The response by the far-Left on the multiple attacks against synagogues in Riverdale is different than in the past (when attacks like these from non-white supremacists were ignored.)
This thread by Sasha Parsley Kesler, a member of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, was widely shared:
I am holding the pain & fear in my #Riverdale #Jewish community after 4 synagogues were vandalized in 6 incidents this weekend. Jews have a long history of seeing our synagogues attacked, triggering the memory of deadly violence that has followed across the world.As Jews we feel the profound threat of antisemitic violence. Our community’s fear & pain demand action. Our vision is a NYC free from hate violence, where all communities impacted by bigotry come together & reject approaches that pit us against each other.I am also imaging another way to respond to this violence, one that does not invite further militarized policing of our streets & communities. I am hearing that the local @NYPD50Pct will double its patrols in response to these incident.I understand the gut reaction in white Jewish communities to look to police as our protectors. And we all know that more policing does not make us ALL safer. Riverdale is a diverse community - I do not want the attempts to secure my safety to threaten that of others.I’m dreaming of a world with community-based rapid response, restorative justice & anti-hate education. Where we join our neighbors across NYC who are afraid because who they are makes them a target of hate & violence.Jewish safety & dignity are intertwined with that of all communities. My fellow Jews - here is a moment for us to do something different. To radically reimagine who protects us. Our neighbors protect us. We protect us. Join me?
They are saying that violence like this could be stopped by "community-based rapid response, restorative justice & anti-hate education."
Really?
Let's look at their detailed plan:
Support Restorative Approaches to ViolenceThe following are proactive steps that can be taken to address and prevent hate violence in New York City and State.●• Rapid Incident Response: Finding ways to call attention to, and increase awareness about hate violence in the immediate aftermath of incidents of violence is an important part of hate violence response and prevention. It can be important for impacted and allied communities, as well as city agencies and elected officials to respond with a unified voice against violence. Rapid incident response may include community alerts, town hall meetings, neighborhood safety events, and school-based and neighborhood education across multiple identities.●• Data and Reporting: Data and information about the hate violence occurring in our communities is a critical tool for identifying strategies to end violence. Marginalized communities feel safest reporting incidents to community-based organizations, which can help them to make a safety plan and determine whether or not they would like to report to law enforcement or another city agency. Groups must be funded to do this data collection work. This includes support for training and access to data collection software, as well as support for community-specific hotlines to receive reports. New York State must pass the Hate Crimes Analysis and Review Act (A08070/S06066-B) and both the city and state must create funding for community-based data collection options.●• Community Education: Many incidents of hate violence occur in public spaces and go unchallenged by witnesses. Bystander/upstander intervention training empowers community members to safely ally themselves with individuals targeted victims when an incident of hate or harassment is underway in public.●• Restorative Justice Programs: Much of the current effort at stopping hate violence is focused on criminalizing acts of hate, while the root causes of hate violence remain unaddressed and the violence remains unchecked. Restorative justice (RJ) is a means of giving all who are stake‐ holders in an incident—survivors, people who have done harm, and the communities to which they belong—a voice in how harm can be repaired and future harm prevented. RJ can give survivors more of a voice and provide opportunities for healing while holding those who cause harm accountable for their actions. NYC Against Hate supports the creation of a RJ pilot program focused on incidents of hate violence committed by minors which do not meet the hate crimes standard to provide opportunities for education, accountability, healing and reform
Would any of that have stopped a determined, probably mentally ill man who specifically sought out all the Jewish houses of worship he could find - attacking them at night, with no one around?
Would community education have stopped him?
Would Jews be the least bit safer?
Would "increasing awareness" work?
No. Not in a world when publicity for hate crimes makes them more likely. Just like the Blacks who laughingly attack Hasidim in Brooklyn or Arabs TikToking their attacks on haredim in Israel, they want to be seen and for people to laugh about it!
The Jews in Riverdale are afraid - but the far Left wants them to be the guinea pigs in an experiment on how to protect them using no police, or asking the entire community first before bringing police in.
This is nuts.
I'm not saying that their ideas are all bad. But they should be implemented together with law enforcement, not as an alternative. Police are as interested in education and community involvement as anyone. They want to see crime go down too, despite the slurs against them.
And when we are talking crimes that are motivated by sheer hate, it is mere wishful thinking that education can make a dent in it - and certainly not while we are in a middle of an epidemic of such crimes.
The phrase "roto causes of hate" in this context also sounds suspiciously like there might be some justifications for it. If you asked this antisemite why he is attacking a synagogue, he will probably answer that his landlord or employer is Jewish and he has been wronged, or that a Jew looked at him funny. It is not hard to imagine the facilitators showing sympathy for his antisemitic rants, or even turning and asking the Jews to comment on his supposed victimhood as if it is their fault.
Don't throw Jews under the bus for utopian vision of "restorative justice."
