NYC Mayor Eric Adams Doubles Down on Calling Elderly White Critic and Holocaust Survivor a ‘Plantation Owner’
“Don’t stand in front like you treated someone that’s on the plantation that you own.”
Although from pre-election appearances it seemed like Eric Adams was going to be a different kind of Democrat, the kind who would restore some semblance of sanity to the Big Apple, he’s turned out to be exactly the type of problematic, self-serving Democratic city “leader” we’ve come to expect.
An incident that happened last week during a community meeting in Washington Heights only further proves the point. An agitated Adams, who was upset over being sharply criticized over rent increases that were recently approved by the Adams-appointed Rent Guidelines Board, lashed out at an elderly white critic, inexplicably calling the woman a “plantation owner”:
“Don’t stand in front like you treated someone that’s on the plantation that you own,” Adams told [Jeanie] Dubnau Wednesday at a town hall meeting in Washington Heights.
[…]
The exchange between the mayor and Dubnau began when she stood up at the meeting, pointed at Adams and asked, “Why in New York City, where the real estate is controlling you, Mr. Mayor, why are we having these horrible rent increases last year and this year?” She was referring to rent increases in rent-stabilized housing recently approved by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board. The board is appointed by the mayor.
“OK, first, if you’re going to ask a question, don’t point at me and don’t be disrespectful to me. I’m the mayor of this city, and treat me with the respect that I deserve to be treated. I’m speaking to you as an adult,” Adams said, then added the “plantation” comment.
“Give me the respect I deserve, and engage in the conversation,” he added. “Up here in Washington Heights, treat me with the same level of respect I treat you. So don’t be pointing at me, don’t be disrespectful to me, speak with me as an adult, because I’m a grown man. I walked into this room as a grown man, and I’m gonna walk out of this room as a grown man. I answered your question.”
Watch:
.@NYCMayor went off on a woman during his town hall tonight: "I'm the mayor of this city and treat me with the respect that would deserve to be treated. I'm speaking to you as an adult. Don't stand in front like you treated someone that's on the plantation that you own." pic.twitter.com/Qwn8TgYFD1
— Myles Miller (@MylesMill) June 29, 2023
The woman whom Mayor Adams likened to a slave owner was 84-year-old Jeanie Dubnau, an assistant professor of microbiology at Rutgers and a longtime resident of the city who has long advocated for low-income community members from all backgrounds:
This woman is Jeanie Dubnau, the Co-Founder of the Riverside Edgecombe Neighborhood Association (RENA), a tenants & housing rights advocacy organization in Upper Manhattan. She has +40 years advocating for low income NYers of all races. Jeanie is not a racist & this was wrong. https://t.co/KA3lEQDlYu
— Juan Rosa (@JuanRosa_NYC) June 29, 2023
Not only that, but Dubnau and her family are also Holocaust survivors, fleeing Nazi Germany in the 1930s:
Dubnau was born in Belgium shortly after her parents fled the terrors of the Nazi regime in Germany.
After hiding out in Belgium and France throughout World War II, she and her parents emigrated to New York City when she was 8 years old and she has resided in the Big Apple ever since.
Not surprisingly, when Adams was asked about his remarks during a Friday interview, he doubled down and defended essentially demanding Dubnau kiss his ring because of course kings never apologize:
“My mom made it clear, never allow someone to be disrespectful to you. That woman disrupted a meeting where all the participants were acting respectfully and cordially to get their issues heard,” Adams said during the interview. “She disrupted that, and then she was degrading on how she communicated with me. I’m not going to allow civil service to be disrespected, and I’m not going to be disrespected as the mayor of this city.”
Though Republicans and Democrats in this country can’t find much to agree on, Adams’ treatment of Dubnau managed to unite both the left and right against him, with woke MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hassan likening him to former President Donald Trump and conservative commentator Derek Hunter correctly pointing out that Adams should apologize:
He is the most Trumpian Democrat in America. Power-crazy and thin-skinned. https://t.co/Xybl18BTQA
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 29, 2023
It's always the people who earn the least respect with their actions who demand it the most with their mouths. @NYCMayor owes this woman an apology. #PieceOfTrash https://t.co/TgzHwXROH4
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) June 29, 2023
No matter who you are, public officeholder or not, respect has to be earned. It is not by any means owed to anyone.
If anything, it was Adams, who is in a position of power, treating Dubnau like she was subhuman, beneath him, with an uncalled-for reaction that was based purely on her race. His response was the very definition of racism in my opinion, and he has only himself to blame for the fallout that continues.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Adams is 3rd rate and knows it. A campaign should be started where lots of people refer to him as 3rd rate Adams, then watch him blow gaskets, meeting after meeting.
I prefer Affirmative Action Adams.
“Little Eric” would be most apt. What small little man.
Adams is an idiot. And it was clear that he was a lefty nutcase back in the campaign. ANyone who thought he was anything close to moderate was either naive or gullible.
