The Jeffersonville City Council’s vice president in southern Indiana apologized on April 25 for using an anti-Semitic slur in the middle of an April 15 city council meeting.
During the meeting, City Council Vice President Lisa Gill lauded the city’s maintenance director having “Jewed down” the price of a service truck, chuckling afterwards.
Kathy Dixon, a resident of Jeffersonville, wrote in an April 24 letter to the editor in the News and Tribune that she was “appalled” by Gill’s use of the term.
“As a resident of Jeffersonville and a voter, I would ask that Councilwoman Gill apologize for her anti-Semitic language,” Dixon wrote.
Gill told the News and Tribune that she had “inadvertently” used the anti-Semitic slur.
“My comment in reference to that negotiation was not meant to be insensitive, anti-Semitic or offend anyone,” Gill said. “I apologize for my comment, and it will not be used again.”
City Council President Ed Zastawany told the News and Tribune he didn’t think Gill meant “to demean or hurt anybody’s feelings.”
“I think it’s one of those situations where she just slipped up,” Zastawany said.
City Councilmember Dustin White told the News and Tribune that while he hoped that there wasn’t any malicious intent from Gill when she used the term, people need “to be careful to not make statements like that that can disparage people.”
“Whenever we are faced with situations like this, I think it’s important to speak out and condemn such phrases as inappropriate,” White said.
Gill is serving her second term as a member of the city council.
