Hatred in Harlem?
News of an alleged hate crime here in Harlem is rattling.
A homicide investigation is underway in the death of 20-year-old Broderick John Hehman – a white, New York University student who was killed just three blocks from where I live. Four teenagers have been arrested in connection to the crime and charged with second-degree murder and robbery.
Reports state that the teens were harassing Hehman outside a fast-food restaurant and chased him into oncoming traffic on 125th Street and Park Avenue, where he was struck by a car and killed. Directly before the incident, witnesses say they heard the group of teens shouting, “Get the white-boy.”
When I first heard about this story, I immediately thought of a previous thread in this blog where someone wrote that "there would be blood on the streets" if more whites continued to come into Harlem.
Even after reading that post and taking in the details of this tragic story, I was stunned by the news; it's incongruous with my perception of the neighborhood.
Is Hehman’s death a case of reverse racism? And if so, now what? Does this alleged hate crime change your view of Harlem?
posted by Rachel Natalie Klein at 12:13 AM
26 Comments:
141, you were right. Now there IS indeed blood on the streets.
Now a caring human is dead.
and kids, full of ignorance, fueled by seeds of hatred, sown by people like you, will rot in Rikers...
...and the racial divide widens even more.
Hate perpetuates hate. Period.
But 141, I'm sorry to say that pushing snowflakes into traffic is not going to stop folks from moving to Harlem, I'm sorry.
141, your neighborhood is going to continue to get better and more livable, no matter how much dont want it to.
Your approach and attitude only gives fuel to those who do want to take your neighborhood from you.
And that's sad.
I think he was an easy mark. There are white people in that area all the time. No one bothers them so it was obviously a fluke. They would have punked anyone who looked like they were intimidated by them. That's what kids do. They were into things they had no business being into and probably wanted to get some extra cash from the guy. I doubt the intention was for him to get hit by a car. They will have to live with that for the rest of their lives. Hopefully it will motivate at least some of them to take a different path in life. It is a sad situation for everyone involved but especially the victim and his family who were already in mourning. Keep them in your prayers. It was the same as the little girl who got shot over the weekend...wrong place at the wrong time. The same thing happened down in the LES last year. Does it matter if it happens in a predominately white area or Harlem? It was criminal menace that had a tragic result.
Fortunately, this “IS NOT” a case of reverse discrimination. This is not even a case of discrimination.
Having been raised in the “Hood”, it is clear this was a crime of opportunity. This poor young man happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The “KIDS” that committed this terrible crime, rather than work to overcome their obstacles, chose to steal from others who are working towards the American Dream. They should be locked away for a few decades and “re-educated”.
I am a 30 yr old black male that recently purchased in Harlem. I am hoping that the area continues to improve so that my quality of life gets better and so that my investment appreciates. I hate to sound like a republican, but quite often, I look out my windows and say to myself, that in order for the neighborhood to continue improving it has to get “lighter”. The fact is we need more individuals with disposable income, that vote, and that demand to be serviced by our local politicians.
Two quick stories. About three weeks ago, I was headed out one Saturday night. I received my tax return check that day and decided to deposit in the ATM on the way out. When I walked into the Washington Mutual on 125th and Park, there was a homeless woman sleeping on the floor, along with garbage thrown all over the floor (imagine if I was a woman).
This Saturday night, my wife went to the Chinese restaurant across the street from our condominium. She called me a few minutes later to tell me that she could not leave because there was a homeless man standing outside the restaurant acting crazy and threatening people.
Both of these events caused me to say to myself, “I am still in Harlem, and we have a long way to go”. I hate to say it, but these events are not nearly as common in areas that are not concentrated with blacks. I hope that Harlem always has a large black population, but I want my neighbors to be hard working people like myself who want to live in a good neighborhood.
As far as I am concerned, the type of individuals who would rob anyone, whether it results in them running into the street and being killed by a car, or it just results in them being robbed and developing a negative view of the neighborhood, should be forced out of Harlem. I do not care where they go. I grew up on section 8, and while I acknowledge that poverty is difficult to overcome, crime is not the way to go.
LOCK THEM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!!
Don Bebe,
Harlem,NY
I just bought a condo in harlem and i was appalled at the death of this young man on 125th street. I have walked that same block regularly over the past couple of months and I can't help thinking how easily I could have been in his shoes. But I have always felt comfortable coming and going and as don bebe was describes, I feel the hood IS becoming "lighter" by the day. I agree that as a new owner in Harlem there are many things that would be simply unacceptable to residents in almost any other hood in NYC. I wonder however if Harlem will ever truly gentrify in the ways other neighbourhoods have in New York? If these sorts of crimes increase it could severly slow the momentum that is currently evident when one walks around Harlem today. Peace and love to John Broderick Hehman and his family.
