By Annie McDonough
For the first time in 22 years, a Barron isn't representing Brooklyn in the City Council or state Assembly. Charles and Inez Barron – the married East New York political duo who eschew the term "dynasty" – have served in (and twice swapped) the same City Council and Assembly seats since 2002.
After four years in the Assembly and seven in the council, Inez Barron declined to run in 2022 for her old Assembly seat – the same one Charles was then serving in – ending her 11 year streak in office. And Sunday marked Charles Barron's last day in the City Council, following his loss in the Democratic primary last June to Chris Banks – a repeat challenger who has criticized the Barrons as absentee leaders.
In addition to ending their decades-long streak, Charles Barron's loss also removes one of the most outspoken – sometimes divisive – progressive voices from the halls of legislative power in New York. Both Charles and Inez Barron are proud Black radical socialists who rarely hesitated to take fellow Democrats to task for bowing to political power and interest groups, and who often courted controversy and criticism in espousing radical views. With Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan, an ally and mentee of the Barrons, declining to seek reelection last year, the Black radical ideals that the Barrons have long advocated for don't have a clear champion currently in elected office. In his last speech before the City Council in late December, however, Charles Barron promised to come back "stronger than ever."
Just before the new year, City & State caught up with both Barrons to discuss what came of their 22 years in elected office, and the future of the Black radical movement in New York.
We reached out to knowledgeable consultants and academics to get a sense of what they're expecting in the long awaited – and feared – 2024.
Read more here.
2 comments:
Why don't spics and spades vote for Whites?The minorities they vote for don't do squat for them or the city.
--GRA
"the Black radical ideals that the Barrons have long advocated"
Nation of Islam. Hate whitey, get whitey, kee-ill whitey.
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