HOBOKEN—Hoboken City Council members Ravi Bhalla and Ruben Ramos as well as Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer released statements on Monday May, 8 in response to a hate speech video that swept social media last weekend with more than 90,000 hits.
The video shows an angry man ranting on Washington Street, apparently telling immigrants to “go back to your country.”
“The hate speech by the Vape Van owner is reprehensible and does not represent Hoboken’s diverse and inclusive community,” Zimmer said.
Zimmer added that the police department is investigating and that she will request that the city council revoke the owner’s vendor license.
“In addition to this being extremely offensive hate speech, as a vendor licensed by the City of Hoboken, they are obligated to follow all of our rules and regulations, and clearly they have not,” Zimmer said. “Therefore, I am asking the City Council to revoke their vendor license, and I thank Councilmen Bhalla and Ramos for agreeing to cosponsor the resolution. The council previously adopted a resolution condemning the recent rise in hate incidents nationwide, and this repulsive act presents an opportunity for our local government to take tangible steps to put our words into action. Leaders at all levels of government need to speak out, and we need to stand together as a country against this hatred.”
According to the joint statement issued by Bhalla and Ramos, they were disgusted with the video and will indeed sponsor a resolution to revoke the vendor license, which allows the Vape Van to operate within city limits.
“As proud sons of immigrants, we write to express our complete disgust with the hate incident involving the owner of the Vape Van vendor truck in Hoboken, New Jersey,” the statement read.. “This conduct has no place in Hoboken. This individual’s actions do not reflect the views of businesses or residents in Hoboken. Hoboken is a city of immigrants, and we take great pride in this tradition.”
According to the statement, the council approved a Dec. 7 2016, resolution which commits to “creating a community that is free of bias and prejudice,” and “pursuing a policy agenda that affirms . . . that those targeted on the basis of race, religion or immigration status can turn to government without fear of recrimination.”
“The forthcoming Resolution revoking the Vape Van’s vendor license is an opportunity to implement the policy expressed in the Council’s December resolution,” wrote the councilmen in the joint statement.
Bhalla and Ramos also urged local businesses to join the Business Against Bigotry campaign in which businesses, schools, places of worshop, and nonprofits can get free window decals that state, “We Welcome Everybody/Diversity Strenthens Our Community.”
Members of Vape Van posted on Facebook to apologize for the incident.
“We regret to admit insulting racial slurs were made by a member of our team,” states the Facebook post. “The exchange from start to finish went on for about 10 minutes, the recording shows the last few minutes. We sincerely apologize to all and anyone who is a part of the family, and to all who may have found our actions offensive. This public statement is in no way a justification for any of our actions. We are taking full responsibility for this situation and will act in any way possible to assure anything like this does not happen again.”
To request a window decal, please email Councilman Ravi Bhalla at councilmanbhalla@gmail.com and provide the address where you want your decal to be mailed.
