Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on June 13 2019
Note: Transcripts are generated by rev.ai and may not be fully accurate. Please listen to the recording (below) if you feel any text is inaccurate.
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Including all religion. Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, black, white, brown, yellow. You can keep counting on it. This is like a small, beautiful sample of mini global community with all respect of diversity. They are all here for a clear message. There is no space for hate here in we all here. They all here to reject the Trump mindset, who want to divide us, not unite us or anybody who in the local community who want to divide us. We all are here to stand against that. I am the person who was labeled as a radical leader to try to take over the Township government in anti-US flyer. Shame in Indian attempt to create hate on the basis of religion in my hometown is this is the to where I live with my family. This is the to where I'm actively involved. I was school board member for six, seven years. I'm involved in Pisca, I'm involved in food bank, I'm involved in, I'm involved in PTO. I'm involved everywhere. I'm responsible citizen of this pisca. The letter was signed by Councilman Capcha school board member nit Patel Speaker 2 00:01:52 Member. Disgusting. Speaker 0 00:01:57 But action is bad. Speaker 2 00:01:59 The action is bad. Speaker 0 00:02:01 I'm not the, I'm not against the personality, I'm against the bad actions. Unfortunately it was hunted by my own sitting state, Senator Bob Smith shame distributor by the first lady. Speaker 2 00:02:14 Shame, shame, shame. Democrats Speaker 0 00:02:19 And state Smith distributed by and that was distributed in Gujarati language to divide us in the base of religion. It's not India. That is not acceptable Republican to my faith community. It's not acceptable to my faith community, to my all diverse community. We are representing here tonight. There are hundred more leaders, faith-based leader, community leaders, elected officials, individual who signed up the competition to condemn this anti-Muslim attack who are standing up against hate and promoting unity in our, my community. I express my appreciation for my Senator Bob Smith apology, which was arrived today. I appreciate that and I am looking forward to meet with him to discuss going forward in more positive way, more productive way to make the community united as my religion teach me. And by practicing my understanding of all other religions, I am extending my hand of forgiveness and cooperation towards our Councilman Capcha. For his role in signing his negative flyer, I asking him to provide a written public apology to me, an entire community of Pisca. Yes I will. Speaker 2 00:03:54 Yes. Spoke language, Speaker 0 00:04:00 Resign other signatory is to do the same. All Speaker 2 00:04:03 Resign. Speaker 0 00:04:05 I must, I must say this letter of apology must be translated in Gujarati. Yes. Speaker 2 00:04:12 Yes. Speaker 0 00:04:13 They're here. They're supporting. We are. We are one. Yes, Speaker 2 00:04:20 Yes. Speaker 0 00:04:26 That letter, that Aithal letter must be translated inti language and must be distributed for everyone who got the hate flyer with the new message of unity. Love, peace, and inclusiveness. That's Speaker 1 00:04:39 Right Speaker 0 00:04:46 Up to you. To take action, to promote unity in the community and star any kind of hate against any belief, color, race, gender, nationality. It is up to all of us to build one community, one of this that we may God bless us all. Thank you very much for your time. Speaker 2 00:05:08 Thank. Speaker 1 00:05:12 Thank you Speaker 0 00:05:15 Council, before we continue, I just wanted to clarify a few things and definitely listen to the community and and their promotion unity. I think the council matches that, that sentiment. I just wanted to clarify some of the facts. Is that the, the word radical and I was asked to review the actual political flyer. It wasn't a governmental flyer, it was a, it was a political flyer by a local political party and it referenced the radical word referenced a local political party, not any individual. It did not indicate any Speaker 2 00:06:01 Why not sensitive Speaker 3 00:06:03 Words towards the C Speaker 2 00:06:10 Yourself. Dude, why wasn't then why did, why wasn't not any other language. It has the name of occupancy on the show, the flag, your name on there. It says a radical group, a public official on you on Speaker 3 00:06:43 Years post nine 11. We should be careful of the words we use for minorities Speaker 2 00:06:49 As a shame on you. Speaker 3 00:06:51 Assed elected. You should know also. Well Speaker 0 00:07:01 The council Speaker 2 00:07:02 Also that Speaker 0 00:07:04 If you look at the context of letter, it seems to include that diversity and inclusion and there's no other hate speech other than that one word. Speaker 2 00:07:11 Why is name, why is his name on there? Why was it in that language? Are you signing? Speaker 3 00:07:17 Why did you sign it? One word. Imagine a terrorist. Speaker 2 00:07:22 Why did she translate it for defendant? Shame on all of you. Shame. Know your name. Alright, Speaker 3 00:07:33 An apology, which means nothing would've been just fine. But this excuse unreal. You need to let Speaker 2 00:07:39 Them talk. You need to stop the outbursts or they're just gonna clear the room. Well we don't want lies. Well let them finish talking and then if you want to discuss it, you can come up here. Go to the mic for three minutes, get three minutes. Alright, everybody can get three minutes. Just finally, Speaker 0 00:07:54 Just finally wanted to, you know, as this is political correspondence, it seems to be a political dispute between two political parties. This, you know, this wouldn't be the appropriate venue for, for the matter. It would probably be Speaker 2 00:08:09 Alright then why did council people sign it? It's on your name. Not okay. Not okay. Yes. May I start? Mr. Mayor, please move on. Go ahead. Say your name Speaker 0 00:08:20 Please. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Respect counsel members. My name is Alex Razzi, 14 Market Drive Sum, New Jersey. I'm the president of Interface council at Franklin Township and co-founder of New Jersey Interface Coalition. And I'm also the one of the directors and vice president of the Ali Mosque, which is located at Franklin Township even though I don't live in Pisca, but I have worked here for many, many years, actually over 25 years. And I have many friends and residents who attend mosque and temples in Franklin Township. They asked me to come and share a few words, but first I wanted to share a letter that Senator Bar Smith sent to me and asked me to read the following statement from him. During this meeting, he addresses the Muslims and he says these dear friends, I would like to begin by vision. All of you ate Mubarak. Several of you have approached me to express your disappointment with my endorsement of a letter that was written in English and Gujarati and sent to members of the Gujarati community. Inca. After listening to you, I have realized that I was not sensitive to the implication that the word radical along with OT Nazi's name would engender for some readers of the letter. Let me offer my unequivocal apology and assure you that I will be more sensitive, more, more mindful going forward. I deeply value the contribution of the Muslim community in, in the success of Democratic Party. And I look forward to meeting with you in the near future to explore further opportunities for a stronger party. Speaker 0 00:10:09 Mr. Mayor, over the, the past several years we have been working together with various base groups to unite the community and create an environment where everyone feels respected and proud to be part of the community. One of the unique actions we have implemented is, is a pledge of stand up for the other. The pledge is a personal commitment and read as this while interacting with members of my own faith or ethnic or gender community or others. If I hear hateful comments from anyone about members of any other community, I pledge to stand up for the other and speak up to challenge bigotry in any form. In Franklin Township, not only the council members embraced and took the pledge, but over 8,000 students and the staff of public and private schools took the pledge and made it as part of their anti-bullying program. Councilman Shaw, you have many Muslim friends I would imagine, and in the past they have voted for you. You have heard the feelings of your friends and community members of different base groups. We hope tonight you follow the footsteps of our respective Senator and offer an apology to those who you have heard, especially the Speaker 0 00:11:47 We also. Excuse me, sir, you three minutes are up. Okay, just one 10 seconds, three minutes are up, Speaker 2 00:11:53 Speak and you have three minutes to speak. Speaker 0 00:11:57 That's what happens when you're nice. Thank Speaker 2 00:11:59 You. Give it to the next person, the next guy read. Speaker 0 00:12:07 My name is Dr. Ali Chaill. I'm a former Mayor of Township Basking Ridge. I'm also co-founder of the New Jersey Interfaith Coalition and I'm here today to stand with my Muslim brothers and sisters and all residents of this GU or otherwise. As I have spoken in Township like Toms River and Jackson Township, when there are incidents of bias and hatred, the pledge that Dr. Razzi just mentioned is something that I came up with about four and a half years ago and it is something that the entire legislator of the state of New Jersey has taken and since, as Dr. Razzi mentioned, a school system has and several board members or fee holders and others have taken. And it is our goal and it is my wish tonight to ask you as electoral officials and as leaders of the community to take this message that when you see hate, you hear hate, whether it's around the dinner table or any council meeting or any other formal setting, that you do not remain silent. Speaker 0 00:13:32 And therefore these words that Dr. Azi just read are the things that we are asking people to basically, you know, appoint yourself as guardians of dignity and respect for everyone, every human being, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist. No matter what faith you are or what color you are, what language you speak, where you come from should not matter. Therefore, I'm asking you as leaders of the community to adopt this pledge as a commitment to say that you will challenge bigotry and I will repeat the words that Dr. Razzi didn't finish. So you have hurt the feeling of your friend, friends and community as, as Dr. Azi just said. So we also hope that you pledge going forward to stand up for the other. And when you hear ful comment from anyone about members of any other group, finally to the respected members of the council, I encourage you to take the standup pledge today. It takes less than a minute to read, but it sends a strong message to the community that leaders of this Township strive to create unity and will not tolerate any form of hate and bigotry. Thank you. And I have copies of the pledge. In fact, I have delivered the copy to the Mayor and to the secretary. There are 10 copies available for you and if you will agree with me, I will repeat the pledge and if you would repeat after me. Speaker 4 00:15:10 Yes, Speaker 0 00:15:11 Yes. I would just simply repeat the pledge and if you would like to do it, you're certainly welcome to sign it and give it to us if you would prefer to do that. And let me just end by simply reading the pledge that while interacting with members of my own faith or after or general community or with others, if I hear hateful comments from anyone about members of any other community, I pledge to stand up for the other and speak up to challenge bigotry in any form. Thank you very much. Speaker 4 00:15:55 I'm Catherine Gr and I live at 70 17 River Road in here in Piscataway. I want you to know that I was in an interfaith meeting about four years ago that was related to everything that everybody has said about the freedom of religion and the lack of mean talk, ugly talk. I won't say. The important thing is that there were people at that meeting that were not only from middle New Jersey, they were from North Jersey, Staten Island and New York City and they were from, I was aware of this because I happened to be a Roman Catholic, but I happened to know that everybody has a faith of some way. They were from the Archdiocese of New York, diocese of Staten Island, which is not part of the Mill Patterson. And I even represent the touch. So my point is that this is not new. This is not only in one set section of the world, this is for the whole whole world. And this needs to start tonight if it hasn't started yesterday because we need to look at ourselves differently as a full community. And it doesn't matter really what we think. We think we've got to learn to think how it is to be in another person's, not only shoes, but skin, language, food, everything there is in order to understand people better than we do right now. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:17:45 Please state your name and your Speaker 2 00:17:53 Council Speaker 0 00:17:53 People. Good evening. My name is Abdu Gro. I'm the communications director for the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. Our office here at New Jersey is located at for 44 75 South Clinton Avenue and South Plainfield, New Jersey. And I'm here to speak on behalf of those who were deeply offended by this divisive rhetoric that was used in the campaign event. This type of divisive rhetoric, okay, is not very healthy because it's smacks of bigotry and hatred and incitement to violence and incitement to bigotry. There are for the, for the local democratic leaders to to, to resort. This type of dynamic is most unfortunate. We cannot afford to have that in this state or any state for that matter. That kind of rhetoric we find existing within the modus operandi of other political parties. But the Democratic party should be much better than that. And I would ask the council to denounce that. I would ask those who were responsible for that, to apologize for that and let's move forward because words can hurt and words have meaning and words can inspire people to do good or can inspire people to do evil. Speaker 2 00:19:20 Right? We live in a society Speaker 0 00:19:28 Today. We live in a society today. Today that can Ill afford any more divisive hate field rhetoric because we do not want an incident to occur in this country, in this state, in this Township or anywhere where innocent lives will be lost because of some hate speech or some hate rhetoric. And for some short term political gain, we gotta be better than that. Better angels Speaker 2 00:19:59 Of our nature. Yes, Speaker 0 00:20:05 The better angels of our nature, if I may borrow a phrase, speaks to us rising to a level that is courageous on the one hand and bold and throws on the other because we cannot, ill afford to go the other path. Thank you for your time and prayer. Speaker 2 00:20:29 Your name and your address and you have three minutes in which to speak. Speaker 4 00:20:31 My name is Ann Baston, I live at one 13 Fountain Avenue and I'm here to support Dr. Nazi's call that council member Shaw. Apologize for signing this letter. Yes. Speaker 2 00:20:47 And I feel yes, yes. Speaker 4 00:20:52 Being a council member representing this town and all of our people and that's why we're here because you are sitting in that seat Speaker 2 00:20:59 And Speaker 4 00:20:59 Using that seat and the title of that seat to put forward what we consider to be angry, hateful, and divisive campaign literature. And if Bob Smith can apologize, Speaker 2 00:21:14 Certainly you can. Thank you Speaker 4 00:21:22 One A, I didn't find that letter that far you sent out just insulting un hateful towards Dr. Nazi and the Muslim community. Although we know about dog whistles and I think attorney, you should a town attorney, you should also learn about dog whistles because that's when somebody says something and it signals to everyone else what it really means. Speaker 2 00:21:44 Yes, yes. That's Speaker 4 00:21:46 What that did even say radically group trying to overthrow town our town government and not try to create the specter of some outside force. This is an inside force. This is a group of people who are not radical but who wanna participate. We're not trying to take over or overthrow town government. We're trying to create a town dormant that is inclusive of everybody who lives here. Insult Dr. Nazi in the Muslim community, you insulted all of us who are trying to participate in it that Speaker 2 00:22:30 Apologize Speaker 4 00:22:31 To the democratic process of this town that you insulted people who at least had the civic duty to get up and run for what they believe in. Speaker 2 00:22:48 Thank you. You state your name and your address and you have three minutes, so which to speak, Speaker 4 00:22:57 Sorry. Cussan 180 4, Milltown. No, east Brunswick, New Jersey. When I saw the flyer, I didn't think it was a mistake. I didn't think it was any other intentions behind it. As a grown person sitting there, he should know the history of having this language, this rhetoric towards a name that's Muslim with a flag that's Indian given that fascist person runs that country. Given our history, I'm extra careful when I address my Sikh and Hindu brothers and sisters extra careful because I know the history and I'm probably half your age Speaker 2 00:23:38 White. Speaker 4 00:23:39 I'm talking to a white person. I make sure I don't say white supremacist. I say people with evil thoughts and evil mindset because it might offend them. When you offend someone, basic, basic, basic stuff, you just say sorry you don't give excuses. Speaker 2 00:23:57 Thank you. Speaker 4 00:24:03 Read from Bob Smith. Come on. Really seriously. We do hefty fundraisers for officials in New Jersey. Hefty fundraisers. Speaker 2 00:24:12 Yes, yes, yes. Them out Speaker 4 00:24:16 Senators are short of funds and we're called upon to fill the million dollar gap. It's so painful, hurtful, so tiring. Honestly, I didn't think it was gonna do anything to be here today because we're here like every other week. Whether it's East Bruswick, whether it's Pisca, what I mean, we've literally built these towns. It's not fair to us, it's not fair to anyone. Embarra. The kind of rhetoric that's going on in our country. We're trying, we're having to address the hate against the African American community. Write them a letter. Say sorry, where are we today? Instead of policing our three minutes, we need to start policing. Thank Speaker 2 00:24:56 You. Yes. Speaker 4 00:25:04 Saying that, you know what, this person that was running the Township, he said it's absolutely illegal to use irresponsible words on fires in the Township of Piscataway. That would be my legacy. I would want my children to see. Speaker 2 00:25:16 Agreed. Yes. Speaker 1 00:25:19 I Speaker 4 00:25:20 Tell you, I wonder what they think about me. And I'm sure you all do. When a seat person is attacked, I go, I didn't do it. I go and I say, you know what? Ever did it? We're with you. No excuses. Yep. Because Speaker 2 00:25:36 There are Yes, yes. Speaker 4 00:25:42 I have nothing else to say, but an apology is the least, Speaker 2 00:25:47 Least short Speaker 4 00:25:51 That we stepped down from. Speaker 5 00:26:01 Thank you Mayor and council members. Thank you very much. My name is Ellen Howard, I live one 13 ton avenue. I've been in Pi Sky for 30 years. My daughter graduate from Pi Sky High School. I have been an educator for 45 years. I speak as a historian, as an educator, Al as a resident of Piscataway and I, I like to say I support Dr. Nazi's statement and the other statements that are preceded. But beyond that, I want to say a few things. We really, as citizens of this city, as residents of the city, believe as Senator. Smith has openly apologized. And that Councilman council person, Kapi Shaw should apologize. Speaker 2 00:26:47 Yes, yes, yes. Speaker 5 00:26:50 And that education board member naan should apologize. Yes. These are the kinds of things we want beyond that. As the previous speaker said, direct action needs to be taken, not just apologies, but action. We should remember that not long ago, Jews, Italians, and Irish and many others were considered outsiders by some. And that prejudice against African Americans runs very deep in this community and elsewhere in the United States. We have all been greatly injured by this kind of thinking that was revealed in this letter. And this has to be corrected. The words and the actions that accompany such thinking are the words and actions of other parties beside the Democratic party. I must say I've walked with the Mayor, I've walked with the Councilman in election time, but that was in the past. Unless more is done, it'd be