In his short attempt to berate the questioner, Adams repeated the word “respect” 5 or 6 times. I have a feeling that it’s one of his favorite words, though it doesn’t appear that he knows what it means. He seems to like “deserve” a lot, too.
Adams is a worm.
He’s not a particularly smart person, but like all people who rise to the level of their incompetence, he’s an angry little bitch.
Plantation references keep coming up lately. Something must be occurring to people all at once.
When a Dumb-o-crat has lost the vile Mehdi Hassan, he/she has truly sunk into an abyss.
Yes, had to find the antiTrump comment
Yeah, I noticed that. These idiots can’t criticize a Dumb-o-crat’s behavior on its own accord, without invoking President Trump in a pejorative and denigrating fashion.
Your comment would carry more weight if it didn’t refer to your opponents as ‘Dumb-o-crats in a “pejorative and denigrating fashion.”
If you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself sent to the latrine to write your comments.
Are we supposed to speak well of the idiots who support a pedophile like Biden?
Every so often, someone such as yourself comes along, brimming with obnoxious sanctimony.
You’re mistaken — “Dumb-o-crats” is an accurate and fair characterization of these totalitarian reprobates.
I despise these idiots, and, I fairly reserve the right to call them exactly what they deserve to be called. And, my calling the Dumb-o-crats as such has nothing to do with the substance of my comment, so, contrary to your belief as to “weight,” my comment still stands.
It is impossible to heap too much scorn on Dems.
This here is Liberty Hall. We can spit on the floor and call the cat a bastard.
He hasn’t lost Mehdi Hassan! Quite the contrary, Mehdi Hassan is congratulating him for being in her face because thats what he thinks Trump supporters are like. Mehdi is in fact projecting his hatred of conservatives.
Too bad the lady isn’t an economist. Too bad the mayor isn’t an economist for that matter, so he wouldn’t have to go ad hominem on the question.
He’s even more unimpressive than I had believed him to be. An ignorant man-child having a tantrum. How are these people in charge of anything?
How are these people in charge? The oh, so, sophisticated NYC voters put him there. I wonder how much more NYC has to decline before the voters come to their senses.
Soros and Red China essentially run our elections because they run the people who count the votes.
Detroit. Baltimore. San Francisco. Chicago.
“I am the mayor of this city.”
Ich bin der Fuhrer!
“Don’t you point at me!” What a genius!
The lady is Jewish (could be Italian, for that matter). You chop off her hands she’d be speechless.
(If she were black, she’d throw a rolling pin at you.)
Eric “cartman” Adams: You will respect my authoritah’!
https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/fkq0rz/south-park-you-will-respect-my-authoritah
When they show who they are, some people sometimes believe them.
Part of the problem is “rent-stabilized” housing. With the government controlling rents and also making it hard to build new housing anywhere, there is little incentive to build new housing. That means there will be a housing shortage, and renters have to pay the exorbitant prices for whatever housing exists. It’s the same story in San Francisco, London, and all the other big, socialist-governed cities.
I didn’t realize how bad it was. A man just moved to my neck of the woods from NYC (I know…) and was remarking on the price of living. He is renting a good sized apartment with two bedrooms, living room, bathroom, and kitchen for less than he was renting one room of a basement in a bad part of NYC.
Yeah rent control perversely limits the supply of available housing while simultaneously raising the price of what housing is available and of course raising the value of the property. Good for those with preexisting real estate assets, financiers and govt getting their cut in taxes but for the intended beneficiaries… not so much.
Socialist ideas, at best, sometimes work on a surface level even if temporarily. Then the secondary and tertiary impacts reveal themselves almost always undercutting the original purpose and making it worse. Sometimes as with rent control it creates a new interest group(s) who viciously defend their free riding exploitation.
I read that government rent control is worse than bombing, because at least bombing reduces supply.
It reduces new supply because it puts a cap on what you can charge for rent.
Exactly. Rent-controlled jurisdictions have higher median rents than non-rent-controlled ones, owing to the lack of supply of market-rate rentals. It’s easy to compare too: Los Angeles has rent control, but most of its neighbors don’t, and you can hardly argue that LA is a swanky city where very high rents are to be expected.
So as usual all government involvement has done is make things worse.
This is my surprised face, really it is. I mean who would have thought that the government getting involved would make matters worse.
No matter who you are, public officeholder or not, respect has to be earned. It is not by any means owed to anyone.
It seems to me we should treat all people with respect, at least until their conduct negates that.
As I child I was told that it is rude to point at people. And it does sound like she disrupted the meeting.
Not that I have a high opinion of Adams. I wonder if this lady voted for him.
“It seems to me we should treat all people with respect, at least until their conduct negates that.”
Yeah, like we need to wait for more conduct for Eric Adams to prove his character.
Adams is a moron, Any intelligent person would have deflected and made themselves look magnanmous and the person doing the disrupting look bad.
