New York Republican Congressional Candidate Carl Paladino said Black Americans were kept “dumb and hungry” so they could be conditioned to vote for the Democratic Party.
CNN reports Paladino made the comments on a radio show in 2016 when he was a Buffalo school board member defending himself against allegations that comments he made in the past were racist. Paladino added that he cared about Black people but they were conditioned to be a base for Democrats.
“Someday, somebody like a Donald Trump
is gonna come in and force that stuff on them – OK. And maybe then, OK, we’ll get some change because the Black people deserve better,” Paladino said during the interview.“They shouldn’t be held captive in our inner cities. They shouldn’t be held hungry and dumb so as to provide a base for the Democratic Party, that’s what’s been going on. You can’t teach them differently because they’ve been so conditioned to think that way. And that is so, so wrong. And I’ll fight for that stuff until the day I die.”
Paladino, a Buffalo-based real estate developer, announced he was running for a congressional seat vacated by Republican Rep. Chris Jacobs shortly after Jacobs announced he would not seek reelection after supporting a federal ban on assault weapons.
In a statement, Paladino blasted CNN for taking his words out of context.
“It is not surprising that CNN is once again taking my comments out of context from years ago. Democrats’ policies
have failed Black voters and taken them for granted which is why Republicans have a historic opportunity to win huge this November,” Paladino said. “I am proud of the work I did for Buffalo Schools, turning around an underperforming district, and investing resources in predominately African American areas.”Paladino has a history of racist and sexist statements including saying he would like to see former first lady Michelle Obama “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.” Paladino also said he hoped former President
Barack Obama would die of mad cow disease.The Republican candidate also called the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde “false flag” attacks orchestrated to revoke the second amendment and take away guns to help Democrats. Paladino initially claimed he did not know how the posts got there, but later admitted he “carelessly” shared the post and deleted his Facebook account.