When 1st Black House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, was celebrated by constituents By Dr. Akil Khalfani

On Sunday, January 29, I had the honor of attending the 2023 Community Inauguration of House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. The event took place at Brooklyn Technical High School in downtown Brooklyn, New York. This was the Congressman’s first address in the eighth District of New York, since becoming the Minority Leader in the House of Representatives. He was accompanied by his family, including his mother and father and his wife and aunts and uncles and cousins.

There were hundreds maybe thousands of people in attendance, including a plethora of elected officials from the New York State Senate and Assembly and City Council members. In addition to myself, there were many folks from New Jersey, and other places afar.

The program was declared open by David Newman, Brooklyn Technical High School’s Principal. The Mistress of Ceremonies was award-winning journalist, Lori Stokes. Noted Speakers were Charles Schumer, US Senate Majority Leader, Kathy Holcomb, Governor of the State of New York, US Congress Representatives, Nadia Velazquez and Yvette Clarke, New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, and New York State Attorney General, Letitia James, who gave an amazing rousing speech. Presiding over the ceremonial oath of office was Judge Raymond Lohier, Jr., who is the United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Second Circuit.

Congressman Jeffries is the first person of African descent to be elected as the senior member of the House of Representatives. He was unanimously elected by all Democrats in the House of Representatives. The vote was conducted 15 times because of the ruckus and political maneuvering from the Republican side of the House. He was elected to succeed Nancy Pelosi as House Democratic leader.

Congressman Jeffries gave a great speech, addressing the successes in Washington DC, but cautioning that there was much work to be done. He pledged to continue to bring resources to Brooklyn and New York from Washington.

“No matter what responsibilities I will now have down in Washington, D.C., I want you to understand I will never walk away from you, and I will always have your back,” Jeffries said in his well-received addressed.

He also stated that the Democrats were not going to allow the current House majority to take away citizen’s Social Security, benefits, or veterans benefits or others. He stressed that there was a fight ahead, and that he and his party were up to the task. Yvette Clarke and Letitia James told the crowd that their support was needed to make this happen.

Several speakers expressed the conviction that in two years’ time Jeffries would be the Majority Speaker of the House, implying that the Democrats intend to take back their majority in the November 2024 General election.

Jeffries will need many strong voices in his fight to strengthen the democratic voice and position in Congress and to keep Republicans from pushing back on civil rights and human dignity on the state and local levels where they control the political, financial, and legal machinery. These are some of the reasons why I ran for Congress in 2022. The problems persist, but we don’t have enough strong voices representing our community in Congress.

Congressman Jeffries has a tall hill ahead of him and I believe he is up to the challenge before him. From the look of the event, Brooklyn is certainly behind him and his unanimously voting colleagues in the Democratic Party are behind him, now we just need more of the people to find the courage to step outside their comfort zones and fight the good fight.

Dr. Khalfani, Director, Africana Institute of the Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey, contested the New Jersey (NJ) 10th District US Congress seat in the last general election.