With an election just around the corner, you can always count on some underhanded racist campaigning. But it's still pretty shocking when it's this blatant. The above mailer, targeting Chinese American and Indian American school board candidates, was apparently sent to voters in Edison, New Jersey.
With the super-original slogan "Make Edison Great Again," the postcard implores voters to "Stop Jerry Shi & Falguni Patel From taking over our School Board," with a red "DEPORT" stamped under Shi and Patel's faces.
"The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" the anonymous mailer declares. "Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough!" But wait, they're not done yet.
The reverse side says, "Stop the overcrowding! Stop taking over our sports fields! Stop the McMansions! Stop the multiple families living in the same house! Stop wasting school holidays! Stop the outsiders! Let's take back our Edison & our Schools."
State election law requires for campaign literature to include clear "paid for by" disclaimers. But because racists are cowards, there is no such language on the postcards and nobody appears to be taking credit for it.
Patel, who is Indian American, is on a slate with three school board incumbents. She and Shi, who is Chinese American, are the only Asian Americans on their team but not the only ones among the 11 candidates on the ballot vying for three three-year seats and one unexpired term on the Edison Board of Education.
"It's said to see how low some people are willing to go for political gain," Patel posted on Facebook in response to the mailer. "As a person born and raised in NJ, I am completely disgusted to be called an 'outsider.' We are all hard working human beings who should be treated equally regardless of the color of our skin."
Edison is home to a significant, rapidly growing Asian American population, with about a quarter of the township born in India, and more than 4,800 other residents born in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.
The author of these postcards -- who has way too much time on their hands -- clearly has a problem with the demographic shifts in the area, and believes these two candidates are responsible or representative of the nefarious Chinese and Indian "take over" of Edison. Also, they apparently hate the sport of cricket.
"Edison has proudly embraced our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity," Mayor Tom Lankey said in a statement to New Jersey 101.5. "It has become a sad reality that in our polarized political atmosphere, some people suddenly feel empowered to publicly express these vile ideas. Make no mistake, we will do everything we can to expose the shameful people behind this."
Meanwhile, Patel isn't going to let some anonymous coward's racism get in her way.
"This has just motivated me to work even harder."
More here: Deport the Asian candidates, political mailer tells voters in diverse NJ town
