CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — People walking past one Crown Heights storefront are exposed to a window with messages full of hate and anger. These messages cover a broad range of targets, including the government, America, the social welfare provision, and Americans as a whole.
More pictures in the Extended Article.
A Window Full of Hate
CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — People walking past one Crown Heights storefront are exposed to a window with messages full of hate and anger. These messages cover a broad range of targets, including the government, America, the social welfare provision, and Americans as a whole.
More pictures in the Extended Article.
The store, a barbershop near the supermarket on Empire Boulevard, has a number of makeshift signs, some written in black marker and others printed, all hanging in its front window. These signs have been a source of concern by many residents. CrownHeights.info has received numerous emails and phone calls from readers asking us to do something about it.
Apparently the police department has finally decided to take a look in to the matter, and an officer from the 71st Precincts Community Affairs Unit was seen outside the store and filling out some sort of report. According to the officer, repeated requests to the store keeper to remove the inflammatory signs have been ignored.
The messages include, “White hate black people”, “The system is only killing Spanish and Black”, and wishes that “America fall”.
Some people have reported to go in for a haircut, only to have been chased out mid-cut, with wishes that they lose their jobs.
The owner of the barbershop has a mental history. He once walked into a bank and belligerently demanded money, “Cause I have a house”. Repeated attempts by bank employees to explain the process of applying for a loan, was only been met with more belligerence and vocal hostility. The bank was later forced to call the police, who admitted him in to the ‘G’ building at Kings County Hospital.
Sources in the police department said, the report has been kicked up to the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task-force. Who have deemed the messages not a hate crime, since they have no anti-Semitic references, and are protected under the first amendment. Word from the Community Affairs Unit is, the next step would be to contact the landlord, to try and have him step in to bring about the removal of the signs.
Mendy Hecht
Must be a new owner. I walked past that shop for several years and never had a problem. He should take his medicine.
bystander
in the last picture “CHILD SUPPORT IS KILLING BLACK MAN IN THE SYSTEM” He is absolutely correct. The fact that the government supports any (black) woman for having babies, then what’s the need of the male partner? They don’t need his support b/c the govt is paying for it, back in the day the husband would work and bring home money for the family, but now they have the tax payers for that.
who cares
That child support sign is actually right.
member of the community
we should start a massive demonstration in front of the store
The Demon Barber of G-building
BS”D
Is this a new owner or are there 2 barbershops on that stretch of Empire? Those signs were not there a couple of years ago and I was once pressed for time and had my hair cut at a shop which could be that one – no incident at all, the barber just did his job and charged me a fair price.
In any case the replacement for G-building will be ready soon and this guy can open a shop there.
uhu
As someone who walks by there a few times a day, all I get from the owner is a wave and a smile.
mendelbomb
It’s a catch 22, because anything anyone does will reinforce the delusion that the whites or the system is out to get them. The guy is basically saying, “everyone hates me” and then goes out into the street picking fights & then when anyone hits back he says “see? I told you everyone hates me!”
Maybe Sharpton could straighten this guy out…
Mental History? You Serious?
Are you sure you didn’t mean ‘a history of mental health problems”? Dude, we all have a mental history – if not, we couldn’t live. Wow.
Lubavitcher
Let the guy live. It’s his first amendment right to display whatever signs he wants to.
Waiting at the G building
Any man who goes in this place and asks this guy for a shave is crazier then he is.
Another “Little Shop of Horrors?”
WHY DO WE LEARN HISTORY
A WISW MAN WANTS ASKED, WHY DO WE LEARN HISTORY? BECAUSE HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. IT WAS ONLY ABOUT 60 YEARS THAT A CRAZY NAMED ADOLPH HITLER ROSE TO POWER AFTER A SEVERE RESESION/DEPRESION. SO FOR ALL YOU JEWS WHO DIDN’T LEARN FROM YOUR OWN HISTORY GO READ SOME BOOKS. AS A COMMUNITY WE MUST GO OUT THERE AND PROTEST UNTILL HE (NOT JUST THE SIGNS)IS REMOVED FROM THERE.
YOSSELE
what would happen if someone(white) posted such signs but:
with a change as:
BLACK MAN HATES WHITE MAN or
OBAMA HATES JEWS
OBAMA HATES WHITE MAN
Milhouse
This article is confused. “Who have deemed the messages not a hate crime, since they have no anti-Semitic references, and are protected under the first amendment.” This implies that if there had been antisemitic references some sort of crime would have been committed, which is nonsense. There is AND CANNOT BE any law against “hate speech”, including antisemitic speech. The first amendment protects our right to say whatever we want, even if it’s offensive to other people. The police were wrong to have even bothered this person, because that has a chilling effect on free expression.
