At Adam Yauch Park, Brooklyn Calls on Trump to Denounce Hate Crimes

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, NY — Brooklyn sent a strong message over the weekend that no one has any business spouting hate speech here and that president-elect Donald Trump has every obligation to denounce it.

Adam Yauch Park in Brooklyn Heights, named after the Beastie Boys member who died of cancer at 47, was overwhelmed with hundreds of people Sunday in a showing of solidarity against the swastikas that were spray painted in the park on Friday along with "Go Trump."

City and state leaders called on the president-elect to denounce the hate crimes and hate speech being carried out in his name.

"If hate is carried out in his name and he says nothing, it becomes his hate," New York Sen. Daniel Squadron said.

Beastie Boy Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz told the crowd that vile hate crimes are on an uptick because Trump has "given our children the message that it's OK to write 'white power' in their high school hallways. That it's OK to attack women and girls, that Latinos and Muslims and Jews are bad people, and that you can electroshock the gay out of someone."

Imam Khalid Latif, a university chaplain at NYU, called on New Yorkers to be vigilant about hate speech occurring around them.

"For us as New Yorkers, 'If you see something, say something' has to mean something different today," he said. "If you see hatred, say something. If you see racism, say something. If you see bigotry, say something."

Squadron's office received a call about the graffiti on Friday. City officials removed the message and are investigating it as a hate crime.

New York City is experiencing an uptick in hate crimes since the election, state leaders have said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office said Sunday the toll-free hotline it launched Nov. 15 for New Yorkers to report incidents of bias and discrimination to the Division of Human Rights had received more than 400 calls since Friday.

Another incident of hate speech in NYC that went viral this weekend was one an Uber driver recorded Thursday morning in Astoria, Queens. A driver shouted at the Uber driver from another lane: "Trump is president, [expletive]! So you can kiss your [expletive] visa goodbye, scumbag. They'll deport you soon. Don't worry, you [expletive] terrorist."

Photo credit: John Santore/Patch