Three New Jersey city council members are apologizing after one of them used an anti-Semitic slur and the other two defended it.
Trenton City Council President Kathy McBride employed the anti-Semitic trope at a closed-door meeting earlier this month, during which she discussed the city attorney’s ability to negotiate a cheaper settlement in a woman’s personal injury case. She said the city attorney, who is Jewish, was “able to wait her out and Jew down for $22,000 worth of pins in her knee that can never, ever be repaired.”
McBride apologized Tuesday at a city council meeting.
“I am apologizing to the community at large,” said McBride, a Democrat. “In my position you cannot make anyone feel insulted or you cannot be insensitive to any ethnic backgrounds, so I am apologizing to the community at large.”
Councilwoman Robin Vaughn apologized in a statement Wednesday.
“First and foremost, I am sincerely sorry. My comments were wrong. Never was it my intention to hurt, disrespect or demean anyone when I described a racial slur or its usage, as a verb,” Vaughn said.
Councilman George Muschal also expressed remorse Wednesday, telling the Associated Press he apologizes to anyone he offended in the Jewish community.
Vaughn and Muschal initially defended McBride’s comments.
“We really need to get a more acute meaning and understanding of ‘anti-Semitic’. I believe her comment ‘jew down’ was more in reference to negotiating, not ‘I hate jews,’” Vaughn wrote. “Inappropriate in today’s PC culture absolutely, but to Jew someone down is a verb and is not anti-anything or indicative of hating Jewish people.”
Muschal called it “just a statement of speech” and gave an example of how it could be used: “You know, it’s like a car dealer, they wanted $5,000, you Jew ‘em down to $4,000.”
New Jersey’s entire congressional delegation condemned McBride, Vaughn, and Muschal prior to their apologies.
“Anti-Semitism is on the rise around the world and right here in New Jersey. We must never accept bigotry or hatred in any form. We are calling on both the Trenton Councilman and Councilwoman to apologize immediately or resign,” the delegation said Wednesday.
Cohen said he did not find any council members anti-Semitic, but added, “I think that everybody concerned would benefit from enhanced awareness and sensitivity about the historical nature of the language.”
