Clarke Could ‘Better Know’ Her History

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, who some in our area feel hasn’t been present enough in our area to really know what’s going on here these days, made a gaff on The Colbert Report’s “Better Know a District” segment last night that shows she might not know what was going on in Brooklyn in the past.

When Colbert says that some called Brooklyn’s decision to become part of New York City “The Great Mistake of 1898,” he asks Clarke that if she could travel back in time to that year, what would she say to Brooklynites?

Clarke: I would say to them, “Set me free!”
Colbert: From?
Clarke: Slavery.
Colbert: Slavery. Really? I didn’t realize there was slavery in Brooklyn in 1898.
Clarke: No, I’m pretty sure there was.
Colbert: It sounds like a horrible part of the United States that kept slavery going until 1898.
Clarke: Uh…
Colbert: Who would be enslaving you in 1898 in New York?
Clarke: The Dutch.
Colbert: The Dutch. Those sneaky Dutch bastards.
Clarke: Exactly.

The Dutch had been out long before that, losing control of the colonies to England in 1674. And slavery? The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution officially outlawed that in 1865.