An Indian-American corporate and immigration lawyer has been elected to an Asian school board in New Jersey’s Edison township after flyers with xenophobic messages targeted her along with a Chinese-American.
Falguni Patel was on Tuesday elected to the Edison Township School Board for three-year term, NJ.com reported.
She and the Chinese American candidate, Jerry Shi, who also got elected to the board, were targeted in mailings that said they should both be deported and that “Chinese and Indians are taking over our town”.
Earlier this month, flyers with xenophobic messages targeting two Asian-American school board candidates reached the mailboxes of several New Jersey residents, sparking outrage among the community members in the city.
This is #Racism and it's alive and well in #Edison #NewJersey @USATODAY @cbsnews @npr @foxnews @BBC @abpnewstv @FinancialTimes @NBCNews pic.twitter.com/4gGDUxyL2e
— Sonny Chatrath (@schatrath) November 2, 2017
The residents of Edison City in New Jersey received anonymous letters in their mail that seek to deport Patel and Shi–who are candidates of the school board–alleging that the Chinese and Indians are taking over the town.
Under the banner ‘Make Edison Great Again’, the flyer had mugshot pictures of Jerry and Falguni with “deport” stamped over them.
The New Jersey City of Edison is considered as part of the New York City metropolitan area and has a sizable population of Indian-Americans.
The appearance of such racial fliers has sent shock waves among the residents of Edison, which earns its name from Thomas Edison, inventor of electric bulb.
