Of all the things I look for in a barber, I care least about technical skill. More than once, I have handed an electric clipper to a child of my family who is six or seven, and paid them a decent price for cutting my hair. There are some Jewish legal restrictions on men’s haircuts, which matter more to me than a fancy job. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want my haircut to look like a Picasso painting. But there is a balance to be struck between looking neat and presentable, and remaining aloof from prevailing fashion. When I do go to a professional barber, I like good magazines while I wait, and a good story during the haircut. My father was the same way. He considered it beneath his dignity to care about prevailing fashion. His favourite barber was a mix found only In Italy, where my father managed a factory. He kept two portraits in his barber shop, one of Pope John XXIII and the other of Nikita Krushchev. That defined the parameters of his personal theology and world view. Back in 1979, there was an old barber, pushing eighty (I’m not sure from which side) who ran a quaintly named “tonsorial studio”. The fixtures in his barber shop looked like a time capsule from decades past.

The old barber had grown up in Austrian ruled Poland, and he gave me a viewpoint other than that of my grandfather, whose own father wanted the Austro Hungarian monarchy abolished, and for Hungary to be a modern republic. The barber had a different perspective. He  told me as he cut my hair that there was no nonsense allowed in Austrian ruled Poland. The pogroms against Jews for which Poland was famous were harshly put down by the troops of Franz Josef II. Jewish people had a peaceful life under Austro Hungarian rule. Franz Josef was affectionately referred to as Ephraim Josef.

My other barber, Mr. B, rented an apartment from a prominent man in the community who was accomplished in business and immersed in community philanthropic endeavours. He was a quiet, serene man who had survived the concentration camps by cutting hair for the Germans in the camp. I did not ever press him for stories of his time in the camps, feeling that he should maintain whatever distance he felt was needed from his tormented past to get through each day. I felt a reverence for him that would equal that I feel for any rabbi. Anyone who can leave Auschwitz with a belief in G-d has something to teach others.

Another hair cutter used to work in the back of the Skverer shul on Kingston Avenue on Friday afternoon. His haircuts cost two dollars and took about three minutes. He had five plastic attachments that came with the clipper, and you chose a number zero through five. One of the yeshiva boys who made a couple of dollars sweeping up hair told me “He speaks three languages. Sit down in the chair, and pick a number zero through five. Say the number in Hebrew, Russian or Farsi. I correctly guessed that the man was from Bukhara, where a dialect of Farsi is spoken by the Jewish population. I enjoyed the utilitarian austerity of the haircut, even though I missed the ability to converse.

Today, a lot of the young barbers are from Uzbekistan. It is a trade that under communist rule could be plied with some flexibility, in order to accommodate the observance of Shabbat and Jewish holidays. On the rare occasions when I don’t have one of my own children cut my hair, I like to find someone who can take me back into history, or at least tell me how things are going in Uzbekistan, Russia or some other place I can’t afford to visit. Sadly, there is no one alive today who can tell me about Franz Josef II like my old barber at the tonsorial studio. But there are still practicing barbers who were born in the 1930’s. And that’s good for a story.

Photo by Gregg Barrett

Last night, the sound of helicopters could be heard overhead in the area around Utica Avenue in Crown Heights at around 4:00 in the afternoon. Local residents know the sound of police helicopters, and local residents know that they will not find out what was going on on Utica Avenue. Yesterday, Monday afternoon, there was the sound of circling helicopters . Several blocks below Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway were blocked off during rush hour. Local residents quickly figured out that there had been a shooting, as they made vehicular detours around the crime scene.

It was only Crownheights.Info that pierced the news blackout with the information that four people were hit (neither fatally) in a hail of bullets that had been preceded by an argument on Utica Avenue, about a block below Eastern Parkway. Crownheights.Info also relayed the information that police were looking for a 15 year old in connection with the shooting.

The violent incident took place on a busy public street during rush hour, with children home from school and commuters making their way home. It was the sort of traumatising event that the people of Crown Heights/East New York have become accustomed to. It was an open miracle that there were no fatalities or life threatening injuries. Indeed, two of the shooting victims walked into the Kingsboro hospital emergency room with gunshot wounds shortly after the incident.