wrong to promote religious division within this Township openly or through dog whistles. If an pointed out, we cannot in many way turn Christians against Jews and Muslims, Jews against Muslims, Hindus against Muslims. But we must take the stance against any kind of division. I think that pledge that was mentioned earlier is the way to go. Speaker 2 00:28:08 Yes sir. Yes. Thank you. Speaker 5 00:28:14 It it also is very bad to import divisions from other parts of the world into Piscataway. Yes. Speaker 5 00:28:23 Ethnic and release divisions have been promoted by politicians seeking to hold power in other parts of the world. We don't need that here. That is really not the way we should go. We should be the guardians. That term was used very correctly. Guardians of the higher values, the values that the United States and Piscataway stand for at their best. We as a community should denounce divisions and Senator starting with Senator, Smith, councilperson, Shaw School Board member Patel and others who are involved in this dealing. They should not only apologize, but they should take active steps to over overcome the hurt and the harm that was done to all of us as members of this country. Speaker 2 00:29:00 Agreed. Speaker 1 00:29:08 Thank you. Speaker 0 00:29:10 I'm Raj and I live at 6 21 Coast Lane West. I'm a physician and I'm here to represent the sentiments of the professionals, of the community professionals of the Township of this. We are physicians, lawyers, financial people, and all kinds of professionals. And I don't want to review all what has been said, but I definitely agree. And the support and I think so definite apology is required. Thank you so much. Speaker 2 00:29:45 Speak up. You state your name and your address and you have three minutes we, which to speak. Speaker 4 00:29:51 Good evening. My name is Kiana Butler. I'm at 44 Lincoln Avenue. I'm here on behalf of Dr. He's a great dear friend of mine. I brought my two children here tonight. Brianna and Brian, can you please stand up? Speaker 2 00:30:08 Thank you. I'm here Speaker 4 00:30:11 Tonight because hate has no home here. This is Speaker 2 00:30:13 What democracy. Speaker 4 00:30:15 I'm a current resident here, Piscataway and I love Theca. I love diversity. Look at this drill. We have all different religions, all different backgrounds, all different ethnicities. That flyer was intentional and you guys know it was, if it wasn't TIFs name wouldn't have been on there. He wasn't even running for any of Speaker 2 00:30:31 Yep. Yes, true. Speaker 4 00:30:34 Councilman Shaw, you are an elected official and you should be held to a higher standard and you should be accountable for your actions. So an apology is the least that you can do. My children are here tonight because when they do something wrong to each other, guess what they have to say. Sorry. Speaker 2 00:30:50 Yes. Oh, Speaker 4 00:30:56 And like everyone else said, we hope that moving forward we won't have to be here tonight for under such circumstances and that things can move forward. Thank Speaker 2 00:31:06 You. Anyone else speak here. Please state your name, your address, and your three minutes. Speaker 4 00:31:23 Hello, my name is Michelle Angel. INI live in Somerset. Should I still state my address? Yes, please. Seven Blake Avenue in Somerset. I just wanted to say that Muslims come out in numbers as you can see, you know, we, liberals are coming out in numbers and the ways the, the tide is changing right now. So those who will, will not hold Councilman Shaw in accountable. You know, we like, we will take steps to vote you out, you know. Thank you. Speaker 2 00:32:07 Thank Speaker 0 00:32:14 Hello everybody. Thank you for giving me the time. My name is Dr. Ou. I'm at 5 7 7 South end of Piscataway. I've known a lot of you, I've lived here for 30 years. I've known of you, known all of you for a long, long time. You see, in my opinion, an apology is not enough. It's Speaker 2 00:32:35 Not. No. No it's not. No it's not. Speaker 0 00:32:39 You as leaders have to sanction one of your own. It's your responsibility. Yes. We doing what we can now, what you going to do about the rotten individual within yourselves? You're going to have to do something. You're going have to have a meeting. You're gonna have to sanction him and, and Speaker 4 00:32:59 Even respect you when Speaker 0 00:33:00 You're talking and, and, and ultimately put in the newspaper or what action you will take. It's your job. Thank you. Speaker 4 00:33:16 Thank you. My name is Rashna Niga. I'm a Hindu. My sister married to a Pakistani here. We're Speaker 0 00:33:24 Just please, Speaker 4 00:33:25 Oh, sorry. 63 Charles the gallery. My sister married to a Pakistani guy and we are happy man. Man respects us as individual, not looking at us like we are Hindu. And your sister married to us. Another thing I understand Gujarati, I understand Punjabi and I understand Hindi. So if you come out with any negative letters coming out again, I will. And I'm repeating myself. I will. That's right. Stand up and I will support my people. Speaker 1 00:34:13 Thank you. Speaker 6 00:34:17 The residents. Speaker 4 00:34:32 Hello, my name is, my name is Mohammad 5 0 8 Chevy Parkway. Pisca. I've been living in Pisca for over five years, so this is the first time I've come to the building. I've watched sessions like these on the internet and it's a shame that I have to watch it here. My own hundreds of people, their times could have been saved and can still be saved if the apology had come up. Apology A stitch in time saves nine apology in time would have saved time today. And I assure you it would not only save you work, it'll save you time and tons of frustration down the road. Speaker 0 00:35:19 Yes. Speaker 2 00:35:29 Okay, Speaker 0 00:35:29 I see no more. Do I have a motion? Speaker 2 00:35:31 Yeah, one more. Speaker 0 00:35:34 Hold your horse. Horses. Speaker 2 00:35:37 You don't get off that easy. You work for us. Hold your horse, keep Speaker 0 00:35:42 Talking and you'll be escorted outta here. Good. No problem. My name is Raz Varley. I'm a a resident of Pisca for about 20 years now. I just wanna say I'm d I'm sorry, 1 69 Master Therapist Academy. I'm deeply offended by the very fact that we even have to be here. An apology should have already been given. We wouldn't be here. And, and in this day and age being especially what's going on everywhere around us, this is totally unacceptable. And I cannot believe I'm, I'm, I don't know the name of the gentleman here, the seat gentlemen. And how dare you, sir, that you are gonna attempt to defend this type of stuff That is totally unacceptable. You should, please don't matter. Shameful. That is really, really shameful. Just wanna make sure what, wanna throw out one thing, this is not acceptable in this type of community. We've been living here for many, many years. There's diverse. This is a diverse community. We have all sorts of people here. If, if that does not go with you, please leave. You can go elsewhere. Speaker 2 