At the Great Neck Street Fair on Oct. 21, 2018, one of our members and her six-year old son were stalked and verbally attacked for several minutes by two individuals with vicious racial and transphobic slurs in front of hundreds attending this family event.
One of them shouted: “No transgenders to Great Neck” and “take that [expletive] to China.”
We, the Board of Great Neck Chinese Association, most strenuously condemn this hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation and ethnicity and the intolerance it betrays.
Such hate speech degrades and intimidates fellow members of the Great Neck community and is the antithesis of the value of empathy, tolerance and equality that we preach to our children every day. This kind of hate speech has no place in Great Neck and must be denounced promptly and forcefully!
Great Neck has always been a community that opens its arms to welcome people from all over the world.
Over the past century, many of our residents and their ancestors sought refuge here from wars, discrimination, persecution and inhuman living conditions from their native countries. Great Neck has long been a safe harbor for those who believe in hard work and seek a better life for their families.
Our children are taught by our excellent schools on the meaning of respect, empathy, kindness, acceptance and tolerance. We should not forget that children may not always listen to us, but they will always watch us, so how we act in front of them still matters.
While civil discourse might be challenging in the polarized world we are living in today, we, as adults, must not allow ourselves to descend into the darkness of bigotry and hatred due to our passion and fear. We can only hope that the little boy can overcome the trauma he and his mother suffered and not foster any ill will of his own.
We urge all residents of Great Neck to continue demonstrating to our future generations the core values of this wonderful and inclusive town.
We call on all those who believe in promoting equality and social justice to join us in this condemnation of the hate speech and the assault that our member and her young son had to endure and show solidarity with all fellow members of the Great Neck community targeted for their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
We are facing many challenges in today’s world, and we, the community of Great Neck, can only overcome these difficulties by being united in our efforts to combat bigotry, prejudice and intolerance.
Great Neck Chinese Association
GNCA is a non-profit organization and is prohibited by law from participating in any political activity. Accordingly, GNCA does not support or oppose any candidate in any election.
