fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Submit Your Event
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Send Letter to the Editor
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s UP
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Subscribe to the What’s UP newsletter
  • Opinion
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Log Out
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Veteran SUNY New Paltz administrator rapped for raising “specter of racism”

by Jesse J. Smith
October 9, 2018
in Politics & Government
8
Awkward moments in local racism

Gerald Benjamin and John Faso.

Gerald Benjamin

A high-ranking official at SUNY New Paltz was forced to apologize this week for what critics called racially insensitive remarks in a New York Times piece about the election race in the 19th Congressional District.

Gerald Benjamin, a long-serving assistant vice president and former dean at the university and head of his eponymous regional public policy research center at the campus, issued the apology one day after the July 17 story by Astead W. Herndon (“A Congressional Candidate Used to Be a Rapper. Will It Matter?”) appeared in The Times. The story focused on criticism of Democratic congressional candidate Antonio Delgado’s 2006 hip-hop album “Painfully Free.” In statements earlier this month the GOP super-PAC Congressional Leadership Fund and Delgado’s opponent, Republican incumbent John Faso, took aim at Delgado (who is black) for his use of the word “Nigga” on the album, as well as for expressing sentiments they called anti-American and anti-free-market. Faso called on Delgado to weigh in on whether he still holds the same sentiments expressed on the album.

That criticism sparked a backlash as Delgado and his supporters claimed Faso’s remarks were a racial dog-whistle intended to “otherize” a non-white candidate running in a largely white and rural district. Delgado defended “Painfully Free” as part of a hip-hop tradition of raising political and social awareness among inner-city youth using the vernacular of rap.

In the Times article Benjamin, a friend of Faso’s, weighed in on the likely impact of the lyrics controversy, saying, “Is a guy who makes a rap album the kind of guy who lives here in rural New York and reflects our lifestyle and values?” and “People like us, people in rural New York, we are not people who respond to this part of American culture.”

Benjamin’s remarks were met with a swift and severe denunciation from the university. The same day the article was published a statement from New Paltz president Donald P. Christian and chief diversity officer Tanhena Pacheco Dunn blasted the Benjamin’s comments, referring to him simply as “a campus leader.” “The quotes raise the specter of racism and marginalize members of our community, both of which are antithetical to our institutional values of inclusivity and respect,” the statement read.

On July 18, Benjamin issued his own statement apologizing for the remarks. In his statement, Benjamin said he was attempting to point out that race is always a factor in American politics and that Republicans were using Delgado’s hip-hop past to try to open “a cultural gap” between the candidate and many of his would-be constituents.

“I made these points badly,” Benjamin conceded. “My remarks were insufficiently precise, my points poorly articulated and my language very insensitive and therefore subject to multiple interpretations.”

Benjamin — who is quoted in The Times article saying that he did not believe rap was “real music” — added that his comments were off the mark in part because of his self-professed ignorance of the genre.

“I react negatively to racially charged, violence-inducing misogynistic lyrics I have heard, but knew virtually nothing about rap music as a form of affirmative artistic and cultural expression,” he wrote. “I was therefore particularly in error and professionally inappropriate in generalizing from a casually informed point of view, and in doing so turning what should have been an analytic statement into a very badly informed personal one.”

Tags: antonio delgadony-19
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher

Jesse J. Smith

Related Posts

Stormy Woodstock meeting questions the town supervisor’s original appointment
Politics & Government

Stormy Woodstock meeting questions the town supervisor’s original appointment

July 22, 2025
Is the New Paltz supervisor race finished?
Politics & Government

Gotto will oppose Rogers again

July 22, 2025
Donna Smith to replace Jewell Turner as Gardiner’s deputy town clerk
Politics & Government

Supervisor contest in Gardiner

July 22, 2025
Visiting New Paltz Village Hall
Politics & Government

Member of New Paltz’s village planning board calls for curbs on “inappropriate public comment”

July 22, 2025
Kingston driver receives maximum sentence in hit and run case
Politics & Government

One town justice in Hurley

July 21, 2025
New Paltz town councilmembers clash once again
Politics & Government

New Paltz town councilmembers clash once again

July 19, 2025
Next Post
Erica’s Cancer Journey: “Queen of hearts”

Erica's Cancer Journey: "Queen of hearts"

Please login to join discussion

Weather

Kingston, NY
66°
Partly Cloudy
5:40 am8:24 pm EDT
Feels like: 66°F
Wind: 3mph SSE
Humidity: 83%
Pressure: 30.17"Hg
UV index: 0
FriSatSun
91°F / 68°F
88°F / 68°F
79°F / 68°F
powered by Weather Atlas

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Our Newsletters
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Art
    • Books
    • Kids
    • Lifestyle & Wellness
    • Food & Drink
    • Music
    • Nature
    • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Subscribe to Our Newsletters
    • Hey Kingston
    • New Paltz Times
    • Woodstock Times
    • Week in Review

© 2022 Ulster Publishing