NY Holds Vigil for Victims of Bowling Green Massacre

New Yorkers can be a sentimental — and satirical — bunch.

That’s why it was no surprise that an impromptu vigil was held Friday honoring the Bowling Green massacre victims that never were.

“We’re commemorating the victims of Bowling Green,” said Chris Bauer as he stifled a smile. “It never happened so they were never commemorated.”

Bauer and a handful of others stood near the Lower Manhattan park, holding signs and shouting, “We all are Bowling Green, never remember never forget.”
Cindy Voorspuy, of Staten Island, stood near the entrance to the Bowling Green subway station carrying a sign that read, “Never remember always forget.”

The group decided to take to the streets to poke fun at presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway’s false claim that Iraqi refugees committed an atrocity that never happened called the “Bowling Green massacre.”

“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,” she said on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on Thursday.

President Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway falsely claimed that Iraqi refugees committed an atrocity that never happened called the “Bowling Green massacre.”

President Trump’s adviser Kellyanne Conway falsely claimed that Iraqi refugees committed an atrocity that never happened called the “Bowling Green massacre.” (CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS)

Conway explained Friday on Twitter that she was referring to the two “Bowling Green terrorists” arrested in 2011 in Bowling Green, Kentucky for plotting to provide weapons and cash to al-Qaeda fighters overseas.

President Trump’s trusted adviser cited the fictitious attack in defense of her boss’ immigration ban barring people from several Muslim-majority nations from entering the country.

But the damage was already done.
Thousands protest Trump's travel ban at Brooklyn Borough Hall
A memorial website urging people to donate to the “Bowling Green Massacre Victims Fund” sprung up almost immediately.

A donate button on the page redirects to the ACLU website.(Click Here)

Kellyanne Conway's faux massacre mocked by city of Bowling Green
Conway was roundly mocked on social media as well.

Bowling Green, Ky., has long had a reputation as a welcoming place for refugees, and the city is home to the International Center of Kentucky, a refugee resettlement agency. In the past 10 years, more than 2,000 refugees resettled in Bowling Green from more than a dozen countries, including some Muslim-majority countries, said the agency’s executive director, Albert Mbanfu.

People in the small college town took to the streets Friday night to hold a fake vigil of their own.

Dozens of people danced in the streets and lofted signs that read “Never Remember.”

At Home Cafe & Marketplace, the most popular pizza Friday was “the Bowling Green Massacre” pie.

The specialty pizza with blackened chicken, macaroni and cheese and jalapenos was on pace to set a one-day sales record at the restaurant, said owner Josh Poling.


“The minute I heard it last night, I was like, ‘Oh gosh, that’s too good of an opportunity to pass up,”’ he said.

All proceeds from the specialty pizza’s sales will go to the Southern Poverty Law Center, he said.

Manhattan’s tongue-in-cheek tribute Friday drew curious tourists and President Trump supporters who questioned the silly vigil.

Conway’s alternative facts were respected at the Kentucky vigil.

“We actually don’t know what the hell we’re doing, but neither does Trump or anyone else so,” Bauer responded to questions about the event.

“In this alt-fact world this is something that needs to be commemorated,” he added.

Conway coined the phrase “alternative facts” when defending the White House’s false claims about crowd size at Trump’s inauguration.                                          New York Daily News