Teague defends Paterson councilman Jackson
By Corey Teague
Published: September 12, 2019
It is true, we don’t need racially motivated slurs or speeches in this city. But let’s dig deeper into this issue. Ask yourselves this question, would councilman Michael Jackson be so fiercely targeted if he had been backing a certain agenda?
I wish that the amount of energy being used to attack councilman Jackson was used to seek justice for Jameek Lowery and to address the elevated level of violence, poverty, hunger, unemployment, mental health issues, drug abuse within our city.
I believe in fairness. I believe that this amped-up attack is a way of attempting to silence councilman Jackson’s voice permanently. While I don’t agree with the phrase that was used, I think that the overkill is purely political.
The end goal is to prevent councilman Jackson from winning reelection next year. On Tuesday night, councilman Jackson’s colleagues turned opponents saw a chance to strike a political blow to his reputation and so they took it.
That’s politics. Point blank.
I’m not making any excuses for councilman Jackson’s use of the phrase however, any notion that suggests councilman Jackson had malice towards the Jewish community is absurd. I was in the room when the conversation about Hinchliffe Stadium began. It was a heated conversation.
Councilman Jackson didn’t say what the ‘powers that be’ wanted to hear him say on Tuesday night, so they want him out.
Again, I don’t agree with the statement he made but like all of us, he made a mistake and apologized for it moments later. Councilman Jackson is human like all of us. He apologized and I don’t feel that he meant any malice by it.
Corey Teague
Ex-school board member and activist