NY-1: During Heated Meeting, Council Votes Against Carson Street Renaming...

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Plans to rename a Brooklyn street after the late Sonny Carson were scrapped Wednesday after a racially-charged fight in the City Council pitted Speaker Christine Quinn against prominent black council members. NY1’s Michael Scotto filed the following report.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn took a beating at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.

“I take this very personal, speaker,” said City Councilman Charles Barron. “And I think you have brought us to a place of divide that this City Council has never experienced in the history of this City Council.”

In the most racially-charged council meeting in recent years, some black council members personally attacked Quinn for taking Sonny Carson's name off a street renaming bill.

Barron and Brooklyn Councilman Al Vann wanted four blocks in Vann's district to bear the name of the late controversial activist and likened the fight to past struggles faced by African Americans.

“You've hit a nerve,” said Vann. “You harkened back to a time we have already overcome. You're infringing upon our human right.”

Quinn explained why she did not want to honor Carson, a man who was once linked to a homicide and known for making racially-divisive comments about whites, Jews, and Asians.

“This, for me, is a matter of principal,” said Quinn. “I personally do not believe Sonny Carson was an individual who was united.”

Several black council members, including Leroy Comrie and Letitia James, abstained from the vote. However, not one black council member voted against the amendment.

Fifty-one other renamings were approved, but the amendment to add Carson’s name failed 25-15.

Some were annoyed Comrie chose not to take a side. Charles Barron's chief of staff, Viola Plummer, who heckled Quinn during the meeting, said she wanted to end Comrie's career.

“What could I even assassinate him with – except his abstention?” said Plummer.

Although Quinn won on the council floor, her victory could hurt her with African-American voters if she decides to run for higher office.