The winner of a New Jersey town’s council election posted a photo of himself in blackface to his Facebook page six years ago, and an anti-racism group is demanding an apology. Vincent Kelly, a white GOP candidate who won the Pitman city council elections, had posted a photo depicting him dressed as rapper Flavor Flav at what appeared to be a Halloween party on his Facebook page. The 2015 photo, which still remains on Kelly’s page, drew condemnation from the Pitman Anti-Racist Collective, which called for an apology from Kelly Thursday night. “Kelly is clearly seen engaging in this widely condemned, racist practice,” the group said, according to NJ.com.
Kelly told the Daily Journal the photo was from 2008 and that he didn’t intend to do blackface. “I didn’t put blackface on,” Kelly said. “I went to a costume party. And it came … with it. This is what you got with it. That’s what I did. There was no intention to do blackface, or to belittle African Americans, or anything like that. It was a simple Halloween party.” He won one of two seats against a Democrat incumbent by 38 votes during Tuesday’s election.
Read it at The Daily Journal
