Combating hatred on Long Island

In wake of bias incidents, leaders aim to educate, unify

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“Make America White Again.”

Mineola residents found the statement spray-painted across the length of the sidewalk in front of their Washington Avenue home at 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 30. The phrase — a play on President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign slogan — was book-ended by two red swastikas.

A week later, the Nassau County Police Department found three more swastikas scrawled along stairwells and walls at Nassau Community College. Police also reported on Dec. 8 that campus officials spotted the emblem of the Nazi Party, drawn in magic marker, at least five times on three different occasions in October. Most recently, a 28-year-old Hicksville woman discovered that the windshield and taillights of her car had been smashed in — and that “Trump” and “Islam” had been etched into the vehicle — last Friday.

But before any of these bias incidents made local and national headlines, Jewish, Muslim, African-American, Hispanic, immigrant and LGBT Long Islanders said that they were scared. About 150 residents gathered at the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury on Dec. 1 to express their concerns to about two dozen police, elected, faith-based and civic leaders about the uptick in hate crimes across the country as well as policies Trump and his supporters have publicly backed in the past year — including the immediate deportation of up to 3 million undocumented immigrants and a mandatory Muslim registry.

Dr. Isma Chaudhry, ICLI’s president, said that teachers, parents and children at the mosque’s weekend school are anxious about the proposed registry. Since Election Day, women have asked her if they should stop wearing their traditional head coverings in public. Young men also wanted to know if they should shave their beards to avoid being targeted.

While she did not know how to answer these questions, Chaudhry noted that she’s sure of one thing: people of different ethnic backgrounds, creeds, genders and orientations must stand together.

“We become each other’s keepers,” she said at the forum before pausing and scanning the crowd. “If you look around, you will see every shade of human skin possible in this room. Thank God for that.”

Hate rising

According to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, hate crimes are offenses that target particular individuals, groups and property because of a bias or prejudice regarding race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or identity, disability, religion or some other protected characteristic as defined by law. These criminal acts include violence, threats and intimidation as well as the destruction of public and private property.

Inspector John Berry, the commanding officer of NCPD’s 3rd Precinct, said that local police track both hate crimes and bias incidents, a more general term used to describe cases that do not “rise to the level of a crime.” Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, 32 bias incidents were reported to NCPD, he said; 29 occurred were recorded through 2015 (see chart for details).
U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Democrat from Garden City, said that she wouldn’t hold her breath waiting for Trump to condemn people that use his campaign slogan for intimidation.

“It’s up to every one of us to call out this kind of language and behavior wherever we encounter it,” she said. “It’s up to every one of us to show that we are grateful to live in such a diverse district, state and country.”

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who was able to get cameras installed at a train station in the Five Towns after anti-Semitic graffiti was drawn there, said funding for resources to combat the problem is not as important as condemning it.

“I think in this day and age, people realize that it could be a sign of things to come, and it can not be tolerated,” Kaminsky said. “We have to denounce these incidents immediately and not let people think they’re unimportant.”

Rabbi Mark Greenspan, of the Oceanside Jewish Center, said after the meeting that he does not believe Trump is anti-semitic, but added that the president-elect has in a way allowed such acts because of the way he has dealt with it, and by the way he has talked about people he personally doesn’t like.

“He spoke out more strongly about being insulted by ‘Hamilton,’ than he has by these incidents that are taking place around the country,” Greenspan said. “So, that tells you something.”

Greenspan added that Jewish people are experiencing a tremendous amount of fear, and that he is struggling to alleviate it. He added that OJC is planning on doing a program this winter to teach Hebrew school students how to cope and react when faced with anti-semitic rhetoric.

At the ICLI forum, the Rev. Mark Lukens issued a special challenge to people like him — older, Anglo-Saxon, Christian, heterosexual men. Lukens, the chairman of the Interfaith Alliance’s Long Island chapter and pastor of the Bethany Congregational Church in East Rockaway, said that these people have a special responsibility to speak to their communities and be the first people demanding action when hate crimes are committed.

“If it doesn’t come from our community then it is never, ultimately, going to be solved,” he said. “It is going to rear its ugly head whenever another demagogue comes along and says, ‘The real reason that you are having a problem is because of those people over there,’ whoever they might be. We need to get up off of our butts and open our mouths.”

Education and dialogue

Amid the surge in bias incidents, Schneiderman sent a bulletin to law enforcement offices statewide on Nov. 17 for guidance and support to identify, investigate and prosecute hate crimes. He has also attended discussions and hearings with community leaders to discuss concerns about harassment and prejudicial rhetoric.

Silvia Pastor Finkelstein, the director of the Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, told ICLI event attendees that she and Singas have also attended some of these meetings. At one event, Finkelstein said that the attorney general was asked if he would allow local law enforcement to deport millions of people from the state if directed to do so by the federal government.

“He said, ‘You know, if that comes to pass, there is a time and a place for civil disobedience,’” Finkelstein said at the forum to booming applause. “Our government officials have been consistent and clear that the rights of every targeted group will be protected in New York State. We are here tonight to encourage you and let you know that we are here for you.”

Finkelstein, Berry and NCPD Deputy Chief of Patrol Kenneth Lack stressed that, if residents feel threatened or targeted, they should dial 911 or call the Office of Immigrant Affairs hotline at (516) 571-7756. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that two-thirds of hate crimes go unreported to the police.

Berry explained that a detective from the bias crimes unit would be assigned to investigate each bias case. Law enforcement officials would never ask someone who is reporting an incident about their own immigration status.

Nassau County Legislator Dennis Dunne, a Republican from Levittown, said that local parents should also teach their children about being kind to others and the hatred behind symbols like the swastika. After the Nov. 30 bias incident in Mineola, he met with Rabbi Anchelle Perl, of Chabad of Mineola; James Vagnini, a Garden City-based civil rights attorney; and Rev. William A. Watson, pastor of the Free Will Baptist Church of Freeport and co-chair of Black and Jewish Coalition for Justice.

Like Lukens and Chaudhry, Perl also called for unity in the wake of a hate-based incident in his community. Noting that his father — a Holocaust survivor — taught him to love and respect every human being, he asked the person who painted the swastikas and messages along the Washington Avenue sidewalk to call him.

“Let’s sit down together and have a dialogue,” he said. “Something tells me that we can transform this event into something good.

Amid the incidents, Kaminsky hosted an emergency interfaith summit on Dec. 13. Religious and civic leaders from around Long Island met at Temple Am Echad in Lynbrook to address the incidents. He told the Herald last week that having people from different faiths take a stand together sends a strong statement.

“It sends a powerful message to the community that it’s not just Jewish people that should be worried, or not just the intended targets of an attack,” Kaminsky said, “but that the whole society cares.”

Ben Strack contributed to this story.