Adam Yauch Park Defaced With Hateful Graffitti – Electeds Organize “Stand Up Against Hate” For This Sunday

This was reported on WNBC-TV news at 11pm tonight. There’s been a sharp uptick since the election in hate crimes. The haters are coming out of the woodwork, think it’s open season on what this country stands for.

They are very wrong!

This is absolutely disgusting. But I also find Brad Lander recklessly blaming this on Trump supporters without a shred of evidence to make such an accusation, equally as hateful, divisive and dangerous. People are already being attacked for who they voted for so his remark has no place whatsoever in civil discourse. Lander should apologize to us all for jumping on the hate train instead of trying to heal these divides. He should explain in his apology why his tweet was dangerous, divisive, hateful and just plain stupid.

Before I am attacked for calling out Lander know that I wrote to the Brooklyn Eagle in 2007 when this happened once before, not to divide but to heal. I looked to Martin Luther King for guidance and evoked him when I subsequently submitted a Peace and Non-violence Commission proposal to Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn. It turned out that the 2007 hate crimes were not quite what they seemed on their face.

Agreed.

However, I have a suspicion that some of the things we’re seeing (this included? maybe?) are not direct messages sent by Trump-supporting white supremacists but rather just the form “kids being stupid/trolling through acts of vandalism” has taken. At one point kids of a certain age seeking mischief might have spray-painted a drawing of a penis, and at another point they might have written a more timely obscenity. Now it’s mid-November 2016 so they attempt to draw swastikas and write something about Trump. “People in Brooklyn get freaked out about that, right?”

I am not saying we shouldn’t respond seriously to the meaning of the symbols this person(s) was [attempting to] draw in our culturally, intellectually, and ethnically diverse neighborhood. But I’m offering my suspicion because it actually seems more plausible to me than some kind of dormant Neo-Nazi Brooklynite sleeper cell having been activated by Trump winning the presidency–much less could I imagine Jeff Smith in a balaclava sneaking around at 4am with a paint can–to botch a couple of swastikas in a playground on a quiet street where they’re unlikely to get caught.

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”-Pastor Martin Niemöller

Me thinks you doth protest too much, Doug. What part of “Go Trump” spray painted under swastikas did you not understand? But more importantly, your candidate ran a campaign from a bully pulpit and spewed divisive xenophobia, misogyny, intolerance and worse for 18 months. Whether the “perps” are Trump supporters or not is irrelevant. Idiot kids and real racists alike have been emboldened by his hate speech.

Your righteous indignation is a tacit endorsement and gaslighting of Trump’s disgusting behavior and the dangerous people he has already chosen for his administration.

This is NOT a normal I or anyone else with a shred of human decency should be willing to accept.

It at least strikes me that an actual white supremacist would have drawn the swastikas properly on the first try.

Hysterical! Nazis that can’t draw a swastika!! Looks like it’s just some more false, trumped up fear mongerers playing to the leftie media to get some face time and besmirch the right wing. Long live the scaredy cats!!

For those posting that there is no evidence that it was a trump supporter that did this… do the words ‘go trump’ under the badly drawn swastikas count as at least anecdotal evidence?

Not one bit. Anyone could have done it for who knows what motivation. The problem is that when you blame a whole class of people (Trump supporters) you are fighting hate with hate and division. You undermine your own cause and polarize good people on both sides further. People have already been attacked over this election. We can stand together against hate, and today’s event was wonderful, but let’s not lose sight that many Trump supporters stand with you.

See now we’re having a conversation and I truly believe this is how we bridge this serious divide post-election, that is, unite and fight hate wherever it lurks or rears it’s venomous head. I agree with much of your concerns and perhaps the overwhelming majority of Trump supporters do as well. I know many and I can assure you they are anything but hateful people.

So yes we should and must have events like today’s — absolutely — and politicians and citizens alike should condemn hate in no uncertain terms. Today all the politicians did that and I applaud them, including Brad Lander.

