A scene from a 2015 "Can Carl" rally at Buffalo City Hall.
Open Buffalo (Once Again) Calls for Carl Paladino's Resignation or Dismissal
Published December 27, 2016
For Immediate Release
December 27, 2016
Contact: Max Anderson
max@openbuffalo.org
716-243-8777 x 103
During a time when we are blossoming as a global city, welcoming thousands of immigrants and refugees from across the world, Buffalo needs leadership that understands and fights for the needs of all — regardless of race, class, or gender. In the wake of his latest, and perhaps vilest, public offense, Open Buffalo calls for the immediate resignation or dismissal of Carl Paladino from the Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education. Paladino’s brazen and habitual insulting of people of color, of women, and of other marginalized groups are crystal-clear evidence that he is not fit to serve the citizens of Buffalo.
Paladino’s disgusting comments carried in a local tabloid newspaper last week were directed at two of the most powerful people in the world — the President and First Lady of the United States. More disturbing than those foul words is his track record of maligning thousands of disempowered men, women, and children here in Buffalo, as well as the dangerous implications for thousands of individuals impacted by his position of leadership.
Since coming into office as a school board member in 2013, Paladino has squandered the opportunity to be a leader and role model to the more than 30,000 students in Buffalo Public Schools. Instead, he has chosen to repeatedly subject these impressionable young people, their families, other school board members, and the community at large, to hateful and bigoted remarks about African-Americans, Asian-Americans, women, and others. Such unacceptable conduct prompted Open Buffalo to join the 2015 “Can Carl” movement, which called for his ouster.
Carl Paladino’s actions, and persistent denials of racism, point to some combination of moral corruption, detachment from reality, and blind ignorance of the 2016 realities of racial bias and systematic oppression. For years, he has proven to be a disruptive and disturbing presence in the school district. As an organization that exists to increase justice and opportunity in Buffalo, we call for Paladino and his regressive views to step aside. If he will not immediately resign, then Buffalo’s Board of Education, the New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and the Board of Regents must quickly act to dismiss Paladino.
In our starkly segregated city, our children and community deserve leadership that looks to build bridges, not walls that further divide us.
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