By Brian E. Muhammad

The other day on the internet, while sifting through various news stories from around the country and the world I came across a piece about Jacques Leandre, a Lawyer and Queens NY politician running for City Council.

The council race for district 31 in south-eastern Queens was a heated contest for the seat of a long time and battle scarred Councilman, James Sanders.

Mr. Leandre, a Haitian-American has a long and prestigious track record of community service in the district.  However the community leader lost endorsements from the Queens Democratic Machine, reportedly over his affiliation with the Nation of Islam (NOI).

According to a “Times-Ledger” Newspaper article, the Muslim organization was described as a “controversial religious group”, which as a member, I have grown used to the misrepresentation by the media and critics alike. But that’s a collective hit that all members of the NOI take every now and then.

But what I wasn’t expecting-though I probably should’ve-was the article citing me and my talk show, “The Sankofa Experience” as part of Mr. Leandre’s  “radical ties” because the politician appeared on my show as a guest. The topic of the December 2008 show was “Gentrification: The Theft of a Community”, about the devastating effect of gentrification on Far Rockaway residents, a neighborhood in Mr. Leandre’s district.  

According to the Times-Ledger, Leandre verified he has worked with the NOI in the past and defended them in State Supreme Court in a lawsuit filed against the group by the NY Police Department in the 1990s.

The high profile case was a result of the Gestapo like police attack on our NY Mosque in early 1994. The legal team Leandre served on won the case, defending the NOI in a racially charged climate fueled by a true radical racist by the name of Rudolph Giuliani-the newly elected Mayor at the time.

Mr. Leandre explained that for him there is no contradiction in coalition building to tackle the needs of the community.

 “I’ve done various work with community organizations, both those that are controversial and not controversial,” Mr. Leandre said, adding “I support any organization that helps our family.”

Pundits close to south-east Queens politics observe that fear often underlies decision making practices of the Democratic machine in the mostly middle class constituency who tend to be very conservative in thinking.

However voices of the party such as veteran politician Elmer Blackburne denies that the rejection had anything to do with the NOI, saying that the party was impressed with Leandre’s work and felt that he was new to politics.

Mr. Leandre said he would not allow the decision to sway him from serving, because it’s the community’s opinion that really counts.

“My campaign is not relying on endorsements of particular parties, it is relying on the endorsements of the people,” he said.

 Jacques M. Leandre currently practices law in the private sector as a supervising attorney where he manages 23 attorneys and 8 paralegals.

 Mr. Leandre whose mantra is “Unity, Integrity, and Accountability”, have been a District 31 resident for more than 30 years and along with his wife Christela, are raising two young children.