Over 300 Elected Officials, Organizational Leaders and NJ Residents Condemn Sen. Bob Smith’s and Piscataway Democrats’ Anti-Muslim Flyer and Call for a Public Apology
Piscataway NJ – In the wake of yesterday’s Star Ledger editorial calling on State Senator Bob Smith to apologize for an Anti-Muslim flyer he funded in his hometown of Piscataway, and which was circulated by the wife of Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler, more than 300 people have signed on to a public statement condemning the hateful flyer and echoing the call for an apology.
Signed by Montgomery Mayor Sadaf Jaffer, the first female Muslim mayor in NJ, Hazim Yassi, Councilman, Borough of Red Bank, members of the Middlesex County Democratic Organization and other elected officials, as well as leaders of CAIR, Young Muslims, NJ Citizen Action, Action Together New Jersey, NJ Working Families Alliance, Our Revolution New Jersey, area progressive organizations and hundreds of residents from around the state, the statement reads:
“As public leaders, members and supporters of a wide array of faith-based, community and progressive organizations, and residents of our diverse state, we stand in opposition to the hateful election flyer distributed in Piscataway, which called Dr. Atif Nazir ‘the leader of a radical group trying to take over our local government.’
It is a deep betrayal of public responsibility that the flyer was signed by office holders Kapil Shah, Nitang Patel and Kalpesh Patel; paid for by the Election Fund of Sen. Bob Smith; and circulated by the wife of Mayor Brian Wahler. It was targeted to Indian-Americans and translated into Gujarati to target that voting bloc. This was a dog-whistle attack, coded to stir fear and division against the Muslim community in Piscataway, where Dr. Nazir has served as a school board member. It is an attempt to divide the South Asian community along religious, ethnic and national lines. It is also an effort to smear everyone who is standing up for an open electoral process.
We condemn the use of these divisive and truly shameful tactics, which we see on a daily basis in our national political dialogue. We stand in solidarity with Dr. Nazir and all of Piscataway, which is the seventh most diverse community in New Jersey. We will not be silent while this kind of fear-mongering and intolerance is being used to divide people. We call on all of those involved to retract this statement publicly and to apologize publicly to Dr. Nazir and to the entire Piscataway community.
“Despite widespread, growing opposition to and concern about this flyer, Sen. Smith, Municipal Chairman Ted Light, Mayor Brain Wahler and his wife, the elected officials who signed the letter and the rest of the Piscataway Democratic Organization have not apologized. They have had more than a week to address this divisive flyer,” said Herb Tarbous. “We applaud and thank the elected officials, leaders of other organizations and every day residents who are standing up for Dr. Nazir and against hate.”
List of signatories includes:
Sadaf Jaffer, Mayor, Montgomery Township
Hazim Yassin, Councilman, Borough of Red Bank
Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, Exec. Director, NJ Citizen Action
Uyen “Winn” Khuong, Exec. Director, Action Together NJ
Peter Jacob, Our Revolution New Jersey
Ken McNamara, President, CWA Local 1037
Sue Altman, NJ Working Families*
Mussab Ali, Member, Board of Education, Jersey City*
James R. Sues, Exec. Director, CAIR NJ*
Sohail Butt, NJ Muslim Voter Project*
Aqil Farooqui, Young Muslims*
Shawn Butt, NJ Muslim Voter Project*
Abdul-Basit Haqq, Committeeman, Middlesex County Democratic Organization
Herb Tarbous, Committeeman, Middlesex County Democratic Organization
Dr. Tom Connors, Committeeman, Middlesex County Democratic Organization
Laura Tarbous, Committeewoman, Middlesex County Democratic Organization
Staci Berger, Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization
Mindy Walsh, Central Jersey Progressive Democrats
Asadullah Syed, HRA NYC
Ali H. Aljarrah, CAIR NJ*
Samia Zafer
Jaffar Mohiuddin
Mohammad Raza
Nesar Ahmed
Tehmina Chaudhri
Alfredo Montes
Muhammad Khan
Yasmin Begum
Randa Alfahham
Masjid Alwali
Saima Bhutta
Peter Lemish
Ann Bastian
Doreen Wilson-Bailey
Quiyana Butler
Rabia Awan, M.D.
Saj Memon
Fatma Ahsan
Salik Makda
Hasan Miraj, M.D.
Adil Imtiaz
Fakir Mohammed
Salman Z Shaikh
Hasham Khan
Habib Hassan
Gulam (Allen) Charania
Mohammed Jawad
Mohammed Ahmed
Kevin Dykema
Kamuela Tillman
Umay Farooq
Sarin Jalal
Jaweed Syed
Muhammad Naufal
Mohammed Naveed
Amna Khan
M. Ansari
Muhammad Khan, M.D.