I have to respectfully disagree.
This is a case of racism.
Was this white boy the only one on the street at that time? I have walked on 125th at 4am. There are a lot of people everywhere. So why was it get the white guy?
The racism is in thinking that white people moving into the neigborhood means higher rent. Or that whites have more money.
I am an actor I made about 10,000 dollars last year. About half of the average income for Harlem.
So why do I get asked for money every other day when I am walking home?
Does white skin mean more money?
Why do people ask me if I am "enjoying Harlem" in a sarcastic tone?
I have been here for 4 years.
I love Harlem but sometimes it is a very frustrating place to live.
A pretty hard up looking fellow on my street asked me for 50 cents for something to eat. I didn't have it but I did have a dollar so I said here take a dollar. I followed him into the deli, which is where I had been heading, and he uses the money I gave him to buy blunts.
My point is, and I am actually trying to put many points into one here.
People are affraid of Harlem losing it's history because of the changes. Isn't Langdton Hughes always going to be from Harlem? Or Malcolm X or Duke Ellington? Are whites coming in and tearing down the Apollo. I know a few whites that helped with the restoration of it actually.
Things need change and be it for better or worse it has to happen. In Vienna the Johann Strauss house, The house of the man that wrote the Blue Danube, is now occupied by a McDonalds on the ground floor.
But it is Still Strauss' house.
If the Dutch had thought the same way the current residents of Harlem felt then there would be no blacks in Harlem, and we would all be wearing wooden shoes and Planting tulips in front of Windmills.
I find it even more disturbing now that more details have come out. When I first heard about it the details were vague and I just sort of dismissed it since it all seemed so uncharacteristic for the neighborhood. I felt there just had to be an explanation behind it. But now that details and videos have come out it is really chilling. Especially since we just bought a condo just a few blocks away from where this tragedy took place. What makes it even scarier is the fact my wife and I were out at the Lenox Lounge that same night and were walking home around that time. Now I don't know what all went on and how much the student's reaction led to his fate but the details and the final outcome are horrible, to say the least.
Since we are now members of the neighborhood I have to believe that this was an anomaly since I have never experienced anything of this nature in Harlem. I mean, bad things do happen all over this city and in places considered much more upscale than East Harlem. Though there may have been racial overtones to what what those punks said I doubt they were out looking for white people... if they were they were sure in the wrong part of town.
I do hope this brings some attention to that area around the 4,5,6/metro north trains. That is a very shady area and I am glad my wife won't be taking that line to work. Part of the reason is all that scaffolding there definitely makes it dark and dismal and attracts many bad elements. It's really a noticeable difference when walking along 125th St into that area East of Madison. I don't know if taking down all that scaffolding is the answer but I think it would be a good start.
I still feel that it's a good place to raise a family but news like this really gives me pause.
John L.
Harlem, NYC
Ask yourself this....had it been a black person either from the neighborhood or visiting from out of town being chased into traffic with cries of "get that Nigger!"instead of it being a "promising white NYU student" what would your perception of this situation be? Would it still be a hate crime? A derogatory term was used...perhaps they were being chased because their color. I might say differently if I knew that white people didn't pass that way daily but it was near the rail station...it was an isolated incident.
No, it is not reverse racism, because that phrase is stupid apologetic. Yes, it is racism, plain and true. "Crime of opportunity"? Come on. As soon as they included the descriptor "white", they clearly revealed how they think and feel. It wasn't a neutral description of the guy, offered to distinguish him from a larger group. It was, without doubt, quite pejorative.
It does not matter what the "kids" where thinking, whether they wanted to "punk the easy mark for so extra cash" or whether this was a "fluke". "That's what kids do"? You "doubt the intention was for him to get hit by a car"? "They will have to live with that for the rest of their lives"? At least these "kids" have their lives, another man does not. "Wrong place at the wrong time"? Bullshit. Shame on you for such a casual attitude that could excuse away this horrible crime. It's exactly attitudes like yours that allow us to be callus and indifferent to all crimes and sufferring, regardless of race. Your attitude is as bad as any racism that wears its true face, not a mask like yours. Say, how do your feel about all the Iraqi's dying and suffering? Wrong place at the wrong time?
