Lavine Denounces Racist DHS Post

GLEN COVE, NEW YORK – New York State Assemblymember Charles Lavine has issued the following statement in response to a social media post by the Department of Homeland Security depicting a bearded man with a bandana ('Mr. Singh') facing off against a commonly known character from the Transformers film franchise (Optimus Prime) with a DHS patch. The threatening and insulting words "self deport or find out" and "Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive" appear on the post:

"I am thoroughly disgusted by this blatantly racist post clearly aimed at the Sikh community. Coming just one day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, it was meant to take advantage of lingering feelings of hatred and resentment against those who look different to advance policies that are racist to begin with. It seems we're not even close yet to the bottom in terms of how low the Trump Administration will go in its never-ending campaign to cater to its base by using our differences as a means to advance its racist policies."

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Assemblymember Charles Lavine represents New York's 13th Assembly District in Nassau County. He presently serves as Chair of the Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Committees on Codes, Ethics and Guidance, Insurance and Rules. Lavine previously served as Chair of the Election Law Committee, Chair of the Committee on Ethics and Guidance, co-Chair of the New York State Legislative Ethics Commission, and as Chair of the bipartisan Taskforce that produced the Assembly Speaker's Policy on Sexual Harassment, Retaliation and Discrimination. Lavine is also President of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Jewish Legislators and a member of its National Board of Directors.