Charles Barron (born October 7, 1950) is an American activist and politician who served in the New York City Council, representing Brooklyn's 42nd district from 2022 to 2023.

[1] He ran again in the Democratic primary for New York's 8th congressional district, which was being vacated by Towns, but lost to State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, 28% to 72%.

For six years his family lived in Corona, Queens, then moved to the Lillian Wald housing project in Lower Manhattan.

[5] In 1969, when he was 18 years old, Barron was recruited to the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party by a member named Mark Holder.

I still say I'm a Black Panther to my heart because in the 10-Point Program we talked about an immediate end to police brutality and exemption from us going into the military because we're not going to fight against countries and people of color abroad when we don't even have our freedom domestically and we fought for housing and clothing, shelter and relevant education, and this was all part of the 10-Point Program of the Black Panther Party which is still what I'm fighting for today.

[8] Shortly after the incident, Barron was appointed chief of staff to the Reverend Herbert Daughtry, chairperson of the NBUF and minister at Brooklyn's House of the Lord Church.

He spoke at many organizations and schools, including Harvard and Yale, teaching principles of negotiation, team-building, emotional intelligence, and leadership.

He traveled across the United States visiting college campuses, churches, prisons and communities "organizing around international, national and local issues.

"[10] On December 21, 1987, Barron participated in a "day of outrage" to protest racism in the New York City Police Department and local courts.

He attacked the incumbent, East New York councilmember Priscilla Wooten, for supporting Mayor Rudy Giuliani, saying her politics were out of date and she did not take enough initiative for neighborhood and community development.

"[27] In late 2009, Barron intensified his opposition to Quinn, proposing a "Democratic Reform Movement" with City Councillor Tony Avella to shift power away from the council speaker to rank-and-file members.

[citation needed] During the campaign, he criticized rival Democrat Fernando Ferrer for the latter's comments regarding the Amadou Diallo shooting.

He criticized Cuomo's budget proposals, which called for deep cuts in health care and education spending, and his decision not to extend the state's so-called millionaire's tax, which expires at the end of 2012.

[47] Barron announced that he would seek the 2012 Democratic nomination for the House seat due to the retirement of the long-term incumbent, Edolphus Towns.

On June 11, 2012, former Mayor Ed Koch, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Councilman David G. Greenfield, Assemblyman Dov Hikind gathered with several other elected officials to support Jeffries and denounce Barron.

"[51] Barron responded that such attacks had not been raised when he spoke before Jewish groups in Brooklyn, and that his constituents were interested in discussing "bread and butter" issues, not foreign policy.

On February 3, 2011, Barron was among hundreds of angry parents and students who protested loudly during a hearing closing 12 schools classified as failing.

"[67] When asked in 2011 about the argument that the fight for same-sex marriage is the modern-day equivalent of the civil rights struggle, Barron answered, "I don't consider it the civil-rights issue of our time.

[70] In July 2009, Barron stated that the Gaza Strip section of the Palestinian Territories was "a virtual death camp, the same kind of conditions the Nazis imposed on the Jews.

[74] Specifically, Barron said, "In the year 2000, when he said one farm, one farmer, he was vilified", arguing that Mugabe was popular internationally only while his government "didn't take the land from the whites".

"[77][78] In response to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) shooting of three individuals—including the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old prospective bridegroom, Sean Bell outside of a Jamaica, Queens strip club in 2006, Barron made a number of controversial statements, including one that implied that members of Bell's community would be justified in exercising non-peaceful or violent methods in response to his death.

In 2002, Barron was criticized for stating at a reparations rally, "I want to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing' and then slap him, just for my mental health.

Barron proposed bills to honor America's African American heritage and such individuals as Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Paul Robeson, and W. E. B.

He drafted a bill that would have asked President George W. Bush to cancel all debts African nations owe the U.S.[82] Barron has twice sought clemency for individuals he described as "political prisoners".

Although they were convicted for killing two police officers in 1971, conflicting evidence surfaced through COINTELPRO that suggests questionable government tactics in the prosecution of the three men.

[83] Barron asked in 2005 that Assata Shakur, a fugitive wanted by the federal government, be granted clemency for the alleged 1973 killing of a state trooper.

[84] In 2009, Barron asked that the City of New York compensate the five men wrongly accused in the Central Park Jogger case.

[85][86] Barron, appearing on the Fox network television program The O'Reilly Factor[87] in April, 2006, stated that opposition to present-day immigration involves skin color.

He argued that Germans, Jews, Poles, Greeks, and Italians who immigrated to the United States during the late 19th century were welcomed because of the color of their skin.

[citation needed] Barron wrote a scathing editorial on the $700 billion bailout package in 2008, calling it the "biggest welfare check in the history of the planet".