'She diminished everyone': Bronx students react to Governor Hochul’s controversial remarks

BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) – New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, says she regrets saying black children in the Bronx do not know what the word “computer” means.

Immediately, political leaders from the Bronx called the statement “harmful” and “appalling.”

Now, students, activists, and educators are also up in arms.

These are the words that have caused such controversy.

“Right now, we have young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don’t even know what the word computer is,” Governor Kathy Hochul, Democrat from New York, said. “They don’t know,” she added.

New York’s governor commented while being interviewed at the Milken Institute global conference in California to discuss increasing economic opportunities in artificial intelligence for low-income neighborhoods.

For a public official, someone who is the highest ranking official in New York State, to say that to a room full of billionaires, it was heartbreaking,” Chivona Newsome, co-founder of Black Opportunities Inc., told PIX11 News. “We had to console our elementary school children here,” she added.

At a news conference at a Bronx charter school, educators from Black Opportunities Inc., Black Lives Matter, the New York chapter, and students themselves talked about what they called Kathy Hochul’s racist and insensitive remarks.

“When I first heard what Governor Kathy Hochul said, I was speechless,” Rhaki Robinson, Black Opportunities Youth Coalition Leader, said at the news conference. “I thought it was AI. I thought someone was trying to make her look bad, but she did it herself,” he added.

Robinson is one of close to 100 students who participate in an afterschool program called Black Opportunities. The program has a 100% graduation rate, and most of the students get full scholarships to college.

“What she did was diminish everybody who learned and picked up a computer to try to learn JavaScript or codes,” Naheem Sophas, another Black Opportunities Youth Coalition leader, said at the news conference.

The governor has repeatedly apologized for her words, but activists say that’s not enough.

“I chose the wrong words. I know I hurt many people and take full responsibility for it,” Hochul said at a news conference.

“What we demand is that Governor Hochul invest in the Bronx and make it the tech hub of New York State,” Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, the New York Chapter, told PIX11 News. “They should build partnerships with tech companies, he added.

The co-founders of Black Lives Matter, the New York chapter, and Black Opportunities want to meet with the governor at Wildflower Community Charter School to show her all the great work being done there.