August 23, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAGE 7
STEPPED IN IT!
Pol defends origins of KKK after comparing it to Black Lives Matter
BY ROSE ADAMS
Southern Brooklyn Assemblyman
William Colton shared
a post on his public Facebook
page calling Black Lives Matter
a “hate group” and equating it
to the Klu Klux Klan — which,
he said, started out as a group of
“well intentioned people” before
becoming a notoriously violent
white supremacist institution,
“I support my Black friends
but not BLM. I support my
white friends but not the KKK.
I don’t support hate groups,”
the Aug. 9 post reads.
When asked about the post,
Colton — who has represented
Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and
Gravesend in the state’s lower
chamber for 23 years — claimed
that he shared the message simply
to “generate discussion.”
Colton also warned that “bad
actors” could take over the Black
Lives Matter movement for social
justice, presenting the risk that it
could become a hateful group like
the Klu Klux Klan — which Colton
said he believes was founded
on idealistic, non-racist ideals.
“I think initially the KKK,
when it was formed, they were
well intentioned people who
felt they were hurt, discriminated
against … but then they
chose to band together to form
a group that preaches hate,”
said Colton of the hate group
founded by Confederate army
offi cers in 1865.
Some commenters supported
Colton’s shared post, but many decried
it as “racist” and “pathetic.”
“You are comparing BLM to
the KKK? Horrible!” wrote Ramon
Guadalupe.
The president of Black Lives
Matter Brooklyn also fi red back at
Colton, calling him a “privileged
bigot” and said the comments justifi
es his removal from offi ce.
“He is part of a platform that
seems to want Black people to
not gain equity and empowerment,”
said Anthony Beckford.
“I condemn William Colton’s
dog whistle tactics and bigotry
and call for his immediate removal
from offi ce.”
Iconic Melody
Lanes bowling
alley sees
little reprieve
BY BEN VERDE
While bowling alleys in the
state got the offi cial go-ahead to
reopen their doors on Aug.14, the
owner of Sunset Park’s iconic Melody
Lanes sees no end to the hard
times, saying his business is “limping
along” amid the pandemic.
“You really can’t consider us
open,” Gary Beshara said.
Right before the pandemic hit
the city, Melody Lanes had completed
a $1.5 million renovation
of the business’ interior, which is
now getting very little use even as
customers are welcomed back —
largely due to stringent social distancing
requirements and customers’
fears of enclosed spaces.
Beshara even says it’s not fi nancially
worthwhile to reopen — but
he’s doing it to help his 30-person
staff, some of whom have worked
at the lane for decades.
“I got a tremendous staff that’s
been with me many years,” Beshara
said. “I’m trying to be good
to my staff, I’m trying to provide a
service to my neighborhood.”
Still, the fi nancial toll is weighing
heavily on the 35-year staple of
Brooklyn business.
During the state-mandated
closure, Beshara had racked up
$110,000 in real estate taxes for the
building at 37th Street and Fifth
Avenue, while coughing up another
$11,000 in electric bills and
thousands more in insurance and
other expenses — all while generating
no revenue.
The one saving grace, Beshara
said, was that he’d already paid off
the value of the building — which
has given a small sliver of life to
the famed 26-lane joint.
“I’m very fortunate that I don’t
have a mortgage,” he said. “If I did
have a mortgage I’d be bankrupt.”
Assemblyman William Colton was wrapped in controversy after sharing a Facebook post equating Black Lives Matter to the KKK. File photo by Elizabeth Graham
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