Joke’s On You De Blasio — Owe New Yorkers Apology

94th-annual-inner-circle-dinner_5207124-1

Low fives? De Blasio scored an “F” Mayor Bill De Blasio’s recent attempt at humor at the Inner Circle Dinner was not just “cringe worthy“, it was deeply offensive to the city’s African-American community and frankly warrants an immediate and unequivocal apology.

Jokes such as that have no place in our public discourse and certainly should never be used by the Mayor of America’s largest and most diverse city.

I along with many other African-Americans found his joke hurtful.   De Blasio is Mayor to a city that happens to be 67 % minority and 27% African-American, essentially the largest diverse population in the world.  Currently, African-Americans are at the bottom of the economic strata and in this environment it is especially disrespectful to make jokes at the expense of the African-American voter. 

He owes his election to African-American voters as he received the vast majority of Black New Yorker’s votes. Under the De Blasio administration, African-American-owned businesses were awarded only 3 tenths of 1% of the $16 billion in annual government contracts under his immediate authority; he opposes charter schools which provide an immediate improvement in the educational opportunities for low-income minority students in New York City and now we can add making “black/ colored” jokes to this list of offenses against African-American New Yorkers.

Every opportunity this Mayor gets he shows his true colors and lack of respect for all New Yorkers. De Blasio’s racist comment adds insult to injury for Black New Yorkers who continue suffering under his leadership.

I am shocked and dismayed but not surprised by his recent racist comments as his policies have done nothing to improve the quality of life for any new Yorker other than his cronies and campaign supporters as recent investigations are beginning to show. 

To gauge how offensive his comments were one just needs to substitute any other racial, religious, gender, sexual orientation or nationality in the place of African-Americans for his “jive ” talking vernacular ending with his racial stereotypical joke on tardiness. 

Bill de Blasio’s comments as the mayor have embarrassed all New Yorkers and he owes New Yorkers and the American people an apology not an excuse.

Recognized as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the nation, R. Donahue Peebles is Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Peebles Corporation, one of the country’s few national privately held real estate investment and development companies with a multi-billion dollar portfolio of projects in New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Miami and Miami Beach. www.peeblescorp.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *