City Councilmember Yvette Clarke Slams Hot 97/Miss Jones

December 29, 2005

City Councilmember Yvette Clarke Slams Hot 97/Miss Jones

Playthell's commentary on Miss Jones is making people stand up and take notice.

Caribbean Community Is Owed An Apology By Hot 97 Radio
Contact: Rance E. Huff
Office: (718) 287-8762
Cell (718) 207-1158

NEW YORK, NY- Councilmember Yvette D. Clarke
(D-Brooklyn) issued the following statement today
regarding the report vicious and racist statements
reportedly made by Hot 97 deejay Miss Jones regarding
the transit workers strike and union leader Roger
Toussaint:

“Like many New Yorkers, I was appalled to read Playthell Benjamin’s recent commentary in the Daily News regarding the disgusting remarks made by Hot 97 personality Tarsha Nicole Jones. Simply put, this distasteful display of self-hatred and bigotry has once again shown Hot 97 to be a forum for the destruction of our community. Time and again, this radio station has provided a forum for the flourishing of everything negative in hip-hop. It was nearly a year ago that I joined other New Yorkers in denouncing Miss Jones and Hot 97 for airing a parody that ridiculed tsunami victims. Clearly, the outcry, demonstrations and resulting suspensions did not provide an impetus for cultural sensitivity from these individuals.
“Tarsha Jones has a long history of foot-in-mouth
disease and has demonstrated her unique talent for
spewing garbage. Her use of the words “dumb coconut”
illustrates that she is a young woman who obviously
harbors a lot of self-loathing and hatred for human
beings in general, and her own community. A year ago,
I sincerely believed that although she disparaged the
Asian community, a suspension and apology would
provide her opportunity to learn and become a positive
influence on young people. As a highly-regarded
personality for one of the most popular radio stations
in our city, she had an opportunity to really
influence young men and women in a positive way.
However, I believe that opportunity has been lost on
Tarsha Jones.

“Its one thing to hear a uneducated person make racist
comments. Their lack of education, lack of exposure to
other cultures, poverty and other issues provides a
context for their hatred. However, it’s hard to
believe a Syracuse University graduate who was raised
in the Black community of New York City can make these
types of comments. There is a higher expectation and
accountability for such a person. I believe the time
has come for Hot 97 and Emmis Communications to
suspend the Miss Jones In The Morning Show permanently
from the airwaves.

“Immigrants have a hard enough time dealing with
becoming acclimated in a new country, while the Bush
administration employs divisive policies against them.
To have someone who looks like them spewing hatred
against them on the airwaves is intolerable. As a
Jamaican-American woman born, raised and living in
Brooklyn- whose parents were immigrants who settled in
this city and continue to make contributions –I was
personally offended by Tarsha Jones’ remarks. As a fan
of hip hop, who has used her position to celebrate the
positive influences of the genre, I know that Hot 97’s
culture of hatred and misogyny are a destructive
influence on our youth.

“It is clear that Emmis Communications and their
subsidiary, Hot 97, have decided that racial
insensitivity and hatred are good business. Perhaps it
is time for our community to make it absolutely clear
that their business is no longer wanted. Perhaps it is
time for the City Council to explore economic
sanctions against a business that is slowly destroying
the fabric of communities in the City of New York. It
is my intention to bring this issue to my colleagues
in the City Council and introduce a resolution calling
for the permanent removal of the Miss Jones In The
Morning Show and the economic boycott of Hot 97 and
its advertisers.”

Posted by jsmooth995 at December 29, 2005 05:01 AM

Comments

Yo Jay, please keep us post as to any developments in regards to getting rid of this negative person off the air. Thanks.

Posted by: Miss Jones is I'gnant at December 29, 2005 07:12 PM

Yvette Clark's comments aren't anywhere near as offensive as those that Playthell Benjamin reports Miss Jones making, but in some ways they are considerably more troubling. She suggests that the answer to racist speech is government censorship. She wants to introduce a resolution calling for the removal of Miss Jones--but is she introducing one calling for the removal of Mayor Bloomberg for calling striking workers thugs? Clark is a grandstanding politician, a second-generation Democratic party hack who sees in this incident an opportunity to consolidate her own power base.

Posted by: asmile at December 31, 2005 11:05 PM

The comment posted by "Miss Jones is I'gnant" was very weak. She compares mayor bloomberg's comment against strikers to Miss JOnes' racist comments.
huh? black, white, arab: Those are races. A Uniom member who strikes is not a race. Face it. Miss Jones is a self-hating black who made fun of Tsunami victims and now of Caribbean Americans and immigrants in general. The former reason is why she was suspended for two weeks last year.

