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Nice strawman you built there, but it seems like your materials came from Walmart...

The comments are 20 freaking years old, made when he was 25.

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In the "progressive" atmosphere of JC, racism is ok as long as it's against white people. We all know that if a white top JC official made incredibly racist statements against black people, he would have been fired within minutes of the article going to press.

But racism against white people is fine. And the "progressives" here who would be having a meltdown if it was the other way around, will attempt to minimize this by saying it's so long ago who cares?

This is so offensive. Sorry my taxes are paying his salary.

Why shouldn't he? Akil is collecting public money for his salary, he is not employed in private practice.

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Who does he owe an apology to? Why should he make some big gesture about something that he said decades prior?

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He has been asked to?

The only person who can answer that is being silent, why? If Fulop runs for governor, I am sure Sweeney or the Republican opponent will find this article. A lot of Catholic folks from the shore would be very upset that Saint John Paul 2 was referred to as the anti-Christ. I can't wait for the commercials.

He's right.

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Has he?

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Not necessarily.

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Why? What if he takes back the comments now?

If he never apologized since 1995, then Akil still holds those beliefs.

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I don't know. It is such a rarity that someone says something dumb at the age of 25. We should certainly hold this against him 20 years later and he should be fired.

It is an interesting article.

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Didn't Fulop say he wanted to do a background check? He made this comment when Ray Velazquez was up for judgeship. However, let's beat up Lorenzo Richardson for comment he made during a school board meeting over a contract but let's ignore the comment made here my Akil. Akil should apology to many groups including Catholics which is the largest Christian group in the USA.

Dumb comment but he was 25 years old and it was 20 years ago. People change. Move along.

Top Jersey City official said 'all white people have a little Hitler in them' in 1995 speech

By Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on October 07, 2014 at 11:04 AM

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop's chief of staff gave a speech at a Chicago college nearly 20 years ago in which he "repeatedly" used a homophobic slur, called the Pope the "anti-Christ" and said that "all white people have a little Hitler in them," according to a contemporaneous newspaper account.

Muhammed Akil, who was about 25 at the time, was speaking at Northwestern University at an African Mind Liberation Conference held by the school's black student alliance, according to copies of the Daily Northwestern obtained by The Jersey Journal.

It's not clear from the story whether Akil was a student then. He studied for a doctorate in communication studies at Northwestern, but did not receive the degree. A story in the student newspaper of South Illinois University says he gave a similar talk there in 1998.

A source close to the mayor said Fulop's office has known about the newspaper's account of Akil's speech and have been worried about it becoming public. Akil declined to comment, referring all questions to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill.

Asked about Akil's speech, Fulop also referred all questions to Morrill, who later emailed a statement from the mayor saying he "doesn't agree" with Akil's remarks.

"Personally, as the grandson of Holocaust survivors myself, they are offensive," he said. "However, I also know people change and grow over time and the comments made 20 years ago is not consistent nor reflective of the person I have known for the last 10 years who has never hesitated to help people in need whether white, black, Jewish, Catholic, gay or straight."

The initial Daily Northwestern story about Akil's speech ran on Nov. 14, 1995, under the headline, "FMO speaker decries whites." FMO refers to For Members Only, the university's black student alliance.

According to the Daily Northwestern, Akil was speaking on the topic "Decoding White Supremacy: Reading Destructive Images." He slammed white representations of Jesus, calling them the "fa---t Jesus," the paper reported. He repeatedly called gay people "fa---ts" and blasted Abraham Lincoln as a "wolf in sheep's clothing," according to the paper.

He also told the crowd that "all white people have a little Hitler in them," the paper said.

The Daily Northwestern printed a follow-up story, an editorial and letters to the editor the following day blasting Akil for what the newspaper's editors called a "horrible" speech.

Akil holds a powerful position at City Hall, where all the city's department heads report to him. He earns $120,544 annually, one of the highest salaries for a civilian city worker.

A former health department supervisor, he was promoted to chief of staff after Fulop became mayor. Two sources who asked not to be identified discussing personnel moves said Akil was the hand-picked choice of Tom Bertoli, a political operative who helped to engineer Fulop's mayoral victory.

Akil is a key political player. He and Eugene McKnight ran the campaigns of Fulop allies Diane Coleman, a councilwoman representing Ward F, and Gerard Balmir, a freeholder candidate who successfully challenged Freeholder Jeff Dublin in June's Democratic primary.

For all his power, Akil is an elusive presence. The day before Fulop became mayor last year, Akil told The Jersey Journal he had no interest in ever speaking to the newspaper, and has remained tight-lipped when approached by reporters.