A Jewish man offended by the language used by a candidate for City Council posted flyers near the candidate’s office on Columbus and 105th Street this week.
(We have updated this story after hearing from the man.)
Thomas Lopez-Pierre recently launched a bid for City Council in a district that spans part of the Upper West Side, and Morningside and Washington Heights. His opponent Mark Levine is Jewish. Lopez-Pierre has made a point to target “Jewish landlords” who he says are “at the forefront of ethnic cleansing” against Black and Hispanic tenants in the neighborhood. Lopez-Pierre has previously made other racially charged statements, saying Levine is a “white/Jewish” candidate who wants to “sneak into office like a thief in the night” in 2013.
Lopez-Pierre has denied being anti-Semitic, but has admitted lying about a fundraising campaign.
In response, Upper West Sider Ariel Schachter posted signs near 927 Columbus Avenue. The signs said:
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day
Never again will I be spoken about like that.
Yours Truly,
A Jewish Landlord
There’s a video of Ariel posting the flyers below.
We initially published the article below, before we heard from the person who posted the signs:
Pieces of paper with Jewish stars and strange statements about Jewish landlords showed up on Columbus Avenue around 105th Street this week, apparently in connection with Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The signs said:
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day
Never again will I be spoken about like that.
Yours Truly,
A Jewish Landlord
Holocaust Remembrance Day was on Monday. Tsadik Kaplan, who came across the signs, said they made him furious and he began to rip them down (he left one up and our photographer took a shot of it later too.) The people at the barber shop at 927 Columbus Avenue said they knew nothing about who may have posted them.
It’s not clear who posted them, but the subject of “Jewish landlords” has suddenly become a talking point in a local political race. Thomas Lopez-Pierre recently launched a bid for City Council in a district that spans part of the Upper West Side, and Morningside and Washington Heights. His opponent Mark Levine is Jewish. Lopez-Pierre has made a point to target “Jewish landlords” who he says are “at the forefront of ethnic cleansing” against Black and Hispanic tenants in the neighborhood. Lopez-Pierre has previously made other racially charged statements, saying Levine is a “white/Jewish” candidate who wants to “sneak into office like a thief in the night” in 2013.
We asked Lopez-Pierre if he or anyone on his campaign were behind the flyers. He initially replied that “I have no idea who these landlords are.” After we asked again, he wrote “No!!!”
Levine’s campaign office had no comment.
Wow. Just wow. These are really strange times when being Jewish on the Upper West Side of New York can be used as a political campaign issue.
Agree. I never thought I’d feel persecuted on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. And the hatred of Liberals, who want peace and prosperity for everyone, is staggering to me. Do these haters live here in our neighborhoods? Now that everyone buying on the West Side has to have a hefty portfolio, things sure have changed.
If “hatred for liberals” as you call it exists, no doubt it’s in response to liberal intolerance of anyone who doesn’t think like them. In regard to peace and prosperity, how do you reconcile this with the near constant protests since President Trump was elected. And yes, this conservative lives on the UWS.
I certainly agree that those who scream against “intolerance” and “hate” the most and the loudest are among the most intolerant and hateful themselves. (As evidenced by countless examples, many of which I could cite given the time and the liberty to do so.) But if you re-read the comment you were replying-to carefully, I think you will agree that you apparently misread what LS wrote:
As I understood the comment, LS was calling-out the hypocrisy in the offending statements coming from someone identified as a liberal (such as, presumably, the politician reported on here is).
Of course, if I were to be in a position to edit the above-quoted sentence of LS’s, I would have to at least revise it to read,
“…who say that they want peace and prosperity for everyone…”
Touche, nycityny!
I don’t know what that means.
Lopez-Pierre’s statements sicken me and should sicken all decent people.
I have heard Thomas Lopez-Pierre speak in person at the local democratic club. He sought endorsement, was outrageous! And he didn’t receive even one vote from the club members.
There is absolutely no doubt that he is an anti-Semite and engages in hate speech.
I voted for him
I mean this respectfully (always hard to tell tone on the Internet, so need the disclaimer): Can I ask why you voted for him, Fritz? I’d like to hear the other side on this, because I can’t mentally wrap my head around supporting this person.
whatsupduck: Were you really not aware that there exist more than a few individuals whose own views and sentiments are reflected in the quoted statements?
Or perhaps you were well aware of the existence of such individuals in the world but simply never imagined that any of them resided here on the UWS and/or would post comments to this site?
he promised to get rid of those people
my guess is fritz is provoking.
What people did he promise to get rid of?
Thanks
again, i think we have mr. trump and co. to thank for all this hatred coming out. he has encouraged it by not fighting against it and is seemingly intolerant of politically correct speech.
NEVER AGAIN, is right. we will fight this hatred again and again.
