In Bronx District Attorney Election, Vote for Kalief Browder, Who Committed Suicide After 3 Years of Clark’s Court Delays

A Bronx Matters Editorial:

There is little excitement about voting in Bronx elections that are non-mayoral, non-presidential, non-borough-presidential, and not even for a city councilperson or a state legislator. It is, however, judicial. It’s not that that’s unimportant, but since there is virtually no coverage, debates, or campaigning, what do we know about any of these people? We could all spend the time finding them on-line and reading a little about them, but that highly unlikely, especially on Election Day.

It’s 1:06 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 3 that I’m beginning to write this and I have no clue who I’m going to vote for in eight judicial elections, or whether I’m even going to take part in voting for people I know nothing about.

But here’s one thing I know I will do – vote in the district attorney election today because the story behind it is such a signal of our borough’s lack of sufficient democracy in a so-called democratic society.

Robert Johnson, the 27-year veteran district attorney, left his position not by stepping out of the Democratic campaign, but by staying in his position, avoiding a primary in September (clearly no Democrat thought they had a chance of defeating this multi-term incumbent) and then simply quitting when the Bronx Democratic Party placed him in another virtual victory lane to be a judge.

But in today’s election, I’m writing in the name of someone who couldn’t even serve if he did win. Kalief Browder served three years in Rikers, where he attempted suicide. He was accused of robbery but spent more than a thousand days in jail without a trial. In six court dates, nothing occurred except for delays.

At home, Browder apparently was better and attending Bronx Community College. But he didn’t stay better and eventually hung himself outside his bedroom window.

So, who was the judge? Darcel Clark, the judge that Bronx Democrats chose to replace Johnson. (She is the Democrat running against Republican Robert D. Siano, who has little chance to win a borough with zero Republican elected officials.)

Whether or not you vote for her, Clark is going to be the district attorney. But maybe if enough write-in votes go to Browder, it will encourage more Bronxites and journalists to keep a close eye on Clark for an obvious reason. And more voting could possibly make Bronx pols think before they continue to exacerbate this pervasive dwindling of democracy.

Sharing this with you now at 3 p.m on Election Day is late in the game. But if you haven’t voted yet and reading this soon after I post it, you’ll have about 6 hours to go. You many not feel like voting in any of these “races,” but vote nonetheless. You can choose anyone on the ballot or write in a name. So, please … vote, vote, vote!

One last thing: Choosing Kalief Browder as a write-in vote for district attorney was not my idea. A friend mentioned it to me and I felt it was such a good idea I had to share it.

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Tags: Darcel Clark, editorial, Election Day, Kalief Browder, Robert D. Siano, Robert Johnson