Mostly minority Bronx school principal: 'Diversity is a weakness'
theGRIO REPORT - 'I've heard kids say they don't like him,' said one student's mother, a Jamaican immigrant. 'I was wondering where the heck he came from'...
“I’ve heard kids say they don’t like him,” said one student’s mother, a Jamaican immigrant. “I was wondering where the heck he came from. He shouldn’t be teaching here. He could look at kids differently because they’re black. It’s not fair.”
A similar sentiment was heard by the majority of parents whose children attend Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in the Bronx, New York. The primarily African-American and Hispanic student body is being led by an alleged purveyor of hate speach, Frank Borzellieri, for the last two years.
Borzellieri, 48, has made no mystery on his stance regarding the growing minority population and homosexuality. He has authored several controversial writings, including a push to ban a biography on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. which he deemed as “anti-American.”
His influence to demean the rise of the minority population does not end at the public school system. Borzellieri is also an avid contributor for the white supremacist publication American Renaissance, and has written a book called Don’t Take It Personally: Race, Immigration, Crime and Other Heresies, in which he declares “diversity is a weakness” and says the rising black and Hispanic populations in America will lead to the “New Dark Age.”
As school board member for District 24 in Queens, where he lives, Borzellieri tried to remove an openly gay teacher and gay rights activist from the classroom at Public School 199 in Sunnyside, and ban school employees from making any references to homosexuality.
However, Borzellieri’s demoralizing words are not exclusively for minorities and homosexuals. His blog, Frank Borzellieri … Iconoclast of the Right, touts itself as a one-man forum that blasts the “hypocracy of liberals and politically correct so-called conservatives.” In his last entry, over a year ago, Borzellieri calls the government corrupt and states, “As is usually the case when the long intrusive arm of the federal government insinuates itself where it doesn’t belong, the interference can be attacked on two grounds — constitutional and pragmatic.”
Local parishioners and student family members have voiced their outrage extensively and are now using more forceful measures to have their disdain for the principle heard. Juan Varela, 54, addressed the congregation at a recent mass, and condemned the church’s hiring of Borzellieri. “I wanted them to feel my sense of outrage that he was brought into the community to teach,” said Varela, who was later arrested by police for disorderly conduct and criminal possession of a knife.
Mount Carmel pastor, the Rev. Eric Rapaglia, hired Borzellieri in 2009, to run the 200-student elementary school, despite knowing about his incendiary views.
“I knew of him from my last parish,” he said. “Do I agree with all of it? No. But I think much of it is valuable and logical and reasonable. A lot of his ideas would actually benefit minorities,” he added.
Joe Zwilling, spokesman for the Archdioceses, told the New York Daily News there is no record of a complaint against Borzellieri, but said the matter is under review. Zwilling added that sweeping changes in hiring parish principals went into effect in 2009, after Borzellieri was already hired as principle.
“Previously, pastors had great leeway and discretion in the hiring of principals,” Zwilling said. “That practice usually worked well, but we saw room for improvement.”
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