VIDEO: Paul Congemi, cand for mayor of @StPeteFL tells activists in debate their "reparations were Barack Obama" and to "go back to Africa" pic.twitter.com/QlSmDhGAPw
— Evan Axelbank Fox13 (@EvanAxelbank) July 19, 2017
“My commitment is to reparations to the community, to the black community that has suffered these damages under these current administrations,” Nevel said, according to WTSP-TV in Tampa. Nevel added that no amount of job creation or recreation centers could “health the wounds of the families of victims killed at the hands of law enforcement officers.”
Congemi responded minutes later:
“The reparations that you talk about, Mr. Nevel, your people already got ... in the form of a man named Barack Obama. My advice to you, if you don’t like it here in America, planes leave every hour from Tampa airport. Go back to Africa.”
Nevel and Congemi were among six other candidates participating at the forum. The current incumbent, Mayor Rick Kriseman was among the group as well as former mayor Rick Baker.
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Congemi has ran for mayor three times, but has garnered nearly non-existent support. He received 119 votes in 2009 out of 36,649 total and in 2013 received 225 votes out of 50,055 total. The 2017 primary election is scheduled for Aug. 29.
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