Jersey City official called on to resign after post on Facebook calls Jewish people ‘brutes’

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is calling on a Jersey City school board member to resign after she posted a comment on Facebook calling Jewish people “brutes” and accusing them of threatening, intimidating and harassing black homeowners.

Joan Terrell-Paige’s now-deleted comment from Sunday referenced the December 10 shooting at a kosher market in the historically black Greenville community. Two shooters killed a police officer and later stormed the market, killing three people, authorities said.

Authorities have said the attack was domestic terrorism “fueled by both anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs.”

Terrell-Paige, who is black, said black residents have been ignored and underserved in the rapidly gentrifying city. She said Jewish people “waved bags of money” in order to buy property.

A screen shot of the post was posted on Twitter. It drew condemnation from Murphy and the city’s mayor. The board of education president said Wednesday he plans to call for Terrell-Paige’s resignation at a board meeting Thursday.

“We will not let anti-Semitism and hate go unchallenged in our communities,” Murphy said on Twitter. “In light of Ms. Terrell-Paige’s comments, I urge her to immediately resign from the Jersey City Board of Education.”

Mayor Steven Fulop said he was “saddened by the ignorance her comments demonstrate.”

Terrell-Paige did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls from CNN seeking a comment.

She did speak with Politico, which said she refused to apologize. Asked whether she regretted her comments, Terrell-Paige said, “No, I don’t.”

In the post, Terrell-Paige said she is “speaking as a private citizen” and not as an elected member board member. “[T]hese beliefs are mine and mine alone,” she wrote.

The board member’s post mentions the two shooters, Francine Graham, 50, and David Anderson, 47, who were killed by police in a gun battle.

“Mr. Anderson and Ms. Graham went directly to the kosher supermarket. I believe they knew they would come out in body bags,” the post said. “What is the message they were sending? Are we brave enough to explore the answer to their message?”

“Are we brave enough to stop the assault on the Black communities of America? My people deserve respect and to live in peace in this city,” the post said.

Some 100 families largely from the ultra-Orthodox Satmar sect have settled in Jersey City in recent years after being priced out of housing in the Jewish enclaves of Brooklyn, Jewish leaders said. They have had a symbiotic relationship with the mostly black residents of Greenville, Jewish residents and others have said.

The displacement of black residents has brought some tension and complaints of aggressive real estate investors asking people to sell their homes, according to media reports. City residents and leaders worked with council members to develop a no-knock registry intended to keep developers at bay, CNN affiliate WCBS reported two years ago.

In the post, Terrell-Paige claimed Jewish newcomers threatened to bring “drug dealers and prostitutes to live next door to you,” when black homeowners resisted selling.

Mayor Fulop tweeted: “That type of language has no place in our schools and no place amongst elected officials.”

“Her comments don’t represent Jersey City or the sentiment in the community at all,” Fulop said. “The African American community in Greenville has been nothing short of amazing over the last week helping neighbors.”

Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas said he will offer a resolution at Thursday’s meeting to address the comments.

In a statement, Thomas said his proposed resolution will ask the board to censure Terrell-Paige and ask for her resignation.