an annoyed neighbor
I live at that corner and many times the owner is singing loud and/or screaming even at hours like 6-7am especially shabbos morning and it is very disturbing
fed up
In response to bystandard, you do realize that we as
Jews almost out number the amount of blacks on welfare their men may be in jail but being in kollel and not supporting a family is just as bad.it is not our right to discuss his mental status either. Jews should be respectful in this country it is not our business to complain about a few signs this is not communist russia and we are not the gestapo! His signs are as much allowed as the yechi signs posted all of Crown Heights, oh and to G block…little shop of horrors is about a dentist and a flower shop, Sweeny Todd is about a barber!
g-d-s right hand man
History
Your suggestion is possible yet maybe the billboard across the street should read g-d loves white people especially white women maybe the sign should read “Senior Citizens don’t like to be told what to do by anyone especially white people”
anonomowus
what in the world is sweeny todd
ah my dear milhouse
Ah my dear Milhouse, what about Chaplinsky and the “fighting words” doctrine? Words like “f- the jews,” etc which are anti-Semitic would then be unprotected by the 1st Amendment and could be regulated by state or local authorities.
MushPee
“Lubavitcher wrote:
Let the guy live. It’s his first amendment right to display whatever signs he wants to.”
There’s also a bill stating words which “by their very nature, involve danger to the public peace and to the security of the state” shall be prohibited!!!
I definitely think that these words pose a danger to public peace, what do you think.
And Koheles says, “what’s crooked, cannot be straightened”
This guy needs a loony-home.
bystander
In response to “fed up” our woman thank g-d do want more than just the paycheck that comes in from the government, they want a family, love and happiness. For the record we may or may not out number them, but if they have not been receiving those checks from the government their relationships will be much different.
agree with fed up
to fed up-THANK YOU!!! these issues have always bothered me. I do walk by the store VERY often and never had a negative experience. He is always friendly and is just expressing his opinions. Should we all be shut out for expressing our feelings and opinions? If so, we would not have such sites as CrownHeights.Info
The Demon Barber of Empire Blvd
BS“D
The number of blacks on welfare and other support in Brooklyn alone is probably at least twice the ENTIRE population of ”haimishe” Jews, from struggling koilel yungeleit to the biggest gvirim, in all five boroughs of NYC.
We seem to be more numerous than we are (kein yirbu) but there really are not very many of us, and welfare dependency in our communities is a drop in the bucket in the general welfare budget.
Taking advantage of Federal programs for a year or two while learning in koilel is not a crime so long as the person is eligible (and feels comfortable doing so) and not hiding assets, investments, parental support etc – those funds will be more than paid back once the couple pays taxes. And the number of permanent koilel families with no support other than entitlement programs is very small – nonexistent in Lubavitch and hardly the majority anywhere else. (Welfare. Medicaid and section 8 fraud is another story and is a chilul Hashem that must be rooted out but again, the numbers are minuscule in the frum world compared to those who have been abusing these programs for generations now).
As for this demon barber, his signs look like nonsensical rants of the type you see on Times Square of old or in Hyde Park in London. The guy has probably blown his brain out with years of drug and/or alcohol abuse besides having an organic mental disorder – but unless he starts stabbing customers with scissors he remains free thanks to insane civil rights laws.
The signs are not even davka anti-Semitic; they are pure insanity. The only thing they can get him on is if he is indeed singing and waking people up or if he is a danger to himself or others. Otherwise, there is no room in G-building for one more harmless meshuggener – we’ll have to wait for S or T or whatever the new laughing academy will be called.
Lubavitcher
To “Ah my dear Millhouse”: “fighting words” is an irrelevant doctrine because it only applies where “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” This guy is simply putting his racism on display and at no time calls for violence. Therefore, these are not fighting words.
To Mushpee: these words do not pose a danger to the public peace within any definition the US Supreme Court has given for limiting the First Amendment. Remember, in this country the Ku Klux Klan is allowed to gather, brandish weapons and speak hate — so long as no one is inciting violence.
The only prohibition that I can think of for what this store is doing is deterring white people from entering his barber shop, which is a “place of public accommodation” under the Civil Rights Act.
Lubavitcher
Correction: a barber shop is NOT a “place of public accommodation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Perhaps it is under NY State law though …
Chaim Gravitser
Its about time Feldman and his father in law Popack put yidden in their properties.
These greedy landlords have for decades taken in the lowest villains in their property.
They own several thousand units in Crown Heights and dont have even ONEJewish tenant.
Shame on them.
Most of the crime are in their buildings.
What a shame to have such people in our midst.
A Broadway show
Sweeney Todd is the tale of a barber who murders wealthy customers by pulling a lever while they are in his barber chair which, unknown to them, is fixed to a revolving trap-door, making them fall backward into the basement, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls as they hit the ground. Just in case they are alive, he goes to the basement and “polishes them off,” meaning he slits their throats with a cut-throat razor.
Milhouse
The “fighting words” doctrine is constitutionally very suspect, and cannot be interpreted so as to give a heckler’s veto, or all our freedoms will be lost. If all it takes is some mad Moslem mullah to get the Mohammed cartoons banned, where are we? There’s nothing about the signs in that store that FORCE anyone to violent action, vehora’ayoh, that they’ve been up for a long time now, and nobody has yet reacted violently. Therefore they are not fighting words, and are protected.
