Condemn the Endorsement of Assemblyman Parker Space by the New Jersey Herald

Join us in condemning the New Jersey Herald’s endorsement of Assemblyman Parker Space.

In August of this year, Space made national news by posting a picture of himself in front of a confederate flag emblazoned with a picture of Hank Williams Jr. and the phrase: “If the South had won we would have it made.” The post was removed, but Assemblyman Space never offered a sincere apology, dismissing the uproar and calling his statement “working-class humor.” In addition, Space made headlines again with his use of a misogynistic slur in a description of Kate Matteson, one of his opponents in the November election. Again, Space refused to apologize for the offense.

There are certain actions by politicians which should be deal-breakers for responsible media outlets when they offer endorsements. The unapologetic use of sexist language is unacceptable, and posing in front of racist symbols is an even more obvious disqualification. Not only did Parker Space chose to disseminate an image of himself with a Confederate flag, he did so at a time when the struggle against the display of such racist symbols had become greatly heightened in the immediate aftermath of the Charlottesville tragedy.

Your message will be:

"If the editorial board of the New Jersey Herald will not immediately withdraw and retract their endorsement of Parker Space for New Jersey State Assembly in 2017, I demand their resignation. If they do not chose to resign, then I demand that Quincy Media, the parent company of the New Jersey Herald, terminate its relationship with all members of the Herald editorial board who are responsible for this dereliction of duty to the community they serve as managing representatives of the newspaper of record in New Jersey’s 24th Legislative District."

Your comments will be delivered to the Editorial Board if The NJ Herald and its parent company Quincy Media.