Let's Talk About the Rushkoffs, Dammit
Since we’re about the only publication in town who hasn’t written about writer Douglas Rushkoff’s Christmas eve mugging outside his Park Slope apartment and subsequent decision to leave (and, along with his wife, to write about leaving) Brooklyn, we might as well throw it out there. His wife now famously wrote that she felt safer…
Since we’re about the only publication in town who hasn’t written about writer Douglas Rushkoff’s Christmas eve mugging outside his Park Slope apartment and subsequent decision to leave (and, along with his wife, to write about leaving) Brooklyn, we might as well throw it out there. His wife now famously wrote that she felt safer in the East Village in the 1980s that she does in Park Slope today, which sounded kind of silly until her hubby clarified that this was only because they knew the drug dealers in the East Village. We got a call from a reporter a couple of days ago asking whether we thought the incident would have a negative effect on real estate prices. In short? No. In long? No, no, no. The Rushkoffs decision to leave was an emotional, albeit understandable, one. Unless the entire city enters a 1970s-like downward spiral, we’re pretty sure Park Slope will be just fine.
Do You Care If the Rushkoffs Leave Brooklyn? [New York Magazine]
On Leaving Brooklyn [Steven Berlin Johnson]
The Rushkoffs’ original blog posts are no longer available online.
The Rushkoffs have said repeatedly that they want to stay in the city, or maybe upstate, not the suburbs, as cultural rich as “today’s” suburbs may be. They are looking for a section that is cheaper with less poor black men because these men are antagonistic towards them unlike the “drug dealers” on the LES of the 80s. They seem like fine people, but I wish they would unpack some of these assumptions that they are making.
Pick up a book 12:21, “Element” was a widely used term during the seventies and eighties to refer to african americans. It’s just as ugly now as it was then.
It’s a city, these things happen. Even in “nice” neighborhoods these things sometimes happen. Unpleasant perhaps, but true. An almost random aspect of city life that has, thank goodness, become quite a bit less common in recent years, which is why this sort of otherwise unremarkable story can become big news.
This guy actually sounds like the suburbs would make him equally uncomfortable though. His major objection seems to be the quietness and low traffic of PS streets in comparison to Manhattan, which is precisely what a lot of people like about the Slope. Seems to me he needs to go back to Manhattan, since nowhere else in the country really has a street life like that. And then stop whining already.
I’d take the ‘test’ proposed except for the Brownsville (and many Bed Stuy sections part) mainly b/c I dont want to be a crime victim. I have no problem standing outside at night in PS with Jewelry (although I shun the ostentatious kind).
You are delusional if you think that the ‘odds’ of being a crime victim in Bed Stuy and Brownsville are the same as in Park Slope. Why is this wrong to say? Why do you resist this inescapable fact so violently – do you think it helps those living in these neighborhoods to deny reality?
anon 12.09. You might by civilized and rational, but you clearly aren’t well read. theres no racist connotation to the word element to refer to criminals (apart from the one you read into it).
Can everyone stop the whole “moving to the burbs in a deadening and cultureless experience” thing? It’s nothing but snobbery to say so.
In many suburbs today, there are more restaurants and services than ever before – I can do all the things there that I do here, you just need to choose the right suburb. And yes, some of them are actually becoming diverse. In fact, the one I grew up in had a nice mix of race and religion.
Also, living anywhere is what you make it. I have friends in the suburbs who visit museums and go to shows in NYC every week. Likewise, I have friends who, when they lived in NYC, never left their apartment save to go to the local bar and pizza joint. Who’s having the better experience according to the “urban only” snobs?
I hope the Rushkoffs enjoy their experience in the suburbs (although I would say that while they probably won’t get mugged in front of their door, I agree with the poster who said that there is certainly crime – burglaries, etc. – nowhere is completely safe). It’s not as bad as you all make it out to be.
“element” is usually used with the modifier “criminal” to refer to those who commit crimes. Google it. Why don’t you get familiar with the usage of it in the English language it before you hysterically accuse people of being racist for using it.
anonymous 9:56 said: “where’s this sort of “element” coming from anyway in Park Slope?…there aren’t any projects in prime slope as far as I know…”
THE ELEMENT? Where in the $#(*& is THIS language coming from ? Where are we, Long Island in the late seventies? THE ELEMENT?
Give me a freaking break.
For your elucidation, The Wyckoff Houses are on Third Ave. between Baltic and Wyckoff. UN – OH – THE ELEMENT IS IN YOUR SCHOOL DISTRICT. BETTER RUN BACK TO MASSAPEQUA.
Get over it.
I am really sorry Rushkoff was mugged, and I sort of sympathize with their reaction, although I don’t think it would be mine.
But insulting members of your community with whitewashed makebelieve “polite” terms instead of just saying “Oh, are there some BLACK PEOPLE IN PARK SLOPE? OMIGOD GRAB YOUR PURSE” is stupid and cowardly.
Face it. You’re a racist and you don’t belong in Brooklyn with civilized rational people.
i think the point is when anyone comes down on high crime neighborhoods because of the criminal elements who often live there, people start shouting “racist”. Its inane. There is no honest discussion because people pull out the “racist” card. No-one wants to live next door to the projects if they have the choice, whether they be “black” or “white” projects. This guy can’t even say that he wants to live in a low-crime neighborhood without being a racist apparently. People’s anti-white racist “he’s a racist” assumptions are just ridiculous.