Tolerance Essay Contest for students

Armed with their words, students in the Forest Hills community are fighting hate crimes.
The 112th Precinct Community Council, the Forest Hills Community and the Civic Association have announced a tolerance essay contest for students.
“When we did the contest a couple of years ago, there were, unfortunately, hate graffiti and swastikas in the area,” said Heidi Chain, president of the 112th Precinct Community Council.
“This year, we had some nooses in the community,” she said. This is the third tolerance essay contest for the community.
At a 112th Precinct Community Council meeting on February 20, guest speaker Mariela Herring, bureau chief of the gang violence and hate crimes division of the Queens District Attorney’s Office, stated that there have been instances of hate crimes in the 112th Precinct.
“With a regular crime, we only have to prove the act, but with a hate crime, we have to go into the mind and find out what motivated the crime,” Herring said as she described the process of charging someone with a hate crime.
She added that there are specific detectives that focus solely on hate crimes. “This is important and it is going to be taken seriously,” she said.
Chain said that in light of the 350th anniversary of the Flushing Remonstrance this past December, the theme of the essay contest is drawn from the original 1657 petition: “We are bound by the law to do good unto all.”
The Remonstrance was the response of 31 prominent Flushing residents who refused to obey Governor Peter Stuyvesant’s command to discriminate against the Quakers.
“The theme is slightly different this year because it allows the students to learn a little about Queens’ history,” Chain said.
The contest is open to students of all ages under the college level. Entries of no more than 500 words must be submitted to the 112th Precinct at 68-40 Austin Street by April 4.
There will be four judges: Jesse Sligh, executive assistant district attorney, Chief Diana Pizzuti, commanding officer of Patrol Borough Queens North, David Daraio, of Maspeth Bank, and Lew Harris, executive director of the Queens Community House.
Sponsors of the contest include Maspeth Bank as well as The Queens Courier, who has agreed to print the winning entries, Chain said.
In addition, the award ceremony will be held at the Queens Museum of Art. “It will really be a meaningful experience for the students who win,” Chain said.
She continued, “The more you get students to think about something, and not only think about it but also write about something, hopefully it will have more of an impact.”