Robert Jackson (born December 18, 1950) is an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the Senator for the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan comp ...

's 31st district on the West Side of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. He previously served in the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...

from 2002 to 2013, representing the 7th district in

. He is the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

New York State Senator.

Early life and education

Robert Jackson was born in Harlem, the son of Zelma Jackson and Chinese immigrant Eddie Chu. He grew up in Manhattan and

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, attending P.S.186 in Washington Heights, and P.S. 146, Junior High School 120, and Benjamin Franklin High School in

. As a child, he sold newspapers. Jackson graduated from the

State University of New York at New Paltz The State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz or New Paltz) is a public university in New Paltz, New York. It traces its origins to the New Paltz Classical School, a secondary institution founded in 1828 and reorganized as an ...

in 1975. After college, he worked for the

New York State Department of Labor The New York State Department of Labor (DOL or NYSDOL) is the department of the New York state government that enforces labor law and administers unemployment benefits. The mission of the New York State Department of Labor is to protect workers ...

and the

Public Employees Federation The Public Employees Federation (PEF) is an American trade union, union representing 50,000 professional, scientific, and technical public employees in the state of New York (state), New York. The union is one of the largest local white-collar wo ...

, a

labor union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

. In 1986, he was elected to New York City Community School Board 6.

Campaign for Fiscal Equity

In 1992, Jackson was serving as the elected president of Community School Board 6. He sued the state, frustrated and accusing the state of under-funding New York City public schools. Jackson sought assistance from the school board's attorney, Michael A. Rebell; they founded the

Campaign for Fiscal Equity The Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) was a not-for-profit advocacy organization that sought to protect and promote the constitutional right to a sound basic education for all public school students in the State of New York. Under the leadership ...

, and in 1993 filed suit in CFE v. State of New York. The lawsuit argued that the State of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

's method of allocating funds for

public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary educational institution, schools that educate all students without charge. They are ...

did not provide adequately for children in

, and therefore violated the

New York State Constitution The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

and the federal

Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act may refer to several acts of the United States Congress, including: * Civil Rights Act of 1866, extending the rights of emancipated slaves by stating that any person born in the United States regardless of race is an American citi ...

. On June 26, 2003, the

New York State Court of Appeals The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by ...

(the state's highest court) ruled in favor of plaintiffs, and gave the State until July 30, 2004, to implement changes. However, lawmakers could not agree on a formula. The Court of Appeals appointed a special panel to address the problem, and in 2005, the panel proposed that NY City schools receive an extra $5.6 billion per year. Justice

Leland DeGrasse Leland George DeGrasse (born 1945/1946) was a judge in New York, New York, who served for seven years as an associate justice of the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department. Early life and education DeGrasse ...

accepted that solution, and in 2007, the Legislature established the Foundation Aid Formula to distribute the requisite funds, phased in over a period of four years. Because of the subsequent fiscal crisis, funding was frozen during 2009–2012. Full funding has yet to be restored, a situation Jackson protested both in Albany and New York City.

New York City Council

Robert Jackson was elected to the New York City Council's 7th district in 2001 as a Democrat. Before it was redistricted in 2013, the district included portions of the neighborhoods

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, Washington Heights and Inwood. He served parts of his three terms as Education Committee Chair and co-chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus with Council Member Fernando Cabrera. Jackson was twice re-elected before being term-limited in 2013. Jackson is

, and was the only Muslim City Council member during his tenure.

2013 Manhattan Borough President campaign

Jackson announced in late January 2013 that he was running in the Democratic Primary for Manhattan Borough President. Jackson highlighted the

as a significant accomplishment in at least five campaigns since he initially ran, and won a seat on, the New York City Council in 2001, and his literature stated Jackson "brought home billions of additional dollars each year to improve our public schools," though the Campaign for Fiscal Equity was called a failure by the

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

. Jackson, who was the only male or black candidate in the race, received the endorsement of former mayor

David Dinkins David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first African American to hold the office. Before enteri ...

, New York City's first Black mayor, prior to announcing. His opponents in the Democratic Primary were former city council members Jessica Lappin and

Gale Brewer Gale Arnot Brewer (born September 6, 1951) is an American Democratic politician from the state of New York who has represented the 6th New York City Council District since January 2022, a position she previously held from 2002 to 2013. From Janu ...

, as well as small business owner and former Chair of Community Board 1, Julie Menin. Jackson lost the Democratic Primary election to Brewer, coming in third place with 19% of the vote, compared to Brewer's 40% and Lappin's 25%.

