Republicans, You're Not Welcome In New York: ...beware, you delegates of the neofascist junta... Ask me for help and I'll take enormous pleasure in misdirecting you. Go back home. We donÂ’t want you here. Get your circus over with quickly and get the hell out.
by Sandra Nicholas
OpEdNews.com
I work in midtown Manhattan, just a block away from Times Square, right on Broadway. There are definite advantages to working in such an exciting locale but there are also drawbacks. The normal rhythm of this area every day is a constant assault on oneÂ’s senses and patience. In the summer, all this is compounded by the humidity and the tourists.
In the last three years, we New Yorkers have had to endure a terrorist attack, a massive power outage and a plane crash in Queens. It was a year ago this week that the city’s electrical grid suddenly shut down as I was typing away one slow afternoon. On that day, I accompanied a co-worker on a 5-hour walk to Brooklyn in 90 degree heat carrying a heavy bag and wearing warm clothing. True to form to the New York spirit, along the way, with thousands of people on the streets trying to get home, people offered us water and soda, a smile, a laugh and a friendly joke. We told each other stories and compared how long each of us had to walk to get home. When we finally reached Brooklyn Bridge, we were greeted by our borough president standing in the heat with no security protection around him, shouting “Welcome home to Brooklyn!”
Despite all the pressures of working and living in what can be a stressful, un-navigable town, I have always tried to help visitors to this city as much as I can. Whether on the subway or on the street, a restaurant or store, IÂ’ve eagerly given clear directions and other tourist information in 4 languages. IÂ’ve acted as an informal tour guide countless times for visiting family, friends, acquaintances, business executives and their families, and perfect strangers. ItÂ’s true that I sometimes lose patience with tourists who think theyÂ’re walking in a suburban mall and canÂ’t understand that I have only an hour lunch and need to get back to work.
Then there are the ones who stand right in front of the subway turnstile on the platform side as youÂ’re trying to pass through. But I never say a bad word to them or give them the evil eye.
In two weeks, this city will be hosting the Republican National Convention.
For one week this city will look like an armed camp. We’re already seeing the affects with increased police presence on the streets, more street barriers and so on. At the same time, the city’s police officers and firefighters—working without union contracts for months--are threatening strike actions during the convention. My co-workers, friends and I are all trying to gear ourselves up psychologically for what promises to be a week of chaos. Many have decided to just take their vacation during the convention.
My building—which takes up an entire block--will have heavily armed security personnel all around it. Some train and bus lines will be shut down or curtailed. Some subway stops will shut down for the duration. Certain roads will be difficult or impossible to get through. There will be checkpoints galore. There will be protesters and nervous cops and barriers.
All this in an area that is really quite small.
If I could have, I wouldÂ’ve scheduled my vacation for the RNC Hell Week, but I wasnÂ’t able to. IÂ’ll be here, every day. To avoid any subway problems, I plan to get up at 4:30 am every day and stay later than usual at the office.
I will try to grin and bear it. I certainly hope no protesters behave irresponsibly but I know full well that almost any violence that erupts at demonstrations is due to police overreaction and draconian security measures by the authorities. My heart is with the protesters who will come to this city to express their opposition to President Bush and his party---just as it was with the activists in Boston who were penned into a “free speech camp” surrounded by a high concrete barrier.
What I will most certainly NOT do is assist anyone associated with the RNC convention. I have not yet decided whether to give wrong information, or to just scowl and yell “go back home to your red-state hole!” Or maybe something even better.
Whatever I choose, I will do my level best to confirm all stereotypes about us unfriendly, cold, nasty New Yorkers for the duration of the circus that will cordon off the entire 34th Street area from the rest of New York for four days.
So beware, you delegates of the neofascist junta that for the last four miserable years has run this nation as if over half the country doesnÂ’t exist: stay in your protected security cocoon where you will never be exposed to this wonderful city. DonÂ’t go to any plays or restaurants, and donÂ’t even dare get on the subway (though I doubt many of you would even deign to use it). I am not the only subway-using New Yorker who deeply resents that our Republican mayor will be handing out free subway passes to delegates of a party that represents only the elite and affluent. If you actually choose to use one of those passes and ask me for help, I will take enormous pleasure in misdirecting you to Harlem or Bed-Stuy.
Yes, IÂ’m being petulant. Deal with it. On September 11, the people of this city endured the trauma of an atrocity--a crime against humanity--from which we still have not recovered; not economically, financially or otherwise.
There are cops and firefighters and other locals who have been permanently damaged by the toxins released on that day into the air. There are people in this city who are still dealing with the emotional and psychological trauma of that horrible day. Your party has done nothing to help them.
Instead, you have done everything to INCREASE the danger of another terrorist attack against this city. You have committed mass murder of thousands of innocent people in a poor, desperate country whose people never did us any harm. You have murdered almost a thousand American soldiers, and maimed thousands more. YouÂ’ve destroyed lives, committed atrocities, alienated our friends around the world and practically ripped the Constitution
And you deliberately chose to conduct your revolting political spectacle in this city, the site of the country’s worst attack, just a week before the third anniversary of September 11, 2001---all for totally cynical political reasons. And you deliberately chose to conduct your revolting political spectacle in this city, the site of the country’s worst attack, just a week before the third anniversary of September 11, 2001---all for totally cynical political reasons. To add insult to injury, you give more homeland security funds to a red state like Wyoming than New York! Tell me, which state do you think is the more tempting target for Osama and his friends? We New Yorkers contribute more taxes to the federal budget than any of the red states in the west and south yet we get far less in return than the red states who contribute far less. The word “disgust” is entirely too mild a word to describe the consideration you deserve from any of us in this city.
Go back home. We donÂ’t want you here. Get your circus over with quickly and get the hell out.
Sandra Nicholas Brooklyn, NY is a freelance writer, teaches ESL and film history at nights and weekends, lives in Brooklyn, divorced, Brazilian by birth, 44 years old, has traveled around the world teaching and writing, lived in NYC on and off for 12 years. She is seriously beginning to wonder if the day will come when US citizens like her will have to seek asylum in a free country.
