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Blackface Assemblyman: Cool If "I Played A Gay Person Next Year?"
"I am intrigued that anyone who understands Purim—or for that matter understands me—would have a problem with this. This is political correctness to the absurd. There is not a prejudiced bone in my body." But today he's scrambling to do damage control, with another blog post declaring, "Unintentional as they were, I recognize now that the connotations of my Purim costume were deeply offensive to many.
I am sincerely sorry that I have hurt anyone. I apologize for the pain that I have caused anyone by this incident, and by any remarks that I have made in connection with it."
But the backlash is still picking up steam, and it looks like this story isn't going to just disappear overnight. Yesterday the Black, Latino & Asian Caucus of the New York City Council sent a sternly-worded letter to Hikind informing the Assemblyman that "We find it deeply disturbing that, not only did you make the conscious decision to wear the offensive costume, but your comments following the media blowback suggest that you have no consideration for the history of blackface and the trivialization of the black experience in this country.”
And today a group of "elected officials, African American Clergy and the African American community" are holding a press conference on the steps of City Hall to "denounce the insensitive disregard and disrespect shown to our community by New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind." Check back later for a full report. In the meantime, here's video from Hikind's press conference yesterday:
"I am intrigued that anyone who understands Purim—or for that matter understands me—would have a problem with this. This is political correctness to the absurd. There is not a prejudiced bone in my body." But today he's scrambling to do damage control, with another blog post declaring, "Unintentional as they were, I recognize now that the connotations of my Purim costume were deeply offensive to many.
I am sincerely sorry that I have hurt anyone. I apologize for the pain that I have caused anyone by this incident, and by any remarks that I have made in connection with it."
But the backlash is still picking up steam, and it looks like this story isn't going to just disappear overnight. Yesterday the Black, Latino & Asian Caucus of the New York City Council sent a sternly-worded letter to Hikind informing the Assemblyman that "We find it deeply disturbing that, not only did you make the conscious decision to wear the offensive costume, but your comments following the media blowback suggest that you have no consideration for the history of blackface and the trivialization of the black experience in this country.”
And today a group of "elected officials, African American Clergy and the African American community" are holding a press conference on the steps of City Hall to "denounce the insensitive disregard and disrespect shown to our community by New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind." Check back later for a full report. In the meantime, here's video from Hikind's press conference yesterday:
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