The day after yesterday’s shooting, there is nothing being reported about yet another  shooting in an area in which such violence has become commonplace. For hard working African American commuters and school age youth  in Crown Heights, there is a real fear of being caught in a shootout on a busy thoroughfare near their homes. For whatever reason, only one local blog has any news about what happened in Eastern Crown Heights last night. The major talk in the news  was of a ticket fixing scandal that is about to rock police precincts across New York City. On Utica Avenue near Eastern Parkway, gypsy cabs and dollar vans that supplement local bus service dodge regular ticket blitzes. The sale of bootleg cigarettes continues surreptitiously enough to keep it from being too flagrant. Both involve the flow of revenue to city, state and federal coffers.

Accordingly, there will be action to assure that the majority of New Yorkers in Eastern Crown Heights will pay ten or eleven dollars for a pack of cigarettes, and that they will not hop into a dollar van for a quick commute. But if you are worried about getting caught in the middle of a rush hour shootout, priorities are quite different. The rest of New York outside of Eastern Crown Heights does not know that anything happened yesterday during rush hour. In official chronicles, all was peaceful. No one at least was killed on the way home from work or school. Therefore, all of us in Eastern Crown Heights are grateful to see another quiet day, in which the quiet sound of rain is not mixed with that of helicopters overhead. Nothing is new in our part of the city. That is what we have read in the papers.

Crownheights.Info article

I was in shul when the car hit Gavin Cato at the corner of Utica and Eastern Parkway. My son was playing on the corner near where it happened.Someone  came into shul between afternoon and evening prayers and announced that a Jewish driver had hit a black child.

“It’s not going to be good for us.” my friend Ephraim said.

The next few days indeed vindicated Ephraim’s pessimistic prediction. The next few days for me alternated between calming my nerves with beer and waking up with caffeine. The first night of rioting, a young black couple tried to rush  up our steps. They looked like they had stepped out of a back to school ad for J C Penney. Their preppy appearance seemed to clash with their desire to bash down our door. I brandished a hammer in the window, and shouted at them. That was enough to make them back off.

That night, we piled chairs up in our hallway, and slept in the middle of the living room floor. Our logic was that it was harder to throw rocks or fire bullets through the living room windows, and that that room was the safest in the house.. The second day of the riots, my wife and children went to New Jersey. I stayed back to watch our apartment.

A few minutes later, a young guy in his twenties stopped in front of our house. He bent over and pretended to be inspecting his bruised knee. I felt sorry for him until he picked up a fist sized rock and hurled it through our window. Police on the street did absolutely nothing. This scene became commonplace, and soon, every Jewish house on our block had broken windows. Local black youths gave guided tours to outsiders who did not know which houses were Jewish.

Calling 911 made me feel like a ghost. When I reported that people were on our street breaking windows and attacking people, the 911 operator sounded almost bored. “We’ll send a car down there to check it out when we get the chance”. No police ever came, and it was clear that they would not stop any attacks on property.

The three days that the riots were going on, it was the nights that were worst. During the day, there were lulls in the violence when it was possible to go out shopping. I remember one early afternoon going down the street. A black man saw me and picked up a piece of a brick and started moving towards me. I melted into a crowd of black pedestrians and he put down his brick. He did not want to risk hitting one of his own.

Al Sharpton was at the scene of the accident the next day. However” moderate” he may he now, back then he was on the corner, yelling “Kill the Jews” over a loudspeaker. Later on, he was quoted as suggesting that a house to house search be conducted for the car that hit Gavin Cato. Another time, he was quoted as saying smugly that Jews in Crown Heights should arrange for moving vans. He also suggested that Jews who are carrying their prayer shawls and phylacteries to synagogue are also carrying diamonds. It seemed like a clear attempt to incite violent robberies of Jews on their way to prayer.

I remember the editorial in the Daily News the morning after our window were busted out that suggested in Lindsayesque fashion that New Yorkers look for the “root causes” of the riots. I remember equally well, Rudy Giuliani saying that it was wrong to attack people because of their race.

Very quickly, I noticed my black neighbours avoiding greeting us. It was very apparent that they were afraid of showing any friendliness to a Jew in front of anyone who might disapprove of that. I learned very quickly to look straightforward when passing my neighbours, but to make friendly eye contact. The gesture was appreciated , and some found the courage to manage a slight nod. At one point, a dog came up to me wagging its tail. I am very fond of animals, but I pretended to be angry at it. I was afraid of what would happen to the dog if rioters thought it belonged to a Jew.

Although known drug dealers took part in the riots, it backfired on them. When the police finally cracked down, the streets were flooded with cops. One guy complained to me that it was impossible for him to sell weed with so many cops around.

