Buffalo Board Of Education Demands Carl Paladino's Resignation After His Racist Anti-Obama Rant
The Buffalo Board of Education is demanding that your racist uncle board member, real estate bigwig, and Trump adviser Carl Paladino resign for a lengthy, unhinged anti-Obama screed in a local paper.
On Thursday, board members voted 6-2 to give Paladino 24 hours to resign his seat after his racist remarks about President Obama and the First Lady were published in a local paper. The resolution, which according to the Times was read aloud by board members to a room that "exploded in applause," states that the board will ask the state education commissioner to remove Paladino if he refuses to resign.
"Words matter, Mr. Paladino," Barbara Seals Nevergold, the board's president, said yesterday. "The impact on children of color, especially African-American children is incalculable.....They would like me to tell you, 'You're fired.'"
On December 23rd, a local alt weekly called Artvoice published a questionnaire that had been sent to prominent local figures, including Paladino, asking what they'd like to see happen in the new year and what they'd like to see go away. Paladino's answers weren't just political—they were also incredibly racist and sexist towards the current President and First Lady. He wrote:
1. Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her. 2. Michelle Obama. I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.
Some board members believed Paladino's statement reflected poorly on the Buffalo school board. Member Paulette Woods, pointed out his comments violated the public school code of conduct and New York State's anti-bullying law, "If any of our Buffalo Public School children said any one of these offensive remarks ... the student would be suspended. We should also be held accountable for our words and our actions."
The two members who voted against Paladino's resignation suggested that he should have been required to deliver a formal apology to the board and all students in the district instead. Patti Pierce emphasized forgiveness at the meeting, adding that Buffalo residents should "take a page out of the horrific massacre that happened in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine innocent people in a house of worship were slain by a hateful, hate-filled man." (One audience member reportedly left, shouting that it was offensive to compare Paladino's racist comments to the murdered members of the Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Church, all of whom were black.)
Earlier this week, Paladino had issued a (non)apology, also through Artvoice. "I never intended to hurt the minority community who I spent years trying to help out of the cycle of poverty in our inner cities," he wrote. Also, he was... hacked? Sort of?
"I publicly took responsibility for what I said and confirmed those were my answers, but believe it or not, I did not mean to send those answers to Artvoice," he wrote.
And then:
Not that it makes any difference because what I wrote was inappropriate under any circumstance. I filled out the survey to send to a couple friends and forwarded it to them not realizing that I didn’t hit “forward” I hit “reply.” All men make mistakes. What is horrible is explaining to my 17 year old daughter how her hero could be so stupid.
Surprisingly, Paladino's humbling, sincere apology wasn't enough for the board—which, by the way, he referred to as "those timid souls who sit unbloodied in the gallery always prepared to criticize."
In a statement on Thursday, Paladino referred to the board's resolution as retaliatory, because he's been looking into teachers' contract and alleged corruption issues, "The Board of Education's action today is certainly not an illustration of a profile in courage or leadership."
We've asked the Trump campaign for comment. Buffalo Board Of Education Demands Carl Paladino's Resignation After His Racist Anti-Obama Rant: Gothamist:
