Hate Speech And Propaganda Surge Through New York City: Data

NEW YORK CITY — Hate speech wormed its way into New York City streets, subways, preschools and even the mouths of police officers, according to data charting a disturbing increase in extremism and anti-Semitic behavior nationwide.

There were 320 incidents of extremism and anti-Semitism in New York City last year, an 80 percent uptick from the 254 reported in 2018, according to a new Anti-Defamation League analysis.

New York City accounts for 8 percent of the 4,015 examples of extremist and anti-Semitic incidents reported nationwide in 2019, which is up almost 32 percent from the 3,052 incidents reported in 2018, according to the ADL.

Nearly half of the 2019 incidents recorded occurred in Brooklyn, which saw 138 extremist and anti-Semitic incidents, while Manhattan saw 109, Queens 35, Staten Island 27 and The Bronx 11.

As a comparison, there were 125 incidents Manhattan, 93 Brooklyn incidents, 22 Queens incidents, nine Staten Island incidents and 5 Bronx incidents in 2018, ADL data show.

The map details disturbing reports, such as the vandalism of a subway advertisement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's book, which was defaced with a swastika and the message "Die, Jew B----."

The word "Jews" with an arrow pointing to a picture of feces was found inside a Jewish preschool in Brooklyn.

One driver reported an NYPD traffic cop stopped him in Midtown Manhattan and said, "You stupid Jew, you can't make a right turn."

It also includes the arrest of Anthony Comello, a QAnon conspiracy theory believer accused of murdering Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali because he thought the Gambino crime family leader was a member of the "deep state."

The data did not include the fatal shooting of Brooklynites Leah Minda Ferencz and Moshe Deutsch, who were killed in their kosher store in Jersey City in December.

Two white supremacist groups were responsible for the majority of hateful propaganda dispersed across New York City, data show.

The New Jersey European Heritage Association was responsible for 31 incidents that included passing out propaganda at Wagner College, CUNY and St. John's University campuses and spreading messages such as: "Reject white guilt," "Feminism is cancer," "Stop drag queen story hour" and "Merry white Christmas," data show.

And Patriot Front, designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, was responsible for 34 incidents that included hanging banners on the Brooklyn Museum, ADL reported.

The Patriot Front, formed after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., has been targeting New York City as part of a nationwide campaign, the New York Post reported last month.

This information was released as part of the ADL's efforts to track incidents involving anti-Semitism, white supremacist propaganda, white supremacist events, extremist-police shootouts, terrorist plots and attacks and extremist murders.

Its interactive map relies on information from news coverage, government documents, victim reports, extremist-related sources and the Center on Extremism investigations, the organization said.

The Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism reported 2,713 cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups in 2019, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.

View the map here.

Patch editor Matt Troutman contributed to this report.