Buffalo School Board Tells Old Racist Carl Paladino To Resign Or Face Strongly Worded Reprimand

Not especially good at humaning

The Buffalo, New York, school board voted 6-2 Thursday to demand the resignation of Carl Paladino, the racist horse-porn aficionado (and Donald Trump’s New York campaign co-chair) who recently sent local media a racist rant wishing Michelle Obama would "return to being a male" and go live in a cave with a gorilla. Even though he kind of apologized! (LOL no he didn't.) Paladino will have 24 hours to step down from his seat on the school board; if he doesn't, the board will ask the state's education commissioner to fire him. He may also get a sternly worded letter in his permanent record. 

Apparently the board wasn't especially convinced by Paladino's very sincere apology earlier this week, in which he explained he was so "wired" and upset about the poor little children of Aleppo that he had to write a bunch of seemingly racist stuff about the Obamas that wasn't really racist, because he is not a racist, you see.

The school board's resolution called Paladino's remarks

“unambiguously racist, morally repugnant, flagrantly disrespectful, inflammatory and inexcusable.” It also said they reflected negatively on “the Buffalo Board of Education, the City of Buffalo and its leadership and its citizens, the State of New York, and every decent human being in America and abroad who has been shocked and offended by his words.”

When board member Hope Jay read the draft resolution in a crowded special meeting of the school board, the audience gave her a standing ovation. Paladino was not in attendance. Still, Paladino did have two supporters on the board, Larry Quinn and Patti Pierce, who thought it would be sufficient if Paladino simply apologized to students. Ms. Pierce treated the audience to her very own display of Paladino-esque logic in asking the board to be kind to her pal:

Pierce said she hoped the people in Buffalo could show Paladino some forgiveness for his comments and “take a page out of the horrific massacre that happened in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine innocent people in a house of worship were slain by a hateful, hate-filled man.

The comparison drew gasps from the audience and was too much for one woman, who left shouting that it was offensive to use the murdered African-American congregation members in this situation.”

You know, like how the families of the nine victims in Charleston told the murderer they forgave him. We sure hope someone pointed out to Ms. Pierce that while the victims' families did tell the killer they personally forgave him, they didn't say he shouldn't face justice. For that matter, they didn't even recommend him for a seat on the Charleston school board. Still, Mr. Paladino must surely be flattered on some level that one of his allies likened him to a mass murderer who wanted to start a race war.

 Paladino issued an emailed statement following the board's vote:

“The Board of Education’s action today is certainly not an illustration of a profile in courage or leadership.” He said that calls of condemnation from the board members and other elected officials were politically motivated, and signed off with, “It’s going to be a very combative year.”

Or maybe he'll just be out on his ass. While that wouldn't preclude him from remaining combative, he would at least no longer be in a position to make decisions about education.

If Paladino somehow declines to resign -- take your own guess on whether that'll happen -- the board will petition state education commissioner MaryEllen Elia to remove him, a process that could take six to eight months. Elia would have to hold a hearing before making a decision, which would give Mr. Paladino one more chance to explain how not-racist he is, which we have to confess would have some entertainment value, considering his history of sending out emails like a 2010 masterpiece titled "Obama Inauguration Rehearsal," a video clip of dancing African tribesman. Perhaps he was very upset about Aleppo that time, too.

[ HuffPo / NYT ]