East Hartford Republican council candidate ripped for racist post mocking Juneteenth

A Republican candidate for East Hartford town council posted a list of questions recently on Facebook about how to mark Juneteenth, including whether celebration of the federal holiday should include carjacking and store looting.

Dean Chamberland on Thursday acknowledged the post mocking the day that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., but said he copied and pasted it from another source and removed it when he realized what it said.

“When I first read this, I didn’t see how this would affect my community,” Chamberland, who is white, said. “When I went back that day and reread what I posted, I immediately took it down. I regret posting it that day. I still want to see this town move forward and I will be a part of that process when I get elected. I am on the ballot and I have a lot of work to do.”

Public officials and candidates on the November ballot, however, called for him to quit the race.

“It turns my stomach,” Mayor Marcia Leclerc, a Democrat who is not running for reelection, said of Chamberland’s post. “He’s not competent enough to serve, nor will be he able to be an objective elected official.”

“This holiday really has me confused,” the post said. “Joe Biden and the Democrats really snuck this one in on us. I have so many questions. Will they be sending out a pamphlet on what the official juneteenth (sic) activities are?” The post answers that question with mocking suggestions of crime, gang association, Snoop Dogg and BET.

Asked about the future of Chamberland’s candidacy, Republican Town Committee Chairwoman Prescille Yamamoto said, “He’s not being urged to step down; he’s being urged to think twice before he opens his mouth once.”

Chamberland’s name is on the ballot, Yamamoto noted, so even if he resigns he is still up for election.

“So let’s try and work with this young man and help him understand the community he lives in,” she said, noting East Hartford’s diversity. “I don’t know if he’s been contrite enough, but he has been contrite. We’re going to do more good by keeping him and working with him.”

“I really didn’t see it as being offensive the first time I read it and I read it quickly,” Chamberland wrote in another post on the East Hartford Crime Watch & neighbors helping neighbors Facebook page, which he administrates.

“I feel like I have let many of you down,” he wrote. “However, I will make this right... I still have a lot of people that stand by me. These people know that I am not the way I have been portrayed.”

On Thursday, a growing chorus, including Democratic mayoral candidate Mike Walsh, called for Chamberland to step aside.

“These posts are too damning for him to continue and are not a reflection of our community,” Walsh said.

Republican mayoral candidate Matt Harper could not be reached immediately.

East Hartford native Ivelisse Correa, CFO of Black Lives Matter 860, said Chamberland is not fit to represent town residents. Harry Amadasun Jr., vice president of East Hartford’s Black Caucus and a local school board member, said public trust is vital for any elected official.

“You can say whatever you want because this is America, it’s a free country,” Amadasun said, but elected officials are supposed to represent every resident and must keep that in mind when they speak or post on social media.

“The trust of the people is extremely important,” he said, “and I think that when you break that trust, it’s really hard to get it back.”

Along with his work on the East Hartford crime watch page, Chamberland also launched a statewide crime watch group this year, Safe Streets of Connecticut, in response to the surge of vehicle thefts and burglaries and related crimes.

Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com