Dominican Day Parade 2015: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio Booed
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was booed during the annual Dominican Day parade on Sunday.
According to the New York Daily News, Mayor de Blasio was booed by the Dominican crowd who were at the parade. The reason he was booed? Back in June, de Blasio slammed the Dominican Republic government for its "cleansing" of thousands of Haitians people, which he called "immoral" and "racist." Over 200,000 of Haitians decent were forced out of the Dominican Republic last June.
With a smile on his face, de Blasio ignored the booing and went on to march in the parade, waving the Dominican flag.
Francisco Bens was one of the people who was booing the mayor. He said, "He talks too much, He doesn't like the Dominican Republic. ... He says Dominicans don't like black people. That's not true."
Although he gave no comment on the crowd booing him, last week de Blasio stood by his controversial comments, stating, "If that situation is improving in the Dominican Republic, it's because there was a public outcry. And I'm very comfortable with the fact that that had to be called out."
Last year, Dominicans became the largest Latino group in New York City, surpassing Puerto Ricans in that category.
Mayor de Blasio is also facing something far more serious than his controversial statements. The city is battling a Legionnaires' disease outbreak, in which eight people have died from the dreaded disease. According to the Washington Post, over 100 people have come in contact with the disease. The legionella bacteria is found in the warm waters of the cooling towers of certain buildings across the city.
De Blasio recently announced a bill under which the cooling towers will be inspected regularly. The mayor also stated that the outbreak is contained in the city.
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