Blakeley convening town hall on McBride’s ‘Jew her down’ comments

Trenton Councilman Jerell Blakeley is set to convene an emergency town hall on Council President Kathy McBride’s “Jew her down” comments Wednesday.

“I am inviting the Trenton community to attend this Emergency Town Hall meeting to show our county, state, and country that the anti-Semitic comments of my colleagues don’t represent the values of the Trenton community,” Blakeley said. “Religious, political and community leaders are scheduled to give remarks at tonight’s Emergency Town Hall meeting to discuss how the Trenton community can combat hate speech.  This cannot be the new normal.”

McBride used the term “Jew her down” while discussing the settlement of a lawsuit, according to a recording of a Sept. 5 closed-door executive Council session obtained by the New Jersey Globe.

On Tuesday, the Council voted against censures for McBride and Councilmembers George Muschal and Robin Vaughn, who have defended McBride’s comments, which have drawn fire from Gov. Phil Murphy, every member of the state’s congressional delegation and the 15th legislative district’s Assembly representatives.

At the start of the meeting, McBride apologized after the comments after days of declining to comment on the same.

Muschal and Vaughn have not issued any apologies.

The town hall will be held in Trenton’s City Council chambers at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“We must expect more from our elected representatives,” Blakeley said. “In the wake of my colleagues’ failure to pass a motion of censure decrying individual member’s embracement of Anti-Semitic tropes and rhetoric and in the face of national condemnation, Trenton must come together to show the world that they don’t represent us.”