Alvin Bragg, Son Of Harlem And Likely DA, Talks His Upbringing

HARLEM, NY — The man poised to become Manhattan's next top prosecutor is a son of Harlem.

Alvin Bragg has spent nearly all of his 47 years in the neighborhood, save for college, law school and one "wayward year" in Washington. A formal state and federal prosecutor, he launched his bid for district attorney in 2019.

After triumphing in June's Democratic primary, Bragg is all but certain to win November's general election to succeed Cy Vance as district attorney. Once in office in January, he will be the first person of color to hold the job — and will take over the investigation into the Trump Organization, among other high-profile cases.

Bragg leaned heavily on his Harlem upbringing during his campaign, often discussing the six times he was held up at gunpoint growing up: three times by strangers and three times by police officers in unconstitutional stops, he said.

They are among the formative experiences that shape the way he sees the law and his approach toward his new job, Bragg told Harlem Patch in a recent interview.

In the interview, which has been lightly edited for clarity, Bragg also discussed how the neighborhood has changed, the challenges it faces, and his favorite places to spend time. (Questions are in bold, with Bragg's answers below.)

Where in Harlem did you grow up, and where do you live now?

I started life in Esplanade Gardens Building 1, which I lived in for a few years. Then we moved to the 130s, Central Harlem, and I spent most of my life there — near Abyssinian Baptist Church, which is where I grew up in terms of my church home.

Then, I went off to college and law school and returned after that and lived in the 150s and Broadway, which is the most I’ve strayed from Central Harlem. I now live in what is called the "restaurant row" stretch on Frederick Douglass [Boulevard].

This is a big question, but what was it like growing up here?

I balanced this on the campaign because I ended up talking about the [problems] that arose. I ended up saying, I want to paint a fuller picture.

So I ended up talking about not criminal justice things [but] mentorship — Esplanade Gardens, there’s a very much kind of community village there. The block I grew up on, very much from the school of thought of, "Everyone is raising everyone’s children, it takes a village."

What I’ve talked about a lot on the campaign, because they formed my professional decisions, are being stopped at gunpoint three times by police. One time on 139th Street and Seventh [Avenue], another time on 131st or so and Eighth, and another time around 134th— that was a car stop, also on Eighth.

Those are the experiences that shaped me in terms of going to law school, and also having my three gunpoint experiences with people who weren’t police officers. Having had a knife on my throat, a homicide victim on my doorstep, certainly drove an interest in criminal law.

My first internship in this space was as a college student. I was a summer investigator at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. Which was great, working in Harlem, serving the community directly here.

How has the neighborhood changed since your childhood, and how has it remained the same?

In many ways, they are the same, particularly the criminal justice ones. I’m wary of all my children, who are now fast approaching the age I was when I was first stopped. My most sobering memory from the pandemic is my 11-year-old son saying he didn’t want to wear a mask, lest he be confused by the police for a robber. He’s 11, so talk about internalizing trauma.

We are statistically much safer now. That said, the neighborhood has experienced a number of gun incidents. I had a friend who was shot at — not the intended target — down the block from me just a couple days ago. Similar challenges that we need to address, I would hasten to add, with different tools.

Big pieces of my candidacy and my career are to address these public safety issues but not using the kind of militarized force that was used against me unconstitutionally. Let’s be smarter and wiser and fairer.

But some of the great stuff has stayed the same too. I went from being a Sunday school student to being a Sunday school teacher. My kids have played in some of the same places I played growing up.

Was it a conscious decision by yourself and your wife to raise your kids here?

I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I can’t even say it was any conscious decision. I don’t know where else it would be.

There was a fleeting moment that [my wife] raised the possibility of moving to Brooklyn. I said, I’d move to Pittsburgh first.

How did Harlem figure into your electoral strategy during the primary? Did you count on a strong base of support here?

Starting out the campaign, there’s not a lot of D.A. analogs, but [we looked] at C. Virginia Fields, the last Black candidate to win borough-wide. And looking at the history of the Borough [President] races. Gale Brewer, Scott Stringer, C. Virginia Fields, David Dinkins, Percy Sutton.

Sixty percent of the vote is coming from the Upper West Side and Harlem, so we kept the focus at home first and we had a lot of support from C. Virginia Fields, early support from [Abyssinian Rev. Dr. Calvin] Butts, Governor [David] Paterson, [Assemblymember] Al Taylor, [State Sen.] Robert Jackson.

We felt that we were building a borough-wide network from the bottom of the island to the top. I think that’s reflected in the vote tallies.

We often hear from readers about the increasing visibility of mental health crises and drug use on the streets. Some people trace that back to an "over-saturation" of methadone clinics in the neighborhood. Do you agree that that is one of the root causes of these problems? Are there other things that should be done to help people feel safer?

I’ve been hearing the same things as you. I think that Greater Harlem Coalition's doing a great job flagging the per capita [discrepancies.] I’m a big supporter of public health solutions but I also do know from having lived here, the over-concentration of lots of things that our communities have taken on — I know from hearing about it, I also know from walking.

125th Street and Malcolm X [Boulevard], 125th Street and Lexington [Avenue], these are corners we’ve got to address. We’ve got to address substance abuse disorder from a public health standpoint and really focus on that.

Some of the forfeiture funding the District Attorney has can help fund substance use disorder programs. Partnering with City Hall to invest in successful programs, being an advocate for a public health approach and not arresting people just because of substance use disorder — they’re all things that are within the scope of the D.A.’s role as I foresee it.

Gentrification may be the biggest topic of discussion in Harlem. Obviously, a lot of that has to do with housing policy that’s outside the scope of a prosecutor’s job, but do you see any part of that issue as something you could tackle as D.A.?

I do think there are some components that give rise to enforcement. In the [New York state] attorney general’s office, we brought some cases relating to tenant harassment, [people] that were being harassed out of their homes by landlords to raise the rents.

The legislature has addressed the issue we were confronting [through] rent stabilization laws, but there are other species of that that may require enforcement.

We’re also seeing deed theft, particularly older residents being preyed upon. We’ve seen predatory financing models that prey upon either individual owners or some of our churches, our charitable institutions. Some of it’s civil, but there’s some that may give rise to criminal investigations.

I do think community stability relates to public safety. Having people who have been here a long time, who are invested in the neighborhood. Look at some of our local small businesses that have stable, long-term employees. I can remember growing up, it was always like, look, if you get in trouble, you can go see Ms. Smith at the corner store, because she’s known you since she was five.

It’s not a direct line to public safety, but we do need to be thinking about it in an integrated way.

Between restaurants, parks and other public spaces, what are some of your favorite spots in Harlem?

Melba’s comes to mind. Ponty Bistro comes to mind. I’ve got a lot of restaurants I like, I could go on a long time. Londel’s comes to mind. Those are all places that I enjoy.

I’ve spent a lot of good time on the tennis courts behind Esplanade [Gardens], both as a child with my dad and as a parent with my children.

For years I coached Harlem little league. The energy at Jackie Robinson Park when you’ve got tee-ball that’s just starting, the older folks who are there season after season on the park bench, cheering on the five-year-olds.

I’ve got a cousin who’s been coming here since she was a kid doing Alvin Ailey and she’s going to be in a dance production starting this week at Marcus Garvey Park. I can remember going to Marcus Garvey Park with my dad for the annual bike race. So much of it. I could almost walk you through every corner.

Seafood Haven, where I used to go with my dad. It’s no longer where it was. But when I walk by that spot, it’s still there to me.