Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) participated in “Slave Day” whereas he served as his highschool’s pupil council president, Fox Information reported.
Blumenthal attended Riverdale Nation Faculty within the Bronx’s Riverdale neighborhood. Throughout his time at Riverdale Nation Faculty, Blumenthal served as the varsity’s pupil council president.
Beneath Blumenthal’s tenure as pupil council chief, the group held its first “Slave Day” on November 21, 1962, in line with the varsity’s yearbook. “Slave Day” was an try to unify the varsity by means of fundraising, the place college students labored “odd jobs across the neighborhood.”
In line with the yearbook’s description of “Slave Day,” a “giant variety of Higher Faculty college students labored at odd jobs across the neighborhood and helped to boost over 2 hundred {dollars} for the drive.”
As Fox Information reported:
The yearbook additionally famous that the “Slave Day” fundraiser “exemplified the form of exercise which the Council felt most necessary to the varsity, the management and the participation being utterly below the inducement of the scholars.”
As pupil council president, Blumenthal presumably helped set up the fundraising occasion referred to as “Slave Day.”
Leora Levy, Sen. Blumenthal’s Republican opponent, condemned Blumenthal for collaborating in “Slave Day.”
Levy mentioned:
As a Jewish, Hispanic girl rising up within the Jim Crow South, I each witnessed and skilled racism firsthand. I remained within the public colleges throughout integration, whilst my buddies and siblings left for personal colleges, as a result of I believed segregation was improper. I wished to be a part of the answer, not the issue. I’ve all the time fought for freedom and alternative for all Individuals.
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Leora Levy talks to delegates on the State Republican Conference, Might 7, 2022, in Mashantucket, CT. (AP Picture/Jessica Hill, File)
Levy famous that Blumenthal’s “Slave Day” occurred across the identical time Individuals had been preventing for civil rights and equal therapy below the regulation.
“Within the Nineteen Sixties, Individuals had been preventing to combine and unify our nation, whereas Blumenthal celebrated ‘Slave Day?’ Disgraceful,” Levy added. “I stand with all Individuals who’ve suffered by the hands of bigotry and can all the time condemn those that gasoline hateful sentiments in America.”
Nonetheless, Blumenthal’s racial controversies didn’t finish at highschool. Blumenthal reportedly used a racial slur in a 1966 article titled Summer season Faculty Undertaking Set for Negro College students that he wrote whereas attending Harvard College.
Blumenthal, who served as editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson, wrote:
Twenty Negroes from Southern schools will examine right here this summer time below a brand new program organized collectively by Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. The aim of this system, Dean Ford mentioned final week, is to offer Negroes with the preparation they should go on to graduate college, and to assist them overcome issues of graduate college admission.
The controversy stemmed from Blumenthal’s use of the phrase “negro,” which is now thought of a racial slur by many students.
As Fox Information defined:
Within the Nineteen Sixties, there was a debate over whether or not the phrase Blumenthal used was a racist time period. In line with Ferris State College, the phrase grew to become “completely uncouth by the mid-Eighties.”
Though Blumenthal has represented Connecticut within the Senate since 2011, he faces a tricky problem from Levy.
Levy is sort of tied with Blumenthal, in line with the most recent Connecticut Examiner ballot launched simply weeks away from the midterm elections.
The Trump-endorsed Republican has the help of 44 % of Connecticut voters, whereas Blumenthal has 49 % help. Nonetheless, a further seven % of voters stay undecided, which might tip the dimensions in favor of Levy.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart Information. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or comply with him on Twitter.
