Lawmaker apologizes for racist retweet
A Republican member of the state House of Representatives was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans on Monday after he retweeted a racist statement linking African Americans to arson over the weekend.
By late afternoon, the lawmaker apologized to the General Assembly and his constituents.
The tweet includes a picture of former Vice President Joe Biden.
“If you aren’t setting fire to buildings ... then you ain’t black!” says the meme posted on Twitter, which was retweeted by Rep. Craig Fishbein, a conservative whose district includes Cheshire and Wallingford.
“We unequivocally condemn it,” said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby.
In a joint statement, House leaders including Speaker Joe Aresimowicz; Majority Leader Matt Ritter; and Rep. Brandon McGee, chairman of the legislative Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, also harshly criticized the tweet.
“Representative Craig Fishbein's blatantly racist retweet is beyond tone deaf — it is hurtful, inflammatory and bigoted,” they wrote in a statement. “We would like to hear how Republican
leaders across the state respond to this cowardly act of bigotry by Rep. Fishbein. Silence is not an option.”
A lawyer in his fourth year in the General Assembly, Fishbein was one of only three members of the House to vote against the shutdown of the House on March 11, its final day prior to the shutdown for the coronavirus outbreak.
Fishbein, in an email response Monday afternoon, said he tweeted the post to underscore the issue of free speech, and a reference to a recent remark Biden made — and apologized for — that a black person who’s not sure whether they would support him or Trump “ain’t black.”
“I shared the meme without comment in a subtle attempt to point out a double standard regarding political speech,” Fishbein said. “Without explanation, there was no context. I was wrong. The meme was offensive, period. I apologize to the people of the 90th district, my colleagues in the General Assembly and to the people of Connecticut.”