Borough Park Face-off Aftermath

Though Borough Park is quiet after Tuesday night's fire-and-almost brimstone clash between Hasidim and police over the arrest of an old man who did break the law, tempers are still flaring. Arthur Schick, the 75 year old man whose chatting on a cellphone while driving raised police interest, says the officer who pushed him to the ground said, "This is the way we treat a nigger." Schick also felt that the crowds that protested and set fires behaved badly as well. The police, in turn, defended their actions, though Police Commissioner Kelly did say Chief Esposito admitted to swearing while trying to control the situation, (or, as City Councilman Simcha Felder explained, Esposito said something like "I want heads rolling"..."Get the 'F' Jews out of here. Get the 'F' Jews out of here.") but didn't use racial epithets, instead saying something like, "Get these f---ing people out of here." Oh, and the police say that Schick did yell at the police and instigated others, by saying, "See what they're doing to me!" Well, if you're 75 and being shackled by cops, you probably would cause a fuss.

City Councilman Charles Barron offers that there's a double standard, saying, "If that was in a black community there would have been mass arrests and there would have been mass butt-whipping." Steven Weiss at the Canonist has been wondering if the incident has been called a protest, versus a riot, because the people involved were Jews (for the record, Schick did call it a riot).

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By Jen Chung in News on April 6, 2006 9:06 AM

Comments [rss]

jason

shouldn't we be against discrimination of any kind instead of squabbling about who deserves to be discriminated against, or when discrimination isn't acceptable... we need to stand on principle, not on small minded biggotted bullshit

JESUS CHRIST

why do the jews have their own laws? Did you guys see "a price above Rubies?" It's like a cult.

CAFOS

This is just another event that proves the NYPD do not know how to keep a situation from escalating.

In fact, based my experiences I feel thay actually agrivate situations more than they would have been if the NYPD did not make knee jerk violent responses.

The truth lies in the middle, but I am pretty sure the NYPD did more to cause this situation to escalate, than the old man. No matter what the cops say he "did".

MT

I think rather than an officer saying 'this is how we treat a nigger,' that's what went through Schick's head at the time and now it's moved out of his mouth and into folk lore.

Helen

So let me get this stright...the purportedly hearing-impaired Mr. Schick, who was talking on a cell phone while driving, resisted because he couldn't hear the cops ask for his license and registration, but clearly heard the officer direct the N-word at him, a Jew? Right. Okay.

I'm not a big cop supporter. I think they're often both brutal and racist. But this is the biggest bunch of crap I've heard in a long time. I hope that those involved in the riot...and it was a riot, not a "melee" or "protest"...are arrested and prosecuted.

Dirk

Barron's right about the double standard. If this had taken place in a predominately black for latino neighborhood, the NYPD would have cracked some heads. I'd say the "protesters" got off pretty easy.

timbnyc

If the protesters had been on bicycles they'd all have been arrested and still be in jail. Maybe Critical Mass should do some outreach to the Hasidim and get them on the rides.

King Kong

Yeah, this smells fishy and I'm not talking gefilte fish or lox and bagels.

Of course race factors into how various events are characterized in media - and in people's minds. There is a body of work in sociology devoted to these sorts of topics. Suffice it to say, the idea of an Angry (Violent) Black Man is right up there with the perpetuated ideas. It has roots in Ante-Bellum times and persists today. Check out "Birth of a Nation" for some clues, even though it was created in the 30's (I think.)

JESUS CHRIST

the jews control the media. this is what they do.

Mike

I have to admit that I was disturbed at the initial reports describing the ensuing mess as a protest. It was clearly a riot, but was described as a protest on Fox 5 News and NewsChannel 4. That got under my skin. I did hear it described as a riot this morning and said something to my girlfriend like..."At least they're calling it a riot now.

It does beg the question, does race and social standing influence the naming conventions of these type of events. I am fairly certain that if this took place in Hollis it would have been a riot from the jump.

Additionally, I find it curious that Shick says the officer said "This is the way we treat a nigger." I find that statement hard to swallow. I seems like a very unlikely statement even by police standards. It sounds to me like Schick felt this: "HEY, this is the way they treat NIGGERS...how could they do this to me?'

While I can't say I am a huge supporter of the police, I think Schick tipped his hand here with that statement. I reminds me of that murder case in the early 70's when that army officer killed his wife and siad it was a bunch of hippies that came in and he heard one of them say "Acid is groovy"

Know what I mean???