New York State Senate

2014 campaign

In 2014, Jackson for ran for the New York State Senate in the 31st State Senate district against the incumbent,

Adriano Espaillat Adriano de Jesús Espaillat Rodríguez (; born September 27, 1954) is a Dominican-American politician. He is the U.S. representative for and the first Dominican American and first formerly undocumented immigrant to ever serve in Congress. He pr ...

. In the September 2014 Democratic primary election, he lost with roughly 43% of the vote to Espaillat's 50%, and Luis Tejada's 7%, in a race described by the

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

as "his second shot at a campaign in less than a year." Jackson's campaign manager, Michael Oliva, said that there were no specific plans moving forward, and quoted Jackson as saying he's "not going to deal with this bullshit for another two years."

2016 campaign

In 2016, Espaillat ran for U.S. House of Representatives to replace retiring long-term Congressman

Charlie Rangel Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the Ho ...

of Harlem; Jackson ran for Espaillat's seat in State Senate District 31 once again. In a tight primary race, Jackson came in 3rd place with 30% of the vote, losing to District Leader

Marisol Alcantara Marisol Alcantara is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented the New York State Senate's 31st District from 2017 to 2018. Alcantara is a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference (I ...

, Espaillat's chosen successor, with 33% of the vote, and Bloomberg administration alumnus Micah Lasher with 31% of the vote, while again defeating Luis Tejada with 5% of the vote.

2018 campaign

In 2018, Jackson ran for State Senate District 31 for the third time. In the September 2018 Democratic primary election, he won with 56% of the vote, defeating Alcantara, the incumbent, with 39% of the vote, Tirso Pina with 4% of the vote and Thomas Leon with 1% of the vote. Jackson's victory was attributed to backlash against Alcantara, who in the State Senate had joined the

Independent Democratic Conference The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) was a group of members of the New York State Senate from the Democratic Party who were elected as Democrats but formed a coalition to give the Republicans the majority in the chamber, and attempted to ...

, a group of Democratic senators who allied themselves with the Senate Republican Conference that controlled the chamber. Jackson had the support of 2016 rival Micah Lasher. In November 2018, Jackson easily won the general election in the heavily Democratic district with 89% of the vote, becoming the first Muslim state senator. In the Senate, Jackson is serving as Chairman of Committee on Cities.

Controversies

Bill Thompson heckling

On February 1, 2013, a Democratic mayoral forum was held in Washington Heights. Elected officials repeatedly neglected to acknowledge City Councilman Robert Jackson, who represented the area. Finally, when black mayoral candidate Bill Thompson greeted State Senator A. Espaillat, Assemblywoman G. Rosa, and Councilman Y. Rodriguez, Mr. Jackson called out, "I'm not part of the Northern Manhattan team? ... Can you see? Hello? Am I black enough for you, brother?" Thompson responded that he had no intention of ignoring Jackson, and referred to him as a "hero" for his fight for NY City schools.

Fairway Market lawsuit

In February 2013 Jackson, and his wife Faika Jackson, sued

Fairway Market Fairway Market is an American grocery chain, founded in 1933 by Nathan Glickberg. It is currently one of the store banners owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation, a company famous for its flagship supermarket cooperative network, ShopRi ...

and New York City. The Jacksons claimed Faika tripped over a downed stop sign in front of the Harlem location of the market in April 2010. In July 2014, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Margaret Chan admonished the Jacksons for "non-compliance with Fairway's repeated discovery demands," saying they had failed to provide medical records related to Faika's stop sign tumble. Jackson also joined his wife's lawsuit as a co-plaintiff, writing that his wife's injuries prevented her from providing "services, society and companionship."

Climate change banner

Jackson and Senator Rachel May received criticism in March 2022 after attending a rally organized by NY Renews, where they posed with a sign that compared

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. The sign used imagery that depicted a plane flying into the World Trade Center, with "climate change" captioned over the plane. Jackson was captured helping hold the sign up, and reading aloud from it. Jackson apologized for the incident, stating "the artwork depicted is wrong and I fully reject it."

Personal life

Jackson has three daughters. He met his wife, Faika Jackson, while in college. He currently lives with his family in Washington Heights.

References

External links

Robert Jackson's official campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Robert Living people American Muslims State University of New York at New Paltz alumni 21st-century American politicians New York City Council members Democratic Party New York (state) state senators 1950 births African-American New York City Council members Asian-American New York City Council members