And it is not "one isolated incident that does not reflect on the entire community". It is only the recent incident that is high-profile enough to get attention. All types of racism happen in Harlem, and throughout the City everyday. And yes, "we should all expect more incidents like this". They will happen, and continue to happen until something changes throughout this country.
It does reflect a thinking that is pervasive, an indifference that allows it to exist, a stupidity that allows it to propagate, and a quiet hatred that allows it to happen without intervention. I'm glad that the "residents came forward and provided the police with details". But isn't that too late now? Where were the "good people" of Harlem while this was happening? Looking the other way? Walking away? Going inside and closing their doors? Standing around watching and secretly cheering for the "kids"?
Nobody gets involved, that's the true New York way, the true American way, the true Human way. I've seen it time and time again. The worse incident I personally know of is when a white coworker and friend was stabbed to death by "kids" while walking home from the train through a black neighborhood in Yonkers. A walk he had taken for many years as a life-long resident of Yonkers. Neighborhood witnesses who "came forward to give reports to the police" claim that neighborhood residents either stood and watched the "kids" stab my friend or went inside their homes and closed their doors. Pat lay dying on the street and crying for help for over fifteen minutes until someone called the police. He died soon after arriving at the hospital because he lost too much blood laying on the street all that time.
It is not lost on me that the posts touting the virtuous qualities of the neighborhood and the residents are from women. I posted before about personal experiences that lead me to conclude that it greatly matters if you are male or female, white or black.
Come on people, we are all in this boat together. America, New York, Harlem all only exist and improve if we all change our attitudes for the better. Stand up good people, in Harlem and everywhere. Stand up for reason, for peace, for coexistence against those who would want things otherwise for reasons of their hatred, anger, stupidity or whatever wrong feeling or belief they hold.
As an addition to my last post...
Unfortunately, we live in a country where our government has taught us that actions don't necessarily have consequences. That's not ttrue, and that's wrong. I hope these kids learn that all actions, all decisions have consequences. I hope we all learn this lesson as soon as possible. Only when we see the results of our actions, however minor, small or inconsequential we think our actions might be, will we begin to change our actions. Here is one example to learn a lesson from. Please don't ignore this important lesson - it cost a young man his life.
I'm a white male who has lived in East Harlem for 7 years. Recently I was jumped on 116th and Lex. It was very early in the morning so there was not much traffic. Luckily, I was able to get away relatively unscathed. I couldn't help but think "there but for the grace of God go I," when I read about this kid. God bless him.
With regard to racial tension in the neighborhood, everyone has their own perspective and personal anecdotes. Until recently, I have not experienced serious hostility that I would attribute to the color of my skin. Yet, I would agree with the sentiment that as more young white folks move in, the level of animosity (justified or not) may rise.
Not all white folks fit the stereotype of wealthy and greedy. Some of us are just trying to get by in this city like everyone else. What matters is whether someone is hardworking, respects their neighbors and has a stake in the community.
Informal polling of longtime residents will produce conflicting results. But I must say that many friends of mine who grew up here welcome safer streets and certain basic amenities that were absent for decades. In the end of the day I, like many others, am conflicted about the changes taking place. Who knows, maybe I'll be priced out of the neighborhood.
I live pretty close to there, I'm white, and it sucks (the crime, not being white). This was a crime of opportunity, and the kids also exhibited some racism. What no one has mentioned is that the kids were 13, 14, and 15. These are KIDS. If you go to jail at 14, your chances of becoming a successful, well-adjusted person are almost nil.
The situation that arose symptomative of all the fucked up ways that poor people get shafted in this country, in this city. I'm not saying the KIDS are innocent, they're not. But if this had happened in the suburbs, we would want to know where were their parents? What kind of role models did they have? Who taught them that what they did was OK? In the suburbs a 14-year-old kid is a KID. In Harlem, especially if he's black, the press treats him as a violent adult.
As far as racism goes, you can't live in harlem and NOT be racist to some degree. Sure it was a racist crime, in that they targeted a white guy partly because he was white. But more that that is that it was a crime. It was a crime of disrepect for another person's right to exist. In a city where we all live so close to one another, it's too bad.
And you weren't there either cocoa girl. Nor do you know anything about me and my personal experiences that give me the conviction to standby my assertion. "Good People" will standby and watch bad things happen.
What would you have done if you were there? Ask yourself that question. I know what I would have done. And the quickness of the event is not any excuse for inaction.
