Crown Heights Sidewalk Swastika Joins 'Wave of Anti-Semitic Vandalism' Across NY

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — An all-white swastika spray-painted onto the sidewalk over the weekend at Brooklyn Avenue and Montgomery Street, in a heavily Orthodox Jewish area of Crown Heights, is one of at least five instances of anti-Semitic vandalism recorded across New York state in the week since Donald Trump was elected president, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish organization that tracks anti-Semitism in the U.S.

“The spate of anti-Semitic vandalism that has struck communities in New York — from upstate New York to the boroughs of New York City is deeply concerning,” Evan Bernstein, director of ADL's New York branch, said in a statement issued Monday.

“The appearance of swastikas on college campuses and public property are searing and breeds fear and fuels anxiety that has risen since the end of the presidential election," Bernstein said.

Among the New York incidents, according to the ADL:

• Nov. 14: This morning, the phrase “No Jews” was spray-painted on a street in front of a home for sale and on the home’s real estate sign on the border of Clarkstown and Ramapo in Rockland County.
• Nov. 13: A swastika was spray-painted onto a street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
• Nov. 13: A large swastika and the words “white power” were discovered spray-painted on a walkway and across a wall in White Plains in Westchester County.
• Nov. 12: Several students at The New School in Manhattan awoke to find swastikas scrawled on their dorm room doors
• Nov. 11: A swastika with the word “Trump” was discovered in the common area of a dorm on the SUNY Geneseo campus in upstate New York.

Ironically, data compiled by DNAinfo shows the only neighborhoods in Brooklyn where the majority of residents voted for Trump on Nov. 8 — including the exact intersection where the swastika was found — are predominantly Orthodox Jewish.

The NYPD released surveillance footage Sunday (embedded below) of the man detectives believe is behind the Crown Heights sidewalk swastika.

The man in the video, wearing a gray sweater and a backpack, drew the swastika around 6 p.m. Saturday in front of a 78-year-old man's home, police said — then fled westbound on Montgomery Street.

Any idea who he might be? Tipsters are asked to call 1-800-577-TIPS, or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA. Tips can also be submitted online or by texting "TIP577" to the number 274637.

While cops hunt for the suspect, an NYC anti-fascism activist has taken matters into his own hands by crossing out the swastika with black spray paint. The activist uploaded a video of the reverse vandalism to Twitter on Sunday afternoon, with the warning: "Nazi scum be afraid."

The recent anti-Semitic vandalism in New York state joins a spate of racist and prejudice remarks and attacks recorded across the U.S. in the days since Trump was elected president. The Southern Poverty Law Center counted more than 200 reports of this nature — headscarves ripped off Muslim women, black and immigrant kids threatened at school, and much more — in the first three days following Election Day. (Got an incident of your own to report? Fill out this form on the SPLC website, and give us a heads up: simone.wilson@patch.com.)

For Jews in particular, Trump's recent appointment of "white nationalist" Steve Bannon, former CEO of the "alt right" Breitbart News website, as chief White House strategist raised a huge red flag.

Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the ADL, called Bannon the ringleader of "a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites" in an official ADL statement. (For more, here's a roundup from America's leading Jewish news wire on Bannon's history of alleged anti-Semitism.)

Anti-Semitic vandalism is nothing new in Crown Heights — tensions between Jewish and black residents have existed in the neighborhood for years, and often boil over into hate-crime territory. But combined with the post-Trump uptick in similar incidents across the state and country, the ADL said Monday, the appearance of a swastika at Brooklyn Avenue and Montgomery Street is "deeply concerning."

In response to the swastika in Crown Heights, the NYC Mayor's Office tweeted Sunday:

"Acts of violence in our beautifully diverse city will not be tolerated. We are all better than this. Report incidents to @NYPDNews via 911."

Lead photo courtesy of Mordechai Lightstone