The chances are good that if you asked a racist person if he was a racist, the answer would be no.
It is also no surprise to hear elected officials on both sides of the aisle in Nassau respond to the growing number of anti-Asian and anti-Semitic acts by voicing outrage – especially in a county with large populations of Asian-Americans and Jews.
We don’t mean to imply that any of those expressions of outrage are insincere or are not welcome. They most definitely are welcome. Hate must be confronted every time it rears its ugly head and bright lines need to be established for right and wrong.
But at least at the moment in Nassau County, they are not unexpected and do not require difficult choices.
We are concerned that the response to the rise in bias attacks in this country against Asian-Americans, Jews and others is beginning to sound like the ritual thoughts-and-prayers reaction to gun violence that takes the place of actually doing somebody about the problem.
Case in point: Officials voiced expected outrage when two swastikas were found spray-painted on the facades of John Philip Sousa Elementary School on Sands Point Road last week.
“Hatred and anti-Semitism will never be welcome in our community, and it’s incumbent on us all to speak out forcefully and unequivocally against it whenever we encounter it,” state Sen. Anna M. Kaplan (D-North Hills) said Monday in response to the discovery of the swastikas.
North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth released a statement saying, “The rise of hate crimes throughout the country is extremely upsetting, and it becomes even more upsetting when something offensive like this occurs in our own backyard.”
Kaplan and state Assemblywoman Nily Rozic of Queens later proposed legislation to ensure that New York schools are teaching students about the Holocaust as required under existing law.
But verifying that the Holocaust is being taught in schools is not enough.
We believe a thorough review of how U.S. and world history are taught in our schools should be begun immediately to ensure that students are actually learning the lessons of the past to better respond to future problems.
This is actually not an easy job. In fact, it is one fraught with the politics of the day.
Just consider how many people – OK, Republicans – do not believe that President Joe Biden won the presidency in 2020 in a free and fair election.
And then think about the consequences. Forty-seven states are now considering legislation to suppress the vote – mainly of Black and brown voters – thereby undermining one of the underpinnings of our democracy.
How exactly, for instance, is slavery being taught in our schools? Judging by the number of states that until recently flew the Confederate flag and displayed statutes of Confederate generals, the answer should be not well. How about here?
What does this have to do with the Holocaust?
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson wrote in her recent book “Caste” that when the Nazis were studying laws that would marginalize Jews in Germany in 1934 in the run-up to the Holocaust, they found the best examples in the United States under Jim Crow. So old lessons bring current truths.
But sometimes we don’t have to go that far back to learn the lessons of history.
Richard J. Nicolello, the presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, expressed his outrage at anti-Asian hate taking place with “alarming frequency” across the county, including Nassau, in an op-ed in Blank Slate Media.
“Racial hate and bias have no place in our society and violence of this nature against anyone is reprehensible and will not be tolerated,” Nicolello said. “The surge in attacks around the country are in direct opposition to the freedoms we hold dear.
“I along with every member of the Nassau County Legislative Majority universally condemn such behavior and anyone committing crimes by acting in this manner should be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
We are sure Nicolello did not mean to imply that the Nassau County legislative minority did not also condemn anti-Asian behavior.
But it would have been nice for the Republican legislators for once to drop the knee-jerk partisanship and issue a statement on behalf of the entire county Legislature expressing those goals when confronted with hate crimes.
A second problem with the statement is the call for anyone committing hate crimes to be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The sentiment in of itself is not wrong. But the language follows almost word-for-word Nicolello’s statement after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other far-right groups.
And nowhere did it mention the No. 1 cause of the Jan. 6 attack or the upsurge of hate crimes against Asian-Americans: former President Donald Trump.
Nicolello makes no mention of Trump stirring anti-Asian sentiment by repeatedly referring to COVID-19 as the “China Virus” or the “Kung Flu.” Nor do we find any record of county Republicans criticizing him for calling the coronavirus those names when he was president.
Let’s be clear here. Words matter. And if people want to treat a problem, they need to identify its causes.
Trump did not invent racism or anti-Semitism, but he exploited them from the day he came down the escalator to announce his run for president in 2016 with an attack on Mexican immigrants.
And, sadly, it worked. Trump has gained ownership of the Republican Party and those who cross him do so at their own peril.
Just look at how House Republicans are pressing to remove U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership position for stating the truth – that Biden won in a free and fair election. Liz Cheney!
And look at how U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney and Cindy McCain are treated for their lack of fealty to Trump.
So we understand the reluctance of Nicolello and other local Republicans to speak about the biggest cause for the rise of hate crimes and language. They would like to stay in office – something that we might find preferable given the alternatives out there.
Nicolello did recently hold a hearing focused on how the county combats and prevents all hate crimes and discrimination, including anti-Semitism and racial attacks.
One idea was to ensure that the county police provide “targeted means for victims of hate crimes to report such crimes, including department personnel to communicate in the languages of our diverse population.”
Republican legislators also called for an amendment to one of their favorite political targets, state bail reform law, to prevent personal information regarding victims and witnesses from being shared with defendants in cases of hate crimes.
“The bail reform law mandates that prosecutors turn over to defendants within 15 days of arraignment the names and contact information of victims and witnesses,” Nicolello said. “Many in our society, especially in emerging communities, are fearful to go to the police.”
We support efforts to encourage “fearful” people to go to the police to report crimes – provided it is consistent with the 6th Amendment’s right for a person charged with a crime to face the accuser in court.
But we would be better served if fearful elected officials did more to confront hate at its source.
