Twenty-seven residents from Flushing and two from Jamaica: “If any of these said persons…
By Chris Fuchs
Peter Stuyvesant: “Let it be known that anyone caught sheltering a Quaker for one night shall be fined 50 pounds, with one half of the fine going to the informer.”
Twenty-seven residents from Flushing and two from Jamaica: “If any of these said persons come in love unto us, we cannot in conscience lay violent hands upon them, but give them free egresse and regresse unto our Town, and houses, as God shall persuade our consciences.”
It was 1657, and a ship carrying Quakers had just arrived in Flushing. Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of what was then New Amsterdam, issued an edict, requiring strict adherency to the Dutch Reformed Church. Quakers were to be punished for their presence, subjected to jailing, deportation, even public humiliation.
But 27 residents of Flushing and two from nearby Jamaica drafted a response to the declaration — the Flushing Remonstrance. Projecting a tone of religious tolerance, the document served as a precursor to the constitution. And, its latter-day embracers say, the meaning of its words are as relevant to Queens today as they were in the 17th century.
Sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of New York, about 50 people, including students from Flushing High School, gathered inside the Quaker House on Northern Boulevard last Thursday and listened to a reading of Peter Stuyvesant’s edict and the Flushing townspeople’s response. At the end, the audience was asked to sign their names on a blown-up copy of the Flushing Remonstrance, which is to be sent to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki and President George Bush.
The readers — John Fernandez, 16, who played Stuyvesant; and Ajani Benjamin, 19, who read the Flushing Remonstrance — are interns with the Anti-Defamation League. Both have held workshops in high schools, teaching students about homophobia, racism and anti-Semitism.
The Flushing Remonstrance, its formal writing redolent of old Dutch society, still retains currency today, the students said. Living in Queens, the most diverse county in the United States, it is sometimes necessary to reflect on the past and how it relates to the present, they said.
“I want to let people know that it is not right to separate yourself, it’s not right to think less of someone because they are different than you,” Benjamin said.
To further understand race in America, Fernandez and Benjamin took a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. “During World War II, people were killing each other through hatred, through misunderstanding, through ignorance,” Benjamin said. “And just as a person, it is my job to make sure that that doesn’t happen.”
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
