A Brooklyn parent representative who chairs the New York City Panel for Education Policy's Contracts Committee is facing three separate ethics complaints after he used official speaking time at a public education meeting to promote a bookstore and bar he's opening with his wife, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Faraji Hannah-Jones spoke about North Star Books and Bar during remarks at the High School for Fashion Industries in Chelsea on July 29, according to reporting from the New York Post.
Hannah-Jones announced that he and Nikole Hannah-Jones are building North Star Books and Bar in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, per the New York Post. He described the venture as a huge bookstore that will sell books that are banned and Black-owned spirits, the outlet reported, and noted the bar's liquor license is still pending. Faraji Hannah-Jones was elected in June 2026 by Community Education Council presidents to represent Brooklyn on the Panel for Educational Policy for the 2026–2027 term, and he joined the board in 2025, chairing its Contracts Committee — the body that approves school contracts and sets policy for New York City schools.
Complaints Allege a Chapter 68 Violation
Education activist Phil Wong filed letters seeking three separate probes — to the Conflicts of Interest Board, the Office of Special Investigations, and the Special Commissioner of Investigation — arguing Hannah-Jones violated Chapter 68 of the city charter. Wong, who serves as president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York and ran for City Council in Queens in 2025, denounced what he called Hannah-Jones's self-promotion, saying government meetings are for conducting the public's business, not promoting your own business, per the Post's report.
Chapter 68 prohibits public servants from using their positions for personal profit. Under that provision, the Conflicts of Interest Board has authority to fine public servants up to $25,000 per violation and require disgorgement of financial benefits when officials misuse their position or official time for personal financial gain, according to the NYC Managerial Employees Association. The Conflicts of Interest Board declined to comment on the matter, the Post reported, and neither Faraji nor Nikole Hannah-Jones responded to the outlet's requests for comment.
DOE Refers the Matter, Investigators Stay Quiet
The New York City Department of Education referred the matter for investigation and said publicly that officials may not use their positions to promote personal or financial interests, per the Post's account. The Special Commissioner of Investigation for the NYC School District, an independent watchdog with subpoena power to probe ethics breaches and conflicts of interest among Department of Education officials, did not respond to the Post's request for comment. It remains unresolved whether the Conflicts of Interest Board or the Special Commissioner will formally open full investigations.
A Councilman Calls for Removal
City Council Member Robert Holden, who represents District 30 in Queens and has long criticized DOE administration and school governance policies, said Hannah-Jones crossed the line by promoting his own business at public meetings and called for him to be removed from the Panel for Education Policy. The panel expanded to a 24-member body under state governance reforms enacted in April 2024, with the mayor retaining 13 mayoral appointees while parent representatives and borough appointees hold the remaining seats, according to Chalkbeat. The board also handles decisions on school closures.
This isn't Hannah-Jones's first turn in the spotlight over board business. During a Hoodline report on a bus contract fight in November 2025, Hannah-Jones publicly challenged Department of Education leadership over a controversial yellow school bus contract extension, arguing the deal compromised vulnerable students' safety.
The Bookstore's Bed-Stuy Roots
North Star Books and Bar is planned for Macon Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, occupying the historic former Macon Hardware building that Nikole Hannah-Jones purchased in 2024 after 50 years of family ownership, according to BKReader. She co-founded the venture with Bed-Stuy entrepreneurs Rotimi and Ayo Akinnuoye, who run Bed-Vyne Wine & Spirits and Bed-Vyne Brew, and with Baldwin & Co. bookstore owner DJ Johnson. The business is named after the abolitionist newspaper founded by Frederick Douglass, and it's slated to open sometime in 2026.
Nikole Hannah-Jones created The 1619 Project for The New York Times Magazine in August 2019, reframing American history around the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans, and won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for the work. The project posits that America's starting date occurred a century before the Declaration of Independence, with the arrival of the first African slave. Various states have sought to ban The 1619 Project book from being taught in schools, according to the Post's reporting.
