We must say no to hate violence

New York City is an exciting and wonderful city to live in. New Yorkers are passionate, caring and made up of some of the best characters found anywhere. When riding on the No. 7 to Citi Field to see the Mets or the D or No. 4 to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees, you will see the terrific racial, religious, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation diversity of the city.

Generally, we try to get along. Unfortunately, we have gone through periods where tensions and differences boil over and we need to take stock of how we are getting along. This is one of those moments.

On Oct. 7, Hamas reportedly attacked and killed approximately 1,200 people in Israel, “took more than 240 people captive,” and raped and sexually assaulted numerous Israeli women. The Israeli government responded in an all-out war against Hamas which consists of continuous bombing and ground military action in Gaza. Reportedly “the war has killed more than 28,000 people in Gaza, according to health officials there.”

These actions have created enormous humanitarian consequences for Palestinians in Gaza but also created a spillover effect in New York City.

Demonstrations pro-Israeli as well as pro-Palestinian, calls for ceasefire, the end of Hamas, and a two-state solution have reverberated in the streets of New York and on college campuses in the city. That activity is accepted and encouraged as part of our commitment to the principles and values embodied in the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest.

As often happens, the divisions and tensions cross over from protected actions to unprotected unlawful actions. That crossover warrants a clear rejection of acts of hate violence.

Rocco Parascandola of the Daily News reported that at about 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of Feb. 12 in Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, “[a] man was bashed in the head with a mental bat by a stranger who called him a ‘dirty Jew’ after confronting him ...”

The First Amendment protects an individual who calls another a “dirty Jew,” but once that person uses a metal bat and “bashes” the Jewish person in his head his conduct is no longer protected. It is an assault and battery, a crime, and needs to be prosecuted to the full extent of law.

It also calls for elected officials, community and business leaders, and New Yorkers of all ages to speak out in opposition to acts of hate violence. Yet, that did not happen here. To our knowledge, no media outlet other than the Daily News wrote about this horrific act and no one publicly spoke out to condemn this hateful conduct.

The alleged violator has been arrested and is entitled to his day in court with all due process rights. A follow-up story by The News reported that in October 2023, there were 101 reported hate crimes citywide. In comparison, in October 2022, there were 45. That’s a 124% increase. Significantly of the 101 reported hate crimes 69 of them were antisemitic, according to NYPD data.

Numerous questions/concerns emerge from this month’s assault on the Jewish man and the deafening public silence in response to the conduct. For example, where were the political, business, religious, community leaders? Why were they all publicly silent? Also, where was the media? Why was this story only reported in the Daily News?

Could the silence, nonreporting of the act be attributed to the fact that the alleged violator was reported as a Black man “bashing” a white Jew? Would the reaction have been different if it was a white Jew attacking a Black man?

Finally, where were the New York City and State Human Rights Commissions? Aren’t they mandated to investigate alleged human rights violations? Where have they been since Oct. 7? Have they conducted any town hall/community meetings focusing on opposition to hate crimes?

We call upon the human rights commissions to develop a Say No to Hate campaign immediately, that includes community meetings, TV, radio and print ads and flyers asking all New Yorkers to respect the lives and differences of all residents. The time for them to act is now.

If the commissions do not take on this pressing campaign, then we call upon the civil rights, religious, business, and community leaders to step up, fill the void and go to our neighborhoods and talk, preach, and persuade fellow New Yorkers that we can exist together with respect, understanding and dignity regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, economics, and lifestyle. We can do it. We must.

Siegel is a civil rights lawyer and Meyers is the president of the New York Civil Rights Coalition.