Statement From Black Leaders Concerned About New York's Future

"Tuesday’s victory by Carl Paladino – an extreme, polarizing figure – should alarm all of us.No major party candidate in recent memory has represented a greater threat to New York’slongstanding commitment to tolerance and equality than Mr. Paladino.Mr. Paladino has effectively declared war on communities of color with a series of raciallyincendiary comments along the campaign trial. We got a taste of this early on when it wasdiscovered that Mr. Paladino had been sending racially offensive emails to associates. Amongthe emails were smears against President Obama and racist videos popular with whitesupremacists.He followed up this disturbing episode with even more despicable comments. For example,Paladino proposed shipping welfare recipients to prison work camps to get lessons in “personalhygiene", telling the New York Times only yesterday that they needed to be taught ''basic things,even that they should clean themselves daily and brush their teeth twice a day". That typeof hateful attack demeans low income New Yorkers, makes poverty a crime, and plays intoharmful racial stereotypes. Given his history, no one should be fooled by his recent attempt torecast the statement as a voluntary workforce development program.Our governor should be uniting our state and spurring economic empowerment statewide,not pitting one group against another. Yet Mr. Paladino has sent a clear message to minoritycommunities: we are not welcome in his businesses nor would we be welcome in hisadministration.The African American leaders who demanded that Mr. Paladino immediately issue an apologyfor his hateful remarks should be applauded. Characteristically, Mr. Paladino has not evendignified this request with a response. Mr. Paladino’s lack of integrity goes beyond his racially inflammatory comments. His entirecampaign is based on a lie. He rails against government spending and Albany corruption,except when the spending benefits him personally or the insider deals concern his real estateempire. Mr. Paladino has gotten rich thanks to Albany’s pay-to-play culture, giving a half million dollars to well-placed politicians and, in return, getting millions in government contracts,sweetheart deals, and tax incentives. Mr. Paladino represents the problem, not the solution to the serious, systemic challenges facingthis state. He is unfit to be our governor, and we plan to do everything in our power to keep himand his dangerous ideas out of the statehouse."

Hazel Dukes

NAACP New York State Conference Director;

Arva Rice

President and CEO, the New York Urban League;

Phil Banks