In a letter to the editor, Hoboken resident Denise Guarino expresses her point of view on how residents are facing inequality under this administration.
Dear Editor,
October is Italian Heritage Month.
In a time of significant division in America, it is the responsibility of our local politicians to strive towards unity by treating everyone with equal dignity and respect.
Currently, Hoboken residents are facing inequality under Mayor Ravi Bhalla’s leadership.
A few years back, our Mayor had initially refused to raise an Italian flag at City Hall to honor Italian Heritage Month. Several prominent members of the Italian/American community, including business owners, were told there would be no raising of the Italian flag for Italian Heritage month.
Upon my request to One Voice Coalition, an Italian-American organization, the late Dr. Manny Alfano sent a strongly worded letter to the mayor, resulting in the flag being raised.
However, the flag-raising occurred abruptly in the middle of the day without prior community notice, and the flag was displayed for just one day. Mayor Bhalla, of course, took the opportunity to capture a photo for himself during the occasion.
I urge our city council and administration to establish a consistent schedule for flag raisings, ensuring that each flag honoring a group, cause, or heritage is displayed for the same duration of time.
Moreover, it is essential to have an equal number of celebrations for all groups we recognize.
During the Black Lives Matter protests, the mayor passionately spoke about ensuring equality in Hoboken. However, there have been no discernible changes, advocacy, or additional events for the Hoboken African American community since that time.
Why were the crosswalks never painted in red, black, and green in tribute to our Black community?
Why not green, orange, and white to honor the Irish immigrants who played a vital role in building and supporting our town? I’m sure our Hispanic community would also appreciate showcasing their colors in celebration.
It is wrong on every level for a politician to virtue signal to only the communities which help his political narrative and his personal political aspirations.
We are very happy to celebrate all our neighbors, we just need those celebrations to be balanced and equal to all members of our community.
My request this October during Italian Heritage Month is that the city paints the crosswalks outside of City Hall red, white, and green.
They are painted each June in honor of our LGBTQ+ community, which is a wonderful tribute. It is always a joyous celebration and fun and affirming day for our LGBTQ+ community.
However, it seems that it is one of the biggest ways our mayor signals virtue to one community for his own political narrative.
There are no accolades for him if he allows other colors to be painted throughout the year.
Streets are public property, and each group should have ability to the be honored equally in the same way.
Sincerely,
Denise Guarino
Hoboken resident
Please stop suggesting more dumbass ways for our politicians to waste our tax money. If you want to raise your italian, BLM, LGBTQ flag for your business or residence, please do. However, Hoboken has enough disasterous infrastructure problems without the city needing to allocate money to painting fucking sidewalks.
True
It could be because an Italian-American will be challenging him to be mayor.
Ravi doesn’t hate Italians so this discrimination is not personal. He hates all Caucasians and their white privilege. Hoboken people are the last to know.
This is editorial is false:
Ravinder S. Bhalla lacks leadership…
…but the rest of it is spot on!
Oh, how Ravi must long for his COVID glory days, when he was able to freely self-promote through daily death count emails and on CNN and MSNBC!
Dear Denise
We would like to let you know that some dumbass is signing your name to stupid Editorials.
Sincerely,
Everyone
Are you seriously asking our city government to fly the flag of a foreign nation?? And comparing that to the flag of LGBTQ Americans?!