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Aug. 26th, 2007
wow, I could not be more displeased
Aug. 26th, 2007 06:51 pmThere are militant Black Israelites holding a rally in my neighborhood. This is probably not the best nomenclature for the folks in question, as there are actually many Black Israelite groups and splinter groups with a fairly broad range of beliefs.
HOWEVER:
These are the folks with the funny costumes (all that white fringe and gold lame!) normally down on Union Square getting into arguments with tourists stupid enough to get into arguments with them. They are sexist, racist and quite frankly, scary as shit. They're about the only people in NYC I'm not willing to fuck with, because they are so beligerant and confrontational and I've had them get up in my face just walking along minding my own business for being a "false Jew." (Kids, I am still waiting for my banking monopoly, thanks).
I'm presumeing they're up here because of the big rallies this weekend agaist gentrification. The neighborhood is tense and splintering and this is a good opportunity for them, especially since there's obviously a lot of race stuff floating around in the ether with the anti-gentrification issue (although this neighborhood has a long, mixed heritage, and most of the people who are well-informed on the issue and leading the rallies know this and reflect this).
Anyway, the good news about my neighborhood is that it's smart and woman-centric (although sadly, this is in part because the men of my zipcode have the highest rates of incarceration in the city). And one of the group's dude's was just totally set upon by a group of women of all backgrounds in the supermarket who were having none of this group's appearance in our neighborhood; also, I think he had rebuked teh cashier helping him for working. Good. Good good good.
But they're handing out flyering and trying to recruit people on a bunch of corners and they are having a rally with lots of police presence on 106th and 2nd, and DO NOT WANT.
I really hope this is a one time event. This is not what the neighborhood needs or wants.
HOWEVER:
These are the folks with the funny costumes (all that white fringe and gold lame!) normally down on Union Square getting into arguments with tourists stupid enough to get into arguments with them. They are sexist, racist and quite frankly, scary as shit. They're about the only people in NYC I'm not willing to fuck with, because they are so beligerant and confrontational and I've had them get up in my face just walking along minding my own business for being a "false Jew." (Kids, I am still waiting for my banking monopoly, thanks).
I'm presumeing they're up here because of the big rallies this weekend agaist gentrification. The neighborhood is tense and splintering and this is a good opportunity for them, especially since there's obviously a lot of race stuff floating around in the ether with the anti-gentrification issue (although this neighborhood has a long, mixed heritage, and most of the people who are well-informed on the issue and leading the rallies know this and reflect this).
Anyway, the good news about my neighborhood is that it's smart and woman-centric (although sadly, this is in part because the men of my zipcode have the highest rates of incarceration in the city). And one of the group's dude's was just totally set upon by a group of women of all backgrounds in the supermarket who were having none of this group's appearance in our neighborhood; also, I think he had rebuked teh cashier helping him for working. Good. Good good good.
But they're handing out flyering and trying to recruit people on a bunch of corners and they are having a rally with lots of police presence on 106th and 2nd, and DO NOT WANT.
I really hope this is a one time event. This is not what the neighborhood needs or wants.