New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) sparked outrage on Monday after making a statement that minority children in supposedly disadvantaged communities don't know what computers are.
The governor's remarks came at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, where she claimed that “young Black children” in the Bronx “are unaware of the term ‘computer'.”
“Now what we have is the money to build a phenomenal super computer that is gonna be accessible to the researchers in New York, college students, will attract more federal grants, and this is how we lay down the mark,” Hochul began, benignly enough.
“No state has done this. In fact, I talk to a lot of other people who say, ‘I wish my governor had thought of that first.' I say, ‘No, no – this is New York. We like to be first,' with all due respect to you from other states. It's sort of our attitude. We will be the best, we will be the first, and I want others to follow because right now we have, you know, young Black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word ‘computer' is,” she outrageously claimed before doubling down: “They don't know. They don't know these things.”
The governor later apologized.
The New York Post reports:
Lawmakers from the Bronx and all across the five boroughs quickly tore into Hochul's gaffe – which she later said she regretted.
“Do better,” Assemblywoman Karines Reyes (D-Bronx) wrote on X saying she was “deeply disturbed” by Hochul's remarks.
“Our children are bright, brilliant, extremely capable, and more than deserving of any opportunities that are extended to other kids,” Reyes added.
“Our children, far from being underestimated, are the epitome of brilliance, resilience, and untapped potential,” Assemblyman John Zaccaro (D-Bronx) wrote in a statement.
“They are not only capable but deserving of every opportunity that their counterparts are offered. It's disheartening to witness such a portrayal that undermines their abilities and aspirations,” Zaccaro added.
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