Asian Pacific American Community Speaks Out Against Former Mayor Tim Stewart Racist Comments

Former Mayor Timothy Stewart (R) is once again facing criticism for bigoted comments online, this time directed at Asian Americans.

NBC Connecticut News reported today about an online discussion about, “a post about the Trump campaign’s allegations of Haitian immigrants eating house pets in Ohio.”

Another person had made a comment that, “I have a few friends in Ohio, and they said that they are killing and eating geese ducks and cats 1 said so far they are leaving the dogs alone.”

Stewart then responded, “need to bring in some Asians for that,” and added a laughing emoji to his comment.

Timothy Stewart is not only the father of current Mayor Erin Stewart, but is also an official in her administration, as Chair of the city School Building Committee.

In a statement, the Asian Pacific American Coalition of Connecticut (APAC) said that it,

condemns the racist remarks made by former New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart. In a city as diverse as New Britain, it is upsetting that an individual who has held numerous leadership positions is perpetuating harmful stereotypes against the nearly 2,000 Asian citizens he was elected to serve and the Asian community at large.

We encourage former Mayor Stewart to take the time to understand the diversity of the cultures which are represented not just in the beautiful city of New Britain, but throughout the State of Connecticut and our great nation, which immigrants and their children have and continue to be a part of building.

The Coalition also added that,

We further condemn the similarly racist and harmful comments directed against Haitian immigrants in the past few weeks. This hateful and fear-mongering rhetoric must stop. APAC stands in solidarity with the Haitian community to fight these ignorant and negative stereotypes.

This is far from the first such Timothy Stewart scandal during the administration of Erin Stewart.

In 2017, the elder Stewart was widely condemned for racism for his comment that, “Unfortunately the inmates continue to run the neighborhood,” in an online discussion regarding the city’s North Oak neighborhood, a neighborhood that has a large Latino and African American population.

The New Britain Branch of the NAACP called for the removal of Stewart from his position as President of the Greater New Britain Chamber of Commerce, and called on, “Mayor Erin Stewart, Mayor of the City of New Britain, immediately terminate his services from the two commissions and boards to which he has been appointed,” the Mattabassett District Commission and the city School Building Committee.

“The people of New Britain do not approve of statements that reveal the white supremacist bias that is perpetuated on a national level by President Donald Trump,” the NAACP said in its 2017 statement.

But Stewart remained in these powerful positions in the city, until his 2019 comments online referring to women members of Congress as, “bitches in heat.”

His comments drew even wider criticism than the 2017 scandal, including CCSU President Zulma Toro, who, commenting in 2019, said, “As this University’s first woman and first Hispanic president, I am disgusted with the behavior and attitude he shared. It is further evidence that we have much work to do to improve the culture and discourse as it relates to misogyny.”

In 2019, the pressure was too great for the Stewart political machine and the elder Stewart was forced out as a President of the Chamber of Commerce and from the Mattabassett District Commission and the city School Building Committee.

But, the elder Stewart’s time out of city government in his daughter’s administration was only temporary. As of 2021, Timothy Stewart had been reappointed by Erin Stewart to again Chair the powerful School Building Committee.

His return to city government was also despite another episode, at a 2019 Republican campaign event, when the elder Stewart responded to the younger Stewart gloating at the election defeat of then-Ald. Carlo Carlozzi, Jr. (D-5), a frequent critic of her policies, by stepping to the front of the crowd and thrusting both of his middle fingers into the air.