St. Petersburg Mayoral Candidate Paul Congemi Attacks Uhuru Representative, Asks Activists To 'Go Back To Africa'

The campaign for mayoral election of St. Petersburg, Florida, took an ugly turn when candidate Paul Congemi attacked members of the Uhuru movement and their representative, Jesse Nevel, during a debate Tuesday, telling them to "go back to Africa."

This outburst came during a mayoral debate after assertions were made that Congemi was a "non-factor" in the election, which is scheduled for Nov. 7. The primary election is Aug. 29.

"My advice to you, if you don't like it here in America, planes leave every hour from Tampa airport. Go back to Africa. Go back to Africa. Go back!" Congemi said.

He told audience members of the Uhuru community they kept talking about reparations but they had already got their reparations in the form of former President Barack Obama.

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"Get out of here," a woman in the audience could be heard saying several times after Congemi's pronouncement.

Reparations are measures taken by the state to redress gross and systematic violations of human rights law or humanitarian law. "The government, responsible corporations and other institutions that have profited off of the harm they have inflicted on Black people — from colonialism to slavery through food and housing redlining, mass incarceration, and surveillance — must repair the harm done," according to the website of the Movement for Black Lives.

In March, Nevel, chairman of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, had announced his run for the mayor of St. Petersburg. It was referred to as an "historic run for office of mayor on a platform of #Reparations to the African community." He had said: "The work that I’ve done as the chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, has involved coordinating people throughout the country; has involved coordinating branches; going on speaking tours and I think that, you know, at the very least, the people coming to power in this city, could do a better job than this corrupt politician has done these last 4 years.”

After announcing his candidacy, Nevel, who is 27 and has lived in the city since he was 18, said he entered politics to fight for justice for the city's black residents, according to Tampa Bay Times.

“I decided to run because the old guard is on its way out and we want to see economic development for black communities and this city that is something that will uplift the entire community,” said Nevel, who works as a caregiver to a disabled person.

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Nevel is running against Rick Kriseman, Rick Baker, Anthony Cates and Paul Congemi.

Meanwhile, in January, Congemi was charged with felony abuse after his 87-year-old mother was admitted in an intensive care for bed sores. At that time, Congemi refused to talk about it but insisted the charge of neglecting his mother would not stop him from running for mayor, a report said.

However, the incident in January was not the first time Congemi was in trouble with the law. During his 2009 race, he berated police officers responding to a complaint that he was swearing at customers at a KFC store. Congemi warned the cops not to touch him or else he would fire them when he become the mayor. Later, at a political forum, Congemi clarified that firing the officers wouldn ’t have been an abuse of power, but an act of “justice.”