"The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town. Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough."
Racist campaign mailers have been circulated in Edison, New Jersey, targeting Asian candidates.
The anti-Chinese and anti-Indian campaign calls for the deportation of two Asian school board candidates.
“The Chinese and Indians are taking over our town. Chinese school! Indian school! Cricket fields! Enough is enough,” reads the postcards.
Pictures of education board candidates Jerry Shi and Falungi Patel are shown on the postcards with “deport” stamped on them.
NJ.com reports that the back of the postcard reads,
“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!”
Major Thomas Lankey described the campaign flyer as “despicable”, adding, “Edison has proudly embraced our ethnic, cultural and religious diversity.”
“It has become a sad reality that in our polarized political atmosphere, some people suddenly feel empowered to publicly express these vile nativist ideas. Make no mistake, we will do everything we can to expose the shameful people behind this.”
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.
Almost half of Edison’s residents are Asian, whilst 45% of the town are foreign born.