A man spewing racist and anti-religious epithets outside of Queens College last week was silenced by police who confiscated his megaphone and ticketed him last Wednesday.
Throughout the week, the man, who officials said is not part of the Queens College community, yelled racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and anti-Islamic statements and conspiracy theories, oftentimes vulgar, out of a white Volkswagen near the entrance on Melbourne Avenue, according to information from a college spokesperson obtained via email.
A video of the incident was shared on Twitter by the nonprofit watchdog organization StopAntisemitism.org. The person who recorded the video was on campus and the yelling man is on the other side of the fence.
The person filming says, “This fellow has been sitting in front of the Queens College campus for pretty much the entire day now and nothing is being done … he can cause a ruckus and he can spread intimidation and fear.”
The school’s Public Safety Office attempted to engage the individual but, because he was technically off campus, agents contacted the NYPD, according to an email from Queens College Chief Diversity Officer and Dean of Diversity Jerima DeWese to the campus community. The email stated that officials would continue to work with the NYPD to ensure safety on campus.
Officers on Thursday night issued the 34-year-old man a C summons, or criminal court summons, for using a sound device for noncommercial purposes and without a permit, according to an NYPD spokesperson.
Officers observed the man in a vehicle, which was parked on a crosswalk, with his body “protruding out of the sunroof,” speaking through the bullhorn. He refused to stop and was issued the C summons as well as a parking summons for being on the crosswalk.
Among the things the man said, as seen on the video, were that Jews were siphoning the wealth of Germany and that “all these retarded colored folks just walk in here,” onto the campus named after a “f–king Jew.”
The bullhorn was taken and vouchered, the spokesperson said.
In the email to the campus community, DeWese said, “When hate speech occurs, it has effects and consequences on those who are exposed to it.”
“We recognize the need to address these effects on an ongoing basis. As such, the Office of Compliance and Diversity and the Center for Ethnic, Racial and Religious Understanding at QC (CERRU) will be initiating a Campus Conversation and other community forums regarding the presence and impact of hate speech when it occurs in our community.”
An earlier email from DeWese last week stated, “While we respect the First Amendment rights of all people, we thoroughly condemn hate speech and wish to make it clear that Queens College is in no way associated with such harmful rhetoric.”
The Queens College Hillel, the school’s chapter of the global Jewish campus organization, also hosted a check-in with students this week aiming to provide a safe space for them to express themselves following the incident.
The campus is home to 4,000 Jewish students and is the seventh-largest Jewish campus community in the nation, the QC Hillel wrote on Twitter.
“Campuses have become increasingly hostile to Jewish life amid the national spike in antisemitism, and it is more critical than ever to ensure universities foster an inclusive environment where Jewish students can live and learn without fear,” the group wrote in a letter.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards tweeted about the event, “Students, faculty and the Queens College community shouldn’t be subjected to these anti-Semitic and racist rants. Glad to hear law enforcement addressed the issue by fining the individual and confiscating his megaphone. This behavior is vile and it won’t be tolerated in Queens.”
Councilwoman Lynn Schulman (D-Forest Hills) also condemned the act on Twitter, saying she was “very disturbed” to hear of it.
Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) wrote on social media that she will continue monitoring the situation alongside the college and police.
“This kind of language [and] ideology has no place in Queens nor in the rest of our diverse nation,” she stated.