I asked more than one police officer why the rioters were allowed to break windows without arresting them. More than one officer replied that “We’re letting them vent.” It is impossible for me to believe that someone higher up the chain of command did not utter the same words.

Things finally started calming down when a flying bottle almost hit Mayor Dinkins in the head. After that, he seemed to understand what was going on.

During the riots, I felt that my skin colour and Jewish appearance had become the uniform of an enemy. To this day, I view any intercommunal conflict in that light. Remembering the moments of fear that I felt makes me more sensitive to how others feel when they have become a hunted enemy.

Race relations are far better in Crown Heights today than in 1991. I probably made the same choice that may people did of trying to extract some understanding and some good from the violence in Crown Heights of August 1991. Despite this, I have no faith that the world is necessarily a better place. As we see in London and other British cities, people can loot and burn down their neighbourhoods, and only have regrets later.

I am not so naive as to say that the world should get rid of hatred. But as human beings we have the ability and the duty to observe limits on how we act on the prejudices that we are not ready to give up. Bigotry is not something that is ever totally eradicated. It is almost like athlete’s foot, that can be prevented with proper care and brought quickly under control. Bigotry is a human condition, a cognitive disability in which a person can not let go of preconceived opinions of other people and replace them with reality.

My own health problems have been a valuable lesson to me about inter-communal harmony. When I discuss high blood pressure and diabetes with black people or Arabs, it is impossible not to note that in the area of health, we all face deadly common enemies, that blood sugar and blood pressure problems are killers to us all. When I reflect upon matters of health it is impossible not to extract spiritual healing from the jaws of physical affliction.

As I look on the streets of Crown Heights, I realise that just as its gardens, trees and streets must be maintained, so too must our hearts and souls be maintained and protected. Just as gardens must be cultivated, we need to pluck the weeds of hatred from our souls as well.

There is case working its way through the Israeli courts, that of Yitzhak Shuchat, who is wanted for trial in a beating in which he allegedly took part of Andrew Charles, the son of a New York City detective. What distinguishes the case from one of simple assault and battery is the allegation that Charles was targeted because of his race. This charge, that of violating the civil rights of Andrew Charles, leaves Shuchat facing 15 years imprisonment. Faced with such charges, Yitzhak Shuchat fled the country.

All accounts of the incident tell a different story. The beating of Charles was not based upon antipathy towards his race, but upon the belief that he had participated in a crime earlier.Members of Shmira, of which Shuchat was reportedly a member, went out looking for the perpetrators of an earlier assault to which Shmira was called.

There is abundant evidence that casts serious doubt on the allegations of racial animus on the part of Mr.Shuchat. Whatever evidence was available in the heated aftermath of the attack, it is now abundantly clear that the motive of the attack in which Shuchat is alleged to have taken part was rooted in an earlier assault.

What is disturbing to me as a member of the Crown Heights Jewish community is the participation of Jewish people from a rival patrol in the public vilification of Yitzy Shuchat. By aiding in extraditing Shuchat, they are lending credence to allegations that bring discredit to the entire Crown Heights Jewish community, that we rely upon patrol members whose conduct is swayed by racism, and that we contribute to the support of racist hooligans. Even if I did not care about Shuchat as an individual, I would feel that the accusations against him were in small part directed against me as well.

If Yitzy Shuchat were to walk in my front door right now, I would welcome him as a dear friend. I have seen him in his personal life, working to help other people, not only in Shmira, but trying to help people in the community.

It is a Jewish belief that righteousness aids in the defense of an individual and of a community, that by accumulating good deeds that one merits protection. Both Shmira and Shomrim have gone out to patrol the community. I have been helped by members of both patrols. The good that both patrols do in patroling the streets is cancelled out in good part by their actions against each other.  I have known members of both patrols when they were all children. It pains me to see what I see today.

When I look on Google for information about Crown Heights Shomrim and Crown Heights Shmira, I find defamatory sites on both sides of the dispute that are almost pornographic in their crude and explicit insults. It is a disgrace to our community to see these sites on line.

These vile and defamatory web sites should be taken down. If private investigators could be hired by Jews within Crown Heights to track Yitzhak Shuchat to Israel, and to turn him over to the authorities, then the people behind these slanderous web sites should be tracked down and pressured into taking down their pornographic web sites.

