Albany, NY – A veteran New York Assemblyman on Monday stood by his decision to wear blackface makeup, an Afro wig and a basketball jersey to a costume party in the face of criticism he called “political correctness to the absurd.”
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote on his blog Monday that he doesn’t understand the criticism swirling around Albany and doesn’t know why anyone would be offended by the costume he wore to a party he recently held at his home in Brooklyn to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Hikind hired a makeup artist and wore an orange basketball jersey, sunglasses and an Afro at the celebration that traditionally includes costumes.
“Yes, I wore a costume on Purim and hosted a party. Most of the people who attended also wore costumes. Everywhere that Purim was being celebrated, people wore costumes. It was Purim. People dress up.”
“I am intrigued that anyone who understands Purim—or for that matter understands me—would have a problem with this. This is political correctness to the absurd. There is not a prejudiced bone in my body.”
There was no immediate comment from the Assembly’s Democrat majority where Hikind has been long been a rare conservative voice over 30 years.
Hikind told WCBS 880 reporter Alex Silverman that it “never crossed my mind for a second” that the blackface costume might be offensive.
“If I was black, on Purim I would have made my face look like I was white,” he added.
“The idea was to look out-of-character, to look different, for people not to recognize me,” Hikind told 1010 WINS. “If I had to do it all over again I’d do exactly the same thing, without a doubt.”
Hikind said he is “flabbergasted” by the reaction his costume has received and said “everything was done in good taste.”
Of course his costume was politically correct. He didn’t have a gun, knife or drugs on him, right?
public figures need to be more sensitive to the way their action may be perceived
I see people dress up like chassidim on Halloween all the time.. I think its cute !!! These bored idiots have nothing else to talk about.
Dov your problem is that you did not mug anyone….
His costume was as funny as Al Sharpton putting on a shtreimel, payos, a full vbeard and a bekesha.
It is incredible that he is so unbelievably clueless as to how offensive his blackface costume is to people outside of this community (and to many in the community, as well). If any tv show tried this Amos ‘n Andy routine it would be pulled off the network in a second.
Hikind, this is an epic FAIL and an embarrassment to the entire Jewish community.
I like Hikind but that costume is in bad taste and is racist.
Hikind’s quote last week regarding anti-semetic designer John Galliano wearing hassidic garb:
“The way the socks look, the jacket, the peyos [ringlets] … My question is, who’s he laughing at?” asked Brooklyn assemblyman Dov Hikind. “If it was just anyone else, I wouldn’t know what to say. But considering who this guy is, considering his background and what he’s said in the past, let him explain it to all of us: Are you mocking us?”
Ethnic/religious respect is a two way street. Wearing blackface mocks and is hurtful to the African American community. Hikind defending his actions only serves to alienate a sizable portion of his constituents. If he would have apologized I imagine the story would have disappeared. But now dozens of newspapers and sites are reporting that the elected representative of much of New York’s Orthodox Jewish community thinks he did nothing wrong. I don’t know about you, but I’m embarrassed.
An elected official is held to a higher standard. I saw a lot of costumes yesterday that wouldn’t have offended anyone and would have been more appropriate for a member of the Assembly.
Did any of our other elected officials wear costumes?
He looks like Howard Stern
To all who are busy saying that Hikind should have known better. U guys really don’t know that it’s Purim and we dress up.
So everyone who dress like a police men or like a marine on purim means that he wants to make fun of them. Is that right ?
bad move anyway u slice it. people are ticked off about it, not a good thing
That is not a basketball player outfit. Basketball players don’t have wild hair like that typically (it could get in the way in a game, for one thing), and don’t wear orange robes like that.
And the skin is not black, Amos n Andy style, either. There is a wide spectrum of various shades of skin color – it isn’t just black and white.
So the whole claim doesn’t get off the ground.
One would think that the media, which has so much experience with different types of people and images, would recognize that, instead of going along with a trumped up story here.
When firemen in Broad Channel, off the Rockaway Peninsula, dressed up in blackface for their Irish Day Parade, no one thought it was funny. They were dressed down by their superiors and a lawsuit was filed. Private parties should be just that private. Posting pictures on social media should be limited to feeding the ducks in a zoo or riding a roller coaster. We have insensitive people on all sides and many who would violate our privacy at the drop of a hat just to make their point.
When Michael Jackson bleached his skin white how come all whites didnt scream racism..?
It seems like the same fools who defend getting drunk on Purim as a chiyuv under halacha are the same ones claiming its well within our minhagim to use simchas Purim as an excuse to rationalize somthing as blatant racist as this episode.