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‘Go back to Africa’ Paul Congemi Florida mayoral candidate doesn’t care about your reparations

Christopher Koulouris: About author bio at bottom of article.
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Paul Congemi
Pictured, St Petersburg, Florida mayor candidate, Paul Congemi. Image via police bookings relating to an earlier incident this year when the GOP hopeful abused his mother.
Paul Congemi
Pictured, St Petersburg, Florida mayor candidate, Paul Congemi who caused uproar with his ‘Go back to Africa’ racist tirade. Image via police bookings relating to an earlier incident this year when the GOP hopeful was booked on felony abuse charges in relation to his mother.

Paul Congemi St Petersburg Florida mayor candidate goes on a racist tirade against supporters of one of his rivals. How to mutilate one’s political aspirations in a heartbeat. 

It seems there was little love lost when long shot St Petersburg mayoral candidate, Paul Congemi, 60, sparred with activists telling them they should ‘go back to Africa’.

The comments came as the Florida Republican candidate took exception to supporters of International People’s Democratic Uluru Movement affiliated candidate and rival Jesse Nevel during a mayoral forum in the town’s City Hall on Tuesday

Nevel, 27, the national chair of the movement, announced his candidacy in March saying he would run a platform of reparations to the African community.

A pledge that obviously hadn’t sat too well with Congemi who went off on Nevel’s supporters after being asked about opportunities for youth in the city.

Told the GOP hopeful, ‘Mr. Nevel, you and your people you talk about reparations. The reparations that you talk about, Mr. Nevel, your people already got your reparations. Your reparations came in the form of a man named Barack Obama,’

Paul Congemi
Pictured, St Petersburg, Florida mayor candidate, Paul Congemi during Tuesday’s mayor forum.

Uproar ensued with a woman in the audience yelling, ‘get out of here, get out of here,’ at Congemi.

But Congemi was only just getting started.

Continued the mayoral candidate, ‘My advice to you if you don’t like it here in America, planes leave every hour from from Tampa Airport, go back to Africa,’

Repeated Congemi in case it hadn’t sunk in yet that he’d gone on a vicious racist tirade, ‘Go back to Africa. Go back to Africa. Go back!’

The Uhuru chairman, who is white, in turn called Congemi a long shot candidate, a ‘non-factor’ in the race.

Instead, he called his opponent Rick Baker the ‘real enemy.’

Baker in turn took out a big stick trying his best to poke the racist tirade thing that suddenly landed on his lap, saying, ‘I first have to specifically reject the comments Mr. Congemi just made. I just think in 2017 in St. Petersburg, Florida, I never would have dreamed we would have heard comments like that at a mayoral debate.’

Come Wednesday, Congemi sensing he had just jumped off into oblivion sought to clarify his remarks, saying that ‘his advice’ was meant only for Nevel’s group of supporters. ‘Not all African Americans. Just those that Nevel represents,’ Congemi wrote in a statement sent to the Tampa Bay Times.

According to its website, the Uhuru Solidarity Movement organizes white people to join Africans in their struggle to ‘reclaim their land, labor, resources, and self-determination’.

It fights for reparations to redress systemic discrimination against black people.

Nevel is running against Rick Kriseman, Rick Backer, Anthony Cates and Paul Congemi.

In January, Congemi was charged with felony abuse for neglecting his 87-year-old mother, who suffered from bed sores noted the nydailynews. 

The primary election is scheduled for Aug. 29.

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