Caribbean-American Councilmember Assailed In Racist Thread On Cop Message Board – A NAN First

Caribbean-American Councilmember and potential New York State Gubernatorial candidate, Jumaane Williams in 2001 after his arrest at the West Indian American Day Carnival. (Hayden Roger Celestin image)

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Aug. 25, 2017: A thread on an Internet message board frequented by current and past members of New York’s Finest is taking racist shots at Caribbean-American Councilmember and potential New York State Gubernatorial candidate, Jumaane Williams, News Americas has found.

The reactions come as City Councilman Williams’ name has surfaced as a possible 2018 Democratic primary challenger to NYS Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Williams, who has Grenadian-roots, has not ruled out the run even though he has said right now he is “100 percent solely focused” on running for the City Council speakership that opens in January.

The news has elicited some racist reactions on Internet Message Board, ‘Thee Rant,’ under the thread “Jumaanee Williams possible Challenger to Cuomo for Governor of New York.”

Poster “Broom” responded that Williams is “… a borderline retardate, and comes from a race of borderline retardates!” while poster HAPD added: “He is a phuckin cave man-jumunga bunga mon.”

“Perhaps his corn rows that he has gotten rid of took away his magical negro powers,” HAPD added.

‘WasinTheBag’ posted a video clip of a Soul Trainer dancer with the comment: “If Jumaane is the cream of the crop, it’s been a pretty bad year for farmers. Last time I saw somebody shake like that was on Soul Train.”
The ‘shaking reference’ is to the Councilmember’s struggle with Tourette’s syndrome.

Also mocking Williams’ disability, ‘lexisman’ added: “Don’t laugh! He already has some celebrity endorsements. In fact, none other than Daddy Yankee has made a video in honor of Jumaane,” and linked to the reggaeton singer’s song ‘Shaky, Shaky.’

Contacted for comment, William’s spokesperson said he was out of the office all morning and in a hearing all afternoon, making him unavailable for comment as of press time last evening.

The Councilman has had a history of run-ins with members of the NYPD including an arrest at the West Indian American Day carnival in 2011 for trying to enter a frozen zone. Two officers involved in the incident were later disciplined.

He also was one of the main sponsors of the Community Safety Act (CSA), a landmark legislative package aimed at ending discriminatory policing and bringing real accountability to the NYPD, that was signed into law in 2014.