14 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 1, 2016 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com College students anxious over Trump presidency voice their concerns in Bayside BY LIAM BAKER [email protected] @QNS In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s historic upset over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, many people in the blue-voting county of Queens were left anxious about what a Trump presidency will entail, given the divisive rhetoric that fueled much of his campaign. Queensborough Community College (QCC) hosted a forum in the Kupferberg Holocaust Center of its Bayside campus, on the afternoon of Nov. 22, to give students and faculty a platform to express these anxieties and participate in a free and open exchange of support and ideas about what to do going forward. Kat Griefen, a professor from the art and design department, shared a petition to make QCC a “sanctuary campus,” following suit with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s declaration that NYC will be a “sanctuary city.” A sanctuary campus is a college or university that protects its undocumented students from unwarranted prying and intimidation from immigration and government officials, with the hope of preventing the deportation of undocumented immigrants, as the president-elect has promised to do in his first 100 days. “They’re still a lot of work to be done in this country on the front of combating bigotry,” Griefen said. “Having sanctuary status won’t change everything Queens residents are still anxious over the incoming Trump administration, including college students who spoke out this week at a Queensborough Community College forum. overnight.” Some Muslim students, like 20-year-old psychology student Khushbakhat Siddiqui, are equally worried about the prospect of facing day-to-day discrimination as they are about legislative discrimination. “The day after Trump won the election, I was scared to leave my house,” Siddiqui said. “I got bullied a lot as a child after 9/11 and I’m scared that a Trump presidency will bring a lot of that xenophobia back to the surface. I don’t cover up my head, but I’m not white, so I’m scared people will see me and assume I’m Muslim.” Farbod Hadizadeh Moghadam, president of the Student Government Association at QCC, urged students to channel their frustrations into civic actions. “This election brought the political side out of a lot of people, which is good,” Moghadam said. “But you have to channel those feelings into action if anything is going to change. Maybe we can’t change the world, but we can start by changing this campus QCC.” As the event wrapped up, one professor – who declined to give his name – encouraged people to embrace diversity of thought, and engage those who think differently than you so that debate can flourish, not be stifled. “We need to listen to opinions that disgust us and are evil,” the professor said. “If someone has a venial opinion, I want to hear it so I know who my enemy is. Liberty and freedom of speech mean nothing if you don’t extend it to those whom you disagree with.” BY ANGELA MATUA [email protected] @AngelaMatua With hate crimes spiking this month, Captain Peter Fortune, the commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, wants to make it clear that there is no room for hateful rhetoric in his precinct. “Whatever your political view is, whatever your religious view is, that’s great,” Fortune said at the Nov. 22 114th Precinct Community Council meeting in Astoria. “You shouldn’t victimize somebody else based on what somebody looks like or what religion they are.” Queens is the most diverse borough in the country, and Astoria is home to people from nearly 100 countries. Recently, it has also been the scene of several incidents that are being investigated as hate crimes by the NYPD. On Nov. 19, four teenagers were sitting outside of a bar at 27-35 21st St. in Astoria when three men approached them and made anti-Muslim comments. A fight broke out and a 17-year-old Muslim teenager suffered a fractured eye socket when a suspect threw a glass bottle at his face. Fortune said police are investigating this incident as a hate crime and that officers have several leads. There were also swastikas found on the 30th Avenue train platform on the N and W lines and in an Astoria park. “There’s no place in the 114th for this kind of anti-Muslim, antireligious, anti-ethnicity at all,” Fortune said. “Frankly, it bothers me. It actually embarrasses me when I see some of the people that commit these crimes. I don’t really know what you think it’s going to solve or what point you’re trying to make, but it’s gotta stop.” On Nov. 17, a video that an Arab-American Uber driver captured on his phone was released online. A man drove up to the Uber driver on Crescent Street and went on a racist tirade, saying “f***in’ loser, f**k you and your family, you terrorist f**k.” Fortune said the driver has not reported the incident to police but urges him and anyone else who thinks he or she has been a victim of a hate crime to come forward to police. The commanding officer added that the 114th Precinct has conducted outreach to Muslims living in Astoria to show them that officers are on their side. “We have 14 mosques in the 114th Precinct,” Fortune said. “We have a tremendous relationship with our Muslim community. We want to let them know they’re not alone in this and they’ll have our continued support throughout this process.” According to Police Commissioner James O’Neill, there were a reported 328 hate crimes in New York City through Nov. 13. This number reflects a 31 percent increase from last year and there was both an increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic hate crimes. Fortune said the three reported incidents were “three too many” and that it is uncommon for the 114th Precinct to see this volume of biased crimes. “You can rest assured that were going to investigate this to the fullest, were going to work with the district attorney’s office and if we can put you in jail we’re going to put you in jail because it’s not going to be tolerated in the 114th,” Fortune said. Spokespeople for Councilmen Jimmy Van Bramer and Costa Constantinides said their offices will paint over any graffiti that may be deemed hateful or racist. “We do take the graffiti just as seriously,” Fortune said. “We do treat it as a hate crime.” 114th Pct. boss slams Astoria hate crimes “You can rest assured that were going to investigate this to the fullest, were going to work with the district attorney’s office and if we can put you in jail we’re going to put you in jail because it’s not going to be tolerated in the 114th.” CAPTAIN PETER FORTUNE Commanding officer of the 114th Precinct Anthony Giudice/QNS Photo via Twitter/114th Precinct
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