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Convicted sex offender spews anti-Asian slurs during NYC Council meeting — and pols do nothing to stop him
An ex-con affiliated with a lefty advocacy group spouted his racist hate while saying he supports a proposed city law that would bar landlords from conducting criminal background checks on prospect…
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Convicted sex offender spews anti-Asian slurs during NYC Council meeting — and pols do nothing to stop him
By
Carl Campanile and
Zach Williams
December 9, 2022 5:23pm
Updated
A convicted sex offender was allowed to openly spew anti-Asian bigotry at a public City Council hearing this week without even the pols running the session stopping him or objecting.Douglas Powell, an ex-con affiliated with the lefty advocacy group Vocal-NY, spouted his racist hate Thursday while saying he supports a proposed city law that would bar landlords from conducting criminal background checks on prospective tenants.
Powell spoke after two Asian women and two white women testified against the legislation, citing public safety concerns for other tenants and small landlords.
“This is not about felonies — it’s about race, it’s about black people,” Powell responded during the hearing conducted by the Council Committee on Civil Rights, deriding the previous speakers’ testimony against the bill as “garbage.
“Did you see the Asian people just been talking?” he said.
Ex-con Douglas Powell delivers an anti-Asian tirade during a hearing on legislation to bar landlords from doing criminal backgrounds checks on prospective tenants.NYC Media“I live in Rego Park now. That’s the most racist neighborhood I’ve ever been in, and it’s nothing but Asians in there.
“If you go into a store, they will follow you around like you’re getting ready to steal something. They don’t want black people living in black people neighborhoods. Because it’s not their neighborhood, because they’re from China, they’re from Hong Kong. We from New York,” Powell said.
No council member tried to interrupt him or addressed his hate speech during the meeting.
No one from the council objected to his hateful words.NYC MediaPowell, 59, is listed as a Level 2 sex offender with a Rego Park address after a 2012 conviction for an attempted criminal sex act with a victim under the age of 15 in 2008, according to the state Sex Offender Registry. He received a 30-month prison sentence for the crime, the registry says.
Asian American activists and leaders were furious that council members did not rebuke Powell’s anti-Asian slurs during the hearing.
“I left after my testimony and that man was referring to me and@susanleenyc,” tweeted Asian Wave Alliance president Yiatin Chu. “This is the hate speech that fuels anti-Asian hate crimes. And our electeds were silent.”
“Can you imagine if he was saying the same about Blacks, Hispanics or Jewish ppl? Would our electeds be silent and move on as if nothing racist happened!” she raged.
Powell, who went on an anti-Asian tirade, is listed as a Level 2 sex offender.Activist Susan Lee, who testified at the hearing along with Chu, tweeted, “What this man said about me and @ycinnewyork today wasn’t a testimony.
“It was HATE SPEECH that can incite violence in the Asian Community,” she wrote.
“How can @CMNantashaW allow this to happen at her community hearing?” Lee tweeted, referring to Queens Councilwoman Nantasha Williams, chair of the committee on civil rights who presided over the hearing on the bill. “@NYCCouncil this happened in your chamber where you legislate?”
State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), who recently told The Post that he has received anti-Asian voice messages, said, “We are all New Yorkers no matter where we live or where we came from.
Asian American activists Susan Lee and Yiatin Chu testified against the bill to eliminate criminal background checks for prospective tenants before Powell delivered his anti-Asian tirade.NYC Media“No matter your stance on the legislation at hand, these comments directed at Asians on the floor of the Council chambers were entirely racist and unacceptable, and must be condemned.”
Queens Councilwoman Sandra Ung, who was not at the hearing, tweeted, “The comments at today’s @NYCCouncil hearing attacking Asian Americans were racist and divisive.
“Racial attacks like this have no place in our city, much less in Council Chambers, and should be condemned by all. @VOCALNewYork,” Ung said.
Ung’s tweet received a belated response from City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens), who also was not at the session, Thursday night.
Sen. John Liu said he has received hateful voice messages on his office phone.Paul Martinka“The remarks at today’s hearings are inappropriate and unacceptable in Council Chambers and everywhere,” Adams wrote. “There is never an excuse for such harmful language, and we must not be divided by believing justice comes from inflicting harm onto others.”
Williams, who came under withering criticism from Lee and others for not immediately rebuking Powell’s bigoted remarks, issued a belated statement on Twitter on Friday.
“In reference to yesterdays hearing on fair chance for housing: Racism and discrimination hurt us all in different ways and responding to them with similar rhetoric is never the solution,” the councilwoman said.
“As a Black woman, a member of one of the most hated and disrespected demographics on the planet, I know personally how deeply hurtful language can be to our progress as a people and one’s personal safety,” she wrote. “The prejudice against both Asian communities, Black communities, and justice-involved folks is a product of systematic racism that we must stand against.”
She noted she held a hearing in May that highlighted Asian-hate crimes, saying, “Our liberation is rooted in each other’s freedoms, that is why I denounce any hateful comments directed towards any community.”
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The council bill is sponsored by Manhattan Councilman Keith Powers, who was at the meeting but later insisted to The Post that he was not in the hearing room when Powell made the anti-Asian remarks.
“I was gone for a few [speakers] and returned as [Powell] was ending,”
Powers told The Post. “I believe there were a few members watching remotely, in addition to the chair in person.”
Powers tweeted after the session, “I’ll be crystal clear — no one should walk into the @NYCCouncil chambers and say hateful speech.”
Powell wore a Vocal-NY T-shirt at the hearing. The lefty group confirmed that he was a volunteer with the organization. He has been listed as an activist for homeless individuals.
“The language we heard was unacceptable, and we apologize for the hurt it caused,” the advocacy group said.
Still, a Vocal-NY spokesman said the group would not sever ties with Powell.
Manhattan Councilman Keith Powers later spoke out against it on Twitter. Getty Images“VOCAL-NY will continue to work with this leader and our entire membership to unroot the racism and biases that hold us all back,” the group said. “We do not throw people away or cancel them because of their mistakes — we work with everyone so we can create a future that works for all of us.”
Powell had no immediate comment through Vocal-NY.
Queens Councilman Robert Holden participated in the meeting virtually, but his rep later told The Post that the pol had not heard Powell’s racist comments.
Holden tweeted soon after the meeting, “Asian Americans are New Yorkers as much as anyone else.
“This vile racist should be condemned at all costs. I hope @VOCALNewYork cuts ties with someone who espouses such racist hate speech. Disgusting,” Holden wrote.
Rep. Grace Meng, who also was not at the hearing, retweeted Holden’s statement, adding, “@BobHoldenNYC and I actually agree here. This language is absolutely unnecessary, divisive and hurtful.”
