By AHMED JALLOW
He donned a blackface a few years ago when he was celebrating Purim —a Jewish holiday with some practices similar to Halloween. For his outfit, he also wore a black robe with a gold chain that matched his “grillz.”
Asked by defense lawyer Paul Shechtman on Thursday in Manhattan federal court whether he went to Purim dressed in a blackface? Jona Rechnitz, 34, the key witness in the corruption trial of ex-union boss Norman Seabrook, asked: “What is blackface?” saying he’d never heard of the term before.
“You didn’t know it was derogatory until you sat here today?” Shechtman asked.
“Correct,” answered Rechnitz.
At one point during the trial, where five of the 12 jurors are black, Shechtman bluntly asked Rechnitz: “Are you a racist?”
“No, he replied.
A photo of the witness in the offensive costume was displayed to jurors.
Schechtman also showed a transcript of an email exchange between Rechnitz and another person in which Rechnitz used the word “schvartze,” —a Yiddish slur for a black person— to describe someone.
Rechnitz whose week-long testimony ended on Thursday said he went to private schools throughout his life and he never had black classmates.
The matter was clearly designed by the defense to bolster the tacit argument that Rechnitz was biased against the defendant, who is black.
Special agents from the FBI also testified detailing the execution of the search warrant.
For his part, Seabrook smiled as prosecutors showed nine pairs of his shoes, all Ferragamo, that were seized during a search warrant last year at his home in The Bronx. Jurors were also shown the Ferragamo bag prosecutors say had the $60,000-dollar bribe money that Rechnitz gave Seabrook.
Other items federal agents collected from his home during the search were $5600 in cash and the SUV Seabrook used to chauffeur around town.
Rechnitz is the key witness in a federal corruption trial that has engulfed high-ranking police officers, the mayor, a hedge fund millionaire and Seabrook.
Prosecutors dropped their investigation of de Blasio earlier this year.
Photo of witness in blackface shown in courtroom
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