Seven businesses located throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan have been the target of a hate crime. Several Jewish-owned businesses including law firms, a jewelry store and a bakery, as well as the Israeli consulate and both a Harlem Starbucks and the Harlem Business Alliance received a simple but chilling letter last week, the New York Daily News reports.
The letters all began with the image of a giant red, black and white swastika reminiscent of the Nazi flag. Underneath that were just four lines of text.
The first line read "Make America Great Again."
The second line said "Juden Raus," which is a German phrase often used by Nazis meaning "Jews get out." The third line read "Negroes and f*ggots must burn in hell," and the final line proclaimed, "Christian identity is back."
The NYPD has launched an investigation.
“We take hate crimes VERY seriously here,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind wrote on Twitter after being contacted by Weiss Kosher Bakery. Hikind contacted the police, who are currently trying to track down the sender of the hate mail. “We are aware of this and similar letters that have been sent. We are investigating and will not stand for these acts,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
We are aware of this and similar letters that have been sent. We are investigating and will not stand for these acts. https://t.co/DoO2bDQiWQ— Eric Gonzalez (@BrooklynDA) October 3, 2017
“I’m not a chicken. I don’t get scared from a letter, you know?” Paul Freund, who manages a kosher butcher shop that recieved one of the letters, told DNA Info.
“Whoever did it is a silly man,” Freund added, calling the letters "disgusting."
