Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop called for Board of Education Member Joan Terrell Paige to resign because she questioned the Jewish community’s outpouring of grief after a Dec. 10 mass shooting on a Jewish supermarket in Jersey City.
Paige, who is black, sparked the Mayor’s anger after she commented on an online story about the hate crime on Facebook, according to NJ.com. The two shooters, who were themselves shot and killed by police in the incident, were also black, which could point in the direction of a racist motive, but they were also purportedly affiliated with Black Hebrew Israelites, a Jewish splinter group known for its conflict with other Jewish groups.
“I also said I’m not going to mix words. My opinion is she should resign,” Fulop, a Jew himself, and grandson of a holocaust survivor said on Twitter. “That type of language has no place in our schools and no place amongst elected officials. Imagine she said this about any other community—what would the reaction be? The same standard should apply here.”
I also said I’m not going to mix words. My opinion is she should resign. That type of language has no place in our schools and no place amongst elected officials. Imagine she said this about any other community – what would the reaction be? The same standard should apply here https://t.co/QMLOlBuarR
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) December 17, 2019
“Where was all this faith and hope when Black homeowners were threatened, intimidated, and harassed by I WANT TO BUY YOUR HOUSE brutes of the Jewish community,” Paige, who was elected to the New Jersy Board of Education in 2018, wrote in the controversial Facebook post.
On Wednesday, Governor Phil Murphy also weighed in on Twitter: “We will not let anti-Semitism and hate go unchallenged in our communities. In light of Ms. Terrell-Paige’s comments, I urge her to immediately resign from the Jersey City Board of Education.”
“I believe they knew they would come out in body bags,” Paige said about the shooters. “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?”
“I am speaking as a private citizen. Not as an elected member of the Jersey City Board of Education,” she added in the post. “These beliefs are mine and mine alone.”
Paige could not directly be reached for comment and the message has since been taken down from Facebook. However, when asked by Politico if she regretted the post, she said “No, I don’t,” adding that she also did not remove the post herself.
“I appreciate your concern and I wish you good luck,” she told the outlet before hanging up.
NTD Reporter Miguel Moreno contributed to this article.
