It was brought to my attention that, at the recent Christina School Board meeting, I used the word shylock in my remarks. I was unaware, at that time, that I used that word and had meant to use the term shills but inadvertently misspoke. I know how hurtful and disparaging the term shylock can be to Jewish people and I would never consciously use the word. There is no room for hate speech. Let me convey my unqualified apologies for uttering the word shylock. I misspoke and never intended or meant to utter that word. It was brought to my attention the next day, and I immediately issued an apology. I wish to point out that the use of that word was a mistake on my part, and I would never justify its use to marginalize or stereotype any individual or group. I dont know if my hyperbolic use of name-calling in the heat of some of my passionate extemporaneous speeches is ever useful, but the word I was intending (not preplanned) was shills as in corporatist shills for privatization of public education. Once again, my apologies to the Governor or anyone I offended with my intemperate but unintended use of that word. As added information, part of my family is Jewish. We are very close and spend all of our holidays together. My family and I have always been extremely sensitive to the harm words can do. My wife was in attendance at the meeting on Tuesday and assures me that if she had picked up on the word, she would have had me apologize at the meeting immediately. It was only the next day that we realized what I had done. Below is my unsolicited statement to Matt Albright (News Journal reporter) when I became aware via his tweet that I had spoken that word: Please accept and convey my apologies for the unintended reference to your twitter followers and in any reports you make on the matter. My sincerest regrets to any and all that I may have unintentionally offended. I agree that the term shylock is used as a derogatory term and I feel terrible that the word was mistakenly uttered by me. Please convey my sincerest apologies to all and understand that I would never deliberately use slurs or derogatory words to depict or denigrate any individual or group. Sincerely, State Representative John Kowalko
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 00:02:34 +0000
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