BlackPerspective.net
Discussing the Diaspora as seen through an internal Black lens
Civil Rights Lawyer Percy Sutton Dead at 89
December 28th, 2009
I didn’t know much about Mr. Sutton before his death on December 26, but he seems like some one we should remember:
Percy Sutton, Lawyer For Malcolm X, Dies At 89
By Associated Press December 27, 2009 11:10 am
NEW YORK — Percy Sutton, the pioneering civil rights attorney who represented Malcolm X before launching successful careers as a political power broker and media mogul, has died. He was 89…
…The son of a slave, Percy Sutton became a fixture on 125th Street in Harlem after moving to New York City following his service with the famed Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. His Harlem law office, founded in 1953, represented Malcolm X and the slain activist’s family for decades.
The consummate politician, Sutton served in the New York State Assembly before taking over as Manhattan borough president in 1966, becoming the highest-ranking black elected official in the state.
Sutton also mounted unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate and mayor of New York, and served as political mentor for the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s two presidential races.
son recalled Sutton talking about electing a black president as early as 1972. Sutton was influential in getting his 1984 campaign going, he said.
“He never stopped building bridges and laying the groundwork,” Jackson said Sunday. “We are very glad to be the beneficiaries of his work.”
Percy Sutton: A Legend Gone
By GABE PRESSMAN
Timing is everything, in politics as in life.
Percy Sutton could have been New York’s first black Mayor. But he was defeated because, in the year he ran, 1977, feelings of racism were still strong within this city’s electorate. That’s the way I saw it—and I covered that campaign intensively.
Sutton was part of the “gang of four,” four young, ambitious African-Americans who became involved in Harlem politics six decades ago. This group consisted of men who, separately, would rise to great heights in the course of the years—Charles Rangel, who defeated Adam Clayton Powell, ascending to one of the highest positions in the House of Representatives; Basil Paterson, a prominent lawyer {father of the current governor, David Paterson]; David Dinkins, the first African-American to be elected Mayor of New York.
The gang of four were deeply involved in Harlem politics in their younger days. Percy Sutton. Who served in the Tuskegee Airmen unit of the Army Air Forces in World War II, came home to rise on the political ladder, winning a seat in the State Assembly and later becoming Manhattan Borough President. After his defeat in the 1977 mayoral election, Sutton gave up his personal involvement in politics, denouncing the press bitterly for what he called “racism, pure and simple.”
He then embarked on a business career in which he was part of a group that purchased WLIB, the first black-owned radio station in New York…
posted in Cultural, Foreign News, News & Events, Racial Injustice | | | View blog reactions |
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Yobachi Boswell is creator and publisher of BlackPerspecitve.net. I’m a writer, activist and political watcher based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve also been know to do some spoken word and MCing in my day.
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