By Jean Nash Wells

For 35 years Charles Bernard Rangel has served as the U.S. Representative from the 15th Congressional District in New York, making him the fourth senior member of that esteemed branch of government. Only Representatives Dingle (D-Michigan), Conyers (D-Michigan) and Obey (D-Wisconsin) have longer tenure. Congressman Rangel can legitimately claim the title of elder statesman, and he wears it well.

Who is Charles Rangel? He was born and bred on Lenox Avenue in Harlem, dropped out of high school to join the Army in 1948 and was shot in Korea. He received a Purple Heart and a Bronze star for his service to his country. “I came back home with a couple of medals, and I still didn’t have a high school diploma,” he recalled. His grandfather who was an elevator operator in the Criminal Court Building raised Mr. Rangel. “He was fascinated by lawyers, judges, district attorneys, and so on. So he was delighted when I told him that’s what I wanted to be.” Rangel completed his education on the G.I. Bill and graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in Law. “Fortunately my grandfather lived to see me become a prosecutor.”

Rangel says that he became interested in politics because of his grandfather. “He was denied the opportunity to work past the age of 62. So we got a special extension from the County Leader and when I saw how non-competitive it was [Harlem politics], I just stayed in it. He served in the New York State Assembly from 1966 to 1970.

In 1970 he ran for the House against the incumbent Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. who by now was sick and had lost much of his effectiveness. A steady work ethic, a concern for the downtrodden and left out and a belief in justice and human rights exemplify his career. Charlie, as he is known throughout his district, like his predecessor has an activist spirit.

He walks picket lines and has been arrested numerous times–opposition to the apartheid government in South Africa twenty years ago, the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo by four NYC Police Officers in 1999, and in 2004 protesting human rights abuses in the Sudan in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C., among others.

He is a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, is still a member, is one of the most visible members of Congress, and frequently asked to comment on various issues on television and radio, as well as writing op-ed pieces on the internet, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other national and international media.

We caught up with Mr. Rangel at a Columbia University symposium where he was speaking to a group of concerned citizens. The event had been organized at the request Cristina Nicoleta Sprinceana, publisher of a Romanian newspaper, which indicates to some degree the diversity of the 15th Congressional District. The District is comprised of Upper Manhattan, a portion of the Bronx and Rikers Island encompassing Harlem, Inwood, Spanish Harlem, and Washington Heights. The Congressman was received as a larger-than-life figure with people clamoring to shake his hand, have a word or perhaps pose in a photo with him. He was his usual affable self for the preliminaries, but turned very serious when it cam time to speak. Central to the discussion was the War in Iraq against which he is vehemently opposed. He is one of the few in Congress who voted against it. “Other people’s children are fighting this war,” he said. He believes that the war is morally wrong. People with little opportunity, whether from urban poor areas, or rural poor areas are being asked to fight, and be injured or lose their lives.

I learned from him that signing bonuses for as much as $40,000 are being offered to attract new recruits. “That’s a lot of money to an uninformed young man or woman just out of high school from a poor family,” the Congressman pointed out.
This was just one of the many events he attended during his weekend at home.

Home, of course, for the Congressman is Harlem, where he reigns supreme, unchallenged in the upcoming November elections. He’s not resting on his laurels, however, since much is at stake for Democrats. Should they regain control of the House, four powerful committee chairmanships would go to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, so Rangel is actively campaigning and rasing funds across the nation and around Harlem for other African American incumbents.

The Congressman voiced his disappointment with churches of all denominations. He believes it is the responsibility of churches and their pastors to speak out about the war and encourage and inform their congregations how to reach out to their representatives in Congress to tell them their views and make a real difference “They tell you about the good Samaritan and say that the meek shall inherit the earth and thou shall not kill, but by their silence they’re still blessing the guns and the tanks. It seems like the church has given up on moral values,” he said, although he hasn’t given up on the churches. Just about every weekend he visits two or three in his district.

“That’s my base,” he said. “I work very closely with the churches. All of my housing program goes through Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI). They relieve me of the decision as to who builds what. I couldn’t have a better relationship with the churches. On Sunday, I’m taking a 104 year old woman to Mt. Neboh.”

Harlem has changed exponentially since Rangel’s first term in Congress. He is quick to give Percy Sutton credit for fostering the renaissance of 125th Street by taking a gamble on the Apollo Theatre. “125th Street was dead before the Apollo came back,” he said. Now 125th Street is leading the way for the revival of Harlem. Of no little consequence is the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ), which resulted from the legislation creating the five billion dollar Federal Empowerment Zone demonstration project to revitalize urban neighborhoods throughout America. Rangel is the principal author of that legislation. Also pertinent to Harlem is that ninety percent of the affordable housing built in the U.S. in the last ten years, was financed through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit legislation that Congressman Rangel authored.

“Now our biggest problem is seeing that 125th Street does not become a Disneyland, that we maintain our character; that we are very selective with our restaurants and the hotels that are going up; and make certain we are doing the best we can in controlling the rents because we have a burst in luxury apartments and we don’t have a burst in increased income for the people living in the area. These are my biggest problems,” he continued.

Kudos were given to the 125th Street Business Improvement District.Cover “They hire people to keep the streets clean and provide decorations during the holidays and they make certain that we don’t have any businesses that are out of line with the decorum that we’re trying to maintain. We want to do the same thing on 116th Street, 110th -- all the business corridors in Harlem.”

Then there is former President Bill Clinton. He has offices on 125th Street thanks to Charlie Rangel. “ He was having some trouble with the premises he had chosen downtown,” Rangel recalls. “So I called him up and told him I had a space in Harlem for him. The next day he came to see the site. Clinton didn’t have much to do with the economic recovery of 125th Street but his being there has made a difference. Tourists gawk, wondering whether or not he’s upstairs and you never can tell when he’s going to pop up. Mr. Clinton goes to restaurants, openings, schools. He has done a fantastic job in adopting Harlem as his international home. So when the U.N. meets and the leaders want to meet him, they have to meet him right here on 125th Street and that makes us feel proud.”

At 76, still vibrant and active, Mr. Rangel was reflective about the possibility of becoming chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if the Democrats succeed in winning back the majority in the House of Representatives, and in turn pondering that if that didn’t happen, giving up his seat in Congress-- and giving up on the ability of the American people to be serious about changing America.

Despite his success, Charlie Rangel makes no bones about where he came from and how he got to where he is. He had his grandfather, his mother and all the people who helped along the way, in even the smallest way. He remembers legendary comedienne Moms Mabley in the lobby of the Theresa Hotel telling people, “Don’t bother that boy. Can’t you see he’s trying to study?”

“I got a break,” he said. “With all the breaks I got as a high school dropout, I never wanted to disappoint Lenox Avenue.” And he never has.