The Newburgh City Council voted unanimously to censure Councilman-at-Large Omari Shakur on Monday night after he was caught on film yelling antisemitic profanities.
Hudson Valley NY Councilman Omari Shakur filmed screaming "you and these Jewish motherf*ckers, Jewish motherf*ckers, f*ck all ya'll"
— StopAntisemitism.org (@StopAntisemites) October 28, 2021
Was he removed? Nope
He was censured
Had a vile comment like this been made about ANY OTHER MINORITY, he would have lost his seat in .25 seconds! pic.twitter.com/i8HCRfX5mg
The incident occurred Oct. 20 over a construction site issue where Shakur questioned a landlord about obtaining a permit for work going on at 156 Broadway, according to the resolution and an account of the incident Shakur gave on Monday.
Shakur, who voted in favor of censuring himself, apologized multiple times during the council meeting for his words. "As I told Councilman (Anthony) Grice, when those words came out of my mouth, I regretted them," Shakur said. "As a child and an activist of the 60s and 70s, the Jewish community has been allied with the Black community for the longest."
It is the second time the council has voted to censure Shakur. Last year, the council voted 5-1 to censure Shakur – that time, Shakur voted against the measure – over an incident involving a confrontation with city police officers.