It would be best if Shomrim and Shmira could form a united patrol, or if a unity patrol could be formed in which members of Shmira and Shomrim could take part. The only precondition of joining such a patrol should be that all ad hominem attacks against other people in the community should cease in order to remain in the patrol.

A Crown Heights Jewish community patrol will of course be primarily concerned with areas in which Jews live. Many African Americans also live within Crown Heights zip codes. They might have a different geographical focus, because of where they live. It would be good also to reach out to other community patrols, and to have reciprocal patrol privileges, in which members of various community patrols would ride together. This might create more bridges of understanding between African Americans and Jews.

I am saddened and sickened to see grown men that I knew when they were children fighting in the streets of Crown Heights and in cyberspace. Peace in Crown Heights would surely speed the coming of Moshiach. These are my own brothers fighting each other, and it saddens me. We’ve had enough of this. Peace is up to us. Stop the fighting.

Illustration by Lisi

A lot has changed in the religious world with the advent of home computers. Beth Rivkah has grown over the years and moved to a larger building. Many other things have changed as well.

Beth Rivkah of Brooklyn has banned Facebook among its students. The fear that it could lead to fraternisation and the posting of immodest pictures played a role in the decision, according to the Algemeiner Journal.

“People on the board said it’s not proper for us to have Facebook because girls might be talking to boys on Facebook or they might be putting up immodest pictures.”

It is very easy, of course to circumvent any Facebook ban. Pseudonyms make it almost impossible to prevent someone from opening a Facebook account that would be subject to monitoring if it were known to and tolerated by school authorities. The internet has changed the landscape in which personal behavior occurs. Through secret e mail accounts and secret social media accounts, it is now possible to converse, arrange meetings and to project a persona that is totally at variance with whatever community standards one might publicly espouse. If someone is not educated or motivated to care about the values being promoted in school, it is easier than ever to engage in immodest behavior.

The best solution in the age of the internet is to have a friend looking over your shoulder, someone who might have the password to your Facebook or other social media venues and who would express their disapproval if they found immodesty there. Getting a student to agree with and to cooperate with such an approach is already a critical step in the right direction.

It is good that Beth Rivkah recognises the dangers presented by social media. Despite this, a different approach to this very real problem is probably in order.The latest ban on Facebook has probably already been circumvented by students who have spent their entire lives in a state of computer literacy. Hopefully, in a generation in which community disapproval is so easily circumvented, people will find deeper and more enduring reasons for doing the right thing.

Algemeiner article

Computers get smaller, as does the world

Much has been said about Beth Rivkah, and it banning of Facebook use by its students.What is puzzling about the attention received by Beth Rivkah is that many schools have far harsher ban, some completely forbidding internet use entirely. For a school to recognise the need to shape its student’s relationship with modern technology and communications is not hard to understand.

My disagreement with Beth Rivkah is not because I question their right to set limits for their student. My disagreement is tactical. It is very easy to set up a cyber “speakeasy” on the internet with unmonitored communication and fraternisation going on. It would probably be better for school to allow yet monitor the activities of their students, to have Facebook pages that could be visited by the principal or bythe teachers.

The dispute I do have is the idea of having fines, even if the fines are money that would be returned later. A fine of a hundred dollars would weigh heavily on some students and barely register as a blip for other students. It would be far better to have public service sentences for students who violate school rules. Cleaning bathrooms, picking up trash on Kingston Avenue or delivering charity packages could all be part of such a list of consequences.

Any thinking person should think long and hard about the effect the internet is having on our lives. Beth Rivkah should be commended for addressing this question, even if they have made tactical blunders in doing so.

Huff Post article

An explosive sex-crime case in Brooklyn that centered on allegations that a group of men had abused a Crown Heights woman since the age of 13 in various ways that also included gang rape and prostitution woman from Crown Heights ended today as a judge granted the prosecutors’ request to dismiss the indictment against four defendants. The dismissal was blasted by the victim’s family, as well as advocates against sexual trafficking. Following is a speech given by her father, in which he blasted the decision in terms that reflected very poorly on the DA, as well as the New York City Police Department.

STATEMENT BY THE VICTIM’S FATHER

June 28th of last year, the indictment of four individuals who had brutalized and
prostituted my daughter since the age of 13 was announced with great fanfare at
a press conference by the Brooklyn District Attorney. For me, her father, her
mother, and the other members of our family, this represented the end of a long
nightmare. We hoped that this case would shed light upon the legal and
psychological issues that accompany this devastating crime. Today, the District
Attorney has chosen to discontinue this effort legal battle. It is a decision that
was made against our wishes and against our will.

