[Adem Bunkeddeko\ 9th District]
Bunkeddeko: “Yvette Clarke’s desperation and dishonesty truly know no bounds…Ms. Clarke puts out a racist mailer that clearly darkens my skin. This is despicable. She needs to apologize to me and every single one of her constituents.”
Photo: YouTube
Adem Bunkeddeko is accusing Rep. Yvette Clarke of running a racist mailer against him where his skin is darkened.
Brooklyn progressive Democrat Adem Bunkeddeko, running against incumbent Yvette Clarke in the 9th District, today blasted the longtime politician for putting out a piece of mail that plays to racial fears by darkening his skin and uses one of his supporter’s common Jewish last name as a basis for making a false allegation about the donor.
These attacks are similar to those used to attack fellow Black progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman, who is also being attacked with corporate PAC and special interest money.
“Yvette Clarke’s desperation and dishonesty truly know no bounds. As Democrats, we are supposed to be the party of equality, truth, and facts. But instead, Ms. Clarke puts out a racist mailer that clearly darkens my skin. This is despicable. She needs to apologize to me and every single one of her constituents. At a time when we’re rising up to say Black Lives Matter, and demanding overdue reforms, recreating the type of campaign attacks that have been used for generations of fear-mongering is inexcusable,” said Bunkeddeko.
Bunkeddeko’s campaign manager previously corrected the Congresswoman on Twitter after she made false claims about one of Bunkeddeko’s supporters.
Clarke’s mailer comes as Bunkeddeko’s campaign is surging, having outraised the rest of the field in the last campaign filing and recently receiving the endorsements of The New York Times, Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, and good government advocate Zephyr Teachout.
Clarke’s campaign denied the accusations according to a Daily News article.
“To suggest that our campaign for a Black woman, run by Black women would deliberately darken a Black man’s face is preposterous,” Clarke’s senior advisor L. Joy Williams, told The Daily News, in a statement.
“I’m personally offended at the accusation and clearly Bunkeddeko’s campaign is grasping at straws by attempting to spark division when the focus should be on the very real issues of structural racism plaguing our society…Congresswoman Clarke has a longstanding record of leadership calling out how structural racism impacts the daily lives of her constituents and people of the African diaspora overall.”
