Meet Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a 45-year-old Manhattan Valley man running for a City Council seat representing Morningside Heights, Hamilton Heights, West Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. But Lopez-Pierre isn't on the City Council yet, so perhaps you'll forgive him for his ignorance regarding their symbolic ban on the n-word? Because holy moly did he use it in a public e-mail yesterday to real estate developer Brian Benjamin after the latter decided "to pick Mark Levine the only White/Jewish guy in the race to raise money for."

Politicker got ahold of the letter today and, well, read it for yourself. It starts off nice enough...

January 3, 2013

Brain [sic] Benjamin:

First I would like to say Happy New Year!

Now that bullshit is out of the way, I wanted to say this to your face but I did not want my words to be misunderstood.

So I am sending it to you in writing and sharing it with others.

I see that you are on the host committee for Mark Levine for City Council.

I would hope that one day you would give me the legal grounds to bitch slap you.

You are an uncle Tom Nigger bitch.

Its Nigger bitches like you that have sold out the Black people of Harlem.

To think there are about eight other candidates in this race that are Black and Hispanic and you decided to pick Mark Levine the only White/Jewish guy in the race to raise money for.

What good does it do our community (by this I mean Black and Hispanic people) to have uncle Tom Nigger bitches like you graduate from Ivy League schools if all you do is suck the cock of guys like Mark Levine.

All the best,

Thomas Lopez-Pierre

PS, The reason why you got your Nigger ass kicked (politically) by Jamaal Nelson when you ran for district leader is because Black people in Harlem can smell the Bitch in you.

They know that you are a weak, little short man who sucks White/Jewish cock.

This e-mail, which was reportedly sent to at least "30 uptown political figures," isn't the first bit of racially-charged rhetoric out of Lopez-Pierre, who is running for term-limited Councilman Robert Jackson’s seat, but it certainly is arguably the most jaw dropping. Perhaps, though, considering the traumatic childhood described in awkward third-person on his campaign website Lopez-Pierre feels such language is appropriate for public discourse. A sampling of that sad tale:

During these 6 years (8 to 14 years of age) of living in the crime ridden community of Bushwick, Brooklyn, Thomas was sent daily to buy drugs for his drug-addict father. When the police stopped Thomas and found drugs on him because of his age they returned him to his father.

Thomas' father was a violent man and would often beat his son with a pipe for not being smart enough to protect his drugs from the police (See NBC News video report on crime in Bushwick, Brooklyn in 1976).

When Thomas was 11 years old, his father sent him two days before Christmas Day to stay with his father's step-sisters on Christmas Day. The Christmas tree was stacked so high with gifts. Thomas never saw so many toys before. He counted only about eight other children in the apartment on Christmas Day.

Thomas kept trying to figure out how many was his.


It did not take long for Thomas to find out that NO one had place a gift under the tree for him. Thomas sat there as each gift was handed out wondering when someone, anyone was going to call his name.

He was in shock; Thomas never felt so unloved in his life.

He wanted to cry but he did not.

In a brief interview with Capital's Azi Paybarah Lopez-Pierre confirmed he had written the e-mail. As for why? "The purpose of that email was to disrespect [Benjamin], humiliate him." He also acknowledged he wanted to garner attention with it (done!), "noting that House Speaker John Boehner twice cursed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 'That's politics on the national level. Imagine how politics is going to be in the 'hood,' he said."