DJ's anti-Trini comments anger NY's Caribbean immigrants
Trinidad Newsday
A COMMENT made by an African-American radio DJ about Roger Toussaint, the Trinidad-born president of New York's Transit Workers' Union Local 100, sparked a controversy that has pitted Caribbean immigrants against African-Americans in New York.
Tarsha Jones, morning host on WQHT/Hot 97 FM, reportedly lashed out at Toussaint on her programme two weeks ago, calling him a "dumb coconut who probably don't have a green card". She and her crew also enacted a skit where Toussaint was being carried away to a boat headed for Trinidad for being an illegal immigrant while calling the striking workers "uneducated and overpaid losers who made the wrong choices in high school".
Activists within New York's Caribbean community have been clamouring for Jones' dismissal for her tirade against Toussaint, as well as an apology from Emmis Communications, owners of the station. However, neither Jones, nor her employers have responded to several requests for an apology made by Caribbean-American politicians.Among those demanding an apology for the controversial comments is the head of the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID), Rickford Burke, who has sent a letter to Barry Mayo, senior vice president of Emmis and general manager of the station, demanding serious disciplinary action against Jones.
Burke called Jones' comments and conduct "wholly contemptuous of all Caribbean immigrants" and said the fact that Hot 97 has failed or refused to apologise or to institute disciplinary action against her "is profoundly unsettling". "This obdurate attitude demonstrates management's willingness to allow Ms. Jones' vilification of Toussaint and all Caribbean immigrants may ultimately be to the detriment and financial peril of Hot 97," he stated.
"CGID calls on Hot 97 to take serious disciplinary action against Ms. Jones, failing which, the Institute will join with other organisations to mobilise the Caribbean-American community and New Yorkers on a whole, to withdraw financial support from Hot 97 FM Radio."
Burke, along with Chuck Mohan of the Guyanese-American Workers United, State Senator John Sampson and New York City Council members Yvette Clarke and Kendall Stewart, cited Jones' "history of immigrant bashing" as was evidenced by her taunts early last year of the Asian tsunami victims.
He added that Jones' reference to Toussaint as "dumb coconut who probably don't even have a green card" implies to her audience that Caribbean-Americans are 'illegal' immigrants who should be repatriated like criminals. "Her diatribe constitutes an uncivilised assault on the approximately two million Caribbean immigrants domiciled in New York," Burke stated. "Her depiction of Caribbean-Americans as being 'illegal aliens' and 'coconuts' is a demonstration of her congenital bigotry and derision for New York's immigrant population. In a diverse society like New York, there is no place for a closet zealot like Ms. Jones whose hateful rhetoric rivals that of the Ku Klux Klan."