Except, Blacks for Trump, support him. Except, Trump is not a bigot. People who threw Hillary under the bus in their racist rush to vote for a black man, now are all upset that others didn’t vote for her eight years later.
Thomas Lopez-Pierre is a left wing liberal Hillary supporter. So why do you think he is in the Trump camp.
No one said he’s in the Trump camp or is a Trump supporter. But it’s beyond dispute that the election of a bigot to the highest office in the land encourages other bigots to show their true colors.
Says this unbiased liberal, right. I don’t think he’s a bigot
What is beyond dispute DavidS, is that under eight years of Obama, he has divided this country like no other. He invited Sharpton to “advise him”, hundreds of times to the White House, and had the leader of the BLM to the White House many times. Other than dividing the country, he indirectly is responsible for the killing of white and asian AND BLACK police offers by lunatics who were inspired by BLM. Don’t you DARE blame the divide on Trump, that is a re-writing of history.
I dispute that Obama is responsible for that outcome. The outcome is there, it happened during his 8 years (building, of course, on many years prior), but the divisiveness, anger, racism, and general insanity is at least as much a result of the paranoia, propaganda, and general insanity of the Fox News-inspired pandering to those on the other side.
This man self-identifies as a Democrat. I have to hope that the Democratic Party will do the right thing and disown him. He has adopted some of the same language as the Republicans have picked up (using Christianity to aggrandize himself, etc. (look at his website), so maybe he would be more welcome there: But my hope is that the Republic Party would disown him as well.
There are problems with gentrification, but to blame it on people on the basis of religion is just wrong. Just as it is to blame it on race, national origin, etc. Criticize the actions when criticism is due; do not resort to bigotry.
What nonsense, but typical of you liberals blaming everything on President Trump. Anti-semitism rose quickly under the Community Organizer. The fact that some minority groups are the biggest racists against other minority groups is a dirty little secret. And yes there are minorities other than African Americans even though some people think otherwise.
It has now become normal to have this hate spoken out loud.
How sad for all of us.. There are those who will use this to divide us. Let’s not allow it.
Correction: technically these signs say
“Today is Holocasut Remembrence day”
quoting from article:
–saying Levine is a “white/Jewish” candidate who wants to “sneak into office like a thief in the night” in 2013–
So it’s not just because of Trump that this anti-semitic uneducated moron has been saying this since 2013 (and earlier most likely).
Oi vay. Hullo, on behalf of my Jewish bloodline. I remember when I didn’t have to hear so much of : merengue, salsa, rap, hip-hop : musics from some neighbors ; *, certain musics via some Boom-boxes….i.e., which type of “Hispanic, “Black” does Thomas Lopez-Pierre mean ? Is he Haitian ? Mark Levine spoke politely to me….[another story. I remember when one heard mostly, our English language spoken in UWS; decades ago. What @ the expansion of Columbia University in UWS, &, @ 126th St…..? Deport all illegal aliens away from U.S.A., 2017.
It’s spelled OY not oi just OY. Sheesh.
My head hurts
I wish I could believe that those blaming the President for the reported antics were sarcastically trying to illustrate the absurdity of such claims.
I guess these people are unfamiliar with the rich histories of individuals such as Al Sharpton or Louis Farrakhan. Sharpton spoke to standing-ovation at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and has been a regular guest-of-honor of both former President Obama as well as our present Mayor, Bill de Blasio (both Democrats). Farrakhan has been highly honored by the Congressional Black Caucus (a wing of the Democratic Party) who at one point entered into a “covenant” with him. Or perhaps the reflexive Trump attackers have found a way to blame the President for the aforementioned ills as well.
Lopez-Pierre Should be ashamed. His language and his bias are disqualifying. It would appear that he is a Trump and Bannon supporter.
Please, if that A-hole is a Trump or Bannon supporter I’ll eat my yarmulke.
WRONG Pedestrian. He is a Democrat and Hillary supporter.
The most important contribution one can make is to call attention to the first signs or expressions of anti semitism. Be factual
l…be specific..report the incident to the anti-defimation
league…the NY Times etc.
DO NOT BE QUIET…MAKE A NOISE !!!
Let’s all be honest.
There is plenty of hate and ignorance spewed out from both the Left and the Right.
Unfortunately, true. At some point, we have to stop arguing about who is better, and start discussing (hopefully rationally) how to address all the issues that face us, and remember that compromise will be needed on both sides. There will be bitter pills for all of us to swallow, I fear, but we can either face up to that, or keep on with the current craziness.
Whoa EricaC!
Are you suggesting finding common ground, engaging in self-reflection, and calming overheated emotions while having a rational, logical dialogue?
If I weren’t already married I think I would propose to you right now! 🙂