Sikh mayoral candidate called terrorist in slanderous flyers in New Jersey

A Sikh mayoral candidate in the US has been labelled a terrorist in slanderous flyers left on car windshields only days before the election, according to a media report.

The flyers targeting Ravinder Bhalla, the first Sikh to hold elected office in New Jersey, were placed on car windshields on Friday night, New York Daily News reported.

They have a photo of New Jersey Councilman Bhalla. In red letters above him, the flyers read: "Don't let terrorism take over our Town!", it added.

The report alleged that the leaflets appear to be a modified version of mailers sent out by another Hoboken mayoral candidate, Mike DeFusco. The original flyers accused Bhalla of having a potential conflict of interest.

Officials in New Jersey are condemning flyers that paint the Sikh politician running for the mayor of Hoboken as a terrorist.

DeFusco condemned the altered flyers in a statement yesterday.

"Today I spoke out not only against the racist, disgusting flyers targeting Ravi Bhalla that appeared last night and was made to look like it came from my campaign, but also against the rest of the hate that has been shamefully displayed throughout this race," DeFusco said.

DeFusco said he has also been the victim of hateful rhetoric accusing him of being a part of a "crime family" and attacking his sexuality, the report said.
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Amid the blaring headlines, routine reports of hate-fueled violence

Last Wednesday, July 19, was something of a busy news day. There was word North Korea was making preparations for yet another provocative missile test. The Supreme Court, in its latest ruling in the controversial travel ban case, said that people from the six largely Muslim countries covered by the immigration enforcement action could enter the U.S. if they had a grandparent here, refusing to overturn a ruling that grandparents qualified as "bona fide relatives." And then, late in the day, President Donald Trump gave a remarkable interview to The New York Times, one that, among other things, laid into Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The day also produced its share of what, sadly, has come to qualify as routine news: A Muslim organization in Sacramento, California, received a package in the mail that included a Koran in a tub of lard; police in Boise, Idaho, identified a teenage boy as the person likely responsible for scratching racist words on a car; in Lansing, Michigan, police launched a search for a suspect in the case of an assault against a Hispanic man. The victim had been found with a note indicating his attacker had been motivated by racial animus.

The specter of hate incidents and crimes — some of them fueled by the nastiness of the 2016 presidential campaign — felt white hot months ago. The issue remained high-profile as several horrific murders — a South Asian immigrant slain in Kansas City, a homeless black man butchered near Times Square in New York — generated outrage and national news coverage.
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