Levy defends use of ethnic name in speech

County Executive Steve Levy said thanks but no thanks to his own advisory panel that told him he should stop using ethnic names when touting the county's anti-housing discrimination law.

In the dust-up over his use of the name "Shaniqua" on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to describe how minorities could benefit from his housing fairness policy, Levy said he would refrain from using ethnic first names but would continue to use surnames when appropriate.

The African-American Advisory Board's chairman, the Rev. Roderick Pearson, said the board members told Levy it would be best to avoid using ethnic names altogether.

"The best thing is not to use any names and just say that housing discrimination will not be tolerated on this administration's watch," Pearson said.

Levy, spokesman Mark Smith said, discussed with four board members names other than "Shaniqua" he should use.

"When you talk about the way he's always framed it in the past in giving ethnic-sounding names, if you keep it in that context and say Diaz or Patel or Washington, the feeling is that leads people to understand the point he's trying to make," Smith said.

Levy convened the meeting last week, board members said, to discuss the fallout from his Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech in which he said "even Shaniqua could file a complaint" about housing discrimination thanks to a 2007 law.

"He was concerned," said board member Sandra Thomas of Wheatley Heights, "that if you Googled his name that this would come up. He was concerned about that because he said that wasn't his intent and that's not what he's about."

Thomas said she told Levy that, if he feels compelled to use names in his examples, to use last names. "We emphasized that he should stay to his point and that all the rest of it is a diversion," she said.

Board member Brandy Scott, a retired school administrator from St. James, said using "Shaniqua" distracted from the point Levy was trying to make. "Yes, it happened, and let's move forward," she said. "It's really causing a lot of difficulty."

The fourth board member at the meeting, hospital administrator Felice Jones-Lee, declined to comment.

Since the county enacted its anti-housing discrimination law, only one complaint has been filed, Smith said.

Levy staunchly defended his speech in a Feb. 4 letter to Long Island NAACP chief Tracey Edwards, who had criticized him for using names that connote ethnic identity.

"You believed it furthered stereotypes related to various ethnic groups," Levy wrote. "I respectfully, yet vehemently, disagree with your conclusion."

Edwards replied this week that "an explanation of intent should never be required after a speech to his constituency."

Diversity and sensitivity training experts said it would be best for Levy to avoid using any generic ethnically identifiable names in speeches.

Mercedes Alfaro, who operates an Atlanta-based business etiquette and sensitivity training company, said, "The fact that he used one name, regardless of what ethnic group it was, it's like he's saying that they are the only ethnic group that needs this."

Pearson said the best way for Levy to diffuse the situation is to stop using all generic ethnic names as examples.

"If they want to keep this stuff going," he said, "then keep using names."