UNITED AFRICAN MOVEMENT
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ALTON H. MADDOX, JR. TEL.: (718) 834-9034
CHAIRMAN FAX : (718) 884-8241
P.O. BOX 35
BRONX, NY 10471

Freedom Party: A New Direction for Blacks
By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

New York Election Law requires that no political party can achieve ballot status unless its gubernatorial candidate receives 50,000 votes during a general election. The condition precedent for ballot access, however, is to secure 15,000 valid signatures through petitioning.

Four political parties have regularly achieved ballot status. Some political parties have intermittently enjoyed ballot status by hitching their stars to one of the four political parties with ballot status. They are the Democratic, Republican, Independence and Conservative parties.

The Liberal Party and the Working Families Party have lost their ballot status. They must petition for ballot status for their statewide candidates. In 1994, the Liberal Party successfully challenged the Freedom Party. Previously, Al Vann had to rely exclusively on the Liberal Party to win an election. This put him in Ray Harding's back pocket.

By continuing to vote for Blacks associated with traditional political parties, the Black masses continue to endorse their own oppression and, therefore, continue to maintain the status quo. Black elected officials are beholden to these political parties because they have failed or refused to create political options. Our personal stars are hitched to Black elected officials.

For example, Cong. Charles Rangel was elected to Congress by Black constituents to represent white special interest groups; namely, the real estate industry. Real estate is a key component of FIRE. Insurance and finance are the other components of FIRE.

To insure that FIRE received representation, Rangel was assigned to Ways and Means. In 1997, Rangel became its ranking Democrat and, afterwards, he would chair Ways and Means. This was a powerful chairmanship. Whites would start biting at his backside.

He not only secured special tax legislation for special interest groups but he also authored the Federal Empowerment Zone which sponsored the outright corporate takeover of Harlem which no longer exists as a Black community. It is a business zone.

In forty years of Rangel's political chicanery, Black constituents have had no political options because Rangel has been a darling of the Democratic Party which elevates special interest groups over its loyal Black voters. Politics is for special interest groups.

Only the Democratic Party can diminish his political stature. Cong. Nancy Pelosi is avoiding Rangel as though he is infested with a contagious disease. He faces charges of violating House ethics rules. It could be worse for him. He could be wearing a federal jumpsuit. Black leadership is still rooting for him.

Because, most Blacks have no understanding of constitutional principles, they are simply afraid of anyone who approaches them with a petition. The First Amendment allows anyone to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Blacks have had to pay a heavy cost for exercising rights under the First Amendment.

If we knew our history, we would know that petitioning has been a necessary weapon in our quest to secure freedom. Enslaved Africans had to petition state legislatures. Of course, an enslaved African only enjoyed a limited opportunity to escape bondage.

A U.S. magistrate in Maddox v. Prudenti informed Alton Maddox that his remedy to be reinstated to the practice of law in New York was to petition the New York Legislature. It was the New York Legislature that was the complainant against him. This is like the chicken going to the fox den for justice.

In the area of civil rights, the First Amendment has played a key role in acquiring social rights under the Commerce Clause but not under the Fourteenth Amendment. Our social rights are limited while whites enjoy unlimited, social rights under the common law. England required all innkeepers to respect social rights.

The Civil Rights Act of 1965 also gave Blacks voting rights. Voting rights accommodate plantation politics. Plantation politics promotes white wealth through Black labor (Black voters). Cong. Rangel is a proponent of plantation politics. The landscape in Harlem is changing. Slave quarters are being removed.

As a plantation overseer, Rangel has created great wealth for white corporations which are doing brisk business on 125th Street through a new, diverse market because of real estate construction. The real estate, finance and insurance industries are benefitting from gentrification. This is also happening with the prison-industrial complex. It is called "Negro Removal."

Except for Assemb. Inez Barron, all Black elected officials in New York City have stayed clear of the Freedom Party. On the other hand, Hon. Betty J. Grant, who is from Erie County, is a notable exception. Unlike Black elected officials in New York City, she understands the First Amendment which gives a voiceless people political options.

Only Black elected officials believe that political parties are adversarial in nature. "Ignorance of the law is no excuse" except in a morontocracy. Ignorance is still enslaving people of African ancestry. The co-conspirators include the church, the schools and the community. The absence of history fuels this conspiracy.

This week-end, July 31 and August 1, Councilman Charles Barron will be in Buffalo. His hosts include Grant, in addition to lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Eva Doyle of the Freedom Party and Ted Kirkland. Ramon Jimenez of the Freedom Party, and a candidate for state attorney general, will join them on Sunday.