Updated on February 12, 2019.
Mohamed Jafar vowed to stay in the race for Burlington’s South District city council seat despite a VTDigger.org story published Monday that described a series of sexist tweets the candidate had sent as recently as January 2016.
“I sincerely apologize to those I’ve offended. I sincerely apologize to those who were really surprised” by the tweets, Jafar, 22, told Seven Days. “My personality and character have evolved since then.”
The messages of 140 characters or fewer included misogynistic statements and allusions to violence. “Somebody hold my earrings, I’m about to beat this bitches ass,” Jafar wrote on Twitter in 2015, when he was a sophomore at Colby-Sawyer College.
“I’ve never hit a women before but I’m bout to make you my first…the closest thing to a women I’ve ever hit is my sister,” he tweeted in 2013.
“I don’t understand why they make watches for women when there’s a perfectly fine clock on the stove,” Jafar wrote the same year.
In another post, he wrote, “Stop tweeting about how you get treated. Go find someone who will listen or go lesbian. We don’t mind. It’s better than your bitching #women.”
Though he was contrite on Monday, Jafar, a Progressive running on a platform of equality and civic engagement, said that there’s “no chance” he’d withdraw from the race as a result of the revelations.
He said he had learned his lesson and, as a result, would push to include mandatory classes on gender equality and “the patriarchy” for high school students. “I invite folks to say, ‘Hey, you were wrong.’ Dialogue is the only way we’re going to solve these issues,” he said.
“I do think I’ll lose some supporters,” Jafar acknowledged.
In the race for the South End seat, Jafar faces incumbent Joan Shannon, a Democrat, and Paco DeFrancis, an independent.
Shannon said on Tuesday that Jafar’s conduct was grounds for him to drop out of the race. She called the tweets “completely abhorrent and disqualifying to serve as a city councilor.”
“They were not just sexist; they were promoting violence against women,” Shannon said.
More important than her stance on the matter, Shannon noted, is the reaction from Progressive leadership — especially the women within the party. “They have to decide whether they’re going hold their own accountable and what that means,” she said.
DeFrancis, who has a history of posting inflammatory messages on social media, said he was troubled by the tweets but would prefer to focus on politics.
“We’re here to discuss policy. I want to discuss zoning, land use regulation, municipal spending rather than tweets,” he said.
DeFrancis wouldn’t weigh in on whether Jafar should drop out of the race.
“That’s totally up to his supporters” — and the candidate himself, DeFrancis said.
Progs contacted by Seven Days on Monday appeared to be standing by their man. Councilor Ali Dieng (D/P-Ward 7) said he was initially disappointed by the tweets but would continue to support the candidate. Dieng has campaigned for and spoken publicly in support of Jafar. Both men are New Americans; Jafar is Somali and was born in a Kenyan refugee camp. He was 7 when his family immigrated to the U.S.
Dieng noted that Jafar was young when he tapped out the offensive tweets. “Where the mistake was made, it was based on someone who came from a place where women are considered lower class — in Africa, especially in Muslim countries,” Dieng said. “His life has definitely shown he has changed.”
Mellisa Cain, Jafar’s campaign manager and a Burlington Progressive Party steering committee member, said she remained committed to the candidate. “I 100% support Mohamed,” she wrote in an email to Seven Days.
She said she considered the tweets “bravado” from a male teen and “stupid, tasteless jokes that are clearly based on pop culture references.”
“That doesn’t excuse them in any way, but looking deeper is helpful to understand the broader context of them,” Cain added. “The Mohamed I know is one of the kindest, sweetest and generous men I know.”
Political advocacy organization Rights & Democracy endorsed Jafar last month. It’s unclear whether the group will withdraw its support, according to communications director Shay Totten. “That’s up to the members,” he wrote in a message to Seven Days.
Totten said he had reviewed Jafar’s social media postings before the organization offered its endorsement, but the search only went back three years.
Correction, February 12, 2019: A previous version of this story identified the wrong year the most recent tweet was posted.
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I understand Jafar was raised in a misogynistic culture, the question is does that make him a good public servant? If he was white and had publicly joked about degrading black people he would’ve been thrown out, even by the republicans. If he had publicly joked about degrading native Americans, he would’ve been done.
I’m disgusted with the progressive party and I’m not voting for any progressive candidates this year. Women have put up with way too much crap for way too long. It’s unbelievable we haven’t even been able to vote for 100 years despite being the majority! Women deserve better.
