BK pol draws heat for social posts
Calls for District Leader Lori Maslow’s resignation continue after racist tweets
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Brooklyn politicos are calling
on Marine Park Democratic
District Leader Lori
Maslow to resign from elected
offi ce following a racist tweet
she posted against Chinese
people on Jan. 2, along with
a series of derogatory social
media posts she made toward
Palestinians since 2019 that
resurfaced over the weekend.
Maslow, who serves as the female
district leader in the southeastern
41st Assembly District,
sparked controversy when she
posted a tweet Saturday in reference
to Chinese tariffs, saying
she will boycott goods made in
that country and that she “can’t
even look at Chinese food.”
“We’re sickof sic buying
from China. They did this to us.
They lied to us. And yes, Trump
plays an outsized role as well.
I, for one, will never, ever buy
anything made in China again.
Join me. I can’t even look at
Chinese food,” Maslow said in
the now-deleted post.
The statement prompted
widespread condemnation, including
by Manhattan Assemblywoman
COURIER L 16 IFE, JANUARY 8-14, 2021
Yu-Line Niou, who
said that Maslow’s comments
echoed a larger trend of racism
against Asian-Americans,
which has only gotten worse
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Dec. 3, Maslow apologized
and announced she
would step down from the
Brooklyn Democratic Party’s
sixth vice chair position, adding
that she plans to undergo
“racial justice training.”
“I sincerely apologize for
the poor choice of words I used
in a social media post over the
weekend, which were hurtful
to members of the Chinese
American community,”
Maslow said in a statement.
“The diversity of our Democratic
Party is what makes it
so wonderful to be a part of.”
Brooklyn Democratic Party
boss and Flatbush Assemblywoman
Rodneyse Bichotte followed
up condemning Maslow’s
previous remarks, while expressing
support for her Chinese
American colleagues.
However, a slate of fellow district
leaders and some City Council
members said Maslow’s resignation
as sixth vice chair was
largely “ceremonial” and that
she should step down as the area’s
district leader, an unpaid elected
position that gives her power to
vote on the party’s 42-member executive
committee.
“Her resignation from a ceremonial
position as 6th Vice
Chair of the Brooklyn Democratic
County Committee is an
empty gesture and an insuffi -
cient action in response to her
bigoted statement,” the eight
progressive politicians wrote
in a Jan. 3 open letter. “Witnessing
Leader Maslow’s most
recent remarks and learning
now about her clear pattern of
bigoted posts, we call on District
Leader Lori Maslow to
resign immediately from her
position as State Committee
Member and District Leader.”
A rep for the party declined
to comment further.
Maslow, who in 2001 ran as
a Republican for Borough President
and in 2016 was elected
Democratic District Leader, is
now closely aligned with Democratic
Party leaders, having
put forth party-friendly proposals
at the recent 26-hour twopart
full meeting in December.
Her husband, Aaron Maslow,
is an election lawyer for the
party and serves at the helm
of several committees and task
forces for the borough Dems.
Her weekend tweets
spurred political activists to
unearth more offensive posts
by Maslow from the past two
years, including a number of
statements against Palestinians
and Palestinian-American
Michigan Congresswoman
Rashida Tlaib.
In a Nov. 12, 2019, tweet
Maslow cited the Bible implying
that Palestinians would
be wiped “off the face of the
earth,” in response to a tweet
by the group If Not Now, which
opposes Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territories.
Earlier that year, Maslow
tweeted at Rep. Tlaib: “Stop ‘dehumanizing
the Palestinian people?’
Easy answer there. When
they start acting like humans.
You are an anti Semite.” Maslow
has leveled several insults at the
midwestern pol, including calling
her a “POS” and saying she
“hopes she burns in hell.”
One Brooklyn Muslim and
Arab political organizer denounced
Maslow’s tweets as
Islamophobic and dehumanizing,
and joined calls for her to
quit elected offi ce.
“It’s reprehensible that a
Brooklyn Democratic leader
is otherizing people like that,”
said Murad Awawdeh, president
of the political group Yalla
Brooklyn. “She has said Islamophobic
and incredibly dehumanizing
statements.”
Maslow did not respond to a
request for comment.
Lori Maslow at a Zoom meeting for
the Brooklyn Dems. Screenshot
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