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Former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke Endorses Charles Barron
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 21, 2012
Modified Jun 21, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 21, 2012
Modified Jun 21, 2012
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The hotly contested battle for Brooklyn's 8th Congressional District is looking more like a crazy carnival every day. As you probably know, the Democratic primary, which takes place this coming Tuesday, will likely decide the general election in this heavily Democratic district, and because there haven't been any polls, it's difficult to predict how much of an edge Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries has over controversial Councilmember Charles Barron. Jeffries has a lot of endorsements, including Senator Chuck Schumer, but today Barron won the blessing of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke:
All Barron needs is the coveted Mel Gibson endorsement and he's got it all sewn up! If you don't want to squander eight of your precious limited minutes on earth listening to David Duke, the gist is this: Charles Barron has described Israel as a terrorist state, and Duke digs that, because he thinks Israel is "the worst rogue terrorist state on Earth. Barron is certainly right about Zionist control over the media and our government, and the treason that’s existed in our Congress... Barron’s opponent, on the other hand, is a complete Zionist sellout of both the black people and all the people of America." Yeah, he's even sold out ProCro!
Despite his dream of smacking white people, Charles Barron is winning Brooklyn's coveted KKK vote.
Duke and Barron don't see eye to eye on everything, however. In his endorsement, Duke makes it clear that he doesn't approve of Barron's support for affirmative action, which he calls "the Republican and Democratic establishment program of naked racial discrimination... If you want to call me a racist for defending equal rights, then so be it." And Duke, who is totally racist, isn't down with Barron's "extreme racist, even violently anti-white rhetoric." (In 2002, Barron infamously said, "I want to go up to the closest white person and say, ‘You can’t understand this, it’s a black thing.’ And then slap him just for my mental health.")
Barron has been trying his best to put inflammatory remarks like these behind him, so of course the last thing he wants is some KKK guy bringing them back into the spotlight. In an interview with The Daily Politics, Barron dismissed Duke's endorsement as "irrelevant foolishness," adding, "We're staying focused -- and we demand respect for our campaign. I don't think that's a campaign issue. I don't think it's intelligent." Unlike, say, announcing your candidacy with the declaration "Robert Mugabe is my hero, and guess what, so is Muammar Qaddafi!"
Barron is simply refusing to discuss his history of infammatory remarks and viewpoints, telling reporters, "Those are soundbites. I am not turning this campaign into soundbite-response, soundbite-response … We are going to force you to have an intelligent conversation no matter how much you want to hype it so that you can create controversy, sell papers or try to help my opponent." Speaking of that opponent, Jeffries's spokesman said this today, "Hate and extreme rhetoric have no place in our society. We denounce David Duke's remarks in [their] entirety and urge the other candidate in this race to do the same."
Tagged
Charles Barron
hakeem jeffries
Politics
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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