Caught on tape: CA mayor’s racist remarks about Non-whites

Raw Story

Attempts to reach the California chapter of the Chaldean Federation of America before publication were not successful.

Some of Lewis’ remarks, including his statement that some Chaldean students benefiting from free lunch programs at school are “being picked up by Mercedes Benzes,” were published as part of a report on the influx of Chaldean immigrants into El Cajon, which dates back to the 1950s.

According to the Progressive, nearly a third of the city’s population of around 100,000 people is of Iraqi descent. But many of the city’s new residents told the magazine they were having trouble finding a job, which corroborates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finding that 67 percent of Iraqis who came to the U.S. after 2009 are unemployed.

In one remark that was not published in the article, Lewis blames inter-faith conflicts for the mass emigration of Chaldeans to the U.S.

“Right now, the Moslems [sic] are causing hardship with the Christian community in Iraq,” Lewis says. “So they’re bailing out of there as soon as they can.”

KGTV-TV reported on Tuesday that residents from various communities publicly criticized the mayor’s remarks during a meeting of the local city council.

“The citizens of El Cajon deserve better than someone to oppress them and say, ‘Hey, you guys don’t matter,’” one Chaldean resident, Mark Arabo, was quoted as saying.

Lewis did not deny making those statements in a separate interview with KGTV after the meeting, saying, “I made those comments but not in that order,” arguing that they stemmed from complaints from other residents looking to qualify for the free lunch program.

“First time, they come over here, it doesn’t take them too long to learn where all the freebies are at,” Lewis says in the interview.

Meanwhile, Lewis can also be heard on the tape saying, “There’s lots of prostitutes in regards to the Middle Eastern community” and telling Gupta that the increasing number of Chaldeans had touched off drug-related tension among three different minority communities.

“The Mexican community feels intimidated, in regards to Chaldeans trying to get into their turf, in regards to selling drugs,” Lewis says. “Same as the Black Africans, Black Americans.”