Interesting that these teens used chalk to scrawl swastikas AND racist
anti-Black comments, and that they turned themselves in! I wonder what
the swastika signifies to them?
Years ago -- mid-1980s -- I went to a punk concert at the Ritz (remember
that?). Some young toughs were sitting near the entrance wearing
swastikas. I was enraged, but my Red Balloon Collective comrade Nicos,
from Cyprus, went over to them and just talked with them explaining the
history of that symbol and what it meant. Well, those kids ripped off
their swastika patches and spread the info to their friends!
Great lesson there. Don't assume that everyone means harm by certain
symbols. They likely are not aware of the history, and only see it as
"rebellion". Symbols from one generation get recycled for new
meanings, though they continue to weigh like a nightmare on the brains of
the living.
Take the time to talk to people one-on-one!
Mitchel Cohen
https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/41/45/dtg-swastikas-in-brooklyn-heights-teen-arrested-2018-11-09-bk.html
November 5,
2018 / Brooklyn news /
Brooklyn
Heights
Teens turn themselves in for scrawling swastikas in Bklyn
Heights
By Julianne Cuba
Two teens on Monday turned themselves in for scrawling swastikas and
writing a racist slur on the exterior of several Brooklyn Heights
buildings last week.
Cops on Saturday circulated photos of the suspects, an 18-year-old from
Ditmas Park and a 17-year-old from Red Hook, who on Oct. 30 allegedly
used chalk to draw the symbol the Nazis turned into an icon of hate on
four Garden Place buildings between Joralemon and State streets, and
spell out the foul term n----- on the stoop of a fifth building down the
block.
The acts of vandalism occurred roughly a half-day before youngsters
paraded through the neighborhood to trick or treat on Halloween, and just
days after a gunman killed 11 people inside a Pittsburgh
synagogue.
The two teens walked into the 77th and 78th Precinct station houses some
time after midnight, and cops then cuffed each before issuing hate-crime
charges to both, according to Police Department spokesman Det. Ahmed
Nasser.
The suspects had yet to be arraigned as of Monday evening, according to a
rep for the district attorney’s office.
Their arrest came days after cops on Friday apprehended
a 26-year-old Bedford-Stuyvesant resident on hate-crime charges,
after he allegedly defiled a Prospect Heights temple by writing
anti-Semitic statements inside it on Thursday, and set fires at multiple
Williamsburg Jewish centers the next day.
Reach reporter Julianne Cuba at (718) 260–4577 or by e-mail at
[log in to unmask]. Follow her on
Twitter @julcuba.