State Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) did not back down from his "hyperbolic" outburst on Tuesday, where he accused Republican colleague State Senator John DeFrancisco of racism. On a radio show, he said, "You have these ... long-term white supremacists ... Republican senators, who you know have been in the majority for a long time. They've lost the majority. You now have a number of African-Americans and Latinos and women and gays running the Senate and they have a real problem with that."
Of course, this prompted Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos to demand that Parker be censured, calling the remarks, "disturbing, disgraceful, disruptive." Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson said, "Enough with the finger pointing, name calling, and heated rhetoric. New Yorkers want results. I need members in both parties to step back and focus on what's important: balancing the budget, creating jobs, and providing property tax relief."
Still, Parker told the NY Times, "There’s only one kind of racism that’s functional in the world, and that’s white supremacy. And that’s what John DeFrancisco and a lot of the Republicans are." The Times added that while Parker seemed calm during the interview, "Just before he invited a reporter in, he could be overheard shouting about the episode, claiming that his enemies were using it to embarrass him. When a member of his staff called the senator to let him know a reporter was waiting just outside his door, he quickly stopped shouting." Parker was arrested after assaulting a Post photographer last year and accused of choking a staffer in 2008 and attacking a traffic agent in 2005.
