Latest news with #GangOfFour
New York Times
27-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Charles B. Rangel: A Life in Pictures
Charles B. Rangel died Monday at age 94, leaving behind a larger-than-life legacy in Harlem, his birthplace and longtime home, which he represented in Congress for more than four decades. To veterans, friends and Harlem residents who gathered on Monday for a Memorial Day lunch at American Legion Post 398, a few blocks from his home, he was just Charlie: a onetime member of the Legion post, a political powerhouse who always made himself accessible to his constituents. Nadine Pittman, a longtime American Legion Auxiliary member and a lifelong Harlem resident, described Mr. Rangel as 'down-to-earth with the people.' 'He'd take the time and talk to you,' Ms. Pittman said. 'I loved him as a person.' Mr. Rangel retired as the ninth-longest continuously serving member of the House of Representatives in U.S. history. He was part of a quartet of venerable Harlem politicians known as the Gang of Four. Mr. Rangel was born and raised in Harlem and attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx until he dropped out to join the Army in 1948. He fought in the Korean War and was awarded a Bronze Star for valor after leading his all-Black unit to safety. Mr. Rangel was elected in 1966 to the State Assembly. In 1970, he was voted into Congress, unseating Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a longtime incumbent. He remained in Congress for more than four decades. In 1974, he became the first Black member of the Ways and Means Committee and then, more than three decades later, its first Black chairman. He lost that powerful post four years later, in 2010, after he was censured for ethical lapses, including tax improprieties and failing to disclose personal income. Despite the scandal, he continued to win re-election and stayed in Congress until his retirement. Throughout his lengthy career, Mr. Rangel never left behind the Harlem neighborhood where he had been raised. For years until his death, he lived in an apartment in Lenox Terrace, not far from where he had grown up. 'He would walk down the street and everyone would go, 'Hi, Charlie,'' said G Rod Roderick, a Vietnam veteran and a former commander of Post 398. He came to know Mr. Rangel well after years of crossing his path at Memorial Day parades, Junior R.O.T.C. events and weekly jazz concerts in the Legion hall's basement. Mr. Rangel liked jazz, Mr. Roderick recalled, but it was his wife, Alma Rangel, who really loved it. William Frieson, a Navy veteran, said he first met Mr. Rangel in 1977. The two became dear friends, despite what Mr. Frieson described as 'a difference of political opinion.' 'His political so-and-so is different than our friendship,' he said. 'He was a hell of an individual.' In recent years, Mr. Rangel stopped showing up at the post as frequently. But members still saw him, sometimes at Sylvia's, the mainstay Harlem soul-food restaurant where he had been a regular, or outside Lenox Terrace. 'I like that about him,' said Diane Walters, an auxiliary member serving lunch upstairs at the Legion post. 'He stayed in his community.' The congressman was linked inextricably to Harlem, Mr. Roderick said. 'When you said 'Harlem representative,' the first thing that came to mind was Charlie.' Mr. Roderick said. 'You never thought of anyone else.' 'We just considered him part of the family.'
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Charles Rangel, former Harlem congressman, dies aged 94
Former US congressman Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol Hill and was a founding member of the Congressional Black caucus, died on Monday at the age of 94. His family confirmed the death in a statement provided by City College of New York spokesperson Michelle Stent. He died at a hospital in New York, Stent said. A veteran of the Korean war, Rangel defeated legendary Harlem politician Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to start his congressional career. During the next 40-plus years, he became a legend himself – dean of the New York congressional delegation, and, in 2007, the first African American to chair the powerful House ways and means committee. He stepped down from that committee amid an ethics cloud, and the House censured him in 2010 after a House ethics committee conducted a hearing on 13 counts of alleged financial and fundraising misconduct over issues surrounding financial disclosures and use of congressional resources. He was convicted by Congress of 11 violations, but he continued to serve in the House until his retirement in 2017. Rangel was the last surviving member of the Gang of Four, Black political figures who wielded great power in New York City and state politics. The others were David Dinkins, New York City's first Black mayor; Percy Sutton, who was Manhattan borough president; and Basil Paterson, a deputy mayor and secretary of state of New York. Rangel's distinctive gravelly voice and wry sense of humor made him a memorable character not just in politics but in the rest of his life and environs. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, paid tribute on X, calling Rangel a 'great man, a great friend, and someone who never stopped fighting for his constituents and the best of America'. 'The list of his accomplishments could take pages, but he leaves the world a much better place than he found it,' Schumer posted. The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, also praised Rangel. 'Charlie Rangel was a phenomenal patriot, hero, statesman, leader, trailblazer, change agent and champion for justice,' he posted on X. Jeffries, a fellow New Yorker, called Rangel 'the Lion of Lenox Ave', an iconic street at the heart of Harlem, and said he was a transformational force of nature. 'Harlem, NYC & America are better today because of his service. May he forever rest in power,' Jeffries posted. Rangel was known for fiercely looking out for his constituents, sponsoring empowerment zones with tax credits for businesses moving into economically depressed areas and developers of low-income housing. 'I have always been committed to fighting for the little guy,' Rangel said in 2012. He was known as one of the most liberal representatives in the House, loudest in opposition to the Iraq war, which he branded a 'death tax' on poor people and minorities. In 2004, he tried to end the war by offering a bill to restart the military service draft. Republicans called his bluff and brought the bill to a vote. Even Rangel voted against it. A year later, Rangel's fight over the war became bitterly personal with the then US vice-president, Dick Cheney, Republican president George W Bush's running mate and a prime defense hawk. Rangel said Cheney, who has a history of heart trouble, might be too sick to perform his job. 'I would like to believe he's sick rather than just mean and evil,' Rangel said. After several such verbal jabs, Cheney hit back, saying Rangel was 'losing it'. The Harlem lawmaker first entered the House in 1971. In 1987, Congress approved what was known as the 'Rangel amendment', which denied foreign tax credits to US companies investing in apartheid-era South Africa, where the wealthy ruling white minority held power by heavily oppressing the Black majority. Rangel was born on 11 June 1930. During the Korean war, he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. A high school dropout, he went to college on the GI Bill, getting degrees from New York University and St John's University School of Law. The Associated Press contributed reporting
