Baltimore, MD – Dec. 21, 2021 - Former Baltimore City mayor, Sheila Dixon, faced sharp condemnation - and made Jewish media headlines - for baselessly attacking Orthodox Jews on a December 1st episode of "Pop and Politics LIVE". The 1972 Northwest High School alumna said on the recorded YouTube presentation, "I was born and raised here; I'm a product of Baltimore public schools. It was politics that closed my school which was so disappointing – Northwestern High School – because the Orthodox Jews didn't want those Black kids up there in the Upper Park Heights community. And, so they waited to see who was going to become mayor – Sheila Dixon or Catherine Pugh because she told them, 'I'll close the school. Catherine is not from Baltimore; she's from Philly."
Were Ms. Dixon to Google Northwestern High School’s closure, as we did, she would have read on Wikipedia that her alma mater indeed closed at the end of the 2016–2017 school year -- but, not for any racial reason. It was because it had merged with Forest Park High School as part of the city school district's "21st Century Schools Building Plan" to consolidate and modernize its schools in response to declining enrollments. So, yes, her comments were not only antisemitic, but outrightly false.
The Maryland Republican Jewish Council (MRJC) and the Maryland Black Republican Council (MBRC) have both condemned the former mayor’s antisemitic and racist comments. After receiving much flack about it, she defended herself on a subsequent episode of “POP and Politics LIVE”, saying, “First of all, I am not anti-Semitic. Secondly, I have a lot of Jewish friends and supporters as well as I have done a lot in the Jewish community.” She proceeded to explain that it was based on a conversation that she had with representative Orthodox Jewish rabbis she met with in the area, to whom Orthodox people “tend to voice their concerns”.
Also appearing on that edition of “Pop and Politics LIVE”, was Marie (Miriam) Fischer, 2nd Vice President of the Maryland Federation of Republican Women and current chair of the Maryland Republican Jewish Council, who had issued a press release condemning the former mayor’s remarks. In response, Ms. Fischer, a Black Jew, said, “I am basing on what your exact statement was. Your exact statement was, “Those Orthodox Jews in Upper Park Heights” and I am an Orthodox Jew and I also live in Upper Park Heights…. That was a divisive statement. If you just came out and said the facts as is without pointing fingers, I wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t have made that statement.”
In her defense, Ms. Dixon, said, “I was meeting with the Orthodox Jewish rabbis. I should have been more specific and I said I apologize for that. But, I’m not anti-Semitic, and I’ve worked with the Jewish community for a long time.”
BJL contacted Ms. Fischer after her appearance on the show and she shared, “I was first informed of her remarks from one of the hosts of “POP and Politics LIVE” and I was livid. There are a number of us who are working to bring the Black and Jewish communities together and for her to use such an anti-Semitic and race-baiting remark was just unacceptable as a former elected official. She is still seen as a leader to a number of people in this city so her words carry weight. You have two communities that live and work close by and she practically painted the Orthodox Jewish community as being racist with her flippant statement.
Continues Ms. Fischer, “I have lived in several religious communities and the religious community in Baltimore has been one of the warmest communities that I have lived in. I know she apologized but we all need to do more to have a more harmonious community. Blacks and Jews have a long similar and shared history. We do not need leaders like her making statements that work against any unity that can be reestablished.”
BJL was also in contact with Rabbi Ariel Sadwin, Executive Director of Agudath Israel of Maryland, who moderated the 2016 Vaad HaRabbonim forum with the mayoral candidates referenced by former-Mayor Dixon. He too shared in the concern and disappointment felt by the community upon hearing her accusatory and racially insensitive words. He pointed out that the conversation with mayoral candidates during that campaign forum was not at all about whether Northwestern High School should be closed or remain open, as that decision had already been made by the school board. Rather, he said, the conversation regarding Northwestern was focused on what the future of the property would be after the high school closed.
When asked if he felt that Ms. Dixon properly addressed the concerns of anti-Semitism and racial accusations in the subsequent podcast, he said, “while I am still troubled that she maintains a version of the history that is contrary to that of ours, I was pleased with her apology and clarification which will help dispel any notion of this being a racial issue.”
