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 College within the Bronx’s Riverdale neighborhood. Throughout his time at Riverdale Nation College, 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, based on the varsity’s yearbook. “Slave Day” was an try and unify the varsity via fundraising, the place college students labored “odd jobs across the neighborhood.”
In accordance with the yearbook’s description of “Slave Day,” a “giant variety of Higher College college students labored at odd jobs across the neighborhood and helped to lift over 200 {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 vital to the varsity, the management and the participation being fully below the inducement of the scholars.”
As pupil council president, Blumenthal presumably helped set up the fundraising occasion often known as “Slave Day.”
Leora Levy, Sen. Blumenthal’s Republican opponent, condemned Blumenthal for taking part 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 faculties throughout integration, whilst my buddies and siblings left for personal faculties, as a result of I believed segregation was unsuitable. I needed to be a part of the answer, not the issue. I’ve at all times fought for freedom and alternative for all People.
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Leora Levy talks to delegates on the State Republican Conference, Could 7, 2022, in Mashantucket, CT. (AP Photograph/Jessica Hill, File)
Levy famous that Blumenthal’s “Slave Day” occurred across the similar time People had been combating for civil rights and equal remedy below the legislation.
“Within the Sixties, People had been combating to combine and unify our nation, whereas Blumenthal celebrated ‘Slave Day?’ Disgraceful,” Levy added. “I stand with all People who’ve suffered by the hands of bigotry and can at all times condemn those that gas 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 time College 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 faculties will examine right here this summer season below a brand new program organized collectively by Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. The aim of this system, Dean Ford mentioned final week, is to supply Negroes with the preparation they should go on to graduate faculty, and to assist them overcome issues of graduate faculty 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 Sixties, there was a debate over whether or not the phrase Blumenthal used was a racist time period. In accordance with Ferris State College, the phrase turned “completely uncouth by the mid-Eighties.”
Though Blumenthal has represented Connecticut within the Senate since 2011, he faces a troublesome problem from Levy.
Levy is sort of tied with Blumenthal, based on the most recent Connecticut Examiner ballot launched simply weeks away from the midterm elections.
The Trump-endorsed Republican has the assist of 44 % of Connecticut voters, whereas Blumenthal has 49 % assist. Nonetheless, a further seven % of voters stay undecided, which might tip the size 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.
