28 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 17, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
THE QUEENS
editorial
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
CO-PUBLISHER
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
ART DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER
CLASSIFIED MANAGER
CONTROLLER
PRESIDENT & CEO
VICE PRESIDENT
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ROBERT POZARYCKI
AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ
NIRMAL SINGH
EMILY DAVENPORT
KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE, ANGELA MATUA
SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Queens Courier
All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating
special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION.
No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The
publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the
error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be
guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or
reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold
THE QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting
from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.
SMELLING THE FLOWERS IN BRIARWOOD // PHOTO VIA INSTAGRAM @sonnythetzu
Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper!
To submit them to us, tag @qnsgram on Instagram, visit our Facebook page,
tweet @QNS or email editorial@qns.com (subject: Queens Snaps).
A united Queens will defeat bigotry
Queens prides itself as being one of the most ethnically and religiously
diverse places on the planet. Th at is something the majority of us take pride in.
If we are honest with ourselves, however, there is a very small group of
people in our fair borough who don’t feel the same way. Th ey are afraid of
change, afraid of diff erence, afraid of people who don’t look like themselves.
Sadly, this group exists in varying numbers in every corner of this nation.
Such irrational fear is misguided and wrong, but when these hate-fi lled
people band together, they have a tendency to lash out violently against those
patriots who believe in justice, tolerance and diversity.
We witnessed that in Charlottesville, VA, on the weekend of Aug. 12, in
which white supremacists and neo-Nazis clashed with those who came to
denounce the hate being spewed in the town. One of the white supremacists
then took this heinous display to a murderous level by driving his car into a
crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others in what many
rightfully described as an act of domestic terrorism.
Th e incident was sickening enough. Th en President Trump, a product of
Queens, waited two full days to condemn white supremacists and neo-Nazis
by name -- and only aft er a tidal wave of criticism from many sides that
he didn’t do so immediately aft er the incident. To the astonishment of the
world, at a deranged Aug. 15 press conference, Trump walked back his prepared
remarks the day earlier and pushed forth a false equivalency between
neo-Nazis and counter-protesters.
Th e president’s failure of leadership indeed gives the bigots the opening
they’ve wanted to spread their hate into the mainstream. Th at must never be
accepted or tolerated. Our nation fought a world war to defeat Nazism, and
we’ve worked too hard over the last century to beat back intolerance in our
pursuit of granting equal civil rights to every American.
Queens residents are already rising up against white supremacy, as evidenced
in a protest rally held on Aug. 15 in Jamaica. Beyond organized
action, however, we must all do our part to instill a tolerant and just society
in our borough.
We must treat each other with respect, and if we see someone acting out to
harass or intimidate someone because of who they are, we must all stand up
and tell them to stand down.
Why? Because history tells us that when white supremacists know they are
outnumbered by good people, they will run back into the holes out of which
they crawled.
STORY: Taverna Kyclades, popular Greek restaurant in Astoria, will
expand to Bayside
SUMMARY: Taverna Kyclades, a popular Greek restaurant with
locations in Astoria and Manhattan, will be opening a new location
on Bell Boulevard in Bayside.
REACH: 60,210 people (as of 8/14/17)