24 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 18, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
THE QUEENS
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Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
While elected officials have held rallies condemning
the recent uptake in anti-Asian hate
crimes in the borough, more must be done at the
community level to truly make a diff erence.
Story: Fire in Bayside commercial building sends
two fi refi ghters to hospital
Summary: A fi re broke out inside a multi-story
commercial building in Bayside on the afternoon of
Tuesday, March 9, sending two fi refi ghters to the
hospital.
Reach: 2,800 (as of 3/15/21)
Stop the hate
“Appalled.” “Furious.”
Cowardly.”
Th ese words have been
printed in our media as
we try to bring attention
to the alarming increase of
anti-Asian hate crimes in
Queens and around New
York City
But words alone are not
enough. We hear residents
and politicians alike condemn
these crimes, but
actions speak louder than
words, and we need to take
action and work to put an
end to this bigotry.
In Queens, the NYPD’s
Asian Hate Crimes Task
Force is investigating a
possible hate crime incident
that occurred in
Fresh Meadows last week,
when an Asian American
mother said she was spit
at and called the “Chinese
virus” while holding her
2-year-old baby.
Th e 25-year-old woman
told police that an unidentifi
ed man spit in her direction
three times before
calling her the derogatory
term on the morning
of March 9 at 186th Street
and Peck Avenue near
Kissena Corridor Park.
Th at incident follows
a string of several anti-
Asian hate crimes in the
borough, including a particularly
heinous incident
involving a 52-year-old
Asian woman, who was
allegedly shoved to the
concrete ground by a man
outside a Flushing bakery.
While that man was
identifi ed, arrested and
charged with assault and
harassment, too many of
these incidents go unreported
or unsolved. And
that must change.
So, how can we help
put an end to these types
of crimes? By standing
together, supporting each
other and condemning
these acts.
We have seen Queens
offi cials host rallies around
the borough denouncing
the hate crimes. And
those rallies are necessary
and important — but they
are not enough. We need
to see more action at the
community level, and that
starts with local community
boards.
Queens community
board chairs Alexa
Weitzman (CB 6), Martha
Taylor (CB 8), Betty
Braton (CB 10) and
Michael Budabin (CB
11) recently issued a joint
statement taking a stand
against the rise of anti-
Asian hate crimes in New
York City and around the
country since the start of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
We applaud their action
as a positive fi rst step
toward combating hate.
But we are calling on community
boards — and the
communities they serve —
to do more.
Anyone who is the victim
of a hate crime should
report it to authorities. Far
too oft en these crimes are
underreported, and if victims
don’t go to the police,
they should feel comfortable
bringing it to the
attention of their local
community boards or
even their neighbors, who
can join forces and help
bring attention to these
incidents, or even solve a
case. Aft er all, who knows
the people in their neighborhoods
better than the
person who lives in your
building, or who lives next
door?
Only by reporting these
crimes and making them
public, can we begin to
weed out the “bad eggs”
and make a diff erence.
Saying change is necessary
doesn’t make it so; acting
on those words does.
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