photo by Dana Glazer
March 6,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, this was shared on Facebook by Ridgewood resident Dana Glazer ; the discovery of this swastika at the intersection of Northern Parkway and Overbrook Road. It has evidently been here a while.
If you think that our village is immune to hatred, think again. Dana asks everyone to “Please be vigilant. Thank you.”
Mayor Susan Traina Knudsen is on top of the situation and prompt removal will occur today.
Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal reminds us of law enforcement efforts to investigate and prosecute bias incidents/crimes, including the need to report such events and the $10K reward offered by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office for information leading to a bias crime conviction.
Let me take a wild guess.
Male
Approximately 14 years old
When was the sidewalk poured? That would probably determine the timing. Looks to be incised in wet cement, not drawn on top.
I certainly agree that this is offensive and should be promptly removed. But to treat this as a crime, let alone a bias crime, seems a bit of an over-reaction. This is around the corner from the high school. Just as the various pentagram drawings you occasionally see don’t mean there is a devil-worshipping cult afoot, a swastika like this one is more probably a reflection of a childish need to express rebellion than an expression of anti-Semitism. Zero tolerance and a strong message as to why it is inappropriate, but I don’t think we need the County Prosecutor involved.
This act of defacement though potentially pregnant with malice clearly did not resonate with local residents since nobody noticed it for so many years. A brat schoolkid with no more knowledge than that it is a provocative symbol most likely happened by some freshly formed cement, grabbed a stick off the ground, idly scribbled the swastika, went home and promptly forgot about it.
“Please be vigilant.” ??
Must be a Buddhist hater (sauwastika points left for fortune) or some teenage cretin who did it backwards. But let the town idiots paint conspiracy theories.
If it has been there for years, and it does look that way, why didn’t anybody report it? Or did they? Whoever did it, it shouldn’t have been allowed to stay there for more than 24 hours.
PESMITH and all you other naysayers, you must be white and non-jewish. That makes it very easy for you to dismiss the presence of suc a hate symbol as nothing to worry about. How the hell dare you call those who are concernced “idiots.” Wow What a racist, self-centered, thoughtless prick you are.
Gee I sure wish Jan Phillips and the civility professionals would weigh in.
Childish expression? Come on. This is racism and it is disgusting. And frightening. And I agree with Dana, we must be vigilant. Haters are out there and they need to be stopped.
Prick? Racist? This is something from some ignorant punk and its repugnant.. It should be investigated and whoever did it should be punished. Its easy to be an asshole like you 905 when you hide in cyberspace. Whatever idiot did it cant even get a hate sign right. A pure loser like yourself.
I hear this was fixed today with photo posted on Facebook. PJ, please post here?
9:52 – That’s right, divert from the real issue by changing the subject. The point is that someone was making is that some people are in a position to feel fear from racist and religious bigotry. It is wrong to dismiss this as unimportant. We should ALL stand up to such signs and threats of hatred. Even if you, pesmith, do not personally feel threatened.
What diversion, nameless 827. I’m glad the mayor took quick action and covered it over. I hope they catch and lock up the cretin that did it. On some sites people are making ideological/ political assumptions based on this act. I think it is the act of some lone local idiot. Similar to what happened at Penn Sta and the loser that called in threats all over the country. Idiot loner losers, not alt right caucasians …
Some idiot lone wolves are deadly
If they can catch the cretin who did it he probably has kids by now. This has been there.