The same answer goes to “MushPee”. These words do not “by their very nature involve danger to the public peace”. They’ve been up for a long time, and nobody has yet been hurt. Any attempt to interpret this more broadly will just make the law unconstitutional. NO LAW can override the first amendment. NONE. Any law that contradicts the first amendment is by definition not a law, and a policeman who tries to enforce it can be personally sued, because he should have known that it was not a law.
student
i live on that block and every morning wen i come bak from school that guy in the store gives me the eyes hes real freaky.. and pretends to scare me
taken down
I just went past and they were taken down
Get Fresh
What are you guys talking about child support has replaced the father??? Child support is garnished wages of the father of the child it has NOTHING to do with tax payers dollars expect for whatever it costs to pay the judge for 20 minutes it takes him to write a court order for the father to pay.
Its embarassing that you guys dont know what your talking about
Bored Law Student
To milhouse and lubavitcher: you guys have misunderstood the “fighting words” doctrine.
Lubavitcher said:
“fighting words” is an irrelevant doctrine because it only applies where “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace.” This guy is simply putting his racism on display and at no time calls for violence. Therefore, these are not fighting words.
Calls to violence have nothing to do with the “fighting words” doctrine. Think about it – you bring the quote from Chaplinsky. In Chaplinsky, the defendant did not call for violence, he simply uttered curses to the town sheriff who was arresting him – things like “you are a racketeer and a fascist.” So it has nothing to do with calling for violence. Instead, like the court said in Chaplinky, it has to do with the fact that “fighting words” inflict injury or incite a breach of peace = i.e. calling someone an “f-er” can cause the guy to lash out and become violent. Such words are unprotected, and had our barber friend used such anti-semitic words, they would have been unprotected by the 1st Amendment.
Milhouse wrote:
The “fighting words” doctrine is constitutionally very suspect, and cannot be interpreted so as to give a heckler’s veto, or all our freedoms will be lost. If all it takes is some mad Moslem mullah to get the Mohammed cartoons banned, where are we? There’s nothing about the signs in that store that FORCE anyone to violent action, vehora’ayoh, that they’ve been up for a long time now, and nobody has yet reacted violently. Therefore they are not fighting words, and are protected.
Again – the “fighting words” doctrine has nothing to do with FORCING people to violent action. In fact, it does not matter at all whether there has been a violent reaction yet or not. The court will evaluate the words based on the reaction of the average person, the individual target of the fighting words notwithstanding. For example, many “fighting words” prosecutions have been brought against people who have insulted police officers on duty with curse words. Now, police officers are trained not to react to that type of thing, yet their hecklers are still convicted under the “fighting words” doctrine. (You should have paid more attention in law school – then you would know the difference between categorical balancing and ad hoc balancing. Oh well.)
As for the heckler’s veto – that is a problem that commentators recognize with the “fighting words” doctrine and similar doctrines make 1st Amendment protection rest on the reactions of the listeners to speech. But the fact of the matter is, these doctrines are enshrined in our 1st Amendment protection – so don’t let the commentary obscure the law.
Bottom line – the article is not entirely wrong – had there been anti-semitic comments, it may not have been protected speech under the “fighting words” doctrine. Ironically, if we Jews would riot more, it might be even easier. But that is not neccessary.
Grounded
I am sure the paranoid barber guy will be pleased to know that he has stirred up some “white people” emotions, and that although his signs have been taken down, they will live in eternal bits and bites on the World Wide Web thanks to Crownheights.info.
stop hate of Jews
Maybe something can be done about the “Israelites” who shout anti-Jewish stuff on Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway on Shabbos?
fortuna major
WHAT GARBAGE IS THIS I DONT CARE WHAT THE GUYS SAYING! WHO GIVES US THE RIGHT TO TELL HIM WHAT TO PUT ON HIS WINDOW?? WHAT HAPPEND TO FREEDOM OF SPEACH AND PRESS!?!!!??!
HES NOT HURTING ANYONE! WHO CARES WHAT IT SAIS. THE FACT THAT HE HAD TO TAKE DOWN HIS SIGHNS SHOWS HOW OUR LITTLE “RIGHTS” ARE DWINDALING.
shliach
i went past this barbers thingybob over chof-beis shevat and there were plenty og hate black/white signs
you crown heights ppl care to much
Bystander
To get fresh,
instead of the mother waiting for the father to come home with his weekly salary, she waits for the check from that state and local govt. who do you think pays for that check.
Kolel
“we as jews”
someone above includes himself in the jews and writes “we as jews” then he goes on to say that “kolel is just as bad” he seems to imply that the institution of kolel does not fit into his understanding of how life should be. He has the right to his opinion but he shouldnt call that the ‘jewish” opinion as jews for all generation supported and believed in the concept of kolel.