CD-35 candidate claims racism on campaign trail
By Nelson A. King
A candidate running to succeed
term-limited City Council
Member Laurie Cumbo in the
35th District in Brooklyn has
accused the campaign manager
of a rival candidate of
racism.
The 35th district comprises
the Brooklyn neighborhoods of
Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect
Heights, Crown Heights
and a portion of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Renee Collymore, a former
Democratic District Leader and
daughter the late Barbadian
immigrant, Cecil Collymore,
told Caribbean Life on Tuesday
that she “experienced racism,”
on the campaign trail, from the
campaign manager of Crystal
Hudson.
Collymore described Hudson’s
campaign manager
as a “young white woman,”
whose name she only knows
as “Kate.”
When contacted, Hudson,
the daughter and granddaughter
of Jamaican immigrants,
declined to give her campaign
manager’s full name.
“As I was speaking with a
few members of the Carpenters
Union, expressing to them that
I have always supported our
labor unions and have stood by
labor for years, a white woman
invited herself into my conversation
Caribbean L 22 ife, JUNE 18-24, 2021
and said, ‘Renee, I
am Crystal Hudson’s campaign
manager’” Collymore said.
“I asked her to give me a
second while I finish with the
union members,” Collymore
added. “She responded, ‘No,
you have said enough. Now,
move on.’”
Stating that she was
“stunned” by the alleged
remarks, Collymore said she
asked “Kate” to repeat her
comments.
“And she confirmed her
statement: ‘I said that you have
said enough! Move along now!’”
Collymore said.
“My response was, ‘Don’t
you ever speak to me like that
again. I live here. I am born
and raised here…I was elected
here, and I have served this
community with dignity for
years. How dare you disrespect
me, as a Black woman, who
is a candidate, on the ballot,
and people are voting for me
today’” Collymore added. “This
is why residents don’t like gentrifiers
moving into our neighborhoods
changing things and
telling us what to do. You’re
racist and don’t ever speak
to another Black woman this
way.”
“She gave me a smug expression,
then I walked away,” Collymore
continued.
She said her campaign
reached out to Hudson’s to discuss
the matter, “and Hudson
said that she’s having her dinner.”
When Collymore’s campaign
team called back, Collymore
said “an operative for Hudson
responded that they will not
engage in this conversation.”
Hudson, however, dismissed,
in a Caribbean Life interview,
Collymore’s allegation as “a
preposterous lie.”
“My staff and I are running
a campaign rooted in the principles
of equity and justice,”
she said. “As a third-generation
Brooklynite and the daughter
and granddaughter of Jamaican
immigrants, I know all
too well how displacement has
destroyed Black and Brown
communities, and look forward
to fighting for truly affordable
housing for residents of the
35th District when I’m elected
to the City Council.”
Last month, Congressman
Hakeem Jeffries, who represents
the 8th Congressional
District, encompassing parts of
Brooklyn and Queens, endorsed
Hudson.
Jeffries is a member of the
House of Representatives’ Judiciary
Committee and House
Budget Committee, and serves
as chairman of the House
Democratic Caucus, making
him the fifth highest-ranking
Democrat in the House of Representatives.
“Crystal Hudson is the right
leader, at the right time, with
the right experience to move
our Central Brooklyn community
forward,” said Rep. Jeffries.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic
hit, Crystal was there. When
we came together to demand
transformational police reform,
Crystal was there.
Renee Collymore. Sean James
Crystal Hudson. Crystal
Hudson’s campaign
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