The Patriot Post® · Hochul, Black Kids, and Leftist Bigotry
When former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign over a sex scandal, we all knew that the only reason Democrats would eat their own was because they had someone more radical waiting in the wings. Lo and behold, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul ascended to New York’s vacant governor’s seat and immediately confirmed everyone’s fears.
Hochul was a tyrannical Branch Covidian. She’s radically pro-abortion, soft on crime, anti-Second Amendment, and slow to respond to the immigration crises in New York — and when she does tepidly respond, she blames Republicans instead of trying to solve the problem.
Her latest public debacle has managed to anger both sides of the political aisle, and for good reason. Hochul was recently in California at the Milken Institute Global Conference, where she was interviewed about how artificial intelligence can help with economic growth in low-income areas. She lamented: “Right now, we have, you know, young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word ‘computer’ is. They don’t know. They don’t know these things.”
Not only is that untrue, but it’s deeply offensive to blacks in the Bronx (or anywhere else, for that matter). This unforced error also riled up fellow New York politicians. Bronx Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo criticized Hochul, saying it was “harmful, deeply misinformed, and genuinely appalling.” She added: “Repeating harmful stereotypes about one of our most underserved communities, while failing to acknowledge the state’s consistent institutional neglect, only perpetuates systems of abuse. I would invite Gov. Hochul to visit us in the Bronx to experience first-hand the intelligence, resilience, and joy that radiate from Bronx children and residents each day.” Bronx Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie also called Hochul’s comment “inartful.”
Conservatives pointed out that this seems to be a pattern with Democrats. Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon noted that “Democrats are always trying to prove they aren’t racist by talking about how dumb and incapable minorities are.” Libs of TikTok advised: “Democrats exposing their racism again… Play this video in every predominantly black neighborhood until November.” Fox Business host Charles Payne, who is black, remarked, “Insulting but typical.”
Other examples of Democrat bigotry include thinking black people are somehow uniquely incapable of obtaining a photo ID for use when voting and that academic standards and standardized tests need to be abolished so that black kids can succeed educationally. Furthermore, Democrats have turned cities into hotbeds of poverty and lack of opportunity for black residents through welfare. Their soft-on-crime policies are using the guise of racism to make urban communities more dangerous places by claiming police disproportionately arrest black men. New York City is a prime example of this. Everything Democrats do to “help” the black community seems to further drag down and infantilize that community. Ironically, it’s the black vote that helps keep these Democrats in power, and so the cycle continues.
Democrats also protect their own. New York City Mayor Eric Adams was quick to defend Hochul, saying: “When you make thousands of speeches, when you’re in front of the cameras all the time, when you’re trying to be authentic and say the things that you’re really feeling, one can sit back and do a critical analysis of every sentence you say. I know her heart. I know what she was intending to say, and she was not trying to be disrespectful to the people of the Bronx.”
Perhaps that is true, but this was a big slip-up and one that should have been corrected right then and there. “New York Governor Kathy Hochul, saying something that would get a Republican instantly cancelled, but it’s (D)ifferent,” observes Kevin Dalton, former candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
For her part, Hochul eventually apologized in a statement, saying: “I misspoke and I regret it. Of course Black children in the Bronx know what computers are — the problem is that they too often lack access to the technology needed to get on track to high-paying jobs in emerging industries like AI.”
She should have quickly clarified that during the conference and corrected herself. But because she’s got a “D” after her name, she’ll get a pass.