A male individual who stood outside of the Queens College campus with a megaphone making antisemitic and racist remarks targeting the Jewish, Muslim and Christian community has been removed by the NYPD, the college announced.
Jerima DeWese, Queens College chief diversity officer and dean of diversity, issued a statement regarding the matter on Thursday, Sept. 1.
Throughout the week, the individual, who is not a QC member, shouted antisemitic, anti-Christian and anti-Islamic remarks outside of the college’s main gate, according to DeWese.
The Queens College’s Public Safety Office, working with other college officials, attempted to engage the individual. Since he was located off campus, Public Safety contacted the NYPD’s Division of Community Affairs to help assess, monitor and de-escalate the situation, DeWese said.
The NYPD responded to the individual and confiscated his megaphone without incident. According to DeWese, college officials, in coordination with the NYPD, will continue to work to ensure the safety of the campus community.
“When hate speech occurs, it has effects and consequences on those who are exposed to it. We recognize the need to address these effects on an ongoing basis,” DeWese said. “As such, the Office of Compliance and Diversity and the Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding at QC (CERR) will be initiating a campus conversation and other community forums regarding the presence and impact of hate speech when it occurs in our community.”
Stop Anti-Semitism, a leading non-partisan organization exposing antisemitism, shared a Twitter post that shows photos and video of the individual outside of the college campus with a megaphone.
CUNY Queens – this vile bigot has been yelling into a megaphone the most vile, antisemitic conspiracy theories and lies one can imagine over the last few days (videos in thread)
This is life for Jewish college kids in America 2022. pic.twitter.com/lax8sYVL0u
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) September 1, 2022
In one of the videos, the individual said “this campus is named after a f****** Jew and all these reta*ded colored folks walk in here.”
“(((these))) people will literally rape your mother in front of your face …they have their own banks, their own grocery stores, they were siphoning the wealth of Germany … this campus is named after a f*cking Jew and all these reta*ded colored folks walk in here” – second video pic.twitter.com/qI0rvTQg6W
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) September 1, 2022
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and Congresswoman Grace Meng took to Twitter condemning the incident.
“Students, faculty and the Queens College community shouldn’t be subjected to these antisemitic and racist rants. Glad to hear law enforcement addressed the issue by fining the individual and confiscating his megaphone. This behavior is vile and it won’t be tolerated in Queens,” Richards said.
Students, faculty and the Queens College community shouldn't be subjected to these anti-Semitic and racist rants. Glad to hear law enforcement addressed the issue by fining the individual and confiscating his megaphone. This behavior is vile and it won't be tolerated in Queens. https://t.co/boD0XU2nBb
— Queens Borough President Donovan Richards (@QnsBPRichards) September 1, 2022
Meng thanked the NYPD for moving quickly to remove the student. The congresswoman added that she will continue to monitor the situation in coordination with Queens College and the NYPD.
“Disgusted to learn of the awful incident at Queens College yesterday, where a student was yelling antisemitic and repulsive racist messages over a megaphone,” Meng said. “This kind of language and ideology has no place in our #Queens community nor in the rest of our diverse nation.”
https://twitter.com/RepGraceMeng/status/1565468278629273602
