Yvette-Clark strong’ opposes Trump’s appointment of Steve Bannon
One of President-Elect Donald Trump’s first appointee in his pending administration has been drawing strong criticism.
Among the critics of Trump’s appointment of Steven Bannon, an executive of the ultra-right wing media company, Breitbart, as his White House chief strategist, is Caribbean-American Congresswoman, Yvette D. Clarke from New York. Congresswoman Clark joins some 29 other US congressional representatives who have called on Trump to consider revoking Bannon’s appointment.
There has been strong push back from Democrats, and even some moderate Republicans to Bannon’s appointment. The criticism is based on claims that his views are aligned to white supremacy, anti-Semitism and sexism resulting from articles he has published on the Breitbart website site. He has also been criticized for being demeaning to women and for opposing same sex unions in general.
In a letter to the president-elect, the congressional representatives including, Congresswoman Clarke, wrote: “We strongly believe Mr. Bannon’s appointment will not allow the country to heal and come together as one. We call on Mr. Trump to build a diverse White House staff committed to the core American values of inclusiveness, diversity and tolerance.”
In a post of Facebook, Clarke said, ““We call on President-Elect Trump to remove Steve Bannon from his position on the hite House team.”
In another statement Clarke said she has beep concerns about the appointment because Bannon’s “longtime association with white nationalist, xenophobic, and anti-women politics has raised serious concerns that he will use his position in the federal government to undermine the best traditions of our nation and attempt to relegate women, African Americans, Latinos, Jews, Muslims, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community to second-class citizenship.”
Clarke, the daughter of former Jamaican council woman Una Clarke, also associates her concern with Bannon’s appointment with her concern for hate crimes around the country. She said, “Reports from the FBI demonstrate hate crimes have already increased dramatically since Election Day – including a swastika recently painted on the sidewalk in Crown Heights (in New York City). The threat of violent hatred has become a reality for more and more Americans. We cannot – and will not – allow anyone to disregard our humanity and demean our existence. I urge the incoming administration to reject such vile rhetoric and urge my constituents to report suspected hate crimes to law enforcement authorities.”