Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

New Jersey City Councilman Uses Term ‘Jew Us Down’ To Criticize Developers

(JTA) — A city councilman in Paterson, New Jersey, used the term “Jew us down” at a public meeting to criticize developers looking to buy land for less money.

Colleagues of Michael Jackson condemned his use of the term, calling it “highly insensitive,” “reprehensible” and “totally inappropriate.”

Councilman Al Abdelaziz, who is of Palestinian descent, was the first to call for an apology, the Paterson Times news site reported. Business administrator Vaughn McKoy left the council chambers after hearing the remark.

Jackson called the comment a “mistake.”

“That statement should have never been made. I ask everyone to forgive me for my brief lack of sensitivity,” he said, adding that he meant it with “no malice.”

Jackson said he heard the phrase growing up and that it was then a “term of endearment.”

Dictionary.com says “the verb jew (down) is also perceived as offensive because it perpetuates the stereotype of the shrewd Jewish moneylender or haggler.”

Developers also want concessions from New Jersey’s third most populous city, which has about 150,000 residents and is located approximately 21 miles from New York City.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.