00:36:56 This has no hold here. All at risk. Speaker 4 00:37:21 My name is Simon, 31 North Pennington in New Brunswick. I have been living in this community. I've been coming to Piscataway as a child. Loved coming here. Always came to MCMC was always welcome in with open arms everywhere. This whole thing has just made me really sad. And I'm gonna just say that the flyer was the flyer, whatever people are trying to win elections. It was terrible. It was horrible. All those things. But what made me even sadder actually was the reaction from up there when Dr. Was make talking. You know, your body language we're watching. Speaker 2 00:38:01 Yes, yes, yes. I saw Speaker 4 00:38:03 Some smirk. The person who, what, who signed the letter. Come on, gimme a break. So that, that just, the reaction was worse than the actual flyer. For me personally, I'm a mom. I'm ashamed for you guys up there. We're trying to make excuses. I don't know what you're gonna tell your kids. I hope you don't have any Speaker 2 00:38:23 Then Speaker 4 00:38:23 I just wanna say that an apology. I mean, gimme a break. You do something wrong. Endangering lives, hate speech, endangers lives. Sir, please pay attention. You are not just jeopardizing Dr. Nazi, you're jeopardizing all of us. That's Speaker 2 00:38:38 Right. Yes, that's true. Speaker 4 00:38:42 Okay. There are Hindu kids, there are brown kids, there are Hispanic kids or black kids. There are gays like, you know, everybody's being victimized and it's not good for the white kids either. Okay? I don't, I don't want, you know, white parents to have to, to deal with this and to teach their kids. This isn't the kind of community that we want to and, and have. You know, you're supposed to be role models and what you did today up here, I hope this doesn't get circulated to my kids. It will. It's all because that's, this is terrible. What kind of a role? Role it's all going by. What kind of role model being up there. Speaker 2 00:39:14 Shame. Speaker 4 00:39:15 So I, and one thing I just wanna reiterate again, hate speech, which you did and then tried to make excuses for today is gonna hurt you directly. You're both brown. Yep. So everybody else, you know, you're not really bothering me too much, but the two of you, I am ashamed as I'm busy. I'm ashamed as a human being. Speaker 1 00:39:40 And Speaker 4 00:39:40 You know what I'm really ashamed of? We're the people of Gandhi. Okay? Martin Luther King took ideas from Gandhi, from our civil rights movement in over there. Us brown people, whether we're Pakistani or Bangladesh or whatever, we, we were not divided at that time. Okay? So Martin Luther King took ideas from Gandhi though. That's who we are. We are a loving people from a soft culture. And I'm ashamed of both of you as a brown woman. Speaker 2 00:40:04 Yes. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Hello, Speaker 0 00:40:13 My name is William Past. I'm from nine Juni Lane in Piscataway New Jersey. Excuse my language, I had an accident about three years ago. I-A-T-B-I in a stroke. I'm here to tell you how personally I'm disgusted by this political hack job you Speaker 2 00:40:30 Guys did. Yes. Thank you. Thank you sir. Ask Speaker 0 00:40:35 An apology, a thing simple politician do every day, whether they mean it or not, right? A simple apology all we ask from you and you wouldn't even give us the consideration and give us eye contact. I find it disgusting and I hope we vote you out. Speaker 4 00:40:51 Yes, Speaker 2 00:40:52 We yes we know. Yes we know. Wanna leave. Speaker 0 00:40:57 I find it disgusting. You guys wanna leave so quickly. You should be honored by this job. We love it here. People are happy to be in the skyway. And you guys are treating this like a political hot dog. It is. It's so disgusting. It's so beneath you guys. Very true. You guys are acting like Trump. Speaker 2 00:41:16 Yes. Thank you. Speaker 4 00:41:31 Hello everybody. My name is Uhrin Shaer. I reside at 11 Hadaway East Brunswick, New Jersey. I'm the chair of the East Brunswick Human Relations Council. I'm not sure if Thisaway has a human relation council. Is there a council for that? Speaker 2 00:41:43 They need one. They might not be. They probably don't need you need one. They don't need it. Speaker 4 00:41:46 Is there a council for that Human relations Council asking, yes, Speaker 2 00:41:49 HAI is the president. You're not gonna respond. Speaker 4 00:41:55 The goal of council is to celebrate diversity. Obviously it's not being celebrated here. I mean I feel like he has a civic, civic duty, moral duty to celebrate diversity, respect people. And as an official he's not doing that. So it's sad that I'm standing here teaching him ABCs of literally how to treat people. So I hope you guys get a human relation council or in East Brunswick and if you need any help, you can contact the Mayor of East Brunswick and help you with that Speaker 2 00:42:38 Of them. All of them. You're not even giving us time to be able to speak. You're your body says all please all Speaker 0 00:42:54 Was not intended for discourage anyone, faith or religious belief in this fact. We should have never used the inappropriate term containing this letter. I equally apology for that. And if anybody on ranked off, Speaker 2 00:43:20 He's reading Speaker 0 00:43:20 It. 19th June I was there and Mr. Thief, Dr. Thief was witness in a mosque. And this is not the first time I attend the mosque. I was a sixth time attend the mosque. Mr. Imam know that I have Quran he give to me. We first day when, Speaker 2 00:43:42 Excuse it, Speaker 0 00:43:46 If you, if I give you time, this is my time to use. I've been in community for more than 20 years. The people know me. Mr. Dr. Thi know me when he was running first time in school door. I'm the one who helped him out taking a temple if he agree or not there. And Speaker 2 00:44:21 Shame, Speaker 0 00:44:22 Okay? And I'm a supporter for same, for inter for. I've been in that program couple times and I'm supporting them before also a couple times. And I'm a a part of the Pakistani parade in OC Road. I'm a business immediate past president there. So it is not a new, this is only using, this word is not a single word. This is politically people Speaker 2 00:44:53 Shoulda stepped out. Stepped out, stepped out. If you give chance, you me man. Speaker 0 00:45:05 Respect. Respect. Speaker 2 00:45:06 You step down. His true colors come out minutes, three minutes. Speaker 0 00:45:19 So this is not a personally anybody attacked or any religious. I believe in religious otherwise I never go on a the mask for five times. This Speaker 2 00:45:29 Is Sunday. This month Speaker 0 00:45:31 I went for mask and I talked to Speaker 2 00:45:34 The mom and Speaker 0 00:45:37 You Speaker 2 00:45:37 Shake doesn't come to me Speaker 0 00:45:41 And say in last 20 years that I insert any Muslim or any, come forward right now. Speaker 2 00:45:59 Liar. Shame, shame. Eye liar, liar, liar. Double. If Speaker 0 00:46:17 You kill Speaker 2 00:46:18 You, Speaker 0 