By refusing to resign, Kevin de León gives anti-Blackness a pass. How did he do that? By having the gall to call the police on Black leaders. How did he do that? By calling Black legislators “white people.”
How did he do that? By threatening to withhold millions in federal funds. How did he do that? By saying Congress doesn’t give Blacks a vote. How did he do that? By calling Blacks a “tough-on-crime” group. How did he do that? By saying Blacks commit “more murders than whites” and “a greater percentage of violent crime.” How did he do that? By saying that there’s a “war on Black people” and that’s why the unemployment rate is so high. How did he do that? By calling the NAACP a racist organization. How did he do that? By comparing a young, Black Harvard student to a slave owner. How did he do that? By saying that Black children are brought up to believe they are second class citizens.
You can see a pattern here: You can see a pattern here. Black politicians do not resign, because their lives are threatened, because their careers are threatening. If they refused to resign, they would be called racist and a threat to public safety.
In July of this year, the Black Student Alliance and Media Lab in Brooklyn, along with leaders from more than 30 chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League, issued a public statement condemning the comments made by Senate Majority Leader De León. Their statement read:
Senator Kevin de León is a leader in the U.S. Senate. He is a champion for the Black community and for working-class Americans. Like many other Senators, Kevin has had difficulties with the FBI. For his involvement in the National Black Chamber of Commerce, he was targeted by the FBI. He has held a seat in the U.S. Senate for the last 35 years. In a public statement, Senator de León attempted to justify his inflammatory attack on a Black community leader by referring to an incident in his youth in which he was disciplined for calling a police officer by a racially disparaging term. Senator de León’s comments are outrageous. He is not worth the vote of a good
