Marjorie Bonadies waded into the toxic waters of the Nextdoor social-media site — and, she said, ended up accidentally pressing a button she didn’t mean to.
Bonadies, the Republican leader on the Hamden Town Council, was on the site announcing that she is running for the 9th District seat this year. She currently holds an at-large seat.
Bonadies pressed a “like” button that put a heart next to a comment that stated, in part, that “the southern section of Hamden is a ghetto…i dont go down to that area unless i am armed.”
Her “like” pressed the buttons of some constituents, who have begun circulating them.
Southern Hamden has a larger African-American population, and more families in poverty, than does the northern side of town where Bonadies is running.
In a conversation Monday with the Independent, Bonadies said she makes a point of not serving as a member of the “speech police.” “I try to thank most people for just engaging, just commenting,” she said.
“We’re all adults. I don’t want to police other people. I don’t think it’s my job. If someone was being bullying or name-calling to individuals that were on that thread, I would probably say, “Let’s stick to our topics. Let’s not devolve into name-calling.’”
That said, she makes a point of not approving of bigoted or “incendiary” comments that “make me cringe,” Bonadies added. She said those two comments fall into that category, and she thought she had not pressed the thank-you or like buttons.
“It’s not necessary to talk about sections of our town like that. It’s unproductive. It hurts people of our town. That’s on that adult to sound like a bigot or a prejudiced person, that’s on them. I wouldn’t stand for someone being bullying to the individuals or a group of people that live around there,” Bonadies said.
“I do agree that silence in the face of evil is complicity,” she said, citing “Germany 1940” as an example.
Council Rep. Justin Farmer, who represents the portion of southern Hamden bordering New Haven’s Newhallville neighborhood, called the Nextdoor posts “a big deal.”
“We have a polarized town,” Farmer said. “These are your neighbors. These are your community members. If you feel the conditions they live are poor and inadequate, that is our responsibility.
“I don’t see people leveling comments about Laurel View and people drinking and partying up there. For some reason the other part of town with some of the poorest residents is looked down in a negative way.
Bonadies did change a reaction from a “thank you” smiley-face to a frown on a second comment in the thread, which stated that “the southern section of Hamden is a ghetto.”