I have impaired vision in my right eye that I will live with for the rest of my life because I stood-up for an elderly gentleman who was being harassed by a white NYU student. The whole event took about 30 seconds, but I reacted within the first three.
Think whatever you want about me and my assertion. But ask yourself and judge yourself and others on what you would have done.
Where is Al Sharpton when you need him? Why isn't he marching around East Harlem for the rights of all people who could have just as easily been caught in that awful situation?
This is obviously a bias crime. Had those kids allegedly not mentioned the words "Get the white guy" then I would think different. Maybe if those children just said get "that guy" I would simply consider this a crime of opportunity. What a shame!
And the way these kids commited this crime. Allegedly five of them chased this one person. They need to be fed to the lions just for that.
I grieve for the family of this NYU student who was slain for a few dollars and the color of his skin. I also sympathize for the parents of the accused who now have to bear the brunt of this disgusting crime.
We also shouldn't just accept the alibi that these kids were "just kids". A life has been lost. In other countries, 13 and 15 year olds are earning a living. I have no sympathy for those kids, if they truly commited those crimes. I hope they get locked up in the state penn and throw out the keys.
As a minority (I'm not white) in Harlem in my mid 30s who lives six blocks from where that tragedy happened, I've heard some disgusting racial remarks - from African-Americans - about my race/ethnicity. I've tried to turn a deaf ear to these comments and sometimes its hard to ignore.
This isn't the first incident like this to happen in Harlem and, unfortuantely, it certainly won't be the last.
One day these kids are going to encounter a person who just won't run away but encounter someone who is going to come back with a can of whip ass of their own. And when this happens - I don't want Sharpton marching the streets of Harlem for that! - GM
I agree with Anon 10:51AM. This was a crime of opportunity. The witnesses at the scene stated that this group had their sights set on a hispanic man only moment before, but were scared off by a passing police car. I don't think this is endemic of anything to come. Its a tragedy, but its nothing more than delinquents looking for a victim.
God bless the NYPD for getting these murderers.
Another guilty party are the likes of 50 cent and other minstrel rappers glorifying this behavior that these pathetic kids buy into.
Everyone suffers, the families on both sides of this horrible crime and these gangster morons keep making money and selling their lies.
Throw away the key
cocoa girl, you may not have super powers that allow you to read the minds of people, but it reads that you do have something that led you to conclude I was judging and condemning the residents of Harlem. Not so. Yes, I am commenting on what I believe is unfortunately in the nature of all people regardless of race, and you seem to object to that and discount it because it is based on personal experience or "personal issues used as an excuse to form blanket judgments" as you derogatorily state.
What are we if not the sum of our personal experiences. And learning and education are part of those experiences. Are humans inherently good and only learn to be bad, or are we inherently prone to hatred and violence and must learn and grow to be better than that? I don't claim to know the answer, but I do ponder the question constantly and fluctuate between sides. I only know for sure how I was raised, what I have learned and what I have personally experienced. Wholly empirical knowledge is mostly worthless here.
Now, in terms of personal decisions, judgments and consequences I offer the following. In a society and a public forum of that society (the street), these things are not as personal as you might think.
As an example of what I'm trying to convey, let's step out of the charged environment of Harlem for a second, and admittedly into another charge environment, but one that is global and affects all the world's people. Iraq. Do we, you, me and everyone not share any responsibility for what's happening there by virtue of our actions or inactions? Is "not being there" or not being a politician or in the military make it "not my fault". I think we all do share in the responsibility, and I do judge myself on my inaction regarding that issue and I do not have a problem acknowledging that I am not as "good" a human being as I could be because of it.
We all share responsibility for what our society is, no matter how much we would like to deny it. We should all judge ourselves as "good" human-beings based on what we do to improve, or not improve our society - at any level, be it a neighborhood or the world.
my guess is that these kids didnt sit around debating white gentrification of harlem before chasing this guy into traffic. it wasnt racially motivated in the way a klan rally is, but none the less, race at least made them think they coud f* with this kid. they probably percieve him to be "soft" and an easy target, probably becasue he was white, he was young, and maybe even because he was jewish. they think they have a right to taunt the white residents of harlem, as, let's be honest, a lot of people in harlem feel the right to do. i've witnessed it several times. usually by people who arent wishing physical harm, but who are certainly wishing to hurt. i think we black people think it's our little revenge or something. make a while guy feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, and unequal. it's sad. and what happened to this kid was even more sad. stupid. and sad.
