A Big Lie

You’ve seen the signs around town, “Hate Has No Home Here.”  But it’s a big lie.  Ok, maybe not a big lie but definitely wishful thinking.

Hate is right at home in New York City.

It’s so easy to be hated here.  All you have to do is to just look different. Wear a kipa and you’re hated.  Wear a turban and you’re hated.  Recognizable as an Asian? You’re hated.

Here’s some news that will blow your mind.  

New York City has had more hate crimes against Asian Americans over the past two years than any other US city.  Women and men beat up, spit at, pushed in front of speeding subway trains and killed.

Reported hate crimes against Jewish people?  They’re up 275% year over year.  That’s reported hate crimes.  

(I’m not insensitive to other groups who are hate targets because of their appearance or behavior.  I just was so shocked by the official statistics about Jew and Asian hatred.)

Don’t tell Mr. Nirmal Singh that hate has no home here, he’s experienced hate firsthand. 

Nirmal Singh is a 70-year old Sikh gentleman from India.  He’s lovingly called Babu Ji by his family and friends.  A first time visitor to our marvelous city.  He was staying at the Sikh Cultural Society in the Richmond Hill Section of Queens.  One early morning this past week, Mr. Singh went out for a stroll and some a-hole came up behind him and punched Mr. Singh so hard he broke his nose. Didn’t say anything, just punched him and busted his nose.  

During the attack, Mr. Singh said he just closed his eyes and started to cry.  His blue turban and his white beard were stained red, stained with his own blood.

Yeah, he looked different, worthy of an attack.

Or how about the young man in Williamsburg, Brooklyn walking back from synagogue a couple of Friday nights ago?  He absolutely looked the part.  Long black coat, black hat, a beard and side locks.  Had to be attacked.  When six teenagers passed him on the street they had no choice but to punch and kick him.  After all, he was asking for it.  He looked so different.

Or how about the six Jewish kids last week, who were wearing their kipot, their yarmulkas , and were threatened by three young teens wielding a sword, a crowbar and a knife.  They chased the Jewish kids along West End Avenue and West 86th Street in Manhattan.  They said they were after the kids because they’re Jewish.  Did I say one of them had a sword?  Oh yeah, I did.  Thankfully the kids ducked into an apartment building and escaped unharmed. 

Those Jewish kids looked different too, but not that different.  This incident was on the Upper West Side, not in Williamsburg.

Maybe someone can explain it to me because I just don’t get it. Where has society gone so wrong?  Just because you look different walking down a street in New York City in the year 2022 you’re available to being beaten up or worse?

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy said to her dog Toto, “I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”  I have a feeling we’re not in anyplace sane anymore. 

Are we in Paris where Jewish men wear baseball caps in public to hide their kipot lest they be attacked?  Or maybe we’re in India where the Sikh minority has been persecuted for decades. 

Why are young people so filled with venom?  Where are they learning to hate so much?  What do we need more of to make this cancer go away?  Education? Punishment? A combination? 

I don’t think this is a scourge that legislation or a mayoral proclamation can solve. I don’t know, I just don’t know.

Here’s what I do know.  We cannot, we must not, normalize hatred.  We cannot, we must not be blasé about it.  Just another guy wearing funny clothes being pushed to the ground and pummeled in one of the outer boroughs?  Yeah, happens all the time, no big deal.  Teenagers roaming the streets looking for victims because of their appearance?  Hey, boys will be boys, they have to blow off a little steam now and then.  No, no, no, a thousand times no.

Right now the haters seem to be real comfortable here. They’re prowling the streets looking for their next victim. That innocent person who just doesn’t look like them.  It’s as plain as the broken nose on Babu Ji’s bloodied face. 

Hate has no home here?  Oh yes it does!