However, that is not what Lander did in his tweet and on facebook. He pinned the swatikas, hate and anti-Semitism on Trump supporters in no uncertain terms despite there being no proof. If a politician attributed you or who you voted for with a swastika hate crime I think you’d be outraged and possibly scared as well. I would have wholeheartedly supported, liked, retweeted Lander’s tweet if he left out the Trump supporter accusation. I don’t believe any of the other participating politicians took that angle for obvious reasons. I hope they urge Lander to revisit his tweet because it does not help our cause in standing boldly against hate.

As for there being no Trump supporters at the event, who knows. What we do know is that unless they read the Brooklyn Heights Blog they may not have gotten the memo. But even if they did, I bet many of them would not utter a word that they were out of fear and intimidation. We on the left as citizens — but most certainly the media and political elites — have stifled the conversation on this election and brought it to a shouting match and a near fist fight. Many Trump supporters are in hiding. They don’t want to lose their friends for how they voted. They don’t want to lose their job for how they voted. They don’t want to get attacked. And yes this is happening in the other direction too as so many on the left feel threatened in similar and worse ways. This is not healthy for anyone.

But what’s bizarre about what I’m seeing from citizens on the left is that they are putting up open letters on social media and in person that they are judging others for their vote and in many cases no longer be friends with their long time friends. This is absolutely troubling. We need the exact opposite to happen. Like Jonathan Haidt argues (google him) we have to build bridges, trust and converse, certainly if we want to stand strong and united against hate. We must not withdraw and begin to hate each other. I love my friends no matter who they voted for.

I hope a few things happen. I hope that Trump, Obama and HRC all condemn this hatred. I hope those with a national voice show some humility and responsibility in how they’ve brought us to this point in this election and long before. If you read MLK like me (read Beyond Vietnam), you’d swear that perhaps the hate needed to drive 26 years of war against Muslim nations (most unnecessary) brought us to this precipice. I believe it is a complete failure of leadership of both Republicans and Democrats. Never allow them to turn us against each other. I call it Trickle Down Hatred.

I have written a PeaceNYC proposal that address this very issue by creating a Peace and Non-Violence Commission to legitimize these values. If our local political leaders wish to discuss this, I am very happy to. If this blog would like to post them, I would be more than happy to. The time is now.

And for the record haha here’s the definition of class I was using: a number of persons or things regarded as forming a group by reason of common attributes, characteristics, qualities, or traits; kind; sort:

I will say succinctly that if you don’t want to build bridges you are out of luck for at least the next two years because Trump wields an awful lot of power — more than any president in my time controlling the House, Senate, executive and soon to be Supreme Court. The mid terms depend on you making your case to a lot of people the left is attacking monolithically as a bunch of racist xenophobic haters instead of showing some humility and common cause. Again you undermine your cause. The left has to come to grips with this and sell their platform on the merits.

And he is off to a stellar start: Steve Bannon – a shocking body of work, speaks for itself. Myron Ebell – an unapologetic denier of climate change who once tried to keep the tobacco industry from being regulated, now running the EPA. This what he is doing with his power. Oh, and his brilliant son in law’s father was convicted of illegal tampering with elections and elected officials. He isn’t even building bridges within the conservative community.

Luck is a myth, like common ground is a myth.

I have no cause.

The left or the progressives or whatever need to get their act together or they will get spanked again. Notes for them should include that the glossing over of actual policy positions, a complete lack of relevant experience, and no interest in bridge building worked well for Trump during the election. He treated the left as a monolith and defeated them. Learn from what works.

Did you see or hear anything that he said during the campaign?

It sure is. When we have facts to this end, only then we can condemn that individual and ask fellow Trump supporters to join us in condemning them.

Just want to say that I’m enjoying reading your and Michael’s back and forth. Thanks for keeping it intelligent and civil.

Feel like we got off topic right? Some clowns put swastikas up in a park where little kids play. That is not some abstraction called ‘hate’ that is a person doing something awful. Sadly, one act in a long and growing list of hateful anti-semitic, anti-immigrant and frankly anti-intelligent acts. Voting or not doesn’t help this. First thing I would like to see is a definitive statement from the Trump administration… Not going to hold my breath. Passivity is tacit approval.

YOU are who’s Wrong Andy….

God reached out and Saved this country. He so loved his unworthy child that he saved this country.

THAT is what is happening here. Much to the outrage of the various shades of Marxists. And since this is the work of God, it’s irreversible.