We have maintained our silence at the request of the District Attorney, even as the
defense in this case maintained a feverish battle in the court of public opinion. We were
told repeatedly by the DA to maintain our silence, not to divulge facts that could be
useful to the defense. We were told that our chance to reply would come in court. This
is a promise that was not kept.

With our promise of silence now null and void, we now wish to set the record straight
with facts that were omitted from press accounts of this case.

First, I became aware of the possibility of the prosecution of my daughter’s case in May
of last year, almost six weeks before the indictments of Jamali and Jawara Brockett,
Damien Crooks and Darrell Dula. During that time, my daughter courageously shared
the details of her mental health history, as well as the extent of her “traumatic bonding”
with her traffickers, in which she felt fondness and affection that increased in direct
proportion to the extent that she was brutalized. All of these facts she was eager to
explain in a court of law. Repeatedly, she and I asked people in the DA’s office if these
facts–facts that could easily be twisted and manipulated by defense attorneys–would
stand in the way of their prosecuting the case. Repeatedly, we were assured that the
case would go forward, that my daughter was no more to be blamed for returning to
abuse than an abused wife or girlfriend.

The press, hand fed a selective menu of leaks by the defense, presented my daughter
in the most damaging light possible. Even when she attempted to learn self defense, a
logical, therapeutic step for someone who had been gang raped at age 13, it was
splashed in the headlines in a sensationalistic and negative way. What the press never
focused on or even acknowledged was that every single piece of information they
brought to light came from voluminous evidence turned over by my daughter. Presented
in context and explained by experts in sex trafficking and domestic violence, the
evidence should have been more than sufficient to convict my daughters’ traffickers. It
also would have enlightened the public on how to protect their children, as well as to
expose how traffickers target their victims, “turn them out,” put them on the street, and
profit from their sale.

One of the most damning pieces of evidence cited against my daughter was a
supposed recantation which she had signed. A copy of the so called recantation shows
that it was defaced, and that the words “not true” were crossed out from a statement

composed by the detective that was meant to be an admission by my daughter that she
had made false allegations. The fact that my daughter purposely crossed out “not true”
from such a statement should have invalidated the “recantation.” The District Attorney
could easily have argued this point, but chose to walk away from this legal battle.

The statement was composed by the detective and written on a form designed by the
NYPD to streamline recantations of sex crime allegations. An additional irregularity
never made public is that the signature was extracted from my daughter when she
was at a hospital, receiving medication intravenously. In this weakened state, she was
told by the man who goes by the official title of detective that she could be arrested
for prostitution if she did not recant. What is also not mentioned is that this individual,
who was on duty wearing an NYPD badge, cursed at her as he left the room with her
coerced recantation.

Sadly enough, this incident was only one of many in which my daughter was rebuffed
by police when she reached out to law enforcement authorities to obtain protection
from the abuse to which she was being subjected. Several of these attempts to obtain
protection from the police came when she was well under age and therefore legally
unable to consent to sex. Back when my daughter was only 14, at a meeting arranged
by Crown Heights Shmira, a neighborhood watch organization, my son and I met
with Lieutenant Cantwell and other police officers from the 71st Precinct and voiced
our concerns that my daughter was being forced into sex by the Brockett brothers.
Despite our reports of serious criminal activity–the repeated rape of a minor–there was
absolutely no follow up by Lieutenant Cantwell or any of the other officers from the 71st
Precinct who were present at the meeting. In nine years of dealing with the NYPD, I can
truly say that a stolen car merits more attention than a stolen childhood in many parts
of New York City. The attitude of the NYPD that we experienced towards underage
trafficking victims was one of sneering indifference, a response that served only to cover
the backs of perpetrators who turn out and prostitute underage girls.

As a result our government’s failure to protect her, my daughter spent years in in-patient
treatment. She now feels overwhelming sadness about the time she spent away from
family, and about the fact that a locked ward was the only place that she could be free
of sexual enslavement.

It should be self evident that a young woman who has been subjected to years of
physical and sexual abuse would be in need of serious psychiatric intervention.
Tragically, what the defense has shown, and what the District Attorney has affirmed, is
that a “history of mental illness” is a scarlet letter that in all too many cases deprives its
wearers of any legal recourse against those who victimize them.