Your character is determined by how you act when nobody is watching so your character sure as heck is revealed by how you act in public. I’m done going along with treating women as acceptable objects of abuse, humorous or not. I welcome all immigrants, I think they generally work harder and are a big reason America prospers and we all enjoy great art and cuisine. But Jafar is not acceptable as a representative for my people.
When I read this news, I wept. I wept because it brought back painful memories of my own adult sons who wrote in a similar way about the young women in their lives. This language was modeled to them by their father, by the music, by the PG13-rated movies, by the culture. I wept for the shame and humiliation it brought me then, and now once again. I wept at the thought of the implications this damaging news would have on Mohameds campaign. I held up this young man as a beacon of hope for a better city – and now this crushing news – crushing my hopes and dreams for him, for us.
I thank Mohamed for owning it and not trying to wiggle his way out of it. His response is the response women in the Me Too movement want.
I believe he has had a turn-around in his life, thanks to the education he received and the gender studies class he took. This is a very poignant story about how education can make a real difference in a young mans life. He has committed to making sure other young men can learn about the hurtful effects of misogyny, patriarchy, sexism, and abuse. He has learned a valuable life lesson and will be a strong advocate for systemic change because of it.
In the midst of this darkness, I see a beacon of light – change is possible. We can harness the political potential of our love, our decency, and our compassion. That is who we are, and this is who we should be. This is what transparency looks like. Together we can create a much-needed course-correction.
I stand by Mohamed for South District, and I ask that you consider doing so, too.
Anyone who says that these (nasty) tweets were a youthful indiscretion (even though they were only 2-3 years ago) and that Mr. Jafar has evolved and is not the same person, and that he should continue to stand for elective office would — to be intellectually honest — also have to say the very same thing about people like the Governor and Attorney General of Virginia, would they not? “Those yearbook blackface pictures were from a long time ago, and I’ve evolved and am not the same person.” And what about all the “Me Too” men who are accused of doing something inappropriate to women many, many years ago? Are Mr. Jafar’s supporters willing to forgive and support all of these other people who committed sins in the past, and support them now. Or does their understanding and forgiveness only apply to Mr. Jafar?
No easy answer here. Just wondering.
If someone who was fifty was called on the carpet for teenage shenanigans, you could make an argument for how they have evolved throughout life and perhaps left those shenanigans behind. You can’t really make that argument for a 22 year old only barely out of his teenage years, with comments made only as long ago as Trump announcing his candidacy for president.
It doesn’t really matter to me if Jafar stays or leaves the race, but he should lose.
The guy is a piece of crap and should not be in any office!!!!!!!
Jafar posted in January of 2016 about murder and bitch. Shay Tottens RAD endorsed Jafar on Feb 5 2019 after three weeks of reviewing the candidates.. Totten said he reviewed Jafars social media posts going back three years, which would have been January of 2016. Did he miss this post? Did he ignore it? Would RAD have endorsed Jafar if they saw this post? How can they possibly continue to endorse him if posts from three years ago were relevant to their endorsement of him?
Mohamed Jafar had the misfortune of being born into a “culture” that Ali Dieng correctly states: ” it (the Tweets) was based on someone who came from a place where women are considered lower class in Africa, especially in Muslim countries.” The Tweets were posted by Mr. Jafar while he was at Burlington High School and Colby Sawyer College; as recent as two years ago. The learning curve that has “bettered” Mr. Jafar seems to be peaking just at the time he is barely out of his teens and running for City Council. Were there no victims?
Very troubling comments from a chauvinist individual. Where there is smoke there is fire. Lets hope there are no victims to these type of antics.
I don’t see how anyone could support someone with such ideaology to represent the people of Burlington it is scary
Dirt bag politicians will continue to support someone who turns out to be a sexist moron because hes going to vote their way? Shocking.
Jafar seems like sort of a piece of crap, so maybe politics is actually the perfect profession for him.
If Jafar will lower spending (Vermont is the sixth-highest-taxed state) and get rid of the weird, disgusting trash (concrete ‘planters,’ plastic cones, etc.) the DPW has placed at every intersection, he can tweet whatever he wants to.
Vermont’s largest city has:
* Skyrocketing property taxes.
* Burgeoning crime.
* A downtown that has been invaded by sidewalk slovens.
Time for a council candidate who can tweet the following:
“If I don’t improve this city by lowering spending and firing the clown who placed all the weird, useless barriers on every street corner that have become a metaphor for city trash, then don’t re-elect me.”