Bronx pols denounce 2nd incident of racist graffi ti in Riverdale
BY JASON COHEN
For the second consecutive
weekend, racist graffi ti
was found in a Riverdale playground.
On Tuesday, Bronx elected
offi cials and community leaders
gathered in Riverdale to
address the graffi ti, denounce
bigotry and call for a thorough
investigation. On Feb. 12, families
at Spuyten Duyvil Playground
were greeted by a signifi
cant amount of anti-Black
graffi ti all over playground
equipment, park signs and
other park elements. Then on
Sunday, Feb. 20, more racist
graffi ti was found on a sign for
the Bruce Silverman Athletic
Fields at Seton Park. Antisemitic
graffi ti was also found
on the dumpsters across from
the Riverdale Jewish Center
this past weekend, but it was
quickly removed.
As soon as the graffi ti was
discovered, Councilman Eric
Dinowitz, a Riverdale Progressive,
contacted the city Parks
Department and the NYPD.
The Parks Department removed
the graffi ti that same
day. The police from the 50th
Precinct and the NYPD’s Hate
Crimes Task Force are investigating
the two incidents. The
investigations are ongoing.
“When my son asked me
what the word (N***) meant it
was very diffi cult explaining it
to him,” the councilman said
at the press conference. “To
explain that to him was one of
the more diffi cult decisions I’ve
had as a father.”
According to NYPD stats,
hate crimes are up 75% between
January 2021 and January
2022, with antisemitic incidents
increasing by 275%.
After a man vandalized four
synagogues last year in Riverdale,
Dinowitz said people need
to be educated about other cultures
and taught not to hate.
The councilman plans to create
a coalition made up of rabbis
and community leaders to
work together to address hatred.
“Some people might say it’s
easy to write it off as graffi ti,
but there’s pain in words,” he
said.
State Assemblyman Jeffrey
Dinowitz, a Riverdale Democrat,
said he would like to see
more of a police presence near
parks in Riverdale and will
see if it is feasible to put cameras
there as well. Dinowitz recently
witnessed antisemitism
fi rsthand when a gubernatorial
BRONX TIMES R 22 REPORTER, MAR. 4-10, 2022 BTR
candidate Republican Rob
Astorino held an anti-vax rally
outside of the Assemblyman’s
offi ce in November where a protester
had a sign with a Swastika
and in December, a second
anti-vax rally was held outside
of his home in Riverdale where
protesters held a sign that said,
“No Jab – No Entry? I did Nazi
that coming.”
This continuous spread of
hate sends the wrong message
about Bronxites, and does not
represent who they are, Bronx
Borough President Vanessa
Gibson said. Moreover, to have
this bigotry take place during
Black History Month really
hurts, she added.
“There’s no room for hate
and discrimination in our city
and borough,” said Gibson.
Members of the Muslim and
Jewish community also voiced
their disgust about what took
place. Mehnaz Afridi, director
of the Holocaust, Genocide and
Interfaith Education Center at
Manhattan College, remembered
when former President
Donald Trump implemented a
Muslim ban and her 8-year-old
daughter was terrifi ed that her
mom would be taken from her.
In 2017, Trump issued a ban
on travel to the United States
The racist graffi ti found at Seton Park in Riverdale on Sunday, Feb. 20.
Photo courtesy Councilman Eric Dinowitz Twitter
for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya,
Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
On Jan. 20, 2021, President
Joe Biden issued a proclamation
revoking the Trump
travel bans.
Afridi understands fi rsthand
how painful rhetoric can
be and said no one should ever
take hate speech lightly.
“To have words sprayed
that are anti-Black with the tremendous
work and awareness
that the Black Lives Matter
movement has done we should
be ashamed that we have not
moved on,” she said. “For me
it’s not a lesson about racism,
it’s about us and our actions.”
Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn
of Congregation Tehillah in
Riverdale was born in America,
but her parents fl ed Nazioccupied
Europe during WWII.
It was hate speech like this that
people spewed during the Holocaust,
and it has no place in society
today, she said.
“We need to sit and look at
one another and say this is
wrong,” she said. “It has been
put in me that if we do not
stand together, we will surely
fall alone.”
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