But Adams has revealed himself to be pathetrically deficient in both the wit and character departments. At least people now see him for the pathetic schmuck he really is.
“It seems to me we should treat all people with respect, at least until their conduct negates that.”
Negative. We should as good people treat others with basic human decency and politeness, until their actions tell us otherwise. Respect is completely different.
I used to be a “respect the office if not the person” type. Obumbles showed me how wrong I was about that.
“As I child I was told that it is rude to point at people. And it does sound like she disrupted the meeting.”
Nope it was her turn to speak and she has the right to say what she pleases, she did not use foul language, she simply made an accusation, one that happens to be factual. Yes, is it rude to point at people as a child, because children point as people who are different without knowing they are being offensive. As an adult you are supposed to be able to tell when it is time to point and it doesn’t have to be a finger, you pointed a figurative finger at this lady saying she disrupted the meeting, which as false.
Also, it doesn’t matter if she voted for him, Buyers remorse applies to voting as well and humans make mistakes.
No, we should treat people neutrally until we know if respect or disrespect is in order. It is common for blacks to think they are owed respect, and common for them to kill each other over this. Maybe that will help people understand Eric Adams.
The lady should have replied, “You have never picked cotton and I have never owned a slave.”
She should have said: “I picked cotton!”. Being witless, Adams would have been lost for a reply.
Okay, can you prove to the court that she owns a plantation?
If an orchard is a type of plantation,“The Big Apple” must denounce itself.
Dan Bongino knows this guy from way back when he was in the NYPD and repeatedly warned everyone what a loser Adams is. Just another SJW that can’t get in front of a camera fast enough and puff his chest out no matter who he has to climb over to do it.
NYC thought they were voting for another Obama, what they got was a Sharpton.
I never thought I would be doing this but I have to object on behalf of Sharpton. At least he has make some positive accomplishments in his life, mostly through accident and luck, but still.
Adams is probably the only politician in the U.S. that has accomplished less than obumbles and that is saying something.
Adams is an impotent peacock and since he couldn’t answer he did what most peacocks do, spread the plumage and strut angrily.
Sharpton + & – totaled = net -.
Respect is earned, If you must demand it then you are not deserving of it.
Everybody alive now who was alive at the time is a Holocaust survivor.
rhhardin wrote:
“Everybody alive now who was alive at the time is a Holocaust survivor.”
——-
Spoken like the true Nazi you really are.
Respect has to be earned, and that buffoon Adams has done nothing to earn it. At all. If anything, he’s so far behind on the “earnings curve” that his contempt balance is sky-high.
“OK, first, if you’re going to ask a question, don’t point at me and don’t be disrespectful to me. I’m the mayor of this city, and treat me with the respect that I deserve to be treated. I’m speaking to you as an adult,” Adams said, then added the “plantation” comment.
“Give me the respect I deserve, and engage in the conversation,” he added. “Up here in Washington Heights, treat me with the same level of respect I treat you. So don’t be pointing at me, don’t be disrespectful to me, speak with me as an adult, because I’m a grown man. I walked into this room as a grown man, and I’m gonna walk out of this room as a grown man. I answered your question.”
All I hear is Cartman screeching “You will respect my Authoriti!”
Translation of this statement is very easy; “Oh crap a question that I can’t answer because it will make me look bad! Let me whip out my Anger and Race Card!”
As far as “respect” this lady was treating him with entier boatloads more respect than he deserves.
Who would have thought that Deblasio would be missed. Worse to come. The big earners are leaving NYC and the big mouths are staying.
If I were a New Yorker, I still wouldn’t miss him, just because Adams.
Although from pre-election appearances it seemed like Eric Adams was going to be a different kind of Democrat
You obviously weren’t watching the same events and press releases I was.
Also, though Adams is an a-hole and shouldn’t have done what he did, the woman does not have assumed moral authority because she “survived the holocaust.” Sorry, but NO. If she wants to talk about NAZIs I might listen a little more closely if she speaks from that experience. But plenty of bad people survived the Holocaust, too. You have to show yourself as something more than one of that multitude to have moral standing on anything.
(And, yes, there are several statements where that moral authority is claimed.)
This is one of those rare disagreements between two leftists. Here is a translation:
Adams: You are an oppressor!
Dubnau: I am a victim!
Adams: You are an oppressor!
Dubnau: No, I am a victim!
Adams: I speak for much bigger victims than you!
Dubnau: No, you must recognize MY victim status!
Adams: Oppressors cannot claim victimhood!
Dubnau: Says who!? Victims cannot claim victimhood against other victims!
Adams: Says me! Have checked your skin color lately!?
Dubnau: I’m NOT an oppressor!
Adams: … you are too!!
Dubnau: am NOT!
Adams: ARE TOO!!
Dubnau: NOT!!
with his racist remarks to an elderly, long-time resident of the city, he publicly reveals himself as the insecure little racist turd he is