Valerie Smith defended her use of the n-word by referring to “All In The Family.” (Valerie Smith Facebook)
A woman running for local office in Southampton, N.Y., is explaining away her use of the n-word in a newly released phone call from last summer.
Valerie Smith, 53, is running for the Southhampton Village Board and confirmed to The Southampton Press Friday, May 26 that she was the one who called about Black men she claimed were in front of her house.
“Hi, just wondering: are you allowed to drink Hennessy by the bottle on the street in Southhampton?” Smith said in the call before demanding Southampton Village Police Department remove the Black men from her property. “There’s a bunch of n—— standing in front [of] my house drinking Hennessy and everything else.”
Many have blasted the hopeful board member on her Facebook page, where Smith defended her use of the racial slur Monday, May 29.
In one comment, she claimed a Black police officer has been taking advantage of Black residents and that she has had “gangsters, hoodlums, hanging in front of my house regularly for 6 years!!!
“I finally broke down last summer.”
“[Black people tell me] this is their neighborhood and I don’t belong here,” she added of her predominantly Black Hillcrest, N.Y., neighborhood. “Like, ‘White b—- get back in your house,’ etc. I know it is hard to believe that Black people don’t like white people.”
While speaking to The Press Friday, Smith cited Eddie Murphy and the 1970s sitcom “All In The Family,” which centered on a working-class bigot, as reasons why she should be able to use the word.
“I came into this neighborhood colorblind,” she said. “When you are a pioneer like I am, it’s not easy. I’m the only white person who owns and lives on this street.”
Smith repeatedly used the n-word throughout her interview with the local paper and SVPD confirmed she called them 100 to 200 times since buying a home in the area, mostly about public drinking, illegal parking, littering and noise.
“I said, ‘You f—— niggers!’ and they just dispersed,” Smith said of how she once quelled some noise outside her home.
On Facebook, she maintained she only began hurling the racial epithet six years ago.
