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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JULY 19, 2020
‘Dog-whistle politics’
36 Council candidates blast pol’s ‘racist’ calls to cancel West Indian Day Parade
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BY JESSICA PARKS
A cadre of 36 City Council
candidates are calling on
Councilman Joe Borelli to
apologize after the Staten Island
legislator fi red off a controversial
letter demanding
an end to Brooklyn’s popular
West Indian Day Parade
— which the would-be pols
deemed an unwarranted
“racist” attack on a majority
Black celebration.
“We are deeply disgusted
by your racist call to end our
West Indian Day Parade. Every
single parade, no matter
which part of our wonderful
diversity as Americans
it celebrates, requires additional
police resources and
disrupts local communities,”
read a July 10 letter.
“You need to apologize and
consider whether you are
fi t to remain in offi ce if you
cannot understand and address
your own bias for the
greater good of our City and
its residents.”
Borelli had written a letter
to NYPD Commissioner
Dermot Shea on July 7 characterizing
the event as “violent”
and arguing that the
department could no longer
afford the “beefed up and
visible police presence” the
parade requires after recent
cuts to the police budget.
“Each year there’s several
shootings and homicides
surrounding the
West Indian Day Parade &
J’ouvert. Its a danger for
cops, revelers & the public,”
wrote the Republican councilman
in a tweet accompanying
his letter. “Since ‘16
events were allowed to proceed
because of a strategy
of beefed up & visible police
presence. Now the parade
must not go on.”
The Caribbean festival
brings millions of visitors to
Brooklyn’s Crown Heights
neighborhood each year
— traditionally kicking
off with an early morning
J’ouvert Parade, followed by
the main West Indian Day
Parade on Eastern Parkway.
In an open letter organized
by District 40 candidate
Josue Pierre, the City
Council hopefuls slammed
Borelli for singling out the
parade celebrating the city’s
Caribbean population —
while simultaneously not requesting
the cancellation of
the city’s many other large
cultural events.
“Every single parade,
no matter which part of
our wonderful diversity as
Americans it celebrates,
requires additional police
resources and disrupts local
communities,” the letter
read. “Yet you single out
only one — a parade celebrating
the rich traditions
and culture of New York’s
extensive West Indian community
— which is mainly
Black — to target for elimination,
fabricating a preposterous
and bigoted argument
that brings shame to
the offi ce you hold and our
City.”
For his part, Borelli argued
that he singled out the
parade because it was simply
the fi rst major event following
the implementation
of the new budget, which
caps police overtime expenses
for offi cers.
Pierre, though, branded
Borelli’s actions as a “dogwhistle”
in retaliation towards
the Black community
for mobilizing to demand reform
from the NYPD.
“As a Black Caribbean
Haitian-American, I know
dog-whistle politics when I
hear it. Mr. Borelli is a defender
of a corrupt status
quo in which Black and
Brown people are killed by
police without consequence,
and having lost the battle
to protect violent cops in
the Council, is now seeking
to punish communities
who demanded substantive
change and to be Protected
and Served, without being
brutalized, in exchange for
the taxes they pay,” said
Pierre. “That’s shameful,
and he needs to apologize.”
Borelli’s letter also
sparked outrage from members
of the city’s West Indian
community, who value the
parade as a time to express
pride in their culture without
fear.
“It really is a great way
to have some unity and to be
able to be in a safe space to
celebrate our culture,” said
Arlene Pitterson, a lifelong
resident of Flatbush. “He
is attacking something he
doesn’t know and he is showing
that he has no desire to
know.”
The parade-goers said
the festival gives them an opportunity
for them to share
their culture with friends
and to connect with other
members of the city’s Caribbean
community but instead
the event is shrouded
by negativity because of
the actions of a few participants.
“It’s a family reunion,
a way to celebrate culture,
a way for people to learn
about the culture,” Pitterson
said. “It is very interesting
that the attacks towards
the parade go towards some
of the violence that does take
place… but that is a small
fraction of the overall celebration
of the parade.”
The founder of CaribBeing,
a Brooklyn-based Caribbean
lifestyle brand, and
Little Caribbean, a Caribbean
business and culturalboosting
platform, opened a
forum on the councilman’s
call on Instagram — where
hundreds of comments
poured in, mostly expressing
anger towards the councilman’s
seemingly racist
demand.
“I said ‘let me go ask the
community,’ we put it up
on social and comments
came in all throughout the
night,” said Shelley Worrell.
“I think overall people are
sharing the same sentiment
as me. It is outrageous, egregious,
and how can Staten
Island have an infl uence on
something that is taking
place in Brooklyn.’”
Many in the community
expressed anger towards
the parade being smeared
as a dangerous event, when
many other large gatherings
in the city have seen similar
violence.
“There are so many parades
that are marred with
violence,” Worrell said.
“When there are large gatherings
of people, things are
going to happen, unfortunately…
and for the councilman
to single out the largest
Black parade for that is not
cool, and it seems racist to
tell you the truth.”
But Borelli’s efforts,
and the entire uproar in response,
turned out to be for
naught — as Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced on July
9 a cancellation of all largescale
events through Sept.
30, effectively halting the Labor
Day celebration because
of coronavirus concerns.
Parade organizers have
yet to announce adjusted
plans for this year’s event,
but a spokesman for the West
Indian American Day Carnival
Association told Brooklyn
Paper an announcement
for a virtual event will be released
shortly.
“The plans, thus far, for
virtual, cultural and celebratory
activities will be announced,”
said Hank Sheinkopf
of Manhattan-based
Sheinkopf Communications.
“And we will also be
requesting a meeting with
the mayor to discuss how to
best celebrate the many cultures
of the Caribbean community.”
The West Indian Day Parade attracts millions of visitors each year. Photo by Paul Martinka