Kendrick Brett Meek (born September 6, 1966) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2003 to 2011. After serving in both houses of the Florida Legislature, Meek was elected to Congress in the 2002 election to succeed his mother Carrie Meek.
Meek was the Democratic nominee in the 2010 Senate election, coming in third behind Republican Marco Rubio and independent candidate Charlie Crist.
Early life, education and career
Kendrick, the son of retired Congresswoman Carrie Meek (née Pittman) and Harold H. Meek, was born on September 6, 1966, in Miami, Florida. He is the great grandson of The Reverend Horatius "H.H." Coleman, who was pastor of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan.
He graduated from Miami Springs High School in Miami, where he played football as a defensive lineman. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 1989 from Florida A&M University. Meek was a star football player in college and also founded the Young Democrats at Florida A&M, later serving as President of the organization. He was also initiated into the Omega Psi Phi fraternity through the Upsilon Psi chapter.
After graduating from college Meek was sworn in as a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol and was assigned to Miami. During his four-year tenure, Meek, through his political connections, became the first African American to reach the rank of captain. He later served on the security detail for Democratic Lieutenant Governor, Buddy MacKay and subsequently launched his political career.
Florida State House of Representatives
Meek served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1995 to 1998. While in the Florida House, Meek worked on various economic and social justice issues. This work culminated in building out a bipartisan coalition to provide compensation for Freddie Lee Pitts and Wilbert Lee, two African Americans who were falsely convicted of murder 35 years earlier. Nineteen different attempts to pass legislation in the state legislature were defeated by a traditional Southern Democratic faction of conservative legislators from the Florida Panhandle. In 1998, Meek reintroduced the bill in the Florida House and successfully allied with Republicans to pass it.
Florida State Senate
From 1998 to 2002, Kendrick Meek was a member of the Florida Senate.
One Florida sit-in
Meek, along with fellow member Rep. Tony Hill, staged a sit-in protest in Governor Jeb Bush's office in January, 2000. The sit-in lasted for 25 hours, with the central issue being a newly implemented "One Florida" plan to end official race/gender preferences in state government. Meek said he and Hill staged the sit-in after they tried but were unable to get "a meeting with the governor— two members of the Florida legislature. Then the governor came in and was barking at us as though we were children, saying that if we expect for him to rescind his executive order, then we might as well order some blankets and get comfortable, which we did." According to Tom Bearden, when Hill and Meek tried to meet with the Governor, "tempers flared". The two lawmakers and Bush ended the sit-in after Bush agreed to delay implementation of the plan.
In February 2000, Meek said lawsuits might be filed to challenge university regents' authority to use the One Florida Initiative. "I thank God for using you to bring us to this point." Meek and Hill issued a press release on June 23, 2003, applauding the Supreme Court for upholding the legality of affirmative action and criticizing Bush for his One Florida Initiative, calling for an end to the initiative in light of the Supreme Court's ruling, because the initiative has "only served to divide Florida along racial lines." Governor Bush pointed to the .3% increase in minority enrollment in Florida public-universities between 2002 and 2003 as evidence that the One Florida Initiative was working. Meek responded by accusing Bush of throwing out numbers to 'fake out' Floridians, telling Bush he had "better check those numbers two or three times. It's been a struggle for students of African-American descent. That's where the historical discrimination has been." Florida Atlantic University is the only school that had an increase in African-American freshmen, from 17.2% freshman in 2002 to 18.9% in 2003.