[Audio clip of Barron speaking is several paragraphs below.]
It was kind of a shocker, really. Councilman Charles Barron [far left photo] said today that he's backing young housing activist Mark Winston Griffith [center photo] over incumbent Councilman Al vann [far right] in the Councilmanic race in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Barron sounded almost pained as he spoke with me briefly, describing his past political battles side by side with Vann.
"It's time for a change," Barron said.
Hear Barron in the below audio clip. (Just put cursor over the rectangular image and click the right-pointing arrow that appears.)
Though Griffith was thought to have a good shot at overthrowing Vann, the race had lately been fairly quiet, and everyone knew that a quiet race plays to the advantage of the incumbent.
The decision must have been a painful one for Barron, but he said that it was time for new, young leadership in the community and that Griffith was politically "progressive" on issues like housing and politic brutality.
In a press release, Griffith's team said he hopes to become the first third party candidate to defeat an incumbent in New York.
Vann has held elective office for 35 years, first as an Assemblyman, then as a Councilman.
Barron and Vann come from similar political/philosophical backgrounds, both adhering to what once was called black nationalism. In truth, however, Vann has been widely perceived in recent years as a quintessential insider, interested above all in maintaining power.
(Read Griffith's press release here.)
The release notes that the Rev. Al Sharpton is also endorsing Griffith, though Sharpton was reported to have done so weeks ago.
The Al Vann legacy is destroyed and Mark Griffith will be the next Assemblyman and District of the 56th if he doesn't win. That's why as an Annette Robinson supporter, I urge all of her supporters to vote for Mark Griffith or he will come after us.
Posted by: alim | October 27, 2009 at 09:36 AM