A slogan popular with white supremacists has been spotted on sidewalks around the neighborhood.
EVG reader Marjorie Ingall has come across three of the stenciled slogans, which read: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children." According to the Anti-Defamation League, these "14 Words" are a reference to the most popular white supremacist slogan in the world.
Ingall said that a community affairs officer from the 9th Precinct was investigating the stencil on Third Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (Ingall also contacted the Southern Poverty Law Center and City Council member Rosie Mendez's office.)
"My kids and I have been covering the graffiti with chalk," Ingall said.
In addition, someone painted a swastika on a wall on Third Street near the Bowery... that has since been covered up...
23 comments:
This stencil (if really placed by white supremacists) comes as no surprise to me. Since Trump has been elected, certain miserable 50 plus year old white men in this neighborhood have felt emboldened to speak out their anger at their own personal failings by openly ranting against imagined conspirators that have 'ruined' this country. Twice I have been at the Odessa diner recently and had to listen to loud older white men rail against the Jewish people. One was an oaf who loudly claimed to be an ex-priest who quit the Catholic Church when he "discovered" that it had been "infiltrated by Jews looking to destroy western civilization". This explained why all the front seats around this psycho and his friend were empty when the rest of the restaurant was full. The waitress (who has been there for years) understood immediately why we requested a different table when one opened up. I had never heard anything like this in the 30 years on living in the neighborhood and relegated it to an abnormal occurrence. Then three weeks ago we were at the Odessa and a new set of miserable older white men sat down in the adjacent booth and proceeded to loudly proclaim the Holocaust as a Jewish invention and that Nazi Germany was the victim of a conspiracy by Winston Churchill and his Jewish friends.
I will talk to Mike, the owner of Odessa, at some point about what his policy regarding loud bigots in his restaurant is, but in the meantime I have no enthusiasm in returning to Odessa and supporting a long time neighborhood business if the staff of this restaurant has no intention to discourage this kind of behavior.
14 words? Bombastic to say the least.
I have 2 words....NEVER AGAIN
Don't get distracted by this shitty graffiti, developers and a complicit city hall our the real enemy of our neighborhood.
this is INFINITELY more important than 'noisey neighbors'.......
@9:39AM. I have seen the same abhorrent behavior by customers in local Diners lately. There is something in the water bringing out this bigoted behavior and it's name is Trumpism. Recall the ugly incident in the Diner on 14th St when the disturbed Mike Pence supporter barricaded the doors and berated two Asian women, one of whom threw a glass of water on him. That guy is still facing charges in court. And then there was the incident in February with those White Supremacists who beat up twin brothers for having an Antifa sticker on ther phone at the Clockwork bar on the LES. And the near riot at NYU when some right wing speaker came to spread theor hatred. Too many incidents, all Trump related.
I don't know about the political leanings of the Odessa Diner owners, but I do know from several other local diners that the owners strongly supported Trump. They are all immigrants who seem to oppose immigration, the minimum wage and Obamacare, which is ironic since all of their employees are minorities and immigrants making minimum wage who would not have healthcare without Obamacare, These owners blame their high costs on the Federal government rather than on their landlords and the City's rent tax, fines and lack of protection for businesses other than landlords. So when these owners hear these racist rants by customers, unfortunately many probably agree with them.
I also will not patronize local businesses that hypocritically tolerate this bigotry from customers while they profit from the labor of minorities and immigrants, and who are immigrants themselves. The era of Trumpism must end.
That is a most dangerous portent - politics by people who cannot spell (or stencil).
There was one of these painted outside my door on 4th between 1st & 2nd over the winter. Our super painted over it, but the paint faded, you can see it there again, although it's faded significantly. I also saw one on a wall on 2nd between The Bowery and 2nd ave. I filed a police report and spoke with detectives from the hate crimes unit after the first incident. I would suggest that someone do the same for these incidents so that there can be a record of the continued use of the stencil and an thorough record of hate crimes in the neighborhood.
Has anyone ever considered that this could be a Democrat (since most of you automatically go to Trump bashing)? This stencil shit is stupid and boring narrative. Do you assume that every "white" male over 50 is a bigot or racist? Lighten up and do something more meaningful than to assume some skin head or white dude did this to rattle your cage. Move on
@9:39am: Rather than expecting the staff to speak up and discourage that type of behavior, you should have placed those same expectations on yourself...but instead you decided to simply request to move to another table.
Unfortunately, this attitude is not confined to older white men. What I find more disturbing is the young generation with these racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic views. These are people who have never seen war, never been drafted, never had to sacrifice loved ones who served, never lost any rights or privileges of their own, yet they claim to be victims.