00:46:20 Anything that I say, I apologize again. Speaker 2 00:46:25 Resign. Resign. You should resign. Resign. You know what you do? You should resign. Okay, speak now. You can knock it up and speak. Now you can speak response to what he asked him. Councilman asked for a response. He said he could speak at the, Speaker 0 00:46:51 It'll be done. If nobody can fund that letter, I will fund from my personal money, keep the letter, I will fund it. If you can fund that, I will fund it. We all fund it. Speaker 2 00:47:02 We're a community. Yes, Speaker 0 00:47:03 We're one community. We wanna be right. I here to work everybody, not to pick everybody and offering. I open, open arm. I say I hope giving the forgiveness and reaching you out to accept my forgiveness and give me apology. And like in the language that you did, you never ever do it again. And I'm telling everybody locally, statewide, nationally, whoever did anybody anything bad about my African matter, brother and sister, white brother and sister, me two brother and sister. Six brother and sister. That's true. I will be the first person standing over there and giving my life my point. We're here to make the history. I don't want somebody after 50 years when you sent this head ladder and Mike help tell the they there were nobody Stand up on that kind. These are the people who stand up with this for lack of and just send apology in the writing in same language to everybody. Otherwise you not belong here. Yes, Speaker 2 00:48:15 Yes. Go. Speaker 0 00:48:23 Can't hear you now. Yes, thank you. Good evening. My name is va, I live on, so I wasn't going to say anything. But then I was expecting to say something that was more of an apology instead of making excuses from Mr. Open ended terms. And you of all people, I'm sorry, I know your name. You should understand in open-ended terms like radical used. You can have any Yahoo that would be having a bad day or be drunk, escape you for a Muslim. That's right. That's right, that's right. And it's happened. Shame, shame, shame. And, and you know if the problem is I, I will not say they resigned. I would need to make an apology on this thing really soon because you, you bringing a proxy division that probably goes on back home. But over here it will divide everything. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 0 00:49:26 Interview Alex Cari 14, market drive, Somerset, New Jersey. In life most of us have learned two golden words. One is thank you, the other one is, I'm sorry I've used that more often and I've taught my children to use those two words and Councilman Chaill, I was really expecting you to use those two golden words today. The first, I was hoping that you would thank the community for raising awareness of the whatever has happened. The second I was hoping sir, simply you would've said my fellow city man, my fellow community person, I apologize what I've done and I will do something at least in writing to mend the fences and close the gap. Sir, that's what I was expecting from you and I appreciate if you just say that so we can all go home. And we appreciate the fact that you did what you were supposed to do. Thank you sir. Speaker 0 00:50:41 Good evening. Can you hear me? Yep. My name is Ka Zi. I live in 2 47 Berkeley Drive, Piscataway. I moved to Piscataway about eight years ago in 2012, seven years ago. Also, I brought my two sons here, Zaza because I wanted to see how this process works. And I'm really happy today to see all these people standing up for peace and justice, especially non Muslims. I'd like to thank you so much for doing this. I'm really impressed. I used to live North Jersey for one and a half year. I moved from Alaska, then I came to Piscataway. I love this place. I really think it's a tolerant place and a place that I really want to raise my kids into this community. I'm a member of the Muslim Community Center here in in Piscataway. I was listening to Councilman about, I think he was trying to apologize but halfway through his statement, I think he kinda, you know, started to defend his actions. Speaker 0 00:51:43 And I would like to give you another opportunity to please. We are one community. There's a lot of good people out here. So I'd like to give you a second opportunity to maybe think about what all these people said and what about your actions. We, Muslims in this country are minority and the word radical means something to us. If you don't understand what it means when you call, you accuse someone of being radical, especially from Muslim background. It means a lot. Especially now we are living in this community. We're trying to communicate and trying to unite with the community and assure people that we are Americans and we love this country and we work hard and pay our taxes. But when when you make a statement like that, it causes a lot of distrust. So I'd like to give you another opportunity to please apologize to Dr. Azar and to the Muslim community. Thank you. Speaker 4 00:52:43 And Stelton one 13 Fountain Avenue. I'd like to sort of second that spirit of that. I don't think we did hear a real apology or a commitment to changing to writing the wrong that was done in the community publicly. I think that we should all be proud of this moment, right? Being here. Speaker 4 00:53:07 Anything, I'm sure for many of you sitting there, it's been a tough night. But that's what happens when you have this kind of division sew in the community. And it's, it's actually very heartening and exciting for us that people came out to say we will not do that here. We will not do that here. And we will change and we will learn what we need to learn to not let that kind of dog whistle kind of attack go on. You know, the letter only mentioned Dr. Nazi. It's the only name in the letter that's pretty telling as well. 'cause there's actually lots of us here, right? And we'll continue to be active in the community. Whether that feels uncomfortable to you or not, we call democracy and we love it. Speaker 4 00:54:01 Petition was speculated around the state to condemn this letter and it filed on the editorial in the star ledger, which called out this action as an anti-Muslim lie. And so I'm gonna give you the opportunity to look at this petition and you can sign it along with many others. I'd like to mention who has signed it. Sad Jfr, the Mayor of Montgomery Township has signed it. Moham Hamad Mayor of Teaneck, New Jersey has signed it. Ali from the Jersey City Board of Education assigned it. ASIN Bur of Redbank. Councilman has signed it. Phil SK from New Jersey. Citizen Action has signed it. Ken McNamara, president of CWA local 10 37 Nada Zubi democratic leader in District 21 Maplewood has signed it, cited, has signed it from the Human Rights Association in New York. Peter Jacob from our revolution, New Jersey has signed it and you and from from actually together New Jersey has signed it. Speaker 4 00:55:11 Maybe that's not an impressive list to you, but I was going to keep us all here to read all the other names because it those