Rev. Al: We're Takin' Names
"We remember when the Bronx was burning down," Kenny the Megaphone Guy shouted as the crowd streamed down from Jerome Ave. to Webster. "Freddy Ferrer is the one who turned the Bronx around." The jaunt ended at Fordham Plaza, one small sign of that change: Ten years ago a dreary parking lot where the NYPD crime scene unit kept its station wagons full of forensic equipment, it's now a bland-looking but busy market where you can buy everything from pork fried rice to athletic socks. Or both!
When the crowd gathered around Ferrer and walking partner Rev. Al Sharpton at the end, the Rev vowed vengeance on those Democrats who flipped on Freddy. "Whatever the outcome, Freddy has made us proud," Al said. "Freddy has taken attendance in this town ... There's some Democrats who left who we want to stay gone!" But on several occasions in these last weeks of campaigning, the Voice has heard black New Yorkers saying it was Ferrer's Diallo remarks—which Sharpton did so much to hype—that had cost Freddy their vote, not what some Democratic assembly member or councilperson did.
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