Three Asian American candidates who were targeted by a racist campaign in New Jersey have won the elections.
Pictures of education board candidates Jerry Shi and Falungi Patel were shown on the postcards with “deport” stamped on them.
The flier also read “The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town. Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough.”
“Stop the overcrowding! Stop taking over our sports fields! Stop the McMansions! Stop the multiple families living in the same house! Stop wasting school holiday! Stop the outsiders!”
“Let’s take back Edison and our schools!”
The Japan Times reports that Shi and Patel both won seats on the school board in Edison and Ravi Bhalla was elected mayor.
Bhalla, was also targeted with fliers that labelled him a terrorist wit the message, “Don’t let TERRORISM take over our Town!”
“We won’t let hate win,” responded Bhalla.
“We’ve been through a bruising campaign,” Bhalla told supporters at a campaign event, “but now is the time we come together and see who we can work with to bring this city forward.”
Republican mayor candidate Keith Hanh called for the “faceless cowards” to be exposed. “This flier is shameful and disgraceful,” Hanh said.
Patel said she was disgusted by the pamphlets and denounced the mailers together with Shi.
“I was born and raised in New Jersey,” said Patel. “To see the word ‘deport’ on my picture … really it’s just outrageous.”
Almost half of Edison’s residents are Asian, whilst 45% of the town are foreign born.
