexism – in delivering goods and services to the people of this state.” “The people that you see behind us, they said we didn’t have any support. They said we weren’t going to make the ballot. They said that we couldn’t get the petitions. They thought we wouldn’t be able to get the signatures. Not only did we get nearly three times the amount, they thought we were not going to be sophisticated enough to get 100 signatures in 15 different congressional districts,” said Barron. “Well, we got at least 20-30 signatures in all 29 districts. And we got over 100 signatures in 23 congressional districts in this state. Tell Cuomo to match that. Tell Lazio to match that. And in 15 congressional districts, we got over 300 signatures.”Barron described how the Freedom Party was born with limited resources. “They said we didn’t have the money to put a campaign together. They said we didn’t have enough money. Let me tell you something. Money doesn’t vote. People vote. We have the greatest resource a campaign could have – people. Not one of these persons behind us – over 200 in the streets – not one of them would accept a penny,” Barron said. “They did it for Harriet Tubman. Fannie Lou Hamer. Malcolm X. Martin Luther King. Dr. Khalid Muhammad. Sonny Carson. Richie Perez.  Don Pedro Abisos Compos. Lolita Labron. John Henrik Clarke. We did it for all our ancestors that came before us. We did it for all that spilled blood so that we could be here today. If there is anybody you don’t like, like the Black Panther Party and all the political prisoners – we did it for them, too.” Speaking about young people, Barron said, “We did it for our young people trying to get jobs. We talk a lot about our young people wearing their pants under their behinds. That is an embarrassing thing, and we do tell them to pull up their pants. But what about all of those young people who have their pants up? What about all of those young people who have degrees and can’t get a job? What about young people who are in church? What about young people who are in organizations trying to make a change, like the Malcolm X Grassroots Organization? We can talk about the negative, and we have to deal with that, too many of our young people are dying and killing each other. But there are a lot of young people doing the right thing. This society is not giving them their due.  Take care of them and the pants will come up because they know that is the route to go.”     Barron said the Freedom Party’s openness can improve NYS. “On this day, on behalf of our slate, this party is a Black and Latino-led party that is open to everyone. When we take care of  Blacks and Latinos, the state will be better off. Giving us living-wage jobs, you can keep your welfare. If you give us youth centers and workforce development programs in our community, you can keep your prisons. Build some more schools,” he said. “The Freedom Party is a party for all the people of this state. It will be absolutely led by Blacks and Latinos. I speak today for our lieutenant governor, Eva Doyle, from Buffalo. Sister Eva Doyle and the Buffalo community brought in over three thousand signatures. I speak today for our attorney general candidate Ramon Jimenez. His organization brought in over two thousand signatures. We are the most diverse party in the state. We are here to stay.””Let the debates begin! I can’t wait,” Barron declared. “Tell Cuomo I am looking for him. Tell Lazio he better get out of the way. And if they try to say we are some fringe organization, and we can’t be in the debates, we are going to break the door down.”Barron thanked Attorney-at-War Alton Maddox, United African Movement, December 12 Movement, CEMOTAP, Operation Power, and 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care who helped this latest incarnation of the Freedom Party get off the ground. Barron said, “We have to mention the Freedom Party under Alton Maddox years ago, that laid the groundwork for us to be successful today. I want to introduce a young lady who worked very hard with Jitu Weusi and myself. We started the Unity Party in 1998. We got over 20 thousand signatures, got on the ballot and Mary France Daniels was the candidate for governor . She received over 10,000 votes. We are building on the work of Mary France Daniels.” Freedom Party Co-chair Viola Plummer spoke in a loud, crisp voice: “We are absolutely determined to make the Freedom Party a party of the people of this state. It needs to be crystal clear that the Freedom Party will not be bought. Neither will we be intimidated by those of you and them who say we don’t have any money. In capitalism, there are two poles: one is capital, meaning money; and the other is labor, meaning people. They can never match us in the labor.”Freedom Party Co-chair Jitu Weusi said, “I want to tell the 43,000 people who signed these petitions, I want to thank them for signing the petitions of the Freedom Party. I want to tell them that they cannot lose track of us. This is just the beginning. They have to stay with us – whether we go to court, whether we are on the media, whether we are in the debates. They have to stay with us. And they have to insist  that we get a hearing. They have to make their voices heard. That is their job as a result of signing these petitions. If everybody sent a $5 bill to the Freedom Party, 456 Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn 11216… If we got 43,000 $5 bills, we will take care of business.”Asked if his Democratic registration would impede his run on the Freedom Party line, Barron said, “We are all registered Democrats right now. We are telling the people of New York, you can keep your Democratic Party registration. We want all those who support us and vote for us, whether you are a Democrat, Independent. In the November election, it doesn’t matter. I am still a registered Democrat. We reserve the right of self-determination. To determine our strategy. The Working Families Party doesn’t have everybody as WFP registrants. They have Democrats supporting them. We are telling our people if you want to do the September primary and November, keep your Democratic Party registration. Support
the Freedom Party in November.”Regarding challenges Barron said, “Bring it. We dare them to challenge us. Why would you want to challenge 43,000 signatures? We are going to say to the people of this state, anybody that challenges these petitions obviously wants to keep the state all white.” Freedom Party campaign manager and radio talk show host Bob Law said, “We made magic happen with your commitment. We couldn’t pay for this talent and energy anyway. This is how movements build; fundamental change occurs. Just filing those signatures is a significant victory. It says to the power brokers in this state, that there is already a new political force that they will have to contend with.” Ramon Jimenez, Freedom Party candidate for attorney general said, “I think 43,000 signatures is an incredible historical accomplishment. It is a statement. A lot of people in NYS have said we want the Freedom Party on the [ballot] line. I am very excited and happy with that number.”

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