Dear Editor:
I attended Parsippany’s Town Council meeting on September 25th, to appeal to our mayor and council with a call to action. My request was simple, speak and act in a way that unites the residents of Parsippany. Do not remain silent, allow bullying, and culture wars to continue in our township.
My comments were motivated by recent online harassment of our current council member, Judy Hernandez, as well as the harassment, doxxing, and stalking of Diya Patel, a town council candidate running for a seat in the town election on November 4th.
There is a real attempt by a small minority of hateful members of our community to silence and instill fear in officials and candidates who are working and campaigning on policies that they believe will improve the quality of life for all who live and work in Parsippany.
To be clear – you can and SHOULD have your own opinions on policies and issues Parsippany is facing. However, you SHOULD NOT use your platform for racial harassment!
If you are wondering why I would go as far as to associate these actions with racism, do what I just did. Ask Siri what is a word for harassing and insulting people for their country of origin, the sound of their name, or the color of their skin. Tell me what you get.
None of us are perfect. We are human. At times, we all say or do things that – in hindsight – we may wish we did differently. That is not a reason to publicly crucify people, especially online while hiding behind a keyboard.
To this day, the current mayor and council have not made any statements that might lower the temperature during these very turbulent times.
I strongly feel this to be an extremely dangerous mistake. As I watch in disbelief, crimes motivated by hate and judgement have killed innocent people in our country, in our state. Cranford, NJ is not even 25 miles away from Parsippany Township.
If you do not know what happened there last week, you should research the brutal murder of two teen girls in that town. They were viciously run down by 17-year-old Vincent Battiloro of Garwood, NJ, a self-proclaimed fan of Charlie Kirk. He was upset by the comments one of the girls made about Charlie.
Vincent retaliated by running them over with his Jeep – at 70 mph!!!!
News outlets as well as authorities have confirmed several points. One of the girls had been
reporting his stalking behavior and law enforcement (that includes members of the suspect’s family) repeatedly ignored her cries for help.
They remained silent OR worse – they failed to do their job of protecting a victim!
How many more times will we say “oh, that won’t happen here” how much closer to home do these heinous acts have to be before the leaders in our town will speak out for peace, compassion, and unity? What will it take for them to openly condemn acts proven to be a precursor to real violence?
Look at Cranford!
Lisa Saladino