It's a shame blacks can't get over their jealousy and disdain for whites. White people come to a not so nice neighborhood (Harlem ain't no West Village!)and try to make it decent and look what happens.
The kid who was struck by a car and killed was basically 'lynched' like the black man in Howard Beach was. A white person being attacked by blacks is nothing new.....
coco girl-i think the person who wrote "It's a shame blacks can't get over their jealousy and disdain for whites" was just trying to inflame people and start stuff...no one in their right mind would actually think/say something like that. it's a clear attempt to rile us up...it's probably svetlana from curbed.
white people are so ignorant to certain things. They've "found" harlem now, what, in the past 5 years... and oh hell no these things shouldnt go on! We've put up with this types of shit for a while. hopefully this will encourage more whites to stay below 110th street. Hey. Shit happens. It's sad to see a life lost. Im sure It wont be the last, the summer is sure to hold a bunch of told and untold muggings of white folks. Dont you know how us blacks get in the summertime? All our hair braiding in the street, and domino playing on lenox. blasting music at all hours of the night drugs and robery.. shit like that. does it scare you? it shouldnt! Welcome to harlem. It is what it is.
"my guess is that these kids didnt sit around debating white gentrification of harlem before chasing this guy into traffic." That's exactly what I said...it really wasn't that deep to those kids. They saw a white guy...he looked like an easy mark, the took advantage of an opportunity. Dude made a bad decision to run in front of a car. It doesn't take a Law & Order episode to figure this one out.
Anon 5:14, please take that nonsense somewhere else. Foolishness!!! Quit instigating personal insults to detract from the issue.
anon at 7:06
i love how a this guy gets killed yet you're the victim. amazing how you've turned it around so that you've become the target of racism on a post about a white guy who ended up dead maybe for the simple reason of being white. let me guess---"up on 141" maybe? i knew you posted familar...
instead of thinkgin about this incident toughtfully like most others on this post, you lash out in anger-must be easier than really thinking about how sad it is that all these young people's lives are destroyed out of this stupid stupid incident.
sad.
let me be the first, and certainly not the last to break this down for you---people get killed all over this city. why on earth would white people stay out of harlem out of this once incident? remeber that shooting last summer down on clinton street? didnt keep the hipsters out of the east village. and it's not gonna keep em out of harlem. you wish this would keep them away, but it wont. you think you're the only one who's had to deal wtih a bad neighborhood, crime, drugs, murder? grow the hell up.
Hey Anon 7:06... I'm down wit you bro! I'm white and I look forward to mugging some black folks. Let us be united in our love for muggings! You know how us white folks are in the summer... polka dancing in the streets... tupperware parties... getting sun tans. See, we're not so different after all!
Peace out. Respect.
What happened was very sad and tragic, but it wasn't like Howard Beach when young Michael Griffin was beaten, called racial slurs and chased to his death. Here the only evidence of race comes from a witness (apparently a black harlem resident) who said that one of the kids said get the white boy. Since when is the descriptor "white" synomnomous with "nig*ger" The white kids in Howard Beach didn't say "get the black fella", they said "nig*ger", a racial slur. The black kids the other nights weren't reported to have said "cracker" or "white trash" or some other anti-white slur. And what's up with the earlier post suggesting anti-semitism too. As a product of the hood, let me assure you that most kids of color don't know the difference between white and jewish, it's all just white!
This was a horrible crime and I'm sure these guilty will face severe punishment, but let's not make this a referendum on Harlem, anymore than the recent stabbing death of the crooked millionaire in Greenwich, CT means that the neighborhood will never recover.
-St. Nick
st nick-
first, i want to clear up the jewish thing (that was my post). i wasnt suggesting at all it was anti-semitism. i just meant that some of the physical characteristics he had may have made him appear a soft target or an easy mark to these kids just looking to rob someone. im jewish, and i know some of my fellow jewish boys dont tend to look "intimidating" if you know what i mean. glasses, short, blah blah blah. by no means was i suggesting they were targeting him for his religion.
i think we can all agree most on this post are just looking to have an open honest conversation. it makes it hard when people are jumping on every single statement that gets written, looking to tear each other down.
and i agree-there are inciendets all the time of people being killed randomly around this city, i dont think what amounts to a robbery gone horribly wrong suddenly makes harlem unlivable. although the news media is certainly doing it's part-i saw a reporter standing in front of one of the new contstruction buildings in harlem declaring "this is what happens when neighborhoods begin to gentrify"...idiots.
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