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.
MizJenkins: What a load of crap. So the norm in the hood is to act like uneducated trash so I have to do the same or learn to deal? No.
That is what created the problems in these areas in the first place. Everyone kept their mouth shut and didn’t try to maintain any sense of control or civility.
Everyone need to learn how to act like a civilized person. I know it is a stretch for some, but they need to try.
They need to conform to the norms that exist outside their little world – which is now ending – and learn to behave.
Believe it or not, others are judging them on the content of their character,, not the color of their skin. Just like MLK always wanted. The unfortunate part is that their character is seriously lacking.
check out what’s happening on the HOTD thread….
uhhhh….
MizJenkins you hit the nail directly on the head. These idiot yups/hipsters (aren’t they just the same sheep in different clothing) are possibly the most idiotic group of individuals I’ve ever had the displeasure of encountering.
Growing up in NYC, we were raised apparently unaware that the rest of the nation is filled with the most vapid, cultureless twerps this side of the planet. Unfortunately, they all chose now to come and populate our once-soulful home. It is truly a tragedy.
– White BK Native
Apparently part I of my post disappeared into the ether…
It went a little something like this:
Class warfare in America = race warfare. Welcome to reality. Why are you surprised that cops don’t come to black neighborhoods?
1. Take the damn earbuds out of your ears and stop stumbling around the ‘hood in the dark.
Also, shout-out to the good neighbors who posted at 10:07 and 10:37 AM.
2. Man up. Skinny jeans and flip flops on dudes might be de rigeur further down Bedford Ave but they get no play in the Stuy. You look like a mark.
3. RESPECT YOUR NEIGHBORS.
This will be the first of many diatribes to come, but there if there is one thing that the newly-rented gentry in Brooklyn really don’t seem to understand it’s how their respect for the cultural norms in their new neighborhoods (or more often lack thereof) impact the way they are perceived and treated by their neighbors.
When non-whites move to predominantly white neighborhoods they are expected to conform (see, “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”). The 5-0 will swoop in right quick if you wear your jeans too low, pump your bass too loud or have more than five black friends “loitering” outside your property in, say, Greenwich, CT.
But here y’all come, raggedy and unshaven on purpose, Coldplay droning at full volume out the windows, PBR cans strewn about the sidewalks as you sit in your $5 lawnchairs looking like nothing so much as the most clueless, entitled and self-congratulating group of people who ever walked the Earth, surveying with pride your newly-colonialized borough.
Thank god you showed up in time with your Vans and your esoteric ice cream to bring culture to the masses!
News flash: Brooklyn – and especially the black neighborhoods of Brooklyn – has a rich history despite all the crime and negativity. Black culture is not a monolith. There are black and brown people of every stripe and persuasion here and THIS IS HOW WE LIVE.
Undoubtedly, diversity means making room for new perspectives and I like fig gelato as much as the next bougie professional, but y’all need to get with the program. Learn something about your community. Get to know your neighbors and adopt some of their customs. Don’t assume you can come in and whitewash the fifth largest city in America without encountering some resistance.
Wake up. There is no “Clinton Hill”. This is Bed-Stuy…Bed-Stuy DO OR DIE! These n***as ain’t goin down without a fight. You want to fight back? No you don’t. You might want to blend in. There’s a reason you look like mark.
Um, it’s always amusing (and a little dissapointing) to see that every time something bad happens in the neighborhood so many folks get hysterical and seem to believe that this is the marker of the neighborhood:
A. Going/Returning to pot (depending on your perspective and likely how long you’ve been in the area)
B. Being worse in whatever negative respect the point of the conversation is
The fact is that kids/teens are a little crazy these days and not just in FG/CH/B-S/PH and at least anecdotally this seems to be happening all over town. A friend’s thirteen year-old son got mugged on his way home from school a couple of weeks ago on the Upper West Side.
I’ve lived in the neighborhood since ’96 and nothing’s ever happened to me, but I’m a big, tall black guy (not that that would matter in the wrong circumstances), but years ago when I lived on Carlton a bunch of kids tried to mug by big, tall white roommate on Willoughby right off of the park (dark, too quiet and nowhere really to escape to), and he just started screaming like a crazy person. For all of you newly-minted tough-guy vigilantes with delusions of fighting off some group of…well anyone…if you can’t run away, acting crazy might be your next best solution. That Bernard Goetz crap is just going to get your assed kicked or worse; and then we’ll have to hear about yet another incident ad-nauseum because some idiot didn’t have the good goddamned sense to give it up, run away or scream like a banshee.
It’s going to be a long, hot summer people, the economy’s tanking…get it together.
Stories like these bring such a warm smile to my face, I cannot even begin to describe.
Every time a yuppie/hippie transplant gets beat up or harassed in Brooklyn, an angel in heaven gets his wings.
You hate this site, but you keep coming back. You are the fucktarded asshat, t’What.
The war is over. You lost. Get out, you ghetto ass punk bitch.
To close out this BS post.. Brownstoner, today my hated for you went up 10 fold! Why you ask? You are a hypocrite and a phony. You clain this Blog is for “the restoration of Brownstones” but, this Blog is dedicated to Class/Race warfare.
The posts lately has been more inflammatory and nasty! Example: 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. A couple of months ago??!! I have to ask you, why today?! Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or I need to get my click count up?
Enough With the Marauding Teenagers! Is this code for something drastic, Brownstoner. I see some Asshats was advocating “Clint Eastwood” tactics. Hey Asshats I have news for you, they carry weapons also. Plus I bet one of you are going to get it if you don’t stop this BS.
No one forced you to move into Asshat Hill! Now you are here just deal with it or get out! That simple!!!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…