Bangladeshis angry’ over NY City Councilman

After the inauguration of Little Bangladesh Avenue in Jamaica, New York, the leaders of the Bangladeshi community in Jamaica got angry with James F. Genaaro, a councilman in District-24, Queens.

Because of angry, he had a negative opinion about Bangladeshis at the opening ceremony of Little Bangladesh Avenue on February 1. Senior leaders of the Bangladeshi community want to go to his office to formally protest the issue.

Meeting with Councilman Jame F. Gennaro, community leaders want to highlight the negative perceptions he has about Bangladeshis at the opening of Little Bangladesh Avenue on February 21.

Because Bangladeshis are not a chaotic people. Bangladeshis have a very disciplined, long-standing tradition. Bengalis have a glorious history, tradition and culture. Bangladeshis are disciplined immigrants.

Bangladeshi Americans are playing an important role in various fields starting from the education sector here. Bangladeshi Americans have been insulted when James F. Gennaro came to the opening ceremony of Little Bangladesh Avenue and asked Bangladeshis to leave.

Because Bangladeshis are also American citizens here. They are in no way inferior to American citizens. He will be given the necessary information to brighten the image of Bangladeshis.

The information was shared by prominent personalities of the community Nasir Ali Khan Paul, Asal president MAF Misbah, mainstream politician Morshed Alam and former JMC president Awal Siddiqui speaking on the occasion.

He recently hosted a Meet the Press event at a cafe in Hillside, Jamaica. There, at the opening ceremony of Little Bangladesh Avenue on February 21, he highlighted the unpleasant incident and informed the journalists about the next steps. He also introduced the seven people who took the initiative to make the Little Bangladesh Avenue event a success.

They are Mohammad Tuhin, Mohammad Ali, Rabbi Syed, Fakhrul Islam Delwar, Bahlul Syed Uzzal, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury and Dr. Dilip Nath. The leaders pointed out the lack of coordination in the program that day.

Besides, the leaders urged all to be vigilant so that no such incident would take place in future and so that Bangladeshis would not get a chance to insult any public representative there. A large number of leaders of the Bangladeshi community were present on the occasion. Editors and journalists from various media outlets from New York were also present.

The leaders present on the occasion unanimously said that all of us who are here are ambassadors of Bangladesh. So we have to work in such a way that the issue of success does not fade away due to disagreement between some of us. And if there is any such event in the future, we can make it a success by uniting all.

Besides, they agreed to field a single Bangladeshi candidate from District-24 and support him in the forthcoming 2023 city council elections, learning from the humiliation of that day. According to the leaders, on the one hand, it is possible to win the Bangladeshi candidate, on the other hand, it is possible to avenge the humiliation of James Gennaro.

It is to be noted that on 21st February, the day of the great martyrs and the International Mother Language Day, a section from 169th Street in Jamaica, New York, inhabited by Bangladeshis, was renamed as 'Little Bangladesh Avenue'. Senior leaders have accused councilor James F. Gennaro of insulting the community at the opening ceremony, citing the disagreement of community leaders.

Welcoming remarks were made by the event organizer and prominent real estate investor Mohammad Anwar Hossain. He said that the whole community was humiliated at the inaugural function of 'Little Bangladesh Avenue' on 21st February.

The event could have been more beautiful and successful without the mismanagement and chaos. This failure is due to the disunity of the community. So today's event is not to create any misunderstanding or disunity in the future, but to create the context for the integration of Bangladeshis in mainstream politics.

“We want more Shahana Hanif in the city council in the coming days,” he said. Our main target is Bangladeshis elected from Council District 24 in New York City.

Prominent community personality Nasir Ali Khan Paul said, “I am not blaming anyone for what happened at the opening ceremony of Little Bangladesh Avenue.” In the incident of that day, the flag of Bangladesh community, Bangladesh, country has been insulted. Our disunity and failure of leadership is responsible for this.

“We will discuss and take a day appointment to the office of the General. I will meet him and tell him the whole story. But what happened that day is not a matter of today, the main issue is how the same mistake will not be repeated in the future and how we can be united in the greater good. He said today's Bangladeshi community did not develop overnight. The community has been enriched by burning a lot of wood. So the value of the community is our value. There is no alternative to unity for this. He called on all to remain united.”

Morshed Alam said, “Because we have done politics in the country, we have come to exile and got involved in community activities so that we can establish our rights.”

He added: “We are a large community but not united. Two or four people can make mistakes, so it is not right to humiliate everyone unilaterally. In the coming days, everyone should work in unison so that there is no more disunity in the community.”

MAF Misbah Uddin said that the program of that day could have been done nicely by a committee. The Shaheed Minar has been set up, but flowers have not been laid there, it is sad.

The flag has been handed over to a person who is not a Bengali. It would be nice to sing with Bangladeshi Americans. He said it was time for the Bangladeshi community to unite. We are being deprived of our rights due to the failure and disunity of our leadership.

 Awal Siddiqui said that what happened at the opening ceremony of 'Little Bangladesh Avenue' cannot be allowed to happen again. The community needs to be united. He said that the achievement of 'Little Bangladesh Avenue' was a great achievement of the community. If necessary, we can celebrate this achievement by organizing another event.

Bahlul Syed Uzzal said that today's Little Bangladesh Avenue is not a single contribution. All Bangladeshis deserve credit for this.

Mohammad Fakhrul Islam Delwar, a community activist and founder and current president of the Jamaica Bangladesh Friends Society said described the setting of the event as a great achievement, the naming of Little Bangladesh Avenue was a great achievement. However, this honor was not earned in one day or by the efforts of one person.

He apologized for all the mistakes in the program. He says a northern 20-year-old was created to give to James Genaario, but could not afford it then. This time I gave. I gave him a crest. If he wanted to, other organizations could have given him crests, scarves, flowers, there was no problem. Everything I did was to make the event a success. No one will misunderstand me.

Delwar further said that the sign of Little Bangladesh Avenue has been placed with arrow sign on wrong side. In fact, it is not Homelon Street, but Hillside Avenue has been symbolically named 'Little Bangladesh Avenue'. The matter has been brought to the notice of Councilman James F. Gennaro. It will be fixed soon.

Mohammad Tuhin said, "Today's Little Bangladesh Avenue is the fruit of everyone's contribution." So we have to move forward, not backwards, holding each other's faults.

Mohammad Ali said, “Our next target is to elect Bangladeshi-Americans from District-24 in the upcoming elections.” To that end, everyone must be united.

Rabbi Syed said, "It is true that we have failed to organize the event, but it is not intentional." In order to be able to perform successfully and maintain unity in the coming days, we have to strive for it.”

At the end of the program, Nasir Ali Khan joined hands with the seven people to resolve the misunderstanding that arose during the opening ceremony of Paul Little Bangladesh Avenue.