The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
This hate-filled NYC homeless man is bane of the neighborhood
A hate-filled vagrant stews under scaffolding on Broadway between West 66th and 67th streets with signs that call for Jews and Chinese to burn in hell.
nypost.com
This hate-filled NYC homeless man is bane of the neighborhood
By
Dean Balsamini
September 25, 2021 4:52pm
Updated
This guy’s a bum — and not because he’s homeless.A hate-filled vagrant stews under scaffolding on Broadway between West 66th and 67th streets with signs that call for Jews and Chinese to burn in hell.
The unidentified agitator — clad in a baseball cap, hoodie, sweats and sneakers — has been camping out at the location since the pandemic began, according to UWS tech exec John Jun, an Asian-American wounded by the spew.
“It’s terrible and it’s terrible that this guy has this untreated mental illness. It’s a double whammy,” Jun, 48, told The Post. He underscored that the city should address the matter, “but unfortunately, I don’t expect much.”
When asked by a neighborhood resident why he made the signs, the vagrant scowled, “If you don’t understand the reason or why I put these signs together, then you are part of the problem.”
Residents said the hateful homeless man has been camping out on Broadway between West 66th and 67th streets since the pandemic began.J.C. Rice for NY PostThe number of hate crimes reported across the Big Apple in 2021 through Sept. 19 has skyrocketed 102 percent from the same period last year, to 400 from 198, NYPD data show.
The 113 Anti-Asian hate crimes this year have skyrocketed 352 percent from 25 last year. Anti-Semitic bias incidents have surged 57 percent in 2021, to 140 from 89.
On the Facebook group Upper West Side Together, members argued over the vagrant’s right to free speech, no matter how twisted his placard taunts.
“It’s terrible and it’s terrible that this guy has this untreated mental illness. It’s a double whammy,” John Jun told The Post.J.C. Rice for NY Post“He’s obviously mentally ill. Ignore the signs, ” one advised. Another countered, “These signs are incitement which leads to nothing good … Bloomberg would’ve had that hateful sign down the day this sick person wrote it.”
Added a third: “I wonder how many people who are saying ‘ignore it’ would change their tune if the words were directed towards them?”