the post-racial world

Andrew Cuomo Will Pay for Picking a White Lieutenant Governor

Democratic Brooklyn city councilman Charles Barron intends to petition his way onto the ballot for governor this year under a new party, the New York Freedom Democratic Party, to protest Andrew Cuomo’s selection of white person Robert Duffy as his lieutenant governor, and the overall whiteness of the Democratic slate.

“The Democratic Party has taken our vote for granted for many, many years,” Mr. Barron said in an interview, and added of Mr. Duffy’s selection: “This is the latest slap in the face. This political blackout by Andrew Cuomo is outrageous, that he would be comfortable going with an all-white state slate.”


In 2002, Cuomo earned the resentment of many black leaders for (unsuccessfully) challenging black State Comptroller Carl McCall for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, and he had hoped to put that behind him in his current campaign. But Barron isn’t alone in his frustration with the all-white slate. Despite assurances from Cuomo to Al Sharpton that his cabinet “would reflect the diversity of New York,” about 30 prominent black New York politicians met in Mount Vernon on June 5 to discuss the absence of minority candidates. Barron, however, may be the only one incensed enough to claim that the Democratic slate “looks like Mississippi in the 1950s.” Which is accurate, except for the whole segregation/hating black people thing.

Barron Says He’s Running to Protest Cuomo [City Room/NYT]

Andrew Cuomo Will Pay for Picking a White Lieutenant Governor