Stamford resident Maruja Ivri didn’t want to believe that a fellow Latina who is also a state legislator could say what she said in a now widely circulated video.
“When I first heard the statements, and friends kind of said, ‘Oh, have you heard what's going on? I said, 'Oh, I'm sure it's been taken out of context,'” Ivri said.
Ivri referenced a video where Stamford Board of Representatives member Anabel Figueroa said the Hispanic community could not permit a person of Jewish origin to represent their community for a statewide primary election.
Figueroa made the antisemitic statements in Spanish during a campaign video directed at Jonathan Jacobson, her primary opponent for a statewide office.
She lost the race, but she’s still a member of the city’s Board of Representatives. Some residents like Ivri say she should not hold any elected office.
Ivri, a Mexican-American and Jewish woman, says she found it hard to believe at first due to her own experiences in Mexico, where she said she didn’t experience much antisemitism.
Yet, she says she can understand why some residents may defend Figueroa, due to the lack of Latino representation in city politics.
However, Ivri is now joining calls by other residents and city officials to demand that Figueroa be expelled from her position in the city after Figueroa rescinded an earlier decision to resign.
“She meant what she said, when she said it, and that it wasn't coming out of a place of ignorance, but out of a place of hatred,” Ivri said.
Other residents are calling on the city’s legislature to follow through with a Democratic City Committee vote to expel Figueroa for her comments.
Ivri was one of almost 100 protestors who took part in a rally against hate held outside the Stamford Government Center Tuesday evening.
It was held before a scheduled Board of Representatives meeting where at least 32 members of the public addressed the remarks made by Figueroa.
Ivri, who said Spanish is her first language, said many fellow Mexicans treated her faith more as a novelty than anything else, and she said when people did question her identity as a Mexican, it came from a place of ignorance, rather than genuine hatred.
Mexico’s Jewish population is tiny, at 40,000 according to the World Jewish Congress. The country is overwhelmingly Catholic or Protestant, and much of the Jewish population is based in Mexico City.
So she said it was especially hurtful to hear those comments from Figueroa, a Salvadoran-American woman, compared to comments in Mexico from people surprised at the existence of Mexican Jews.
“It wasn't as hateful as the speech that we heard from representative Figueroa and that’s what brought me out and made me uncomfortable, both as a Mexican and as a Jewish person,” she said.
Figueroa did not attend the meeting. There were no counter protestors defending Figueroa, at least, publicly, and any vote to expel Figueroa would need a three-quarters vote by the board.
And a city charter mandates that can only happen following a hearing where attorneys representing such an elected official and the board are present.
Jeff Curtis, president of the Stamford Board of Representatives, was not at the meeting on Tuesday due to an illness, and said no vote has been scheduled.
“I do not know when that hearing will be held,” Curtis said. “The Board of Representatives has to follow a section of the City Charter C1-90-1 removal of elective officers. We are looking to hire an attorney.”
Mayor Caroline Simmons spoke to rally goers in support.
“We are here to stand up against this hate, and say, ‘we will not tolerate anti semitism in the city of Stamford,'” Simmons said.
Ivri isn’t happy that Figueroa may be forced out. The city’s burgeoning Latino population has comparatively little representation in Stamford, and Figueroa is the first Latina to hold her state representative seat.
But just having a Latina in office, she said, isn’t enough.
“I don't think there is enough of the Latin community represented in our government,” Ivri said. “That doesn't mean that you want to go with someone who isn't the right person.”
