On July 18th, Swami Harish Chander Puri was walking down the street near the Shiv Shakti Peeth in Queens, when he was viciously attacked. Police arrested 52-year old Sergio Gouveia for the attack, which is believed to have been a hate crime. New York State Senator John Liu, an Asian American, said, “Tragically, I’ve seen too many attacks of this type to believe this was a random act of violence.”

Liu, along with U.S. Congresspersons Grace Meng, Tom Suozzi, and Kevin Thomas, the first Indian-American to serve in the New York State Senate, stand in solidarity with Puri to condemn his attack. Liu says, “We all stand together in our resolve to denounce hate and to promote peace in this community.”

Hate crimes against non-whites have become business as usual in America. It is important to know that our elected officials are outraged, and that bigotry has not been, and will not be, normalized.