Posted by: Jack at January 3, 2006 05:53 PM

Jack...you mean the comment by asmile

Posted by: Miss Jones is I'gnant at January 3, 2006 06:28 PM

For the record, Councilmember Clarke also blasted the Mayor for his comments about the transit workers. Here is the statement she made:

�I want to strongly applaud Roger Toussaint and the leadership of the Transport Workers Union. While I did not agree with the strike, I clearly understood the reasons why that action was taken. With a brilliant strategy and statesman-like approach, Roger Toussaint was a dignified presence during this debate. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same for Mayor Bloomberg. To demean the hard-working members of TWU Local 100 by calling them thugs was beneath the Mayor and it smacks of racial animosity. The level of hyperbole did not become this ugly during the city�s negotiations with other unions during the past year and I believe a lot of that had to do with the color
of the other union�s leadership.

�Ultimately, it is my belief that the MTA and Mayor Bloomberg took such a hard-line approach with the transit union because three years ago Roger Toussaint had the audacity to tell a white man to shut up. I am sure that Michael Bloomberg was not used to being talked to that way, much less from a Black man. His actions demonstrated that for him, this was personal. And I�m sure that the MTA saw an opportunity to break the union. And for all New Yorkers who are members of organized labor or have family members in unions-and understand the history of the labor movement-there is an understanding of the forces that moved the transit union to strike."

Posted by: YDC's Media Assasin at January 6, 2006 10:09 AM

Is no one monitoring what ms. jones is saying? Did she not learn from the tsunami issue? It is one thing to disagree with the strike, but stooping to the level of calling people names is something someone who has thousands of listeners is just plain irresponsible.
Just as the Asian community did not let her get away with her ridiculous remarks, we in the Carribean community should not either. Let us send a message to hot 97 that just because she is black like us, it is not ok.

Posted by: erica plante at January 9, 2006 08:46 PM

maybe that's why her ratings are doing so bad. Caribbean people should do like what the Asians did. Don't talk about her, that's just giving her show publicity. Just stop listening to her and tell your friends to do the same.

And by the way the show is boring. Either way that show will be off the air soon

Posted by: tomcold at January 12, 2006 10:34 PM

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY SO MANY PEOPLE COME DOWN ON MISS JONES. I THINK PEOPLE TAKE WHAT SHE SAYS TO SERIOUSLY. FACE IT THE STRIKE WAS UNCALLED FOR, YOU CANT BLAME HER FOR VOICING HER OPINION. WHEN I HEARD WHAT SHE SAID THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY, I LAUGHED AND MOVED ON. JUST WHAT I THINK YOU ALL SHOULD DO. SHE WAS NOT REFERRING TO ALL CARIBBEAN PEOPLE, SO WHY SO GET SO ANGRY. I WILL NOT STOP LISTENING TO MISS JONES ON MY WAY TO WORK AND I DO NOT THINK ANYONE ELSE SHOULD.

Posted by: LAURIE at January 13, 2006 09:39 AM

LAURIE, you're an idiot, don't waste our time by posting idiotic comments please. Doesn't matter if it was a joke, how would you feel if i joked about you're mother's death? think before you talk.

Posted by: Allen at February 1, 2006 06:39 PM

Mrs. Jones, I used to listen to you every morning and you mentioned that you are the first black woman to have her own show on the radio. Is this how you want to go down in history? Is this how you really want to be remembered?

Posted by: T.A at February 16, 2006 04:50 PM

You all are giving Miss Jones' words exactly what they don't deserve....POWER. The more you talk and raise a stink, the more people will want to listen to see what all the talk is about. The only way to discredit that type of ignorance is to do just that... ignore it. It doesn't deserve anything more.

Posted by: K.B at February 21, 2006 07:52 AM

Yvette Clarke just wants to be appear as if she is concern about the community, ask about her position on domestic violence, the teachers' union, and community safety. She uses people and the people around her reflect her true image. She needs to stop using the Hip-Hop Comunity for her own political devises. Why does she care about what Miss Jones' says, when her own spokeperson said derogatory things about Asian-Americans, Homosexuals, women and Caucasians?

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Posted by: womens shoes at March 6, 2006 07:49 PM

What is Clarkes true image if the people around her reflect it. Description please.

Posted by: Tina at April 15, 2006 08:31 PM

Maybe her image is false. An illusion portrayed to the public. Not genuine. Someone who pretends to be in support of an issue for purely self-gain. Also pointing the finger at others, but bending the rules for herself. A hypocrite, and they come in all shapes, colors and sizes.

Posted by: Helen at April 16, 2006 08:40 PM

If the people around her reflect her image then is it fair to say that the people around her are false. Are they also hypocrites? There are some who are around her that I know who are serious people and take issues seriously.

Posted by: Tina at April 16, 2006 08:58 PM

Posted by: Tina at April 16, 2006 08:59 PM

I know there are people around her who are serious- very sincere, but everything becomes overshadowed when she allows certain individuals to dominate her flow of politics. It makes me wonder who is in charge. She allows a consistent liar and a con artist to represent her instead of someone of quality. I cannot trust someone who puts their faith in a liar and one who can lie with a straight face. Does this mean that she is lying too about her position on things?

Posted by: Helen at April 17, 2006 05:37 PM