As he stood behind a microphone recently at the famed Apollo Theater addressing the 23rd annual meeting of the 125th St. Business Improvement District, Rep. Charles Rangel was right at home — standing in the center of a district he has represented in Congress for 46 years.
“No one in this room knows how much the Apollo and 125th St. mean to me,” he told the audience. “I worked behind the desk at the Theresa Hotel, which was the center of Harlem’s tourism and visitation industry, and used to sleep in this theater following my shift on a regular basis. I was fortunate enough to have the late, great Percy Sutton as my political guru and friend as he brought the theater from an abandoned ruin to that which it is today.”
The 86-year-old congressman, who is now serving his final term in office, reflected briefly on his career, and shared some of his retirement plans.
“I intend to be working with the community, because it is my life,” he said. “And I want to thank Barbara Askins, (president and CEO of the 125th St. Business Improvement District), and other key leaders of community-based organizations, for keeping alive the hopes and dreams of so many people here. Furthermore, we have to find out what kind of commitment we have if Harlem is going to remain the cultural center of the African diaspora.”
This event was the first stop on a day that would end that night in Washington, D.C. It was a typical day for the congressman, and started with a discussion about his weekly itinerary with his staff members. Seated at his desk in the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, Rangel ticked off the schedule with his chief of staff, Geoffrey Eaton. It was going to be a busy weekend for him, topped off by an appearance at the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
For nearly half a century — ever since he defeated the renowned Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in the Democratic congressional primary in June 1970, and then went on to win the general election — Rangel has been on an unbroken circuit of walking in parades, speaking at a variety of ceremonies, organizing fund-raisers, receiving awards and citations, fighting civic battles in his congressional district, fighting for international causes such as the anti-apartheid effort and the Caribbean Basin Initiative, and in general supporting important events with his presence.
Another duty of an officeholder of his rank, of course, is dealing with the media — particularly during those occasions when a comment from him is expected. Rather than asking for a moment of silence after the death of Muhammad Ali, he chose to elaborate on a man he calls a hero.
“It’s simply amazing that here’s a guy who never finished high school, but managed to have the wit and thinking ability to cut through all the complications, to say that ‘I have no quarrel with the Viet Cong,’ ” Rangel said. “And I don’t think a secretary of state could have said it better. It took great courage for Muhammad to take a stand on his principles.”
The congressman has an ample supply of courage, though he is reluctant to talk about himself. On many occasions, and in his autobiography, “And I Haven’t Had a Bad Day Since,” he has regaled listeners with stories about the combat medals he received for bravery under fire during the Korean War.
It was one of the coldest winters in Korea in 1950, and Rangel’s unit was under siege by a wave of Chinese troops. During the attack, Rangel was wounded; shrapnel from a mortar shell ripped into his leg. “I had given away my wound kit,” he wrote, “but it wouldn’t have made any difference. It was so unbelievably cold that the blood was frozen in the wounds.”
Seriously injured and stuck in a trench, Rangel said he began to pray to Jesus. “I told Jesus if I ever got out of that mess — if I could somehow survive that night, which I never thought I could — that I would never be a problem to anyone ever again.” The wounds Rangel received in Korea earned him the Purple Heart, and his bravery earned for him a Bronze Star with Valor.
Rangel’s feet are the focus of another story he often tells. He was among the hundreds who completed the 54-mile civil rights trek from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama in 1965.
“I had not come to march the entire trip,” Rangel said. That was evident when he had to switch his dress shoes with someone who had sneakers. Even so, they provided little comfort for his ailing feet. “I had bad feet — they were bad even before they froze in Korea — bad enough for me to be collecting disability from the Army for them,” he added.
The next battlefield, not nearly as perilous as the previous ones, was the political arena. After mustering out of service, Rangel worked a number of menial jobs before deciding that education was the answer to his problems. A few of the chapters in his book, completed with journalist Leon Wynter, are templates of his postmilitary ventures — “Harlem Lawyer,” “Encountering Adam,” “Into the Leadership,” “Chairmen in Waiting,” as well as personal and political epilogues.
In the recent interview, after extolling the virtues of Muhammad Ali and talking about his heroism, Rangel invoked the name of Powell, the man he defeated in 1970. When it comes to a question of courage, Rangel said we shouldn’t forget how Powell spoke truth to power. “Adam challenged the whole Congress with Powell’s Amendment … screaming out against the white power structure; they still have not come around yet to accept the fact that these courageous things make America different from most countries. I am confident that history, based on the effectiveness of Adam Powell, will say that he was one of the most formidable, charismatic, eloquent legislators in the nation’s history.”
With his retirement imminent, Rangel said at the business improvement district event that he will weigh his options and consider speaking engagements in the private and public sector.
So what’s his prediction, and desire for his own legacy? A continuation and expansion of his storied legacy, he believes, would have come through a primary election on June 28 of Assemblyman Keith Wright, whom he enthusiastically endorsed to succeed him in Congress.
“I wrestled with the idea of, ‘Do I just retire, and walk away from the community, or do I try to put things together so that when I am leaving, I can walk the streets with pride, knowing that I left things in a good place?’ We may still have some of the same problems, but I know that we’re working on them.”
Rangel said that he endorsed Wright because of his broad-based following throughout the 13th Congressional District and the Bronx, as well as Harlem.
Wright was also endorsed because of Rangel’s longstanding connection with his family, including Wright’s father, the famous judge Bruce Wright.
But Wright ultimately lost the June Democratic primary election to Adriano Espaillat. For many in Harlem and other parts of the district, it will be strange not having Rangel as their representative after his 46 years in Congress. Over the years, they have grown accustomed to seeing Rangel on Capitol Hill.
Already, we’ve lost two members of Harlem’s legendary “Gang of Four” — Percy Sutton, who died in 2009, and Basil Paterson, who died in 2014. Rangel and former Mayor David Dinkins — who has a radio show on WBLS-FM and is a professor at Columbia University — are left to carry on the fight for civil and human rights.
While the congressman is best known to many to as the “Lion of Lenox Avenue” and a member of the Gang of Four, these tags stop short of capturing what Rangel has meant to the Harlem community, especially the role he played in the creation of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Corporation, and — along with Percy Sutton — Harlem Week.
“After being in the Congress for many years,” he said, “I feel I have been perceived as a person who can and will get along with anybody for the common good.” Many of his colleagues and fans affectionately call him the “Chairman,” recalling the three years he led the House Ways and Means Committee, from 2007 to 2010.
Getting along for the common good has been Rangel’s hallmark, and as he retires from Congress, he can be assured that “he still hasn’t had a bad day since” he took office almost a half-century ago. The “Lion of Lenox Avenue” can walk the streets of Harlem knowing he has left his roar in good hands.
To honor 46 years of outstanding service to New York, The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, Harlem Week, Inc., and the Amsterdam News, WBLS-FM, WLIB-AM, the 125th Street BID, together with Rev. Al Sharpton, Gov. Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, and other luminaries and Harlem citizens will dedicate Harlem Day, Aug. 21, as “Charles B. Rangel Day” in New York, with special tributes and salutes. All are invited to attend this historic event on W. 135th St. between Malcolm X Blvd. and Fifth Ave. — the very block that Charles Rangel and his family live on.
