By Councilmember Dr. Kendall Stewart
BROOKLYN, NY -- BROOKLYN, NY -- St.Vincent-born New York City Councilman Dr. Kendall B. Stewart (D-45h CD) has called on Radio Station Hot 97 to immediately fire bad-mouth deejay Miss Jones and to apologize to all New Yorkers for her injudicious comments on the transit workers and Trinidad-born leader of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 Roger Toussaint. In comments attributed to Miss Jones, noted for her bizarre and outlandish statements, Daily News columnist Plathelle Benjamin quoted her as saying on her radio show that Roger Toussaint was a "dumb coconut who probable don't have a green card". She is also reported to have called the striking workers “"uneducated and overpaid losers who made the wrong choices in high school".
“This clearly is the kind of behavior that should never be tolerated on the public’s airwaves. I want Miss Jones to know that I was born and educated in the Caribbean and I’m now a member of the New York City Council. I take serious offense to her characterization of Roger Toussaint as “a dumb coconut.” I suspect that Miss Jones will not take kindly to others of a non-Black race calling her a “nigger.” Yet she feels comfortable to engage in such an odious form or verbal diarrhea based solely her jaundiced observations,” Councilman Stewart said.
The Chair of the Immigration Committee said that “Miss Jones is a disgrace to the noble profession of radio journalism and should be encouraged to seek another line of work.” Dr. Stewart said that her comments disrespected all immigrants and reflected the animosity that Miss Jones obviously harbors for other Blacks “not born in America.” Dr. Stewart reminded her that the only difference between Caribbean-born Blacks and African-Americans was that “the slave boat stopped in the Caribbean and let off some Blacks and then came to America with the remainder.” He urged her to brush up on her Black history. He called on the parent company of Hot 97 to immediately remove Miss Jones from the station and so prevent her from making other embarrassing statements that stoke racist fears and expose her obvious appalling ignorance.
“Hot 97 gives Miss Jones a platform from with to spew racist and derogatory comments. It’s that simple. The station has a moral responsibility to clean its programming and to purge this filthy contamination of the public’s airwaves. Miss Jones is a disgrace to her profession, a vapid, empty loud-mouth that loves the sound of her own bigoted voice. Freedom and democracy does not mean the freedom to malign and bad-mouth people for no reason at all,” Dr. Stewart said.