Exclusive | Woke NY Times 1619 Project writers husband hit with ethics complaint for plugging family biz during public education meeting

An ethics complaint has been slapped against the husband of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the woke New York Times scribe behind the controversial “1619 Project” — for shamelessly plugging his new bookstore and bar at a recent public-education meeting he helped run.“Being that the July 29, 2026, [Panel for Educational Policy] hearing is an official proceeding of a City body, the members’ seats and speaking time exist to serve the public’s business, not to advertise the members’ private commercial ventures,” fumed the watchdog group NYC Common Sense in an Aug.6 letter to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, which oversees the conduct of public officials.Faraji Hannah Jones is a member of the PEP and serves as chairman of the policy-making board’s contracts committee.During its July 29 hearing at the High School for Fashion Industries in Chelsea, he used his speaking time to advertise that he and his wife Nikole are planning to open a bookstore in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, that will push “banned” books.“My wife and I are building an institution in Brooklyn, in Bed-Stuy, called North Star Books and Bar,” Faraji said.North Star Books and Bar is set to open sometime in 2026 on Macon Street and is named after the abolitionist newspaper founded by Frederick Douglass.Faraji, who joined the PEP in 2025, promised that North Star Books would be a “huge bookstore” and would sell “all the books that are banned,” while his fellow PEP members looked on.

Its bar, whose liquor license is pending, will sell “black-owned spirits,” according to its website.NYC Common Sense cried foul.“The City’s conflicts of interest law, Chapter 68 of the New York City Charter, was written with the precise interest of preventing this blending of public office and private gain,” acording to its letter to the COIB.“Charter Section 2604(b)(3) provides that ‘[n]o public servant shall use or attempt to use his or her position as a public servant to obtain any...