Lowell mayor calls on school committee member to resign after he uses anti-Semitic slur on television
Mayor John Leahy said it was "offensive conduct that shocks the conscience."
The mayor of Lowell is calling on a member of the city’s School Committee to resign immediately after he used an anti-Semitic slur during a community television show.Mayor John Leahy called for a joint meeting with the City Council and School Committee, and asked for support of a motion calling for Robert Hoey Jr. to resign “for offensive conduct that shocks the conscience,” a statement from Leahy said.During an episode of “City Life,” which runs on Channel 8, Lowell’s community channel, Hoey used the word “k—” to describe the city’s former chief financial officer, as reported by The Jewish Journal, which also posted a clip of the incident.“We lost the k— … oh, I mean the Jewish guy,” Hoey said. “I hate to say it, but that’s what people used to say behind his back.”Later in the program, Hoey appeared to try to explain himself, according to The Boston Globe
, referring to himself as “an Archie Bunker” and saying “I said a bad name” and “I shouldn’t say those nasty names about people.”
“So, I do say some crazy stuff,” he said, according to the Globe. “I love when they say, ‘Black lives matter.’ I like to say, ‘How about Puerto Ricans? How about white guys? Do we matter?’”
Leahy called the term “offensive and repulsive” in his statement.
“To fully represent the interest and diversity of our students and our community, we must not only join together in rejecting this language, but continue working toward the more perfect union,” he said.
https://www.facebook.com/MayorofLowellMA/photos/a.106275377620047/253941319520118/
Lowell City Manager Eileen Donoghue also spoke out against the incident in a statement, praising Leahy’s call for the joint meeting seeking Hoey’s resignation and saying “the action is warranted considering the magnitude of his offense.”
“Mr. Hoey’s remarks are a stark and disheartening reminder that intolerant viewpoints do still exist within our community, but I believe strongly that they are not defining of Lowell’s character,” Donoghue said. “I am grateful to the countless residents and leaders who have spoken out to soundly reject his comments since they surfaced.”
City Manager Eileen Donoghue has released the following statement regarding the anti-Semitic language used by School Committee Member Robert Hoey. pic.twitter.com/GwaKUxYuMJ
— City of Lowell, MA (@CityofLowellMA) February 25, 2021
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consortium–Lowell condemned the incident as well.
“Racism and discrimination of any kind must not be tolerated and must also have no place in public office,” the group said in a press release. “There can be no middle ground. The next steps and positions taken by leaders in response to this incident will be remembered.”
https://www.facebook.com/DEICLowell/posts/140555734588478
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