In light of recent events that have brought the issue of hate to the forefront in local communities, the Bellmore-Merrick Democratic Club hosted a panel last week featuring key leaders, to encourage an open discussion about these incidents in order to figure out solutions.
In late July, swastikas were found spray-painted on a playground in Merrick, and just last week, Temple Beth-Am of Merrick and Bellmore received a bomb threat, later deemed not credible by Nassau County police. Beyond the immediate area, a boy in Riverhead was subjected to racial slurs in an incident that left Long Islanders everywhere unsettled.
“I don’t know how we’ve gotten to this place, but we have to address it,” Democratic Club President Claudia Borecky said at the Sept. 21 meeting. “We’ve invited a panel of experts, to hopefully teach us how we can help them fight hate on Long Island.”
The “Hate Has No Home Here” panel featured Donna Bailor, who discussed antisemitism; Christine Liu, from the Chinese-American community; Laura Harding, president of Erase Racism; Kerrie O’Neill, of the LGBT Network; Jasmine Pena, of the Long Island Latino Alliance; and Maria Shaikh, of Pakistani American Community Excellence, also known as PACE.
The two-hour-long event at the Merrick Golf Course attracted dozens of residents of Bellmore, Merrick and surrounding towns.
Bailor, who is active in the Five Towns Jewish community, according to the panel’s moderator, Dave Denenberg, said that of all the groups of people that are affected by racism, bias and other types of hate, a way to combat it would be to rally together.
“Let’s be clear,” Bailor said. “We need all of us. Because despite the differences in our situations, we are more effective together than we are apart. We must make the effort to understand each other better than we do now. Groups fighting for the same goal should…
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