From the Feb. 25, 2013, edition of “Viewpoint.”
John Fugelsang:
This week in our continuing series “WTF, America?” we go no further than our own backyard. Last week was Mississippi, but this time we find that the New York state of mind is sometimes off its meds.
Take, if you will, Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who showed up at a costume party wearing an Afro wig, a basketball jersey and blackface. Yes, I said blackface. I guess some New York costume shop must have been having a President’s Day black sale.
Assemblyman Hikind, who we’ve known for a long time in New York, wore this costume at a party held in honor of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people — and [is] not a celebration of Al Jolson’s decision to become a jazz singer instead of a cantor.
Now Assemblyman Hikind doesn’t think he did anything wrong. In a blog post on his website he wrote, “There is not a prejudiced bone in my body.” I don’t know about your bones, Assemblyman, but your body has opposed marriage equality for a long time — that’s just a bit prejudiced — and I think your body also just burnt some cork and smeared a little prejudice all over your pretty face.
So, WTF, New York? This guy’s a Democrat from Brooklyn. Aren’t you supposed to be a bastion of progressive ideals and a center of the arts and culture in America? Is this state going to let the opera and the ballet and the philharmonic get upstaged by the Albany minstrel show?
Oh, and I’d just like to say to all you lovely southern Republicans who make a point of being racially insensitive — sorry, ya’ll. You’ve been upstaged by a northeastern Democrat. We New Yorkers are always bragging how our pizza is better than anywhere else; do we really want to have the best racism in the country too? WTF, New York?
