In Liu of Doing Something

John Liu is the Councilman from Flushing. He frequently looks bored at council meetings and public forums. He typically sits there and says nothing. Except when the topic is Asians. Then all of a sudden, it's like a fire is lit under him. He becomes animated and defensive of his race.

From G.A.:

A concerned resident of Flushing made mention at a civic meeting that store entrances fronting Union Street in Flushing are locked and blocked, forcing customers to enter through a communal parking lot. This obviously presents a fire and emergency response hazard. Here is a video he made to illustrate this problem:



These same stores in many cases also do not have signs in English or English-speaking personnel. This is not only dangerous in case of an emergency, but also an exclusionary practice which disrupts community cohesiveness and causes animosity. This is a problem not only in downtown Flushing but in all communities which are heavily occupied by recent immigrants from different parts of the world.

Well, you can't make mention of the fact that locking exits is a fire hazard or that store signs aren't in English. If you do, according to John Liu, then you are a racist. Take a look at this clip where he responds to his constituent who had the nerve to voice his concerns:



Yes, in a nutshell, it's ok for "his people" to lock their fire exits, and if you call attention to it, then you must have a problem with Asians and you should learn to live harmoniously with them.

Now, here's a clip of his famous "I am an Asian" speech from a community board meeting in 2004:



Why did he feel the need to make this speech? You might recall that John Liu stood next to Mayor Bloomberg with a smile on his face reminiscent of the cat swallowing the canary when the announcement was made that the Flushing Airport property was being sold to a Korean development group. Many surrounding homeowners were not just disappointed but angered at the choice for the property. The College Point Corporate Park is already overgrown and the traffic on the Whitestone Expressway is unacceptable. The project would have brought 1,200 additional trucks and other traffic to the area on a daily basis. During the course of the meeting, one of the task force members said that he observed the same Korean businesses which were planning to move to College Point at their present locations in midtown Manhattan allowing customers without appropriate credentials to enter and shop in these wholesale facilities. The concern was that this practice would be brought with them to Queens. A valid concern, no? Not if you're John Liu.

Councilpersons of color who take money from the developers, businesses, etc. in their communities can easily avoid doing anything about the problems they cause by playing the race card. Who wants to be accused of racism? No one. But if you bring up the fact that illegal aliens are sleeping 10 to a room in Astoria, or that alien smuggling operations are being run out of Flushing, then be prepared to be tagged a bigot. A very clever and underhanded tactic that works like a charm. (Just ask Toys R Us! - Yes, Liu weighed in on that, too, in favor of the illegal Asian mother.)

John Liu also thought it important to offer free Chinese lessons to people of Chinese descent who were born here and don't know the language. It would be more beneficial to our city and country if free English lessons were offered to residents who do not speak our language. Wouldn't that foster better communication and understanding?

Take a look at the people John Liu takes money from (i.e. developers, store owners, realtors):

City Council 2001 & 2005 races

2009 State Campaign - office not yet declared (just type in "John Liu" in candidate search and click "submit query")

(Politicians just LOVE when you look at their campaign contributions!) - Q.C.