BY ROSE ADAMS
Southern Brooklyn Assemblyman
William Colton shared
a post on his public Facebook
page calling Black Lives Matter
a “hate group” and equating
it to the Klu Klux Klan —
which, he said, started out as a
group of “well intentioned people”
before becoming the notoriously
violent white supremacist
institution that it is today.
“I support my Black friends
but not BLM. I support my
white friends but not the KKK.
I don’t support hate groups,”
the Aug. 9 post reads.
When asked about the post,
Colton — who has represented
Bensonhurst, Bath Beach,
and Gravesend in the state’s
lower chamber for 23 years
— claimed that he shared the
message simply to “generate
discussion,” and said “racism
is never okay.”
“I did share them because
I wanted to generate this discussion,”
COURIER L 4 IFE, AUGUST 21-27, 2020
Colton told Brooklyn
Paper on Aug. 14. “I think
that Black Lives Matter is certainly
not a hate group or a
terrorist group.”
Colton said that while he
supports Black Lives Matter’s
core message of racial equality,
he believes there are actors
who aim to corrupt the
movement and spread “hate”
and violence against police
and property.
“Those people should not
be representative of Black
Lives Matter, and I don’t think
they are. But when Black
Lives Matter organizes a protest,
they have to make sure
that those people don’t blend
themselves into Black Lives
Matter.”
Colton warned that “bad
actors” could take over the
social justice movement, presenting
the risk that it could
become a hateful organization
like the Klu Klux Klan —
which Colton said he believes
was founded on idealistic,
non-racist ideals.
“I think initially the KKK,
when it was formed, they were
well intentioned people who
felt they were hurt, discriminated
against … but then they
chose to band together to form
a group that preaches hate,”
said Colton about the white supremacist
hate group founded
by Confederate army offi cers
in 1865.
Some commenters supported
Colton’s shared Facebook
post, but many decried it
as “racist” and “pathetic.”
“You have largely ignored
the messages portrayed during
the BLM protests, and
have done nothing but speak
out against BLM without addressing
anything towards
systemic racism in policing.
Now you are comparing BLM
to the KKK? Horrible!” wrote
Ramon Guadalupe, a Coney Island
Assemblyman William Colton shared a Facebook post equating Black
Lives Matter to the Klu Klux Klan on Aug. 9. File photo by Elizabeth Graham
native. “You need to apologize
to the black community.
Your outdated rhetoric is the
reason people protest.”
The president of Black
Lives Matter Brooklyn called
Colton a “privileged bigot”
and said the post justifi es his
removal from offi ce.
“He is part of a platform that
seems to want Black people to
not gain equity and empowerment,”
said Anthony Beckford,
the president of Black Lives
Matter Brooklyn, and a council
candidate in Flatbush. “I
condemn William Colton’s dog
whistle tactics and bigotry and
call for his immediate removal
from offi ce.”
STEPPED IN IT!
Pol defends origins of KKK after comparing
the group to Black Lives Matter
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