http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i8NdE3WFSMddX26eY9ERUcGcxRdw
By Cristian Salazar
12/27/09
NEW YORK Percy Sutton, the pioneering civil rights attorney who
represented Malcolm X before launching successful careers as a
political power broker and media mogul, has died. He was 89.
Marissa Shorenstein, a spokeswoman for Gov. David Paterson, confirmed
that Sutton died Saturday. She did not know the cause. His daughter,
Cheryl Sutton, declined to comment Saturday when reached by phone at
her New York City home.
The son of a slave, Percy Sutton became a fixture on 125th Street in
Harlem after moving to New York City following his service with the
famed Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. His Harlem law office, founded
in 1953, represented Malcolm X and the slain activist's family for decades.
The consummate politician, Sutton served in the New York State
Assembly before taking over as Manhattan borough president in 1966,
becoming the highest-ranking black elected official in the state.
Sutton also mounted unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate and
mayor of New York, and served as political mentor for the Rev. Jesse
Jackson's two presidential races.
Jackson recalled Sutton talking about electing a black president as
early as 1972. Sutton was influential in getting his 1984 campaign
going, he said.
"He never stopped building bridges and laying the groundwork,"
Jackson said Sunday. "We are very glad to be the beneficiaries of his work."
In a statement released Saturday night, Paterson called Sutton a
mentor and "one of New York's and this nation's most influential
African-American leaders."
"Percy was fiercely loyal, compassionate and a truly kind soul,"
Paterson continued. "He will be missed but his legacy lives on
through the next generations of African-Americans he inspired to
pursue and fulfil their own dreams and ambitions."
In 1971, with his brother Oliver, Sutton purchased WLIB-AM, making it
the first black-owned radio station in New York City. His Inner City
Broadcasting Corp. eventually picked up WBLS-FM, which reigned for
years as New York's top-rated radio station, before buying stations
in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and San Antonio between 1978-85.
The Texas purchase marked a homecoming for the suave and
sophisticated Sutton, born in San Antonio on Nov. 24, 1920, the
youngest of 15 children.
Among Sutton's other endeavours was his purchase and renovation of
the famed Apollo Theater when the Harlem landmark's demise appeared imminent.
Sutton's father, Samuel, was born into slavery just before the Civil
War. The elder Sutton became principal at a segregated San Antonio
high school, and he made education a family priority: All 12 of his
surviving children attended college.
When he was 13, Percy Sutton endured a traumatic experience that
drove him inexorably into the fight for racial equality. A police
officer approached Sutton as the teen handed out pamphlets for the
NAACP civil rights group. "N-, what are you doing out of your
neighbourhood?" he asked, using the derogatory racial epithet before
beating the youth.
When World War II arrived, Sutton's enlistment attempts were rebuffed
by Southern white recruiters. The young man went to New York, where
he was accepted and joined the Tuskegee Airmen, the first .
After the war, Sutton earned a law degree in New York while working
as a post office clerk and a subway conductor. He served again as an
Air Force intelligence officer during the Korean War before returning
to Harlem in 1953 and establishing his law office with brother Oliver
and a third partner, George Covington.
In addition to representing Malcolm X for a decade until his 1965
assassination, the Sutton firm handled the cases of more than 200
defendants arrested in the South during the 1963-64 civil rights
marches. Sutton was also elected to two terms as president of the New
York office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
After Malcolm X's assassination, Sutton worked as lawyer for his
widow, Betty Shabazz. He represented her grandson, 12-year-old
Malcolm Shabazz, when the youth was accused of setting a 1997 fire
that caused her death.
Sutton was elected to the state Legislature in 1965, and quickly
emerged as spokesman for its 13 black members. His charisma and
eloquence led to his selection as Manhattan borough president in
1966, completing the term of Constance Baker Motley, who was
appointed a federal judge.
Two years later, Sutton announced a run for the U.S. Senate seat held
by Jacob Javits, although he pulled out of the Democratic primary to
back Paul O'Dwyer.
Sutton remained in his Manhattan job through 1977, the same year he
launched a doomed campaign for mayor that ended with Edward I. Koch
defeating six competitors for the Democratic nomination.
Sutton was among the first voices raised against the Vietnam War,
surrendering his delegate's seat at the 1968 Democratic convention in
protest and supporting anti-war candidate George McGovern four years
later against incumbent President Richard Nixon.
In addition to his radio holdings, Sutton also headed a group that
owned The Amsterdam News, the second largest black weekly newspaper
in the country. The paper was later sold.
Sutton's devotion to Harlem and its people was rarely more evident
than when he spent $250,000 to purchase the shuttered Apollo Theater
in 1981. The Apollo turned 70 in 2004, a milestone that was
unthinkable until Sutton stepped in to save the landmark.
Sutton "retired" in 1991, but his work as an adviser, mentor and
confidante to politicians and businessmen never abated. He was among
a group of American businessmen selected during the Clinton
administration to attend meetings with the Group of Seven (G-7)
Nations in 1995-96.
"He was a great man," said Charles Warfield Jr., the president and
chief operating officer of ICBC Broadcast Holdings Inc., when reached
early Sunday. He declined to comment further out of respect for the
wishes of Sutton's family.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, said he last visited
Sutton in a nursing home Wednesday. He recalled meeting Sutton for
the first time at age 12. Four years later, Sutton paid for his trip
to a national black political convention because the teenage Sharpton
couldn't afford to go.
"He personified the black experience of the 20th century," Sharpton
said. "He started the century where blacks were victims. We ended as victors."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday that flags on city buildings
would be lowered in Sutton's honour.
"Few have opened more doors for more people than Percy Sutton did,"
Bloomberg said.
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