“Traumatic bonding” is increasingly understood by the legal system in many
jurisdictions outside Brooklyn. Unfortunately, Brooklyn remains among the jurisdictions
in which traumatic bonding is cited by defenders of traffickers in cases where physical
violence and threats are used to keep someone in an abusive relationship that involves
prostitution. Our family has the misfortune of living under the jurisdiction of the Brooklyn
District Attorney, who regards the psychological confusion and fear my daughter

experienced during her enslavement as proof that she sought out, enjoyed, and
deserved her victimization. Brooklyn, a borough in which victims of sex trafficking are
numerous, has sent through my daughter a chilling signal to other victims of trafficking
who remain enslaved. One legal expert told me that understanding of forced prostitution
is today where the understanding of spousal abuse was 30 years ago.

It saddens me and my family that we had to leave our beloved community, one in
which people of different racial, ethnic, and religious groups lived side by side and
learned to respect our differences and cherish our commonalities, especially our desire
to nurture our children. We leave it with a deep sense of empathy for other families that
struggle and yearn to reclaim their children from “the street life.” Even today, in this hour
of defeat, we remain committed more than ever to bringing about the day when law
enforcement will treat forcing a child into prostitution with the same horror felt by the
average citizen. I personally feel conscripted to fighting this tragic form of human
suffering as my life’s mission.

We had hoped that Brooklyn would be the place in which a stand would be made
against turning a child or a young woman into a dehumanized sexual commodity. This
was unfortunately not the case. Despite my daughter’s total cooperation, the Brooklyn
District Attorney has surrendered against our will and without our consent. We have no
doubt that a day will come when a victim of sex trafficking will fight and win in a battle in
court. We have no doubt that precinct by precinct, city by city, and state by state, police
and the courts will reflect and act upon the natural indignation citizens feel about this
heinous crime.

In 1857, the infamous Dred Scott decision affirmed the legality of slavery. In 1865,
Juneteenth became a celebration of the freedom Dred Scott never lived to see. Despite
today’s surrender in Brooklyn, the fight against forced prostitution goes on. I am
saddened as a father and as a human being that this decision to drop charges was
made. As a Brooklynite, I am ashamed as well.

Women are half of the human race. When women are oppressed by gender violence
and inequality, men are diminished as well. Until my dying day, the marketing of human
beings as sexual chattel will remain my cause. The dignity given us by G-d is not ours
to diminish or to deny others. This struggle will go on. I thank the many people who
behind the scenes have assisted our family in coping with this crisis and who have
helped my daughter reclaim her freedom and dignity. G-d bless you all and G-d save
our country.

New York Times article

The recent guilty verdict for Nehemia Weberman is good news for victims of sexual abuse in Brooklyn and elsewhere. In Williamsburg, enough chassidim decided to overcome the embarrassment of cooperating (or at least not impeding) the prosecution of Nehemiah Weberman, who stands convicted of sexually abusing a girl he was supposed to be counseling over a three year period. The mother of the victim appeared on television (see clip below) thereby sending the clear message that the shame of sexual abuse should fall on perpetrators and not on victims.

The anonymous victim in this case should be commended for enduring three days on the witness stand to pay back her abuser for three long years of abuse. Hopefully, the message sent in this case that chassidic communities will turn over child abusers will send a clear message that abusers can not hide from prosecution.

I am pointedly omitting any thanks to Charles D. Hynes, who in this instance, upheld his oath of office and did the right thing by prosecuting Weberman. Back in June of this year, there was a widely publicised case in which a Jewish girl had been forced into prostitution by local thugs. It took years of attempts at therapy before the whole case came out. The girl, who lived in but since left Crown Heights, was mocked by police who considered her to be riff raff who was unworthy of assistance. The girl was strong armed by a detective with threats of prosecution for prostitution if she pressed rape charges against one of the perps.

The victim in the Crown Heights case provided voluminous corroborating evidence, which the Hynes refused to investigate. After a multitude of stories in the press which repeatedly emphasised “orthodox Jewish girl and black suspects”, the case was dropped, in part because of “traumatic bonding” that is common among prostitutes and abused wives. The victim in the Crown Heights case was eager and willing to testify, just like the Williamsburg victim. But Hynes, who has repeatedly stated his personal empathy with abused wives and girlfriends, has decided that the political costs of extending his sympathy to former prostitutes was simply too high. Although Hynes is fond of citing insensitivity to his mother by the criminal justice system when he was a child, living in a home in which his mother was beaten by his father, Hynes showed the same insensitivity to the Crown Heights victim as was shown to his mother over half a century ago.