nine pages and that was just circulated immediately after the letter was sent out. It's not been a systematic petition, it's been by word of mouth. And you can get many hundreds more to sign this. So I'll leave you a copy. You can consider it yourself. But more importantly, I think you should really consider the spirit of this meeting. And it is a spirit of people saying you represent us. Then you have to know who we are and what. Speaker 1 00:55:57 Go, go, go. Speaker 4 00:56:00 Hi, my name is Patina Waha. Good evening. My address is one 40 Lackland Avenue Piscataway. I've lived here for over 10 years. Not only do I stand with Dr, who's my best friend's dad, but I'm also standing here in support of my Township people. That includes my fellow Muslims, brothers and sisters, my Hindu brothers and sisters, my Christian brothers and sisters, my family here in Pi Seattle. I'm truly touched by the fact that people from all different cultures, religions, and all walks of life are standing home in for garity with us as Muslims who are generalized as radical. Because Dr is Muslim. I just wanna thank all the people here that are here to stand up for love and support of one another. I just want us, I just wanna say that Mr. Kail Chaill, you heard from all of us today. We just wanna let you know, as much as we have given you an earful today, we as a community are also a community of forgiveness and empathy. Yes, you made a horrible mistake. And if you truly accept that and truly apologize for your intentional actions and not unintentional, we as a community will appreciate that and we will respect that. Thank you. Speaker 4 00:57:20 So I'm back again. Uhrin Chaill 11, Heather East Brunswick, New Jersey. I was, I'm a, I'm a doer. I don't just say stuff, I actually, I read on the website to see do you guys have a human relations council? 'cause nobody really gave me a firm answer. Again, the concept, the goal of the human relation Council to celebrate diversity, you know, encourage communication and basically just the normal stuff that Township should have. I'm going to leave my card here for you guys. East Brunswick can work with you guys form a council. I don't know what the protocol is, but I'd like to leave my card. Okay, thanks. Thanks. Thank you. Speaker 4 00:58:03 My name is Maggie Doyle Ball. I live at 77 Hancock Road for over 35 years. But I've come through Skyway from North Edison since the seventies when I was graduating from Rutgers and committed through this town that was all farms. And the face of this town has changed dramatically over the last 3, 5, 3 years. And now we see warehouses and roads. So two, about two months ago, three months ago, I went to sort of going to meetings with a new party that was a progressive Democrat party that was incredible to see people that were being involved in the community with such diversity. I raised four children that went through the high school and I stayed in this community 'cause of the diversity. And I'm very upset to see the face of the community. Not just physically changed, but now the heart of this community is making me feel sick to my stomach to see that we have come to such divis divisiveness. Speaker 4 00:58:59 I ran in the campaign as a committee woman with two women. My, my roommate did get elected. I did not, but I was very proud to get from, I don't, I don't know, a from a Muslim, Asian Indian. I've had neighbors that were Sikh, I've had neighbors, now they're Muslim but I don't know a name whether it's Muslim or Hindu. But to me this community has become a very heartwarming place where I got invited into so many homes and then that letter came out and it made me sick. It made me sick to say that you could, you could put someone's name on the letter and not say a radical is gonna point out that they might be Muslim and and pointing it out to Hindu people. And it changed the face of that district's election and it really made me very sad that we had to come to that. Speaker 4 00:59:50 And I really just wanted to share that because I feel that we should try to get a heart together again. And we've lost, we've lost something through this election and through this divisiveness that happened recently. So I just would like to see us try to come together because Mr. Shaw, I just don't feel that you gave an apology that it sounded good in the beginning, but that you got so defensive with some false statements. I would love for you to just come forth again and try to bring us together because there's no reason why we have to be divided. Speaker 0 01:00:20 Thank you. Speaker 0 01:00:24 Hi, my name is Sean Black. I'm 2 1 3 military drive in this cabin. So I would actually like to fact Councilman because if you marked for what was done, you wouldn't have seen this if it wasn't for that letter that came out. I think, I'm not sure how many of you would've seen how united we are when it comes to these types of thought resource. It's also because of this, it makes us all realize that there is hate, alright? And it's subdued. And let me, I know you said that you know, you, you've got six Muslim friends. Look, let tell you a classic sign when someone calls someone a racist, you know what they say? Well, I have a black friend, you know Muslim people. That's, if you don't know about it, then that's a clear sign that're racist that you're racist, that your biggest, Speaker 0 01:01:32 The response that you've given is what makes everybody feel right. I am, I know everybody's sort of single you and also seems out about my sick brother here. I, I don't want this to be a platform for hate bouncing back hate. I think this platform should be just about everybody here generating a sense of awareness. Also accountability. Knowing that someone who's been selected or elected when sitting on that side of the bench should not be endorsing this type of statement. And you know what, if the feedback that we got back was, oh, that's not what it meant really. So whoever wrote that is incompetent and should, should not even be a a, you know, part of that party. So all I wanna say is we are here to let our voices be heard. We're here to hope, hoping that this doesn't happen again. I have twin boys, they're 12 years old. Speaker 0 01:02:27 I didn't want them to see this. You know, maybe it's wrong. Maybe I should let them see that, you know what, ugliness still exists. It's, this is a real world. I just didn't want that to happen. And I'm hoping this is a unique incident and it will just give us an opportunity. Everybody here on that side of the bench and everybody here on this side of the community just learn, maybe get together. So everybody said ask for an apology. I get that. I also want everybody here to remember it's not just the one person who's represented here, roll out. There were three people who signed that letter. I wouldn't sign my check if I didn't know who it was going to, but they didn't stand it next to it either. And distributed also I, I feel that Senator Bob Smith. I understand he gave an 11th hour letter of