February 10, 2009
Charles Rangel, a 1960 graduate of the School of Law, and
Rev. Dr. Floyd Flake, senior pastor of the more than 20,000 member
Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York, delivered the keynote
address at the Black Law Student’s Association’s (BLSA) first
annual Black History Month Celebration dinner on February 9,
2009.
Race and Politics was the focus of the Black History Celebration
dinner, as the evening began with an opening prayer by law school’s
Chaplin, Rev. Timothy Lyons. The prayer was followed by Tanya
Blocker, the vice president of BLSA, leading the audience in
singing the Black National Anthem. Faculty, students, and
alumni filled into the solarium to listen to both of the
speakers. Introduced by Dean Andrew Simons, both Congressman
Rangel and Rev. Flake reflected on the significance of the campaign
and election of President Barack Obama.
Rev. Floyd Flake served eleven years in the U.S. Congress, and was
a member of the Banking and Finance and The Small Business
Committees. Rev. Flake also currently serves as the President
of Wilberforce University. Under Rev. Flake’s leadership,
Greater Allen A. M. E. has operated as a national paradigm of
church-centered, faith based, public/private community educational
and economic development. The church owns expansive
commercial and residential developments, a 750 student private
school founded by Flake and his wife, and various commercial and
social service enterprises.
Congressman Rangel is serving his 19th term as the Representative
from the 15t Congressional District, comprising East and Central
Harlem, the Upper West Side, and Washington Heights/Inwood.
He is the Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Chairman of
the Board of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and
Dean of the New York State Congressional Delegation. The
Congressman has spent his entire career in public service, first as
an Assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York,
and later in the New York State Assembly. He was elected to the
92nd Congress on November 3, 1970, and has been re-elected to each
succeeding congress.