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Pennsylvania Mayor Urged To Resign After Posting Picture of Apes In A Wheelbarrow Captioned “Aww…Moving Day At The Whitehouse

West York, Pa., Mayor Charles Wasko shared this racist meme about President Obama in June. Local lawmakers have asked him to resign after seeing this post and others like it.

The mayor of a Pennsylvania town faces calls to resign over his racist Facebook posts and comments about President Obama.

Republican West York Borough Mayor Charles Wasko posted an image of several apes in a wheelbarrow with the caption “Aww…moving day at the Whitehouse (sic) has finally arrived.” Lettering on the wheelbarrow reads “Kenya or bust.”

Another meme showed a picture of Clint Eastwood holding up a noose in an old movie with the message, “Barry, this rope is for you. You wanna bring that empty chair over here!”

In an apparent reference to First Lady Michelle Obama, Wasko also wrote, “Most think it is Obama’s picture……sorry its Moochelles baby photo,” beneath a photo of a smiling monkey.

Four West York Borough Council members interviewed Wednesday by the York Dispatch said Wasko should step down.

The two posts and others like them are “obviously ignorance and racism,” said Sandra Thompson, head of the NAACP chapter in nearby York.

Image result for pictures of mayor charles wasko

“Now that York NAACP has been made aware, we will be seeking to take action, because his obvious bias against black people has an effect on all his constituents, which he seems to forget includes black people,” Thompson said.

Wasko didn’t immediately respond to a Facebook message or calls to his home Thursday. He rejected criticism of the posts in an interview with the York Daily Record as “bulls–t that’s going on up at the borough office.”

The posts in question from the past several months were still visible on Wasko’s public page Thursday. He posted a video Wednesday of protesters blocking traffic on a highway and wrote, “Turn em into tar strips.”

Wasko won election to the unpaid post in 2013 in the borough of around 4,500 people, roughly 100 miles west of Philadelphia. About 87% of the town’s population is white and 12% is black, according to 2010 census figures.

Wasko casts tie-breaking votes on the Council and oversees the borough’s police department of eight officers.

“This in no way reflects the ideology of this department,” said acting chief Matthew Millsaps. The images on Wasko’s feed “disturbed” Millsaps, he added.

Members of the Borough Council said they plan to ask Wasko to resign at their next meeting Monday or pass a resolution of censure.

“I kind of want to throw up,” Council President Shawn Mauck said.

“I would punch him in the mouth if I could get away with it,” Councilwoman Shelley Metzler said.

 

Source:  NY Daily News

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