A A convicted sex offender who is now a member of an advocacy group was reportedly allowed to make anti-Asian remarks during a New York City Council hearing on Friday.
Douglas Powell, who was convicted in 2012 of an attempted criminal sex act with a victim under the age of 15 in 2008, appeared at the hearing to support a bill that would prevent landlords from carrying out criminal background checks of potential tenants, depending on the New York Post.
The 59 year old man Level 2 sex offender is now part of Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY), an advocacy group that empowers people affected by HIV or AIDS, drug use and mass incarceration.
He said he resides in Rego Park, which he described in his speech as the “most racist neighborhood” he has ever been in.
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“There are only Asians there. … If you walk into a store, they’ll follow you around like you’re about to steal something,” he said at the hearing. “They don’t want black people living in black neighborhoods. Because it’s not their neighborhood, because they come from China, they come from Hong Kong. We from New York.
Powell delivered his tirade after two Asian women and two white women testified against the bill on public safety grounds.
These Asian women were Yiatin Chu, President of the Asian Wave Alliance, and Suzanne Lee, former mayoral candidate.
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“It’s not about crimes — it’s about race, it’s about black people,” Powell said. “Have you seen the Asians talking?”
Not a single council member stopped or opposed Powell’s anti-Asian tirade, according to reports.
Several people, including Chu, caught on Twitter to slam the officials.
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Lee too outrage expressed to the lack of response from the members of the board.
Councilor Sandra Ung, who was not at the hearing, also denounced Powell’s remarks as “racist and divisive”.
“Comments from today’s @NYCCouncil audience attacking Asian Americans were racist and divisive. Racial attacks like this have no place in our city, let alone in theaters. of the council, and should be condemned by all”, Ung tweetedmarkup VOCAL-NY.
Amid the backlash, council member Nantasha Williams, who chairs the committee that chaired the hearing, released a belated statement about the incident.
She condemned racism but offered no apology for her lack of immediate action.
“Referring to yesterday’s equal housing opportunity hearing: racism and discrimination hurt us all in different ways and responding to it with similar rhetoric is never the solution,” Williams said. wrote on Twitter. “As a black woman, a member of one of the most hated and despised demographics on the planet, I personally know how deeply hurtful language can be to our progress as a people and to our personal safety. .”
She continued: “Prejudice against Asian communities, Black communities and those involved in justice is the product of systematic racism that we must stand against. In May, I held a hate crimes hearing to highlight the recent increase in anti-Asian hatred in our city. I felt it was important to ensure that our Asian brothers and sisters had both the support and the resources they needed to fight hate. … Our liberation is rooted in everyone’s freedoms, which is why I denounce any hateful comments against any community.”
The criticism, however, only continued.
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