EDISON — The investigation into who is responsible for sending racist flyers that displayed two Board of Education candidates in an offensive light during the election season is active and ongoing, according to township officials.
The Township Council had a raw discussion during the November council meetings about the ordeal that made national news last month.
The election season took an offensive tone when a flyer was distributed by mailing on Oct. 31 with the faces of the two candidates, Jerry Shi and Falguni Patel, who are of Asian descent.
The flier stated “Make Edison Great Again” with the faces of Shi and Patel. Underneath each of their photos was the word “Deport.”
“There are a lot of things disturbing about the racist flyer … how racist it actually was and how over the top it was,” Councilman Robert Diehl said. “I was insulted by [the flyer] and also hurt by it because it unfairly characterized and identified Edison as a racist town and that’s not the case [in Edison].”
Diehl acknowledged there are racists in every town, but it does not define a town.
“I have lived [in Edison] most of my life, this is not a racist town,” he said. “We are a Hallmark card for diversity. If you look how we handled the groups that have descended into our large town of 100,000 plus over the past 30 to 50 years, we have done a great job. We are proud of our strength and diversity. To be identified or characterized as a racist town is insulting, it’s unacceptable, it’s intolerable and we should not accept it at any level.”
Diehl said he will aggressively press to find out who the person or people responsible for the flyers are. He said he has been in contact with Police Chief Thomas Bryan, who said the investigation is active and ongoing.
The investigation also includes the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutor Andrew Carey had said the “racist message [on the post card] shocks the conscience and is highly offensive.”
“In order to support the community, our detectives, along with those from the Edison Police Department and other agencies, are examining the facts surrounding the mailing,” he said.
Township Attorney William Northgrave said he is not part of the investigation; however, in the limited conversations that he has had there was a discussion about whether or not a bulk permit was used to mail the flyers.
Officials, Northgrave said, learned that stamps were used to mail the flyers out, which has become a problem in tracing who is behind the fliers.
Councilwoman Sapana Shah said the flyers were distributed on three consecutive days.
“Everybody got it, it was not one demographic that got it,” she said. “[The flier] was premeditated … it’s beyond disappointment, I don’t even recognize this town anymore.”
Diehl said he hopes safeguards can be put in place so people can’t put mailings out like the one that was sent out and walk away.
Council President Michael Lombardi echoed the sentiments of his fellow council members.
“I have confidence in the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office that they will do everything in their power to hold the person [or persons] responsible for this flier accountable … I hope it will be fast,” he said.
Council Vice President Alvaro Gomez said flyers like the one distributed should not be part of any campaign.
“We go out there to give back to our community,” he said of running for an elected position. “This is taking away the community, taking away the sense of comfort, the sense of inclusiveness and this never should be tolerated. We will do everything within our power and means to get to the bottom of it.”
Councilman Ajay Patil said it’s unfortunate with the similar incident in the Hoboken mayoral race, in which a flier distributed attempted to link a Sikh mayoral candidate to terrorism. He also noted two recent incidents that he said have occurred in Edison, which targeted Asian Americans.
“We need to define the motive and why this happened,” he said.
Councilman Leonard Sendelsky said he was appalled by the fliers.
“[The fliers] are not what Edison is about,” he said. “We are a diverse community and I’m proud that we are a diverse community. We should respect one another work for unity not divisiveness.”
Shah said the fliers brought her back to when she was 12 years old when she learned of a hate crime against an Asian Indian in Jersey City.
“I opened up my mail and there was that same level of rhetoric,” she said. “That rhetoric was there when I was running [for a council position and school board position]. It was going on when I decided with the rest of the school board that Diwali was a special holiday.”
Shah said the hate rhetoric has been going on for a long time. She noted when former Councilman Sudhanshu Prasad ran for council, “Dothead” was written on one of his campaign signs.
“There was no investigation and I didn’t hear anything that came of it,” she said.
Shah said she has heard the rhetoric at the grocery store when someone told her to go back to her country.
“I’m buying bread and I’m going to get into a confrontation because why I mean it’s ridiculous to me,” she said adding that she does not understand the hate rhetoric.
Diehl agreed with the sentiments of Shah.
“It has gone on too long, it is unfortunate, it’s not right … at some point we need to say enough,” he said. “I’m saying enough. I have been part of the council for 16 years and have witnessed enough.”
Lombardi said he also thinks the voters are saying enough since both candidates, who were depicted on the fliers, have been elected to the Board of Education.
Councilman Joe Coyle agreed and said the fliers were disgraceful and would not be tolerated.
“Jerry Shi and Ms. Patel are great people and the people have spoken and want them to serve [on the Board of Education],” he said.