Carrion states: In the [NY Times Sunday Magazine] article, to make matters even worse, the on-line version includes a postscript, added after the magazine went to press, informing readers that ‘another sexting scandal engulfed Anthony Weiner.' The editors and writer then go on to ponder whether this will be ‘a Yusuf.’ My God!
Read 2013 Mayoral Candidate Adolfo Carrión's statement today:
CARRIÓN BLASTS NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE FOR STUNNING REFERENCE TO THE DEATH OF YUSUF HAWKINS AND COMPARISON TO WEINER SCANDAL
NEW YORK, NY…JULY 26, 2013—Independence Party Candidate for mayor Adolfo Carrión has issued the following statement calling on the New York Times to apologize for a NYT Magazine article that is racially insensitive and offensive
“Yesterday the New York Times
published an upcoming Sunday Magazine article on the mayoral candidates
and the state of the race. In the article, the author refers to moments
when campaign dynamics suddenly change and uses the term ‘a Yusuf’ to
describe them. When I read the line in the article, I was absolutely
appalled. Yusuf Hawkins was a 16 year old African-American boy who was
brutally murdered in 1989 by a gang of white youth.
“He is not a turning point in a campaign. He is not a political science term. He was a victim of one of the worst incidents of racial hatred in our city’s history. That the Times would feel free to use such a term is so outrageously cynical, insensitive and arrogant that it is almost hard to believe. Don't they read their own newspaper? Don't they know that the wounds we feel from the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin, are still raw?
“This isn’t the first time
that the editors at the Times have been caught demonstrating an elitist
and bigoted editorial tone. Earlier this year in the wake of the
killing of Alphonza Bryant, the tone of the Times' response cheapened
the value of a human life because it suggested that the murder of a 17
year old in the Bronx was simply too mundane to report.“He is not a turning point in a campaign. He is not a political science term. He was a victim of one of the worst incidents of racial hatred in our city’s history. That the Times would feel free to use such a term is so outrageously cynical, insensitive and arrogant that it is almost hard to believe. Don't they read their own newspaper? Don't they know that the wounds we feel from the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin, are still raw?
“In the current article, to make matters even worse, the on-line version includes a postscript, added after the magazine went to press, informing readers that ‘another sexting scandal engulfed Anthony Weiner.' The editors and writer then go on to ponder whether this will be ‘a Yusuf.’ My God! Sending photos of one's private parts is offensive and perverse, but it is not remotely comparable to the killing of a child. The Times postscript says the two are ‘hard to compare,’ but then they go ahead and do it anyway! Turning a devastating tragedy into a political catchword is about as low as it gets.
“The Times and the Times Magazine owe the people of this city an apology. They owe the family of Yusuf Hawkins an apology. And all New Yorkers should question the editorial decisions of a paper that has exhibited a pattern of shocking racial insensitivity.”
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