In the midst of a rash of hate-filled incidents involving flyers targeting area Jewish communities, Supervisor Don Clavin and the members of the Town Board gathered to denounce a hateful message that was scrawled on a sign at Hempstead Town Hall. The message, containing anti-Semitic tropes, was found just days after the most recent batch of anti-Jewish flyers were discovered in communities along the Town of Hempstead’s south shore. Supervisor Clavin was joined by Deputy Supervisor Dorothy Goosby, Councilman Anthony D’Esposito, Councilman Dennis Dunne, Sr., Councilman Thomas Muscarella, Councilman Christopher Carini, Councilwoman Melissa Miller, Town Clerk Kate Murray and Receiver of Taxes Jeanine C. Driscoll for the announcement.
“I am dismayed that this vile message was left here at Town Hall, and am angered at the recent rash of anti-Semitic attacks occurring in our area,” said Clavin. “There is obviously a campaign of hatred taking place here in our hometown, but we are not going to stand for it. The Town of Hempstead is doing everything in our power to work with local police officials to get to the bottom of this.”
Residents in Freeport and the Five Towns awoke this past weekend to find flyers littering their neighborhoods containing untrue, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. The flyers were met with a forceful response from a united Town Board, with Supervisor Clavin and his colleagues on the Town Council pledging to support the police investigation into the incident and vowing to step up public safety patrols near Jewish houses of worship.
“This is a direct retaliation by the prejudiced propogandists working to divide our community,” said Clavin. “The defacing of Town Hall is proof that the bad actors responsible for this recent campaign of hate are threatened by the Town of Hempstead’s response to their evil deeds – but we will not be silenced.”
“This is such an unsettling trend that is taking place here in the Town of Hempstead,” said Goosby. “We will fight for our Jewish neighbors and any peoples who discriminate here in America’s largest township.”
“The Town of Hempstead is a place for all peoples, and I will never tolerate attacks on my Jewish friends, neighbors or loved ones,” said D’Esposito. “We will do everything in our power to bring these perpetrators to justice, and ensure this hatred is not allowed to fester here in our community. This retaliatory action will be met with a swift response.”
“I am angry, flabbergasted and disheartened to learn of this most recent incident of anti-Semitic hatred occurring here in Hempstead Town,” said Dunne. “The Town of Hempstead will do everything in our power to stem this wave of hate.”
“The Town of Hempstead is a peaceful and tolerant community, and these acts of hatred and bigotry have no place in our town,” said Muscarella.
“As a former police officer, I take this hateful rhetoric very seriously, especially when it is perpetuated against our Jewish friends and neighbors in the Town of Hempstead,” said Carini.
“As a public servant representing much of the Five Towns community, I am disgusted by the recent acts of anti-Semitism found at Town Hall and throughout America’s largest township,” said Miller.
The Town of Hempstead has been in close contact with area law enforcement organizations as the ongoing investigation into this spate of anti-Semitic attacks continues. In addition, Supervisor Clavin and the members of the Town Board continue to remain in close contact with Jewish faith and community leaders in order to reassure the township’s Jewish community that there is a zero tolerance policy for this sort of prejudice.
“I will continue working with the full apparatus of Hempstead Town government to safeguard our township’s Jewish community and ensure that divisive forces never gain ground here in our hometown,” said Clavin. “Simply put – we will not let hate win.”