David Schwartzman -- At Large
I have been a resident of D.C. since 1976, on the Howard University Faculty since 1973 (environmental scientist, PhD, Brown University). I was a member of the Taxi drivers local Teamsters Union, Providence, R.I., long term member of the American Association of University Professors.
FAMILY
Two sons, Sam Junge and Peter Schwartzman; two granddaughters, Camellia and Juniper. Partner: Joanne Fleming
EDUCATION
BS, City College of NY; MS and PhD, Brown University
CURRENT OCCUPATION
Professor, Howard University
ELECTED OFFICES
DC Statehood Green National Delegate (2008); Local Station Board, WPFW (2010).
CIVIC ACTIVITIES
Nuclear freeze and Bottle Bill initiatives, Justice for Janitors and Local 25 campaigns, Coalition for Lead Control, Fair Taxes for DC, Coordinator, Tax & Budget and Legislative Agenda Coordinator, DC Statehood Green Party, Metro DC Science for the People, Steering Committee member. Fair Budget Coalition, Poverty Reduction Coalition. Take Back DC, DC Human Rights People's Movement, Steering Committee member
A brief history of my 50 years of activism
As a “red diaper” baby, my earliest political memory was going in a snowstorm to a Henry Wallace rally in Brooklyn (1948). I have been active in civil rights and peace movements since 1950s. I helped organize the R.I. Peace & Freedom Party, the forerunner of the R.I. Green Party, in late 1960s. I was sentenced to 6 months probation for leading an anti-war demonstration in Providence, R.I., in 1966. I was arrested and fined for demonstrations at South African Embassy (anti-apartheid) and Israeli Embassy (protest against Israeli repression of Palestinian rights). In the 1980s I was active in the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Initiative and follow up, since the 1990s in campaigns focused on human rights violations in DC, including cuts in DC Budget affecting children, poor, disabled and the need for a progressive DC tax structure. I testified on these issues at City Council since 1995.
My environmental research/activism has focused on lead pollution in urban areas, export of lead additives for gasoline to Third World, successful effort to ban leaded gasoline in U.S. in 1980s, thermodynamics and environmental policy, transnational politics. I was a presenter at Rio Follow up Conference, Hungary, 1994 and numerous international conferences since then.
I have been a Statehood Party member since 1976, DC Statehood Green Party member and activist since merger in 1998. I was Coordinator of Tax/Budget Working Group, Fair Taxes for DC, Working Board. I ran for Delegate to the House (Eleanor Holmes Norton’s seat) in Statehood Party primary in 1998, lost by less than 1 percent of the vote (my campaign slogan was “Tough Love for the Rich”, i.e., raise their taxes to maintain and expand the safety net).
