A Jersey City Board of Education employee caught on a viral video where she used vulgar language that included a racist remark is saying that the whole incident was blown out of proportion as she tells her side of the story.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“She kept putting her phone in my face and the action didn’t stop, if someone’s not respecting you, how would you react? This [situation], it doesn’t make sense to me,” Tanya Parker, 44, of Jersey City, told HCV in light of a cell phone recording being leaked to the press.
In the 40-second recording, Parker uses a slew of profanity, which included the phrase “go back to your f***ing country, dumbass” at a woman that a school official said was Muslim.
While she admitted that she lost her temper and that her choice of words was inappropriate, she said people needed to understand the full context of what happened.
“I was parked right across the street from Public School No. 23 on either February 14th or 15th and I was blocking someone’s driveway for about 30 seconds as I was picking up my eight-year-old daughter from school,” she recalled.
While the viral video lasted for less than a minute, Parker said the other woman, who she claims she had never seen before, recorded her and her daughter for around five minutes before the situation escalated.
“What happened? Why was this blown out of proportion like this? I apologized to you? Are you really gonna hold a grudge because I was in your spot. That doesn’t make sense,” she said of the woman who filmed her.
“… Of course I lost my temper. That wasn’t right, that was out of line,” Parker admitted.
Parker, a maintenance worker for the Jersey City Board of Education for the past 12 years, added that her daughter’s father is Muslim and reiterated that her remarks in the video were said out of anger and aren’t a reflection of her beliefs.
Editor’s Note: Jersey City Board of Education President Sudhan Thomas said that he and other school officials were initially informed that this incident took place on March 13th.Â
That’s what they all say
…when they’re caught.
No idea what occurred but where is the “racist remark?”
Was there even a threat made? In NYC, this friction occurs in traffic every block.
She parked in driveway for 30 seconds, but was filmed for 5 minutes? Her side of the story doesn’t make sense. You don’t get to be rude, upset, or disrespectful because you decided to ignore parking regulations. In telling her side of the story she never apologized for her disrespectful words and behavior.