Yorktown Chamber of Commerce Should Be Ashamed of Itself
I attended the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce Fall Festival on Oct. 10, which is normally filled with family fun and good cheer for our local businesses and residents. However, this time I noticed a table that was different. It didn’t seem to be a local business, but more of an unknown t-shirt seller with just one phrase on the array of brightly colored shirts. Every shirt said “Let’s Go, Brandon.”
I found this to be puzzling, and so later, I thought to look up the phrase online. The phrase came from an Oct. 2 NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway, where a racer named Brandon Brown had won. A sportscaster by the name of Kelli Stavast thought the crowd was yelling, “Let’s Go, Brandon.” But in fact, the crowd was actually yelling “F— Joe Biden.”
And so now this phrase has a double or “secret” meaning when spoken or printed on something. Basically, yelling “Let’s Go, Brandon,” or by adding this phrase to a shirt, a person really means it’s inappropriate and derogatory counterpart.
So, why was this a booth at our family-friendly Yorktown Chamber of Commerce event? The chamber cannot say it didn’t know; this booth was within crawling distance of their main center console and directly across from the main stage. So it’s pretty clear that the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce knew what this meant and allowed this booth to be prominent on purpose.
Look further and you’ll see Sergio Esposito is the Yorktown Chamber of Commerce president and he’s running for a seat on the Town Board. And what party line is he running on? Yep, Republican. He absolutely knows what this new phrase means. And he knows it’s “fun” and snarky and sneaky and bold to have this booth front and center for everyone to see but not really know what it means.
This is wrong on so many levels. If this booth was at a flea market somewhere, fine. Sure, it’s pathetic, but you just walk by and turn the other cheek. But this is our yearly bring-the-kids Fall Festival that draws thousands from all over in our beautiful town square! This is unacceptable, uncouth, crude and NOT family friendly!
But there is another problem: Mr. Esposito wants to be town councilmember, too, which is supposed to be someone that works for all of us as a public servant. He’s already supposed to be our nonpartisan chamber of commerce president, but he has clearly failed at that. And he certainly does NOT deserve to work for you on our town council.
Vote for someone who will work hard for all of us fairly and honestly. Vote for Ilan Gilbert for town council in early voting or on Nov. 2.
Jennie Sunshine
Yorktown Heights
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