Running for office while Black: A crime in Westchester County?

Running for political office is expensive, time consuming, demanding and hard.  It should not be dangerous. 

The recent incident involving a candidate for the Westchester Board of Legislators, former Yonkers NAACP President, Kisha Skipper, illustrates the continued hazard for Black women running for elected office.  

Kisha Skipper, candidate for Westchester County Board of Legislators

As reported in BlackWestchester, officers from the Yonkers Police Department responded to the Beczak Environmental Education Center at approximately 8:25 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, after a dispute between two women inside a restroom during a candidate forum. 

Police say a third woman, Donna Nolan, the mother of  Skipper’s opponent, incumbent Legislator James Nolan, intervened and sustained an abrasion to her lip. 

Skipper was handcuffed, detained, taken to a Yonkers police station, released without charges pending further investigation, and transported to Westchester Medical Center for treatment. Police say the investigation remains active and that it has not been determined to be politically motivated.

In a statement, Skipper said, “During the event, I was followed to the restroom, first by Stephon Holguin, a political operative of the incumbent, and then by Donna Nolan, my opponent’s mother, who shut the restroom door (usually kept open) and prevented me from leaving despite repeated requests. I acted to protect myself. I dispute the characterization of my actions as an unprovoked attack.”

It is deeply disturbing that a candidate for office appears to have been targeted and ambushed in a restroom during a candidate’s debate.  It is even more troubling that although she complained about being assaulted,  Skipper was the only person handcuffed and taken away by police.

History tells us that candidates, elected officials, city commissioners, school superintendents and even school principals who are Black are subject to hateful rants and anonymous promises of violence.  Not only is it expected, we have become numb to its corrosive and persistent presence. 

Tracking and trapping a Black woman in a restroom is a sign that there is no respect, a good dose of entitlement, and no fear of consequences.  That must change!

We join the call for a full investigation of this incident, its timing, and the subsequent detention of Skipper by Yonkers Police.   

While we have the right and, in a democratic republic, the obligation to hold our elected officials accountable, no one has the right to intimidate, bully or encourage violence.  We urge everyone to call out race baiting, anti-Black rhetoric and misogyny.  

A New Rochelle neighbor at a recent Board of Education meeting

In a community that speaks with pride about diversity and where the city council reflects that diversity, there is a growing undercurrent of race-based loathing and an unhealthy dose of entitlement that is driving New Rochelle towards becoming more like our neighbors in Yonkers.   That, too, must change.