Muhammad Omais Ahmed
Ibraheem Khan
Sadath Mohammed
SHARAFUDD RAHEEM
Tarek Warraky
Mohi Daver
Rashid Waheed
Syed Ahmed
Mohammed NASSIM
Michael Steinbruck
Saief Abbassi
Asad Mazharullah
Marwan Moein
Hatem Gawaly
Shafiqur Rahman
Abdul Malik Popal
Nihal Khateeb
Ayman Mansour
Wesam Berhaoui
Imran Subhani
Mian Ahsan
Ahsan Anwar
Abdul Mannan Khan
Shahida Hasan
Altaf Choudry
Mohd Majid
Rehan Ahmed
Ahmed Abdul Mateen
Naseer Abdul
Minhaj Khan
Mirkasim Laskar
Arshad Sheikh
Muhammad Afdal
Shazia Khan
Wasif Sheikh
Shabiha Sheikh
Lama Saleh
Sayama Ahmed
Zaki Asghar
Huda Farheen
Muhammad Arif
Huma Rashid
Quratulain bashir
Salman Mughal
Rukhsana Atif
Mohammad Khan
Tainoosh Atif
Anan Salman
Rida Shahab
Farhat Nadeem
Syed Ibrahim
Sadeq Islam
Aisha Saleem
Sarah Rashid
Fauzia Sultana
Gulam (Allen) Charania
Sameer Akhtar
Humzah Saleem
Humera Fatima
Mohammad Saeed
Asma Salman
Fariha Naveed
Mariam Alavi
Dr. Masood Ranginwala
Shazia Parveen
Fatima Wahaj
Faryal Mahmud
Rizwan Raza
Saeed Siddiqui
Mehboob Alavi
Shomaila Subhani
Rizwan Raheel
Aftab lodhi
Raheela Tameem
Atif Javaid
Shahid Iqbal Butt
Omar Haque
Eman Younes
Ashan Hanif
Mo Oz
Sardar Khan
Khadija Badat
Hesham Atif
Dina Awad
Aamir Faryaz
Kiyasudeen
Shazia Malik
Sabbir Valiulla
Halema Sadia
Wahaj Warsi
Zubairuddin A Warsi
Halema Sadia
Mohammad Saleem
Yahia tokal
Shazia Saleem
Muhammad Malik
Farhan Pervez
Fatima Tanveer
Ruhbaan Zubair
Shahab Warsi
Omna Syed
Mohsin Rizvi
Mohsin Rizvi
Ali Naqvi
Fauzia Sultana
Maria Baba
Ahad Khan
Saba Zafar
Shahid Butt
Fauzia Butt
Omar Elgohail
Danish Ahmed
Mohemmad Abbas
Asad Ahmad
Namous Asmat
Muhammad Mirza
Ershad Khan
Ayesha Ali
Farhan Qamar
Muhammad Bilal
Azim Uddin
Faraz Warsi
John Fazman
Irum fatima
Asma Kazi
Amal Amir
Ruhbaan Zubair
Shakaib Shak
Nabeel Ahmed
Ikram Khan
Mohammad Siddiqi
Azam Kadeer
Ehsan F Chowdhry, Esq.
Nabeela Mahmud
Yasmin Samra
Sannan Hayat
Salman Mustafa
Imran Yusuf
Sana Fazal
Nausheen Ahmed
Zahid Khan
Malika Brahim
Jehan Abukharmah
Aasia Jameel
saima iqbal
saima iqbal
Eman El-Badawi
Hanan Shaban
Quadar mohideen
Uzma Jamil
Tehmina Jovindah
Muhammad Choudry
Tabassum khan
Saadia Malik
Shazia ali
Yasmin Mazhar
Aslam Khan
Zameer Syed
Zahid Chishti
Ammar Zuriki
Aijaz Ansari
Bazmi Warsi
Salma~,Ahmad Khan
Farah Anwar
Imran Shekhani
Majid Palsani
Akil Sayed
Yi Pan
Eman Rafla
Ambreen Rab
Aamir Ali
Amber Zafar
Muhammad Naveed
Saeed Khan
Madiha samee
Asghar Chaudhry
Halee Zak
Saba Raunaque
Sadaf Javaid
Summaiyah Sohu
Sabrina Ahmed
Eliyas Valiulla
Haris Atif
Mohammad A. Butt
Essam Sarwani
Roshni Paleja
Ahmed Tyree Barba-Bey II
Afifsheikh Abdulfattah
Fidelix Enyiorji
Saad Islam
Brianna Lorimer
Khalief Walker
Briana Rojas
Nasir Best
Maria Fayyaz
Gabriella Grenald
Aman Javaid
Ibrahim Usmani
Sheheryar Khan
Mattias Arrindell
Munira iqbal
Kayla Penamon
Maha Sarwani
Omar-Wagdy Elhossary
David Jose Benitez-Nieves
Kashif Huda
Mustafa Akbari
Amanda Lopez
Mohammad Butt
Fahim Abedrabbo
Iyad Ali
Shelley Sara Block
Tiffany Do
Wendy Miller
Mediha Sandhu
Joanne Rutherford-Pastras
Nick Saleem
Adil S. Ahmed, Esq.
Roshanna B. Malone
Azra Baig
Chloe Woods
Muhammad Hashmi
*Organization is listed for identification purposes only
This list continues to be updated.