The same indifference that  was shown to abused wives back when Hynes was a child was shown with far greater vehemence to the Crown Heights victim by the police in the 71st Precinct. Part of what would have come out during a trial would have been the cruel indifference of the police and their refusal to protect her when she was well under age, and the contrasting friendliness to her tormentors. Perhaps Hynes needs favours from the cops, and does not want to disrupt a working relationship with them to protect a girl attempting to flee prostitution. The father of the victim outlined ample reasons to legally invalidate his daughter’s “recantation” which was browbeaten out of her by a hostile detective in a statement he gave to the press after the case was droped.

There is no doubt that Brooklyn is a safe haven for pimps in the Brooklyn of Charles D Hynes. Although Hynes feels a personal empathy to abused wives and girlfriends, girls escaping prostitution will find it hard to gain a sympathetic hearing from him.

Hynes is fond of standing at press conferences, pointing his finger at the camera and addressing criminals with tough words. By his inaction, and bowing out of a tough battle, Hynes has told pimps as follows.

“If you want to turn girls out in my borough, just make sure you crush their spirit, and saddle them with mental health issues for defense attorneys to pounce on. Make sure you keep them enslaved until the magic age of 17, which is the age of consent in New York. This will make it much harder to prosecute you. If a girl is being abused, it is her fault. She should have the common sense to walk out.”

Now it’s my turn to address Charles Hynes.’

“Mr Hynes, I am deeply touched by your compassion for beaten wives, and the cruel treatment they received from law enforcement. I know the family of the Crown Heights girl who was turned out in your borough  and on your watch. She has sat in your offices and seen the picture of your dear mother, who so inspired you to take up the cause of abused wives. She knows how your mother felt. Because that is how you treated her.”

On the bright side, the Crown Heights victim is getting on with her life, living with the bitter knowledge that she was denied a day in court that she had vigorously sought. To her, and to her family, Hynes is an accomplice, a man who enforced the law once, and ignored it another time.

Hynes may well parlay the photo ops from the Weberman conviction into another term as Brooklyn DA. At 77 years of age, he has stated his eagerness to face the judgement of Brooklyn voters. Unfortunately, the Crown Heights victim knows all too well that G-d’s honest truth is all too often denied at polls and in the courts of law. For the family of the Crown Heights victim of forced prostitution, every smile on the face of DA Hynes is a test of their faith in the Almighty.It is a burden they continue to bear with stubborn faith.

Crown Height’s father’s statement

The “knockout game” has come to Crown Heights, except it has been nicknamed “Knock out the Jew”. Eight attacks in Crown Heights have been counted in which nothing was stolen from the victim, who in each case was punched for no apparent reason.

In other parts of the country, “polar bear hunting” and “the knockout game” involve unprovoked attacks on white people that are motivated by anti white bias.

Whether the attacks are a subset of anti white bias or whether they are anti-Jewish attacks, yet again the issue comes up of whether hate crime laws will apply to black perpetrators as well as whites who attack blacks. So far, the major media outlets prefer to ignore anti white bias, which itself aggravates racial tensions.

What is most disturbing about the CBS News article about the Crown Heights attacks. One commenter named Tizok wrote as follows.

“African-American teens”

This “knockout” game has been going on for 10 years now. Basically,
African-American teens try to knock out a random white person (male or even female) with one punch. The articles always say they’re “random” attacks by “teens” or “youths”. Yet when Jews finally get targeted it becomes a”hate crime” committed by “African-American teens”. The race of the perpetrator is even mentioned in the article! Why do only Jews get the special
treatment?

Despite the edge of hostility towards Jews in Tizor’s comment, the fact does remain that most mainstream media articles will downplay attacks on whites and focus a great deal on anti black bias.

Since orthodox Jews and blacks are both minorities, it makes mentioning the racial angle slightly more “politically correct”. This bias creates more hostility towards Jews among whites, and emboldens black racists.

Some of the comments by Jew haters prove the point, sich as Nutzi Pelosi, who writes “Finally Obamas children doing something constructive ! Lets get the little tikes down to play with Bill Mahr, John Stewart, Rachel Maddow, and the rest of the far left Yiddish clowns who control media and entertainment in this nation.

Then there is JohnJohn who writes “Everyone should go to Wall St. and play “Knock out the Zionist Banksters”!!!”

