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| Homemade sign for the Solidarity Rally against antisemitism NYC 1/5/2020 |
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| Jeenah Moon Getty Source |
Our goal was to protest recent antisemitic attacks in the New York City and New Jersey area. Attackers have often been African American and attacks involve street violence including punching, thrown objects, spitting, cursing, and vandalism. The Jersey City attacks involved four fatalities. The Monsey attack involved stabbing; one victim may never recover.
On Sunday in Manhattan, temperatures were in the 30s and there was a brisk wind.
Crowd size has been variously estimated. the New York Times estimated "tens of thousands." The Forward estimated 25,000.
The rally was scheduled to begin in Foley Square in lower Manhattan at 11:00. I was at the rally between 10:30 and 2:30. The entire time, I was a dot in a giant crowd, smooshed between thousands of other people. Once we began our walk over the bridge, we moved very, very slowly. That's because of the sheer number of people.
I left the Cadman Plaza rally at 2:30 and attempted to walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was unable to do so. There were still throngs of people walking back toward the Cadman Plaza point. The police announced that the bridge was closed to Manhattan-bound foot traffic. I had to detour to the Manhattan Bridge.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill Deblasio, both US Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand lead the march.
There is a lesson here for Polonia. Hours of hard work went into making this rally happen. Rally organizers worked, planned, and made it happen.
When people unite and work toward a goal, they can make things happen.
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Bieganski the Blog exists to further explore the themes of the book Bieganski the Brute Polak Stereotype, Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture.
These themes include the false and damaging stereotype of Poles as brutes who are uniquely hateful and responsible for atrocity, and this stereotype's use in distorting WW II history and all accounts of atrocity.
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