pardon my French half-ass apology. I don't accept that. Speaker 4 01:03:16 Yes, thank Speaker 1 01:03:17 You. Speaker 4 01:03:26 I wanted say that. I'm fortunate to say that when March being raised here in town, the school district and the town was very diverse and very friendly. They both went into work that is people oriented. My son is a chef, but he also is a union representative who works with unions with the city and other organizations, hotels for example. And the important thing about that is he has also then been put on community boards throughout the the Manhattan. And so he goes to meetings all the time with different kinds of governmental groups and even has meetings sometimes for the Mayor of New York because of what he can do when he speaks the situation. And that's because they learned this early and often in this town. There are people in this court right now have wonderful children and are wonderful people. I know it 'cause I know you and you your children. Speaker 4 01:04:29 But there is a thing that my daughter does that is related to international conflict resolution. And she was in Sudan for eight years. She left to get her doctorate in Ireland and she was called back three times. She's there right now working with trying to resolve the conflicts that her having. She has been effective during the eight years that she was there. That's why they pulled her back as a third party. Now the important thing to say is that people can learn how to get past conflicts and people can learn whether they're 20 months old or 20 years old or 40 years old or 60 years old. It's how you go about it. And you always put people in the room. We need to understand, we all need to understand more than we understand tonight. And I would like to recommend not my fountain but other people because there's a lot of people that are interested in conflict resolution right now. Speaker 4 01:05:32 But I just want to tell you that this is the place where that started. And we don't want the whole process of having a school board been taken over by politicians. And I don't want this town council to be taken over by politicians who do not understand the entirety of this town. And I think the majority of the people on this board do understand this county. And I ask you to look at it that way and then see if perhaps we should get some people. And I know a lot of people who do conflict resolutions. If you want me to help you with it, I'll do it. Thank you. Thank, hi, my name is Zu and I live at London Hollyway. I just wanted to mention that even though you don't feel radical, the term radical is a dog. So it is a dog. I grew up in America. Speaker 4 01:06:32 I lived in Bayo most of my life. I don't know if you guys know Bayo, but it's, it's a very diverse city now. But when I was growing up, it was mostly white and I was probably the only Muslim there along with my family. And I grew up, I was there since I was five years old. So I was able to tell when I was getting picked on 'cause they would use certain words and I knew that word related to me specifically and the other children, all certain words. One of these words is a word as simple as ninja. So when they would talk about ninja, that would be about me and that would get rocks thrown at me. I've been pushed in front of a car, I've had rocks thrown at me, I've had my hijab ripped off. These little insignificant words do affect us in our community. If anything happened to Dr. Nazi because of these words radical trying to take over our sca away Township and all this stuff, you were responsible for it. 'cause you endorsed That's right. These words. That's right. And I'm a little disappointed in Paulette Walker. That's for actually endorsing Speaker 7 01:07:52 Shane. Shane. Speaker 4 01:07:56 Like she should not have distributed these along to continue supporting this kind of ideology. It doesn't make sense for another democratic to resort to these kind of tactics. It's beneath that. And if this council doesn't see the danger of Speaker 0 01:08:15 Hate speech, perhaps screaming is needed. Yeah, sorry. Not to 5, 7, 7 south end of the road. You know, one thing that occurred to me, my sick brother, when you're defending your colleague there after nine 11, a lot of Sikhs were killed because they were confused with Muslims in Detroit. And now you're defending him. All we want from you is an apology. You know, just stand up and say you are sorry it was a mistake and let's move on. You see, deep down inside, I know you're a decent gentleman, okay? Otherwise you would not have gotten elected. So all you need to do simple words that, listen, I'm really sorry I didn't mean it and it should an apology to that's all we mean. What you mean. Can you read that out again? Yeah, I, I don't know. I don't know what he meant, what he mean by thank you. Speaker 0 01:09:19 When the speaker is there, my name is Asim, I'm from Drive. I'm like eight button would drive. So my simple question is, I mean, can you tell me what do you mean by that? Can you read this out again? I didn't mean to demean him. What did you mean? Actually, can you answer that question and finish it then I will Statement? No, I'm finished. What did you mean? Can you read that out again? I just say somebody, a radical group trying to take over the led by What did you mean by that? What does it mean? It means political opponent. Mr said before that and end of the things I will say all my SCA residence, I apology and I say, sorry, I never mean that. Anything in my by heart, whatever wording is misspelled or whatever is there is misunderstanding. I always shake the hand and I talk to him. Don't just stop, leave college. No. Try to justify it. Was Speaker 4 01:11:13 I, I noticed two things in you using the word I did not intend. It's like me saying you are a dumb, as I say, no, I didn't mean it to ambassador. Now you're saying that maybe it was misspelled. So let me say that you word intelligent, but I spelled intelligent with the word. Would you, would you like that or would you, would you agree or would you, would you accept that it was a typo? I'm sure you, I'm sure all of these intelligent people sitting here agree that they cannot can, can you think of a word that mistyped show up as radical? Were you trying to say something commentable that hypo change things radical, at least give us the respect of, I mean are are, do you really think all these people are, are, are dumb enough that they would accept this, this, this nonsensical answer from you on one in one breath You're saying, I'm sorry, in the same breath you are finding excuses and you are diminishing any chances that you have of redeeming yourself. That's right. So if you are sorry, show it with your actions. People have been asking for you to circulate the pamphlet in Gujarati language for with your apologies. If you mean it, you will do it. That's right. If you don't mean it of you, if you, if you don't mean it from your heart, none of us, we can stay here all night long. We won't be able to convince you.