@12:16 No, I have not considered that this is a Democrat and no I do not assume that every white male over 50 is a racist or bigot but I have noticed a few of them - and I stress only a few - take personal offense whenever white men do anything shitty and people generalize about white men. Well, welcome to every demographic's reality, glad you could finally make it. You really think a Democrat went to all this effort to "bash Trump?" Those of us who oppose Trump's policies have plenty of material to work with, we're not going to risk getting caught spray painting white supremacist slogans on the sidewalk to add to our argument. It's completely unnecessary. It's much simpler to take thousands of screen grabs off Twitter if we need evidence of his white supremacist support. Seriously.
Re: racists in diners
There's definitely been an uptake since the election, but there is also unfortunately a lot of antisemitism in the polish and Ukrainian community. About 6 years ago, I was at the stage eating breakfast and reading the times when an old man sat next to me and proceeded to rant about how the times is a Jewish rag. I pointed to my Jew nose and told him I was gonna knock his teeth out if he continued, and Roman kicked him out. I have no doubt that these butt hurt old men collecting disability feel empowered to spew their bile in public post-election.
@ 2:42, I'm a 55 year old white guy who has lived in NYC and the EV for 30 years and I wonder what you were doing or saying to be called "a slave owner" or "white faggot" even once, let alone more times than you can count. Personally, I've never been called anything remotely similar. And, although racism, sexism or xenophobia is not the sole provence of old white guys, I'd say we certainly provide the world with a standing army of entitled, angry bigots. We think if a black man makes a dollar more we're somehow making a dollar less. So, I'd suggest that the constant harassment your receiving has probably got something to do with the attitude your projecting.
Those of you robotically spewing the anti-white-male-over-50 narrative should be ashamed of yourselves. If you're mature enough to be honest with yourself and step back from that leftist talking point (focus group tested by the DNC and radical left organizations of course) and stop getting your "news" from Stephen Colbert - try compiling a list of societal contributions in technology, art, medicine, etc. made by the demographic you seem to instinctively hate over the course of history and line it up next to those achieved by whatever the latest trendy oppressed group is and compare.
You people are truly sick - ostracizing a particular group of people - assuming they are failures - then assuming their actions real or imagined speak for the entirty of said group...sounds a bit like racism, eh? But they're white - so it's ok - and you validate your coolness. Good job, enjoy paying the interest on those college loans, they've clearly served you so well!
- Harvey, your liberal professor working from home enjoying tenure.
I called the hate crimes unit and they blew me off! They said the graffiti constituted freedom of speech. (Which makes no sense since my local precinct was how I learned about it.)
I welcome anyone who wants to help cover the graffiti with art (my kids and I are not very good artists!) to do so -- you can see it around the nabe but the one near us is on 3rd street across the street from the Hells Angels, next to a hole in the street surrounded by orange sawhorses and caution tape. I like the idea of using art to remind (or convince?) the world that love trumps hate.
People complain about other people and lump them into groups, paint with a broad brush to make a point which ends up being far from a pointed argument. Yes the mainstream press has spent months trying to figure out what the hell happened in November by building graphs, looking at polls, etc... The middle aged white male more specifically blue collar, once a union member became the poster boy for Trump's victory although we know that segment of the population had to have help from other voters to get this con man in the White House. Anyone with a brain should know that you can't judge a book by its cover and a rush to judgment will not end well.
Typical response from white males who think that if a statistic that they are included in means that they are personally being attacked. I have from experienced witness these incidents being perpetrated by older white males and nobody else. Who is running the government right now where social services, health and education is being drastically cut while tax breaks for the rich and increased spending for the military is being pushed? White males. The new mutant Confederacy. My building was recently defaced with a swastika etched into the plaster wall by young white males dressed in expensive faux leather punk clothes. The wall was fine before they entered the hall and ten minutes later the swastika was there. Nobody else passed the area.
And to you other smart white people with your "suggestions" (and yes I can tell you are white), I came to the restaurant to eat and digest a decent meal not cope with mental vomit from pathetic adult children. If an establishment supports this deficient behavior then it should be common knowledge so we can make informed decisions about our patronage.
And I am surprised EV Grieve approved the above racist tract about how we should be beholden to "white" accomplishments.
@4:31pm: Either stand by your convictions or don't...but the staff at the restaurant aren't responsible for doing that for you. You were hungry and that took priority, that's the choice you made (and that's ok).
I would like to contribute an apropos statement by a dead white man who said to other white men (his intended audience): "Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Now thats the 'spirit'. None of that lame poor-me bs. Stopped it quick I bet.
Exactly what is racist about those 14 words?
Well said, olympiasepiriot @10:35am (and Ralph).
@Al Cabal Are you kidding? Or just trolling? You have a Youtube clip on your Google profile page from Cabaret, with a member of Hitler Youth singing a Nazi anthem called "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" in which he does the Nazi salute at the end. I think you know EXACTLY why those 14 words are racist.
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