Enough With the Marauding Teenagers!
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our…
A couple of months ago as we were walking East on Greene Avenue between Waverly and Washington we noticed in our peripheral vision someone approaching fast from behind. When we spun around, it was a teenage boy, probably about 15 years old, who had crept up and was hovering inches from the back of our head mocking us provocatively to the clear delight of his jeering friends. Ever risk-averse, we quickly walked out into the middle of the street and starting dialing on our cell phone. With a few shouts, the pack continued down the block. We jogged back to a police car we had noticed parked back on Vanderbilt, told the cops what had happened and went home. The next day we heard that a woman had been mugged half an hour later a few blocks from there by a bunch of teenagers. We’ve heard of several similar instances in the area in recent weeks. And it’s not just Clinton Hill. A post on Brooklynian describes how a trio of teenage girls (19, 17 and 12) mugged five different people in Prospect Heights on Saturday night (and how only one of them decided to press charges) and an email we received yesterday told of a violent mugging of a twenty-something male by a group of boys at around 8:15 Monday night at Dekalb and South Oxford Street in Fort Greene (above). What can the community do to combat this activity? Obviously greater police presence would help, but given the paltry resources the NYPD devotes to this part of town, it’s going to take a lot of vigilance on the part of residents in terms of reporting even small incidents of harassment and pressing charges. And everyone should be aware that a lot of these muggings are happening during daylight hours, often between the end of school and dinner time, so it’s a good idea to minimize iPod and cell phone usage during those times. Please use this comment thread to document other similar incidents that you know about in recent months as well as to suggest ways to address the problem.
Thank you 12:07. No they don’t, which is why they will continue to attract reciprocal attention (karma if you will) from the universe.
That is to say, keep it up and some crazy l’il n***as are gonna jump your ass. You don’t have to take it from me…
287 freaking comments and no food?? Ridiculous! These threads aren’t what they used to be…
MizJenkins…don’t waste your breath on racists. They are not interested in anything that bears any relationship to rational thought.
6:12pm and 6:19pm…could you be anymore ignorant and racist? I bet you two are among the first folks to claim that blacks are playing the so-called “race card” whenever they point out the racist behavior of others. Yes…behavior and words such as yours. So let me get this straight…5 or 6 black kids walking together are a gang? Really…so what do you call 5 or 6 white kids hanging out together?
The bottom lime, if you would get your racist mind out of your ass is that the resources of the 88th precinct are being diverted to the Atlantic Centre Mall and other BS.
Clinton Hill and Fort Greene are among the safest neighborhoods in Brooklyn. Of course crime exists. I am amazed at the stupidity of the people walking around Ft. Green/Clinton Hill. Don’t forget folks…this IS still Brooklyn. Get rid of those damn I-pod headphones and get some plain looking ones. Keep your ass on the OTHER side of the park and for God’s sake, do NOT walk through Ft. Green Park at night. You are making yourself a target. Also, do not EVER engage any of these kids no matter how mad you are. Just keep it moving and get yourself to safety. Engaging in a confrontation is about the dumbest thing you could do.
And I will willingly admit, there are plenty of good, kind and respectful white people who are victims of violence simply by association and senseless racial profiling.
And to them I say, welcome to the struggle.
Respectfully, if all you see when you look at your black neighbors is “uneducated trash” and “ghetto culture” then you have made my point for me.
Why would anyone think they were going to get respect from people who they have historically disrespected, especially when they continue to exude a sense of cultural arrogance about them wherever they go?
Try applying the Golden Rule…
There is beauty and intelligence and potential in these young girls who y’all look at and immediately label “hoodrats” just because they may not have money for a fresh weave. (Hypocrisy?? see, Amy Winehouse; see also, Williamsburg, Brooklyn).
Every culture has its baser elements and I didn’t celebrate or apologize for anybody’s low class behavior. But I wonder why that is immediately all some people want to see when they look at black folks? Are you interested in any other aspect of any black or African culture? Do you actually appreciate or know anything good about it? Do you want to? Do you ever talk about it with your white friends? Or do you really think white people invented everything that’s good and worth congratulating or calling “civilized”?
Flaunting your wealth and your ignorance at the same time will engender resentment.
I think that was my point.
Who wouldn’t fight back?
here’s a clue folks. don’t count on the “police” to help solve this problem. They are there for a riot or a car crash or a more serious crime. when it comes to personal protection, however, you are basically on your own. Now you can take a chance on the good graces of your attacker or you can realize that these problems are basically in your hands to solve. of course it doesn’t help much that this city basically craps all over the 2nd amendment. I would say the best way to protect oneself is to be well aware of the surroundings. if you see a group of teens that look like thugs, they probably are thugs.
It won’t get better until it gets worse. then you’ll get a few vigilante types to bring more law enforcement to bear in the issue.
Here’s what needs to happen. Promote the next community council meeting in the neighborhood with flyers and postings here. Both for the Ft. Greene and the Clinton Hill and other precincts. Ask everybody concerned to turn out. Call the press. Ask repeatedly during the Q+A period what the precinct is going to do to make our streets safe. Don’t worry if it sounds redundant, keep pressing them. Ask everybody concerned about the issue to raise hands at the meeting. And call your city council person. Ask him/her to follow up on these issues as well. Only when the voices are speaking in unison will the police register that there is a problem they must deal with. And as for newcomers/old timers debate. All BS when it comes to crime issues. Poor people are routinely victimized in every city. To pretend that the rich deserved to be crime victims because they might have a choice to live instead in a gated mansion is pathetic.
MizJenkins wins dumbest posts of the year.
The real problem is that the newcomers are wearing flip-flops and listening to Coldplay! The non-ghetto residents should just respect and emulate ghetto culture by cursing every other word, peppering untelligable talk with the n-word, and wearing knee-length Stop-Snitching t-shirts, because, according to MizJenkins, that’s “black culture”.
Um, no, that’s ghetto culture, it isn’t black culture. The hoodrats that do this crap will not lay off if you try and dress or act like an ignorant thug. They don’t like anyone who isn’t like them, regardless of race, and they don’t care if you want to respect or understand them. The low-income blacks of Brooklyn hate them as much as the newcomers.