JimStretch writes “because they really do control the media. like the failure of homobamacrash and the lies of homobama finally becoming obvious to the dumbest libtard, subversion by the perfidious communist jew is now becoming obvious to even the most fearful (of being labeled anti-semite) white christian. remember the Holodomor and the jewish communists who murdered millions.”

Bias attacks should be equally wrong, no matter what the race or ethnicity might be of the perpetrator. The journalistic dishonesty, bias and outright censorship that characterise the coverage of hate crimes in America today exacerbates the problem instead of alleviating it. This could easily lead to an escalation of violence.

Since more violence means more news stories, maybe the liberal news outlets are just trying to boost their sagging sales by stoking the flames of racial resentment on all sides. Hey, times are tough. I guess these news reporters have t make a living somehow.

CBS News article

Laurie Cumbo is set to take office as City Council Representative for an area that includes Crown Heights. Already, she has made a statement that could easily be construed as condoning the attacks as a response to perceived injustices. Ms. Cumbo stated in part as follows.

“Many African-American/Caribbean residents expressed a genuine concern that as the Jewish community continues to grow, they would be pushed out by their Jewish landlords or by Jewish families looking to purchase homes.”

I respect and appreciate the Jewish community’s family values and unity that has led to strong political, economic and cultural gains. While I personally regard this level of tenacity, I also recognize that for others, the accomplishments of the Jewish community triggers feelings of resentment, and a sense that Jewish success is not also their success.”

Understandably, the outrage was quick in coming. The letter drew on classic stereotypes of rich Jews preying on poor blacks. In reality, there are many African-Americans in Crown Heights who are also home owners, who got the money for buying their homes through running businesses or working in a diverse array of fields such as health care, education and civil service.

Conversely, along with struggling blacks in Crown Heights, there are Jews who also occupy lower rungs on the economic ladder. Because the poor and the prosperous live in close proximity, everyone gets a glimpse of how other people live.

A constructive reaction to economic and class envy is to look at how the other guy made his money. If he has a university decal on his rear window, that might be taken as an advertisement for the value of study. If a grandmother comes to babysit for her married working children, this could be seen as an advertisement for families that pool their resources. A Rotary or Kiwanis decal might point to the value of networking and community service.

There is financial and education advice out there that can pay out in increased living standards down the line. Part of educating children is teaching them the value of intelligent observation and emulation.

One thing Ms. Cumbo referred to in her newsletter is that serious and lethal violence takes place within black residential areas that gets almost no attention. Cumbo stated as follows.

 

“As the media has recently focused our attention on the ‘Knock Out Game,’ I am challenged with the reality that a 66-year-old grandfather was shot and killed earlier this week while dropping off money in Fort Greene’s Walt Whitman Houses to help a family pay for Thanksgiving dinner.” 

Ms. Cumbo echoes an opinion voiced by many observers of the Trayvon Martin trial and media circus, that hundreds of blacks were killed by other blacks during the time that the trial dragged on. This shift in focus took place in the mainstream media and went largely unquestioned, both by supporters of George Zimmerman, as well as those who supported Trayvon Martin.

A possible solution to this misdirected focus, which leaves the epidemic of violence within African-American communities unaddressed, would be for activists and political representatives within black communities to speak out, and to put the faces of black crime victims within the public consciousness as much as the face of Trayvon Martin was in the aftermath of his violent death.

In all probability, when blacks attack other blacks, they are driven by the same envy and covetousness that drives knockout attacks. A black professional who is driving a new car and wearing a suit can be as objectified through envy as an orthodox Jew who appears to the prejudiced eye to be an outsider on the urban landscape.

The envy that drives knockout attacks and robberies is a human failing. Clergy and public figures have a duty that comes from their education and public trust to raise the awareness of the public rather than to simply serve as an amplifier for prejudice and incomplete perceptions.

We are all susceptible to envy, and prejudice. It is our duty as citizens and human beings to look at each other and to truly see each other. Seeing involves more than pointing your face and pulling up your eyelids. It involves using your heart and brain to process what you register with your senses. It is this that truly distinguishes us as human.

Laurie Cumbo has an opportunity to be a leader and a shaper of public opinion.She has the opportunity to raise public awareness among a diverse constituency that is often too busy in the daily struggle to truly see each other. Hopefully, she and the community she represents will grow and evolve together, in a direction that will inspire all New Yorkers.

DNA Info article