William Colton | |
---|---|
Member of the New York State Assembly from the 47th district | |
Assumed office January 3, 1997 | |
Preceded by | Frank J. Barbaro |
Personal details | |
Born | March 6,1946 |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Mary |
Alma mater | St. John's University,B.A. Brooklyn College,M.S. St. John's University School of Law,J.D. |
Signature | |
Website | Official website |
William Colton (born March 6,1946) is an American politician who represents District 47 in the New York State Assembly,which comprises Bath Beach,Bensonhurst,Gravesend,Dyker Heights and Midwood. [1]
First elected to the Assembly in 1996,Colton currently serves as Majority Whip. He sits on the Correction,Environmental Conservation,Governmental Employees,Labor,Rules,and Ways and Means committees and is a member of the Asian Pacific American Task Force. [2] He has previously served as chair and Vice Chair of the Majority Conference and as Chair of the Legislative Commission on Solid Waste Management.
According to his self-published biography,Colton is a lifelong resident of the district. Prior to entering the Assembly,Colton worked as a teacher within the New York City public school system,serving as a UFT Chapter Chairperson for six of his eleven years in that occupation,and as a licensed attorney since 1979. Colton is the co-founder and organizer of the Bensonhurst Tenants Council,founder of the Bensonhurst Straphangers Committee,and served as an attorney in the lawsuit that successfully prevented the re-opening of the Southwest Brooklyn Incinerator.
He holds a B.A. in degree in Urban Education from St. John's University,an M.S. in Urban Education from Brooklyn College and a J.D. from St. John's School of Law. [3]
In the 2019-2020 and the 2021-2022 legislative terms,Colton was the primary sponsor of legislation to make the National Day of the People's Republic of China a public holiday in New York State. [4] In the 2021–2022 term,one bill that Colton was the lead sponsor of was enacted,A03964,which increased fines for leaving the scene of an accident without reporting it. [5]
Colton received criticism for a Facebook post he posted on August 9,2020,calling Black Lives Matter a hate group,comparing it to the Ku Klux Klan. Colton later clarified that he did not think Black Lives Matter was a hate group,but that there were some bad actors within the movement who seek to spread hate,which he said was similar to how the Ku Klux Klan was started by "well intentioned" people until they later turned towards hate. [6] The Black,Puerto Rican,Hispanic,and Asian Legislative Caucus of New York released a statement saying they were "shocked and offended" by Colton's post. [7]
Colton has won 14 terms since 1996,and has never been primaried. His closest election occurred in 2022,when he beat Republican Dmitriy Kugel with 54.73% to Kugel's 45.15%.[ citation needed ]
The Ku Klux Klan,commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan,is the name of an American white supremacist,far-right hate group. Various historians have characterized the Klan as America's first terrorist group. There have been three distinct iterations with various targets relative to time and place,including African Americans,Jews,and Catholics.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery,Alabama,it is known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups,for its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations,and for promoting tolerance education programs. The SPLC was founded by Morris Dees,Joseph J. Levin Jr.,and Julian Bond in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery.
White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It was based in Warsaw,Indiana,and it was also incorporated as a business. In 1993,the group expanded into Canada.
John Tyler Morgan was an American politician who was a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and later was elected for six terms as the U.S. Senator (1877–1907) from the state of Alabama. A prominent slaveholder before the Civil War,he became the second Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama during the Reconstruction era. Morgan and fellow Klan member Edmund W. Pettus became the ringleaders of white supremacy in Alabama and did more than anyone else in the state to overthrow Reconstruction efforts in the wake of the Civil War. When President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched U.S. Attorney General Amos Akerman to prosecute the Klan under the Enforcement Acts,Morgan was arrested and jailed.
This is a partial list of notable historical figures in U.S. national politics who were members of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office. Membership of the Klan is secret. Political opponents sometimes allege that a person was a member of the Klan,or was supported at the polls by Klan members.
Thomas Robb is an American white supremacist,Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard and Christian Identity pastor. He is the National Director of the Knights Party,also known as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,taking control of the organization since the year 1989.
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Maritza Davila is an American politician from the state of New York. A member of the Democratic Party,she represents the 53rd district in the New York State Assembly.
The Canadian branch of the Ku Klux Klan was an expansion of the second Ku Klux Klan established in the United States in 1915. It operated as a fraternity,with chapters established in parts of Canada throughout the 1920s and early 1930s. The first registered provincial chapter was registered in Toronto in 1925 by two Americans and a Canadian. The organization was most successful in Saskatchewan,where it briefly influenced political activity and where its membership included a member of Parliament,Walter Davy Cowan.
The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a group styled after the original Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Formed around 2012,it aims to "restore America to a White,Christian nation founded on God's word".
The Macedonia Baptist Church is a centuries-old historically black church located in rural Clarendon County,South Carolina. It was destroyed by arsonists following direction from the local Ku Klux Klan chapter known as the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and was later rebuilt. Four Klansmen were convicted for the crime,and a subsequent civil suit effectively closed the Klan chapter's operation in the county. The successful civil suit was called a "wake-up call" indicating that racial violence would not be tolerated.
The Nationalist Front was a loose coalition of radical right and white supremacist organizations. The coalition was formed in 2016 by leaders of the neo-Nazi groups National Socialist Movement (NSM) and Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP). Its aim was to unite white supremacist and white nationalist groups under a common umbrella. Originally the group was named the Aryan Nationalist Alliance and was composed of neo-Nazi,Ku Klux Klan and White power skinhead organizations.
The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. They were elected to office in 1868,during the Reconstruction era. They were among the first African-American state legislators in the United States. Twenty-four of the members were ministers. Upon taking office,white Democrats,then a minority in the Assembly,conspired with enough white Republicans to expel the African-American legislators from the Assembly in September 1868. The next year,the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that African Americans had the right to hold office in Georgia. The expelled legislators were reinstated and took office in January 1870.
Stefani Zinerman is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party,she currently represents district 56,which includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights in Brooklyn,New York,in the New York State Assembly.
"Holding a Black Lives Matter Sign in America's Most Racist Town" is a YouTube video by American filmmaker Rob Bliss,published on July 27,2020. The video consists of Bliss holding a sign reading "Black Lives Matter" in Harrison,Arkansas,a town that has been dubbed "America's Most Racist Town" due to its connections to white pride riots and the headquarters of the white supremacist terrorist hate group the Ku Klux Klan. During the video,multiple white passersby drive by and shout racist obscenities.
New York's 47th State Assembly district is one of the 150 districts in the New York State Assembly. It has been represented by Democrat William Colton since 1997.