3:20 pm Jan. 4, 20133
First, City Council candidate Thomas Lopez-Pierre lashed out at rival Mark Levine for being a "White/Jewish candidate" who was "to sneak into office like a thief in the night" in order to win the race.
Now, Lopez-Pierre is attacking one of Levine's black supporters, Brian Benjamin, a prominent Democratic fund-raiser who helped raise money for Barack Obama.
Lopez-Pierre, Levine and more than half a dozen other candidates are running for the City Council seat in Upper Manhattan being vacated by the term-limited Robert Jackson.
Levine has the backing of most of the local Democratic establishment, and Lopez-Pierre is a longshot, to say the least.
A reader passed along an email directed at Benjamin which was sent out widely by Lopez-Pierre yesterday afternoon which said, among other things, "What good does it do our community (by this I mean Black and Hispanic people) to have uncle Tom Nigger bitches like you graduate from Ivy League schools if all you do is suck the cock of guys like Mark Levine."
In an interview yesterday, Lopez-Pierre confirmed to me that he wrote the email and said, in case it wasn't obvious, "the purpose of that email was to disrespect [Benjamin], humiliate him."
He also conceded that his rhetoric was intended to attract attention, and defended the tone of his email, which is about as profane and racist throughout as it is in that one line, noting that House Speaker John Boehner twice cursed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"That's politics on the national level. Imagine how politics is going to be in the 'hood," he said.
I also spoke with Benjamin, who is the founder of Young Professionals United for Change.
He declined to respond directly to the email but he did say, "There is something to be said about Upper Manhattan recognizing that race cannot be the most determinate factor in who you endorse for elected office. ... What about people's policies and views?"
I've got the email here after what we used to call "the jump," if you want to read it. But probably you get the idea.
Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 02:23:22 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Brain Benjamin you uncle Tom Nigger bitch who sucks cook - Thomas Lopez-Pierre January 3, 2013
Brain Benjamin:
First I would like to say Happy New Year!
Now that bullshit is out of the way, I wanted to say this to your face but I did not want my words to be misunderstood.
So I am sending it to you in writing and sharing it with others.
I see that you are on the host committee for Mark Levine for City Council.
I would hope that one day you would give me the legal grounds to bitch slap you.
You are an uncle Tom Nigger bitch.
Its Nigger bitches like you that have sold out the Black people of Harlem.
To think there are about eight other candidates in this race that are Black and Hispanic and you decided to pick Mark Levine the only White/Jewish guy in the race to raise money for.
What good does it do our community (by this I mean Black and Hispanic people) to have uncle Tom Nigger bitches like you graduate from Ivy League schools if all you do is suck the cock of guys like Mark Levine.
All the best,
Thomas Lopez-Pierre
PS, The reason why you got your Nigger ass kicked (politically) by Jamaal Nelson when you ran for district leader is because Black people in Harlem can smell the Bitch in you.
They know that you are a weak, little short man who sucks White/Jewish cock.
This seems to be taking incivility a few steps beyond the usual excesses.
Google Lopez-Pierre. Scandal personified. Levine on the other hand has lived in the community for years and worked to serve and elevate the community as a whole. If I still lived in the area I would be proud to work and vote for him. Lopez-Pierre has has a long history of inaaproporate, unprofessional conduct and despite his assertions is not representative of this community. He ignores the fact that the area in question was Irish, German and Jewish long before the Latinos moved in. Now, they are moving back into the area. It is a cycle repeated across the nation in formerly "inner-city" neighborhoods. Levine is not a recent arrival to upper Manhattan dispute assertions to the contrary.
This is not the worst stuff he's emailed anyone. See this: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/10/19/controversial-harlem-activis...
“If a female is offended by me and makes the mistake of slapping my face, I will punch her in her face until I break a least one tooth. Just ask the last female who put her hands on me; I knocked out two of her teeth ... My wife knows that in Harlem talking to a man like that could get you punched in the face or worst shot in the head with a gun,”
[...]
Lopez-Pierre said he wanted to show her that “you’re in Harlem, this is not the Upper West Side,” adding that the language he used was “real Harlem.”