Last night on a Brooklyn Cable Access Television (BCAT) program, attorney Terry Hinds formally announced his challenge to Assemblyman Nick Perry, for Brooklyn’s 58th assembly district. The date for this year’s state primary elections is still not known; but rumors abound that we will have an August election-date instead of the usual post-Labor Day September-primary. Jamaican-born Nick Perry has been the elected representative here since 1992, and has only faced three primary challenges during his long tenure. Despite this, Perry is said to be livid that someone even dares to contest the seat: offering voters their first primary-ballot option in the last 12 years.
Hinds used the weekly “community-politics-events” cable TV show -produced by the venerable Kingsborough College professor Sam Taitt- to inform the world about something which has been brewing for some time now. Readers of my blog-columns had been given the heads up that Perry’s timid 20-year leadership of this district was about to be challenged by a very qualified and competent young man (Hinds); with a vision of better representation for this district, borough, city, state and beyond.
The thirty-six year old Terry Hinds comes from a politically active family with Caribbean-American roots. Terry was born in Brooklyn. His parents were born in Barbados. His father -who was employed for decades by NYC’s Board of Education- started off as a teacher in the public school system, and later ended up a principal in the Flatbush area. One of Terry’s aunts is a high court judge. It is also said that one of his uncles once headed up a political club in East Flatbush. He has a younger brother who is also an attorney; thus we can see the solid and stable civic-minded family background, of a young man groomed for leadership-roles in this society and beyond.
Democrat Terry Hinds is married and the father of two. His wife is also an attorney. They were both early members of the “Brooklyn for Barack Obama” political organization which was launched in 2007. While Nick Perry -as an assemblyman- was aggressively backing Hilary Clinton for President during 2007 and 2008; Terry and his wife were hitting the streets drumming up support for Barack Obama’s historic presidential run. That was an epic preview of what is to come in this race: those holding on to past glories versus those with new ideas and the future on mind. Nick Perry is around sixty years old and has been involved in the politics of East Flatbush since the 1970s. There are many in these areas who believe it’s time for a change: time for some new blood and some fresh faces in Brooklyn’s political leadership. Hinds come to this race with solid grassroots support in the borough. He recently stepped down from a stint as chairman of Community Board #17. He ran for public office once before: back in 1996, when he came in second to then district leader Dr. Kendall Stewart (58AD). In that race he tallied more votes than current district leader Weyman Carey. In 2009 he momentarily considered a run for the city council.
Terry Hinds has been practicing law in this district for almost a decade now, and has done lots of pro-bono services for those in need.
He is a very exciting and dynamic candidate in an era of mediocrity, stagnation and corruption in local and national politics. Stay tuned-in folks.