My first encounter, that I recall, with the ignorance of hatred was when I was six years old. My parents, sister and I had driven down to Florida for a vacation to visit with my aunt and her new husband who had recently resettled in Miami.

My memories of the trip are few. I can still visualize their beautiful modern new large white house. It was a hot summer and air conditioning was far from commonplace. But I had a great time.

I remember one outing to the Collins Avenue area for shopping and stuff. I remember being inside a Woolworth’s — you remember the old 5 and 10 cent store — back then they probably had stuff for 5 and 10 cents. I remember going to take a drink at a water fountain and my aunt rushing over to me saying, "not that one." She quickly moved me to the other side of the restroom doorway area to water fountains marked "whites only" and allowed me to drink. She briefly explained the other fountain was marked "for blacks only" and we had our own fountains.

Hmmm!

I was six and vaguely remember talking to dad about the incident. He was a left-of-center liberal before it was 60s-fashionable. Dad didn’t approve of the whole system and although I don’t remember the specifics of the conversation, I know he asked me the questions to get a six-year-old to probe and make value judgments. That was dad. I’m glad.

Although the water was cool and refreshing on that hot day, discrimination – and for that matter Woolworth’s – left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve carried it with me for the past half a century.

I was my father’s son. I marched the civil rights picket lines of the 60s and in my own small way have spoken out all my life — occasionally in this column — when I’ve encountered social injustices.

I’ve demonstrated against such hatred but never experienced it. In New York, that kind of hatred was much more subtle than in the South — you couldn’t quite see it, but you knew it was there. The results of it were evident but people I knew were not able to give first hand accounts of hatred.

I remember lunching with Andrew Goodman a week before the Queens College student left on his trip to Mississippi and a voter registration drive. He, Mickey Schwerner — whose brother I knew — and a black Mississippi youth James Chaney, lost their lives because they wanted to register black voters.

Other friends involved in the movement related their own stories and they touched me, but I never really saw hatred first hand. Except perhaps at that water fountain in 1952.

I’m told that anti-Semitism is still out there and dangerous. I’ve been told many times that there are people — many people — who hate me just because I’m a Jew. I believe it is so but . . . I’ve never experienced it. With all of its scars and blemishes, New York City is a tolerant multi-cultural oasis. This area has been my home my entire life and my ears have never heard a word of hate uttered against the Jewish people — except in historical movies and the like.

My in-laws are concentration camp survivors — they bore witness to hate against our people. Their stories affirmed our family’s belief, not in our religion, but in the need to stand up for the right to practice our religion and for everyone to be allowed to pursue their god in anyway they saw fit — or not to pursue any god at all.

Four years ago, in his freshman years at Keene State College in New Hampshire, my son Lee had a swastika drawn on his dorm room door. His reaction made me proud. He went out and bought a six-foot Israeli flag (the Jewish Star of David is the centerpiece) and he hung it in his room for all to see. He reported it to campus authorities and called a dorm meeting and confronted the problem.

Although I’m sure the ignorance and hatred didn’t disappear, the problem did. . .

until last week.

On a campus with fewer than 5 percent Jewish students, Lee – a non-religious individual – never tried to hide his Judaism. He never took a course in Keene’s Holocaust Studies department and I don’t believe he’s attended a religious service in the past four years, but as he moved from dorm to dorm to off campus, he waved his flag.

For Halloween, he dressed up in a costume that bore the "Star of David." He wasn’t religious, but he was proud.

Last week, Lee called from Keene to tell us he was beaten up by six guys — five of whom were Keene State students — because he was Jewish. The town newspaper, the Keene Sentinel reported the incident:

"Ethnic slurs allegedly led to a fight in which a Southington, Conn., man was arrested early Saturday morning in Keene."

"As the two [Lee and a friend] passed a house on the corner, a group of about six people standing on a porch allegedly made comments about the two being Jewish.

"[The two] exchanged words with the group, and then the six people came off the porch and a fight broke out, Keene police said.

"[Lee] told police he was kicked several times, while [his friend] suffered a cut to his upper lip, an inch-long cut on his nose, and a bruise and a cut on his forehead, police said.

"Later, police arrested Tyrone J. Correa, 21, of Southington, Conn., and charged him with assault. He was released on $500 personal recognizance and will appear in Keene District Court on Feb. 14."

"Police are continuing to investigate the incident."

Lee’s ribs were bruised, eye closed and red welts were visible on his face.

Campus security and Keene Police arrived on the scene quickly and hopefully no permanent damage was done.

The campus has scheduled a disciplinary hearing this week against one of the five Keene State students involved in the assault and continues the investigation against the others.

I’ve chatted with the head of campus security, the hearing officers and the Keene State vice president of Student Affairs, Corrine Cowpak, who served in a similar role at York College until two years ago. Lil reached out for the Keene police.

All the stories seem to be the same. Lee was the victim of a hate crime. He was assaulted because he was Jewish.

Lee, a very well-built and not fearful youngster, explained that throughout the verbal encounter he kept his hands in his pockets and tried to talk his way out of the dangerous situation while calmly explaining to the hostile six that their attitude was based on ignorance.

He was knocked down from behind.

Lee experienced hatred I’ve never known.

I have no deep words of meaning to share. If my father were still here, he would ask Lee the probing questions that might lead to understanding.

But Lil, Lee, Allison and I are left with the horror and shock of hatred and violence based on ignorance.

Lee is angry. Allison is upset. Lil is concerned. I’m trying to find the words to help resolve all of our feelings. I don’t have them right now.

The three Keene State College officials I spoke with were professional and offered compassionate words.

Our friends have reacted with shock and compassion.

Among the words of comfort we received was this email note from our friend, PRESS Associate Publisher Marcia Comrie:

Mike, Lil -

So sorry about your son’s unfortunate experience. If I live to be 100 I’ll still not get used to people being that ignorant. My God, it’s 2002! When will people realize how stupid prejudice is? Someone ought to tell our president that while he’s busy spending billions of $s to stamp out terrorism, he ought to turn an eye to the home front and invest some funds into the home-grown terrorism known as bigotry.

We get so smug in condemning other kinds of evil that we forget to look into our own closets.

I hope that Lee will recover both physically and emotionally really soon. Pls. send him my best wishes.

- Marcia

Lee continues to make me proud. He is angry, but handling the situation. He seeks justice and hopes this incident serves as a learning experience to combat hatred, ignorance and violence. Lee discussed possible punishments for the perpetrators with the Dean of Students office and with me. Although suspension, at a minimum, is likely, Lee indicated he might prefer mandating course work in Holocaust Studies instead of expulsion for those guilty of the hate crime.

At the end of the day, I believe Lee will have grown as a person and maybe a handful of other youngsters at Keene State will wind up better off after being part of such an ugly incident.

After all, they probably learned the hate in their home.

Maybe the school experience can lead to more positive values.

Something has to.

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

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Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

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