Monday, August 22, 2011

Teaneck: Blacks vs Jews


Twenty years after the Crown Heights Riots pitted Blacks against Jews in Brooklyn, I feel that Teaneck is about ripe to explode. Let me explain.
When my kids were younger, they played basketball every Sunday at the Rodda Center. It was a league made up of mostly Blacks and Jews, with a sprinkling of Hispanics, Asians and regular white kids. The teams were a mix of all the ethnicities, the coaches were a mix of parents of all ethnicities and everybody played and had fun. Like Teaneck in general, most of the kids were Black or Jewish. There just aren’t that many non-Jewish whites left in town, and there aren’t many Hispanics or Asians.
Sure, the stereotypes played out here exactly as they do in the NCAA and NBA. The black kids were shoot first, springs in their legs, highly athletic. The Jewish kids were slow, calculated and smart with the ball. That’s not a racist comment, it’s just the way it is in basketball.
A few years ago, and I don’t know the reason why, some of the Jewish parents decided this league wasn’t good enough for their kids. They pulled their kids out of the Rodda Center league and formed their own league, named in memory of a deceased township resident.
Teaneck had something that worked. The games and practices were scheduled so they would not conflict with Shabbat, and unlike the town’s two Little League Baseball organizations, Black kids and Jewish kids played together, and there were, to my knowledge, no fights or racist remarks. At least among the kids. I can’t speak for the parents.
But here, as in so many instances in this town, the Jews wanted to be separate. They chose to leave and form their own All-Jewish league.
And it’s not only the parents who separate themselves, the township is also guilty.
Recently I got a brochure for Teaneck’s after-school programs run by the Recreation Department. Looking through the pages, I noticed that any kid who attends a private or day school can’t participate in pretty much any activity offered by the town-funded department. They all begin at early afternoon times when only public school kids are able to make it.
The Recreation Department is funded by the township, with tax dollars that come from the entire town. I understand that the town has to fund the public schools with tax dollars that come from both those who use the schools and those who do not, but why is the Recreation Department catering to only one segment of the population? Why are there no after school activities offered by the Recreation Department that are available to private and day school students, i.e. starting at a later hour?
Why are these issues at the forefront today? Blame “Safe Teaneck.”
The morons who started this “Safe Teaneck” organization when they weren’t satisfied with their day school bus routes are to blame for opening a Pandora’s Box that was best left closed. They used “safety” as an excuse to get their bus stops moved closer to home. Then they moronically decided they would support the continuation of courtesy busing, which has absolutely nothing to do with their gripe, because they realized how racist they were actually being and thought they could make amends somehow. I mean “racist” in the sense that they didn’t want their kids at bus stops together with public school students (read: Black kids), not in the sense that they wanted their school bus stops to be closer to home. Of course, private school busing, which is used by over 2,000 students, is required by law and the $85,000 savings to the town was being made up for by a private grant. The courtesy busing, which is NOT required by law and truly is a waste of money, costs $265,000 and benefits fewer than 500 children. So instead of being truthful and fighting for their own cause, these morons from “Safe Teaneck” made it into a non-existent safety issue and, in my mind, caused the Blacks vs Jews issue to burst onto the scene once again.
So now, when the tax man cometh, let the Orthodox blame themselves for funding unnecessary “courtesy” busing, but let them also blame the town for having a Recreation Department that fails to provide programs for their kids.

9 comments:

Keith Kaplan said...

"The black kids were shoot first, springs in their legs, highly athletic. The Jewish kids were slow, calculated and smart with the ball. That’s not a racist comment, it’s just the way it is in basketball."

I mean “racist” in the sense that they didn’t want their kids at bus stops together with public school students (read: Black kids)


You got one thing right -- YOU mean racist....

The only racism I see is coming straight from you and it's quite disgusting.

I shall be refraining from any other comments on this topic - I just wanted to put that out there.

Anonymous said...

One thing so many jews seem to forget, especially when it comes to their racist views towards African Americans, is that African-American soldiers were there to liberate the enslaved jews during the holocaust. So many orthodox jews are taught to hate black people, and to treat them as if they dont exist. I find it ironic that for a people that were persecuted, like the jews, you would think that they would be the most tolerant of other people...but nothing could be farther from the truth. So many orthodox jews are just plain nasty, rude...and act like the world owes them something. It's digusting, to say the least!

Anonymous said...

***********REVISED**********

One thing so many jews seem to forget, especially when it comes to their racist views towards African Americans, is that African-American soldiers were there to liberate the enslaved jews during the holocaust. They should show black people some gratitude, instead of their nasty attitudes. So many orthodox jews are taught to hate black people, and to treat them as if they dont exist. I find it ironic that for a people that were so persecuted, like the jews, you would think that they would be the most tolerant of other people...but nothing could be farther from the truth. So many orthodox jews are just plain nasty, rude, and prejudice...and act like the world owes them something. They separate themselves from everyone else with their separate schools, programs, etc., and teach their kids to hate. It's makes me want to vomit, to say the least! An absolutely disgusting display of anti-human behavior! Stay that way for all I care.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what your comments regarding the stereotypes that you say "aren't racist", but only the truth in basketball, have to do with your article. Get my drift?

Anonymous said...

I believe that the town of Teaneck is currently under attack by the Orthodox community. I believe that there is a concerted effort to diminish our children's ability to get a good education and to cripple any entity in the town that does not have a Jewish focus.

If paying too much in taxes was the real issue, I believe that the Orthodox would exercise their rights as Americans, and move to a different community, where the taxes were more favorable, and they would not need to look at the other members of the town and pretend that they do not exist.

Does anyone agree or disagree?

Anonymous said...

My husband and I were looking to buy a house in Teaneck but after reading your post we are concerned about the racial issues. We both come from multiracial backgrounds, Irish, English, African-American, Jewish, Korean and Puerto Rican. We would love the idea of living in a community that is African American and Jewish, but not if there is war brewing. What is the likelihood of the Jews picking up and moving to another town and throwing off the balance?

Anonymous said...

There are honestly no racial issues. I don't know what made this man think that the bus stop issue had anything to do with dharing a stop with blacks. It had to do with walking a half hour to a bus stop, often in the opposite direction , to a school 15 minutes away.

Anonymous said...

The jews think "the world owes them something"?
What about the thugs who knuckle drag around town with their pants sagging, "gibs me dat" mentality? Who runed the following cities: Newark, Camden, East Orange, Flint, Oakland, St.Louis?

Anonymous said...

What was the race of the ten teenagers who turned on the two Paramus Police officers this weekend? Of course they're real brave when its 10-2. Then when back-up arrived, they ran like little b---

TNB.