This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Politics & Government

Moroney Calls For 'Disgusting' Clothing To Be Taken Off Shelves (VIDEO)

St. Patrick's Day-themed clothing at the Palisades Center mall has caused a stir.

Rockland County Legislator Patrick Moroney of Orangetown wants vendors at the Palisades Center to stop selling t-shirts he and many others find offensive toward people of Irish heritage.

Moroney was made aware of the shirts on Sunday. On Tuesday he called a press conference to speak out against the shirts, which display vulgar words or phrases and perpetuate negative Irish stereotypes.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 56 years of being involved with this country,” Maroney said Tuesday. “I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s a total outrage these people can get away with something like this.”

On Tuesday, Moroney was joined by Legislator Ilan Schoenberger, D-Ramapo, as well as Councilman Daniel Friedman and Councilman Patrick Withers, both from the Town of Ramapo. Everyone spoke about the inappropriateness of the merchandise and why even those not of Irish descent should fight to rid the county of it.

“We live in a multi-cultural county,” said Schoenberger. “We have so many different people of different ethnic backgrounds and different ways of life and different beliefs, and they bring with them from whatever countries and cultures they are from to us. It helps make out county better and stronger. We all live together and work together.”

One of the issues the four who spoke on Tuesday have with the t-shirts, hats and more is that children walk around the mall and can see the items. Withers, who has two daughters, said to have things like that on display for sale at the mall is “unacceptable.” Schoenberger said he fears that kids will think it’s cool to wear clothing items with hateful language.

“We have to stop it at the very beginning otherwise people become desensitized to it and it’ll become normal,” Schoenberger said. “It’ll become average and people will start doing it.”

Friedman added that while the goal might be to make humorous products, there is no humor in doing these items.

“The kind of t-shirts and caps being sold at the Palisades Mall with an attempt at humor, it’s not funny,” Friedman said. “Any joke aimed at the expense of a religion or ethnic group is not funny. It’s offensive.”

Moroney said that in the two days since word started to get out about the clothes, he’s already seen a large amount of support from the community. He expects that to increase and he and his supporters get the word out even more.

“They’re not getting away with it. They’re not going to get away with it,” Moroney said. “We’ll have people at the mall the next three or four days, and further if we have to.”

He added they’ll have peaceful protests outside the mall to bring attention to the clothing items and try to sway anybody from buying them.

Linda and John Kingston of Pearl River said they support Moroney’s efforts to get the clothes off the shelves.

“St. Patrick’s Day has always been a family holiday,” John Kingston said. “We agree it should be wholesome and that the shirts are inappropriate.”

Pearl River’s John Nahman said he thinks it’s “just an indication of the general decline in morality of the country. There’s no respect for heritage, no respect for religion, no respect for anything.”

He and his wife, Marie Nahman, also think the clothing should be taken off the shelves.  John Nahman added he hopes the vendors won’t be selling the items at Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Pearl River.

At the press conference, Withers said he doesn’t think the vendors will be selling there. He said he spoke to a parade organizer who told him that there’s a two-stage process for vendors selling items on the parade route. The first is an interview where they have to show all the things they’re planning on selling to the Orangetown Police Department. Once set up on the route on Sunday, the department will check again to make sure everything matches up.

Moroney said another reason he hopes not to see the clothing at Sunday’s parade is because Cardinal Timothy Dolan will be a special guest for the event.

“Can you imagine the newly elevated Cardinal to have to witness this in such an Irish community as Pearl River on such a great day as St. Patrick’s Day?” Moroney said.

Moroney said that the legislature is looking into possible resolutions to vote on as a reaction to the clothing.

“It’s gone above and beyond all the fun and all the snipes that have been taken at the Irish community over the years,” Maroney said. “We have contributed so much to the county of Rockland, the Irish: political, infrastructure, clergy. It’s a disgrace. And to have our children at this point exposed to things like this is absolutely disgusting.”

To read more about the issue or vote in a poll regarding these items, click here

Find out what's happening in Pearl Riverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?