RI Latino PAC Condemns Pawtucket City Councilman for Racist Remarks

RI Latino PAC Condemns Pawtucket City Councilman for Racist Remarks

The Rhode Island Latino Pac is condemning the comments made by Pawtucket City Councilman Mark Wildenhain against Councilwoman Elena Vasquez.

As GoLocalProv reported back in December, Vasquez said Wildenhain "threw two $1 bills at my face and told me to 'take a bus back to Colombia'" at the recent City Council holiday party. 

The RI Latino PAC is calling on City Council President David Moran to also condemn the Wildenhain’s behavior.

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Read the Letter Below

Council President Moran,

It has come to our attention the Pawtucket City Council has failed to adequately address a racially-insensitive incident that occurred on December 16, 2019, during an unofficial gathering of the Council involving Councilperson Wildenhain. Since the incident, Councilperson Wildenhain’s attempt to apologize has fallen painfully short by minimizing the seriousness of his actions and dismissing Councilperson Vasquez’s experience.

In sum, the additional failure to place a public apology as a council docket item for the next meeting is a failure to publicly condemn Councilperson Wildenhain’s inappropriate comments and a failure in leadership.

It is needless to say that this behavior was unbecoming of an elected official and mandatory diversity training as a quick fix solution will not suffice. This is a matter of reputation of the Pawtucket City Council as an institution and a matter of great insult to the Latino community.

We believe this is an incident that should be addressed on the record before the City Council. If an apology is to be made, it should not only be made to Councilwoman Vasquez then, but also to the Council and to the City of Pawtucket.

We ask a resolution condemning these statements and actions be heard, and we demand that this elected body makes this wrong right, immediately.