Joe Lhota issued the following statement today following remarks made at a joint campaign appearance between Bill de Blasio and his supporter, Harry Belafonte, who called New Yorker David Koch a “white supremacist” and compared him to the Klu Klux Klan.
Bill de Blasio today: Harry Belafonte “is a treasure to our nation. When you listen to Harry, you’re listening to the voice of wisdom that’s deeper than any wisdom we meet in our day-to-day life.”
“It’s reprehensible that a candidate for mayor of the City of New York would closely associate himself with an individual who has equated the American government to Al Qaida and the 9/11 hijackers and has a long history of hateful, racist remarks. What’s worse, when Bill de Blasio had an opportunity to speak out against his hate speech today, he was silent and instead called Mr. Belafonte ‘a treasure to our nation.’
“There is no room in our public discourse for race-baiting, hate speech from anyone–white, black or otherwise. One of our greatest mayors, Ed Koch, denounced Mr. Belafonte and urged other Democrats to do the same. Our public leaders must have the courage and conviction to speak out against unacceptable conduct. Mr. de Blasio had that opportunity and failed. He should immediately denounce Mr. Belafonte’s hate speech and call on him to apologize. Anything less would be a disservice to New Yorkers.”
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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David Koch’s father was a founder of the John Birch Society, which is basically the KKK in suits rather than sheets. Koch himself has never disassociated himself from his father’s ideas, and in fact his public statements and actions are consistent with those of his father. Koch funded a third party challenge to Ronald Reagan in 1980 because he could not countenance Reagan’s tolerant and forward-thinking ideas.
My father was a library director whom the Birchers mercilessly harassed during their heyday in the 1960s. William F. Buckley, Jr. and other responsible conservatives drove the Birchers and their ilk out of the Republican Party because of their racism and anti-Semitism; unfortunately now that Buckley is gone the Birchers are back. It is Lhota who should be condemning Koch!