NOT SORRY

Jersey City Mayor: School Board Member Who Called Jews ‘Brutes’ Should Quit

Joan Terrell-Paige reportedly refused to apologize and said she did not regret the post.

The mayor of Jersey City is calling for a Board of Education trustee to resign after she wrote a Facebook post blasting the “brutes in the Jewish community” after last week’s shooting at a Jewish market, Politico reports. In her since-removed Sunday evening post, Joan Terrell-Paige claimed that African-American homeowners in Jersey City have been “threatened, intimidated and harassed” by new Jewish residents who threatened to “bring drug dealers and prostitutes to live next door to you” in an effort to get residents to sell their houses. “Mr. Anderson and Ms. Graham went directly to the kosher supermarket. I believe they knew they would come out in body bags,” Terrell-Paige said, referring to the two shooters who died after killing a police officer and three others. “What is the message they were sending? Are we brave enough to explore the answer to their message? Are we brave enough to stop the assault on the Black communities of America?”

Mayor Steve Fulop said Terrell-Paige’s comments have “no place in our schools and no place among elected officials.” Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas said Terrell-Paige’s post does not “reflect the [Jersey City Board of Education] outlook or value system.” Terrell-Paige, an African American woman, said she did not regret the post and refused to apologize for it. She also said it was not her choice to remove the post from the platform.