West York, Pennsylvania mayor, Charles Wasko is being urged to resign after his racist Facebook posts came to public attention. The mayor, an elected official, is under fire for a series of posts over several month depicting President Obama and the first family as apes and monkeys as well as a post that suggest the president should be hung.
On October 6 the West York Borough Council, in an effort to distance themselves from the mayor, will vote to censure Wasko. “Absolutely deplorable,” said council President Shawn Mauck of the mayors’ posts. “It makes you sick. There’s no good excuse for his actions or behavior,” he added.
Three months ago Mayor Wasko posted a photo of five apes in a wheelbarrow with the words “Kenya or Bust” on it. The photo was captioned “”Aww … moving day at the Whitehouse has finally arrived.” Earlier in the year the mayor posted a photo of a smiling ape captioned “Most think it is Obama’s picture……sorry its Moochelles baby photo.”
Council members and local residents alike are calling for the mayor to resign. He can’t be removed from his office as an elected official. Councilman Brian Wilson asked the mayor to remove his Facebook posts and the mayor blocked him. West York Borough council members will be out in the community doing charitable acts in an effort to show the community that the government of West York Borough does not all share the mayors’ sentiments. We want to reassure the public that we don’t condone it and it doesn’t reflect the views of the borough council, borough government and its employees,” Councilman Mauck said.
Being mayor, Wasok has authority over the borough’s police department which raises concerns for some council members. Acting Police Chief, Matthew Millsaps told the York Dispatch “I’ve viewed these images and am disturbed.” Millsaps was recently appointed acting chief after the chief, Justin Seibel was suspended for reasons not announced to the public. Two of the boroughs 8 officers are minorities, a Hispanic man and a Black female. “This in no way reflects the ideology or beliefs of this department,” Millsaps assures residents.
Attorney Sandra Thompson, who heads up the York NAACP has said that the NAACP will take action. “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 in an email.
This is not the first time Waskos behavior has caused a stir. In April he got loud and belligerent during a council meeting and had to be physically separated from a member of the council by police.
When reached by the York Daily Record Wasko said over the phone that what was going on was “bullshit that’s going on up at the borough office.” The controversy surrounding his Facebook posts has not stopped him from continuing his tirades against President Obama. At the time of this writing 10 hours ago he posted a video that asked “Is America Blind? “ and featured President Obama. His profile is rife with rants against Black Lives Matters, videos alluding to the fact the recent police involved shootings of Black men were justified and derogatory posts about Hillary Clinton.
It’s been reported that Wasko isn’t paid as mayor and when it comes to the council, votes only to break ties. West York Borough is approximately 100 miles from Philadelphia and has a population of nearly 5,000 with a quarter of the residents being minorities.
