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Outraged Man Disrupts Mass At Church That Hired "Racist" Principal


By

Christopher Robbins

Published Aug 1, 2011

Modified Aug 1, 2011


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By

Christopher Robbins

Published Aug 1, 2011

Modified Aug 1, 2011


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It didn't take long for someone's disgust to boil over that a Catholic school in the Bronx would hire a right-wing demagogue with ties to a white supremacist movement. At 10 a.m. mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 54-year-old Juan Varela addressed the congregation and condemned the church's hiring of Frank Borzellieri as their school's principal. Varela shouted "This church hired a racist. This church does not like Hispanics and blacks," the Daily News reports. Though Varela left, cops later arrested him for "criminal possession of a weapon" for a knife he had on him, and disorderly conduct.

"I wanted them to feel my sense of outrage that he was brought into the community to teach," said Varela, who lives in Queens but is Catholic. Borzellieri has been principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School for nearly two years, but was hired "quietly," and confronted with his writings, the priest who hired him said, "A lot of his ideas would actually benefit minorities."

Here is some of Borzellieri's work, taken from "Don't Take It Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies."

Blacks commit most of the violent crime in America today. This has always been the case. They are ten times as likely to commit a crime of violence as whites…So what these numbers actually reveal in addition to the obvious—that blacks are inveterately more violent than whites—is that there is actually more black on white crime than black on black crime.

We didn't see any of those "numbers" he was referring to, surely they're well cited in the bibliography! And in regard to the O.J. Simpson trial:

Blacks have shown with remarkable consistency and durability through the years that evidence and justice are barely considerations at all compared to racial consciousness…So now with O.J. still searching for the real killer, blacks remain jubilant that their man is free. Whites are sadder…but wiser.

And that's exactly what Frank Borzellieri's job is at the Bronx high school: to make your children "wiser."

Tagged

bronx

demagogues

frank borzellieri

queens

racism

racists

white supremacy


Christopher Robbins

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Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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