Ravi Bhalla elected New Jersey's first Sikh mayor

Hoboken city councilman emerges victorious after racist fliers called him a "terrorist."


The Jersey Journal
Awwww yeah. Take that, racists! The Hoboken councilman who was targeted with a racist flier calling him a "terrorist" has won the city's mayoral race, becoming the first Sikh mayor in the state of New Jersey.

Just days before the election, fliers attacking Ravi Bhalla were anonymously placed on car windshields in the mid-town area, warning "Don't let TERRORISM take over our Town!" above a picture of Bhalla, who is Indian American and wears a turban and unshorn beard in accordance with his Sikh faith.

The fliers appear to have been a modified version of a mailer previously sent by the campaign of mayoral opponent Michael DeFusco, claiming that Bhalla had an alleged conflict of interest. DeFusco denounced the fliers, saying his campaign had nothing to do with them. Whoever's responsible -- surprise, racists are anonymous cowards -- they were probably pretty disappointed with the election results.

On Tuesday, Bhalla emerged the historic winner atop a field of six candidates, garnering 34 percent of the vote. Congratulations to Ravi Bhalla, the first Sikh to be elected mayor of a New Jersey municipality. About time.

More here: Ravi Bhalla wins Hoboken election, becomes N.J.'s first Sikh mayor

Candidates targeted with racist mailers win election

School board candidates Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel are not going anywhere.



Awwww yeah. Take that, racists! In New Jersey, the two school board candidates who were targeted with racist "Make Edison Great Again" mailers that made national headlines won seats in the election on Tuesday.

Last week, voters in Edison received postcards, mailed anonymously, warning "The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" and calling for the deportation of school board candidates Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel.

Shi and Patel, who respectively claimed their seats with 6,259 and 6,115 votes, will serve a three-year term on the Edison Township Public Schools board. So yeah, they're not going anywhere.

More here: Candidates targeted in racist 'Make Edison Great Again' mailers win election

Take that, racists: Eat at Joe's (formerly Chink's Steaks).

We recently learned that Joe's Steaks & Soda Shop, the Philadelphia eatery formerly known as Chink's Steaks, has been hit with declining business in the last few months since owner Joe Groh's decision to change the racially-charged name and logo. I guess racist cheesesteaks taste better, or the old racist name was the only thing that kept racist customers coming for all those years.

What's up with that? Groh finally gets around to doing the right thing and he gets punished for it. Realizing how much that sucks, folks are organizing an "eat-in" this Saturday at the steak shop. If you're in the Northeast Philadelphia area this weekend, why not show a little appreciation and chow down on a steak served without racism. Here's the Facebook event: