QBP RICHARDS TO HOST UNITY RALLY IN RESPONSE TO THE ONGOING RISE IN HATE VIOLENCE

Wednesday, May 26 at 5PM

(May 25, 2021 at 12pm)

QUEENS, NY – Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., elected officials and community leaders from across the spectrum of religion, race and ethnicity will gather as One Queens on Wednesday, May 26 at Queens Borough Hall for a Unity Rally, denouncing hate in all its forms against all communities represented in The World’s Borough, including our Asian American, Jewish and Muslim neighbors, who have frequently been the target with bigotry and violence in recent months.

Held one day after the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, the May 26 Unity Rally, featuring speakers and attendees representing Queens’ unparalleled diversity, comes in the wake of multiple disturbing incidents in recent weeks and months in New York City and across the nation. In Queens, a 35-year-old man of Asian descent was shoved onto the subway tracks at the 21st Street – Queensbridge station on May 24 but was rescued by passersby. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attack.

Meanwhile, numerous anti-Semitic incidents have been reported across the city, including a May 23 assault in Brooklyn of two Jewish teenagers who were eventually escorted to safety by a Muslim for-hire driver who witnessed the violence, while a Brooklyn man was arrested and charged with a hate crime last week for vandalizing both a Roman Catholic church and a synagogue.

As of May 16, there have been 191 reported hate crimes across the five boroughs in 2021, according to NYPD statistics, compared to 112 at the same point in 2020, an increase of 70.5 percent. In NYPD Patrol Borough Queens North alone — made up of the 104th, 108th, 109th, 110th, 111th, 112th, 114th and 115th precincts — 29 hate crimes have been reported so far this year compared to just eight at this point in 2020.

Members of the media planning on attending the May 26 Unity Rally are asked to RSVP via email at [email protected] or via phone at 718-286-2640.

WHAT:         Unity Rally Hosted by Borough President Richards

WHEN:         Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at 5:00 PM

WHERE:       Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall, 120-55

Queens Boulevard in Kew Gardens

КТО: ДОНОВАН РИЧАРДС, президент боро Куинс

                        Выборные должностные лица и общественные лидеры

Следите за офисом президента боро Куинс через @QnsBPRichards в Twitter и @QueensBPRichards на Facebook и Instagram

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