The husband of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the woke New York Instances scribe behind the wildly controversial “1619 Venture,” shamelessly plugged his new bookstore and bar throughout a public schooling assembly — and is dealing with calls to step down and attainable ethics probes.
Panel for Training Coverage Contracts Committee Chair Faraji Hannah-Jones used his official talking time on the July 29 assembly on the Excessive College for Trend Industries in Chelsea to promote that he and his spouse Nikole are planning to open a bookstore in Bedford Stuyvesant that can push “banned” books.
“My spouse and I are constructing an establishment in Brooklyn, in Mattress Stuy, known as North Star Books and Bar,” Hannah-Jones stated.
North Star Books and Bar is about to open someday in 2026 on Macon Avenue and is known as after the abolitionist newspaper based by Frederick Douglass.
The PEP is a 24-member physique consisting of 13 mayoral appointees which units coverage for metropolis faculties, approves contracts and handles faculty closures.
Hannah-Jones, who joined the panel in 2025, promised that North Star Books could be a “enormous bookstore” and would promote “all of the books which can be banned” whereas his fellow PEP members seemed on. Its bar, whose liquor license is pending, will promote “black-owned spirits,” in response to its web site.
Metropolis Councilman Phil Wong (D-Queens ) denounced the self-promotion and stated Hannah-Jones violated Chapter 68 of the Metropolis Constitution, which prohibits public servants from utilizing their positions for private revenue.
“Authorities conferences are for conducting the general public’s enterprise, not selling your individual enterprise,” Wong advised The Publish.
Final week he fired off letters to the town’s Conflicts of Curiosity Board, Workplace of Particular Investigations and Particular Commissioner of Investigation to launch three separate probes.
“Utilizing official talking time and a public place to advertise one’s personal personal business enterprise seems to violate the prohibition in opposition to utilizing public workplace to acquire a direct or oblique personal benefit for oneself,” Wong wrote.
The DOE additionally confirmed to The Publish that the matter has been referred for investigation.
“New York Metropolis Public Colleges expects members of our governance our bodies to uphold the requirements and tasks of public service. Underneath the New York Metropolis Constitution, public officers could not use their positions to advertise private or monetary pursuits,” a DOE spokesperson stated.
Former Metropolis Councilman Bob Holden additionally slammed Hannah-Jones’ blatant self-promotion and known as for him to be faraway from PEP.
“You don’t hijack public conferences to advertise your individual enterprise and this PEP member crossed that line so blatantly he needs to be eliminated,” Holden stated.
Hannah-Jones, and his spouse Nikole are not any strangers to controversy.
Nikole has claimed that America was “based on racism” and authored the 1619 Venture, which posits that America’s beginning date occurred a century earlier than the signing of the Declaration of Independence with the arrival of the primary African slave.
Varied states have sought to ban the e book from being taught in faculties attributable to widespread historic inaccuracies.
She additionally slammed the Best Technology as racist, claiming that although they fought for freedom overseas, they oppressed black folks within the US.
The COIB declined to remark when reached by The Publish. Neither the SCI nor the Hannah-Joneses responded to The Publish’s request for remark.
