Posted on 12/23/2013 7:01:06 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron was a firebrand to the end, delivering a farewell speech that echoed many of the greatest hits of his controversial tenure barron.jpg “I just wanted to come before you to say that I will always be black, radical, revolutionary. I will always be a socialist, anti-capitalist/imperialist” said Barron, who represents East New York, at the Council’s last meeting Thursday, where many members took the chance to make farewell remarks.
“I went to Cuba. I went to Venezuela. I went to Zimbabwe. I brought you the president and you didn’t appreciate it!” he said, a reference to the reception he hosted for the country’s president Robert Mugabe at City Hall, generating controversy.
“Robert Mugabe, who’s taken the land back from whites in Africa...Evo Morales in Bolivia - these are my heroes. Che Guevara. Fidel Castro. Those are my heroes. The Black Panther party,” he said. “I wanted to come to you to say that’s who I am and that’s who I will always be. And I thank you for not punishing me too much. Just enough.”
Barron was stripped of his chairmanship of the Council’s higher education committee - “that moment when you lapsed in good judgment,” he told his colleagues in the sometimes lighthearted speech - and his member item allocations were generally among the lower ones on the Council.
“I voted no for so many of your projects and I will be voting no on some more today,” said the Brooklyn pol, famous for being the only no vote on many of the Council’s measures. “However I do appreciate that when my projects came before you, you voted yes.”
Barron - also known for slamming the Council Chamber’s statue of Thomas Jefferson, and loudly objecting when his seat was moved to be near the artwork - got in another shot at the founding father, who owned slaves.
“I have an assignment for those who are still here - you gotta get rid of homeboy back here. Jefferson’s gotta go,” he said.
“We shouldn’t just have white men’s pictures up on the wall,” he said, though he found a painting of George Washington more acceptable - because it prominently features a horse facing to the rear. “George Washington did enslave us too. I think that part of the horse’s anatomy is good for him to be pictured like that.”
Barron will be replaced in the Council by his wife Inez, and he plans to run for her seat in the Assembly.
“I’m sure that Gov. Cuomo and Shelly Silver can’t wait til I get to Albany,” he said. “And I’m sure Speaker Quinn will give them a recommendation.”
While friendly to most fellow members, he said that “for all those whites like [Queens Councilman] Peter Vallone who don’t like me, I’m going to endorse you in your neighborhood” - an endorsement that presumably would not help.
He closed by urging colleagues to recite his own version of the Pledge of Allegiance, which he refuses to recite.
“I’m gonna leave y’all with something special. You know I never salute or pledge allegiance - never do that because there’s racism in this country, and there’s no freedom and justice for all, and my momma told me never pledge to a lie,” he said.
He then gamely tried to get the chamber to recite his own version, where he replaced the traditional words with: “I pledge allegiance to rid this nation of racism, sexism, classism, and all forms of discrimination for which this nation stands.”
He pisses me off more than any lefty who FNC gives air time to.
It distresses me to realize that I’m now too old to relieve myself onto all the graves I want to.
Yeah, but apparently you didn't bring them enough M-O-N-E-Y!$!$!$!$!$!$!$!$!$!$ What have you done for me lately???? Show me the government check!!
Him and his wife sucking off the public teat..... permanently!!! His wife is now in his seat that he was term limited out of
Show me the government check!! >>>>>>
His and his wife Inez are collecting gov’t checks (as elected officials) and that is all that counts!!!!
An honest democrat
How refreshing
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