Brooklyn Mom Posts Love Notes Around Her Neighborhood to Counter Messages of Hate

WINDSOR TERRACE, BROOKLYN — A local mom has been leaving love notes around her neighborhood in an effort to combat messages of "intolerance and hate" popping up around the city and the nation since the Nov. 8 election.

Elena Tavarez told Patch that she and her kids have been posting the notes around Windsor Terrace and Kensington.

Here's what they say:

Windsor Terrace/Kensington
LOVES Our
Black•Brown•White•Latino
Muslim•Jewish•Christian
Gay•Female•Refugee•Queer
Asian•Middle Eastern Disabled•Immigrant•Intersex
Mentally Ill•Interfaith•Mixed Race•
Neighbors
These are tough times. Know that there are people
in your community who stand against intolerance
and hate.
There are neighbors who have your back.
We see you. We trust you. We love you.
We will stand by you.

And here's a photo of one of the fliers, posted to a neighborhood tree.

Michael Kadish, another neighbor, spotted one of Tavarez's notes at the intersection of Albemarle Road and Dahill Road. He wrote on Facebook: "I love this neighborhood and my neighbors."

In the month since Donald Trump was elected president, hate crimes in NYC have spiked 35 percent compared to the same time period last year, and graffiti targeting New Yorkers from minority groups has popped up all over the city.

In Kensington in particular, a subway bench inside the Fort Hamilton Parkway subway stop was recently marked with anti-Islamic graffiti, according to a report in the Brooklyn Paper.

The words "F*ck Allah” were spotted scrawled onto the bench Monday, the paper reported. John Schaefer, a spokesman for the neighborhood's representative at City Hall, Brad Lander, said the words had been removed by the city's Department of Transportation by Tuesday afternoon.

Schaefer also said Lander plans to host a community meeting following the incident. (Time and location TBA.)

Elsewhere in Brooklyn, a man verbally assaulted Muslim NYPD Officer Aml El Sokary and her 16-year-old son over the weekend, according to the NYPD. (Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Chief William O'Neill later praised El Sokary publicly for her service.)

And in Manhattan, an 18-year-old woman waiting for a 6 train at the 23rd Street subway station on Nov. 30 said she was harassed by a group of men who tried to rip off her headscarf. Then, on Monday, another Muslim woman wearing a headscarf — an MTA employee, no less — was allegedly pushed down a flight of stairs in Grand Central Station by a man who called her a "terrorist."

"If anybody's thinking in New York City about engaging in this type of behavior, just rest assured that you will be identified and you will be arrested and you will be charged accordingly," NYPD Commissioner O'Neill said Monday.

Lead photo via Elena Tavarez/Facebook