Most people are unaware of the recent process to select the Speaker of the New York City Council, the second most powerful position in city government. The 51 members of the council have one vote each to decide on the speaker; however, county leaders outside the council made the decision.

When the county leaders, through back door maneuvering, secured 50 percent of the vote, the other councilmembers unanimously voted for the person presented. That is with the exception of Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) who abstained because he felt “the process stinks” and is unfair.

The council speaker’s first order of business is to appoint chairs for the powerful council committees, including land use, finance, health, housing and education. It is now rumored that the Speaker is being pressured by county leaders to take away Barron’s chairmanship of the Higher Education Committee because of his abstention.

Barron states that he will not be punished for speaking his mind, and that there will be war within the city council if this happens. The community at large needs to watch this process very carefully and be aware of compromises or attempts to eliminate his chairing the committee. One suggested rumor is to merge the Education Committee with the Higher Education Committee.

Black, Latino, and Asian councilpersons represent 25 of the 51 council seats. They oversee a budget of $50 billion. It is disappointing that they could not decide upon a person of color to be the Speaker of the City Council. While we always talk about political empowerment, we cannot seem to come together and take power even when it is right there for the taking. This is unfortunate and now we are left scrambling for minor committee appointments after all the major ones have been dealt away.