CUBA, N.Y. — Town Supervisor Rob Carney has apologized for a New Year’s Eve Facebook post which community members had called “racist” and “hate speech.”
The apology, made in front of about 20 town residents and media representatives during the monthly town board meeting, was in reference to a post claiming President Barack Obama committed treason when he failed to veto a measure before the U.N. Security Council in December condemning the building of settlements in the West Bank by the Israeli government.
In the now-deleted post, Carney referred to the president as “the black, Muslim-loving, no good, death deserving, poorest excuse for a president,” and Obama was “guilty of treason and deserve nothing less than a bullet to (the) brain.”
Carney told the attendees he has since deactivated his account.
“I regret writing it, I regret the context,” Carney said. “Over the last few months, I’ve been out in left field with some of these comments.
“I apologize and I’m sorry that I didn’t have the forethought to think it through … It was never intended to be published as a public comment.”
Carney, who is at the halfway point of his first four-year term as supervisor, opened the meeting with a public comment period, originally set to last 10 minutes but stretching closer to 50 minutes, and responded directly to criticism of his comments.
Resident Carlos Barksdale noted “I feel like we’re getting an apology because it was brought out … I accept your apology, but I never want to hear something like that again from one of my public officials.
“As the only African-American in the room … I’ve been dealing with this stuff since I moved here,” Barksdale said. “This is 2017. We’re all humans, trying to live.”
Barksdale, who works with area youth, said he has heard racist language from students, noting he believes it comes from the home, and that the home is where negative attitudes toward others based on race needs to end.
Dave Crowley said the tone of Carney’s comments have become too common in the modern world.
“I think that this sniping going on in the world today needs to stop,” Crowley said, adding that while some people feel negatively about the president, “when you broadcast it like that, it casts a pall over everything.”
Crowley complimented Carney’s move to face the public at the meeting.
“You took it like a man. You took a beating tonight,” Crowley said.
“I deserved it,” Carney responded.
The board took no action against Carney at the meeting, but the board members publicly denounced the comments.
