Bias Is Intolerable

Vowing his love of Queens and saying, &#8220I definitely don't want this to happen to anyone else,” Reynold Liang of Douglaston added, &#8220Queens is a nice area. It's my home.”
Liang is one of four Asian Americans who were the targets of an alleged hate crime that took place in the quiet, tree-lined, affluent community of Douglaston in the early morning hours of Saturday August 12.
Liang and his friends, John Lu, David Wu and Wing Chung Pong were allegedly victimized by Kevin Brown of Flushing and Paul Heavey of Little Neck, both white males, who reportedly hurled racial slurs at the four in their van.
The verbal abuse escalated quickly into physical abuse when Brown and Heavey allegedly pummeled their victims between 30 and 40 times according to Liang causing black eyes, lacerations and loose teeth.
Hate crimes scar everyone. The victims, the area residents who wonder how such heinous behavior could happen in their neighborhood, the perpetrators who will be forever marked as the racists that they are and their friends and families who will bear the burden of their ugly actions forever.
Bigotry and bias have no place in our society.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said pointedly &#8220The defendants' alleged actions are a throwback to a dark time and place in American history and are an affront to civilized society.” We agree.
Dozens of community leaders, activists, public officials and concerned citizens held an anti-hate crime rally on the steps of Flushing Town Hall on Wednesday, August 16. Each politician, in carefully measured words, invoked their personal disgust with this bias attack and promised to stomp out hatred in the community but City Councilmember John Liu's words ring the loudest and clearest with us.
&#8220We will no longer remain silent when such violent hate crimes are perpetrated in our community. . . . We say ‘An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.' ”
We call on everyone in our community to be vigilant for bias and bigotry. Do not tolerate racial slurs from your friends, your co-workers and your family or from strangers. Do not encourage them - ignore them, isolate them, report them to the boss, call the authorities. Do not stand by silently and allow a few rotten apples to spoil our community barrel.
Lastly, we implore the authorities prosecuting this case to make an example of these two misanthropes and throw the book at them. Give them the maximum time in jail for their actions. We must not allow bigots and racists to be free and spread their sickening brand of hate.