Racial bias in New York City

I've been hearing a lot about particularly racist intimidation lately. Often, you hear ethnic taunts and whatnot in New York. That's not so surprising when you consider all the different ethnic groups here. Overall, however, talk rarely rises to violence.

In the past two weeks, two really crazy things happen that you'd expect in the Deep South, not in New York. First, there was an outright racially motivated fight in Tribeca (NY Daily News: "Basketball team: We're target of racial bias attacks," by Juan Gonzales, 2007-09-19):

Two coaches and several players of the Manhattan Community College basketball team say they were the targets of separate racial bias attacks and robberies near City Hall.

They say it happened last week, the attacks were carried out by the same group of white men - and the NYPD has failed to properly investigate.

"I've been all over this country and the world playing sports," said Chester Mapp, 49, coach of the Borough of Manhattan Community College Panthers for 15 years. "But never in my born days have I seen the kind of racism I witnessed last week right here in New York City."

The first incident erupted around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 11 outside the Patriot, a notoriously rowdy Chambers St. bar, as members of the Manhattan team were walking to the A subway station on Church St. after four hours of basketball practice at the school.

Several players told the Daily News a group of white men standing across Chambers St. outside the bar started yelling "n-----s" and "this is what slavery feels like." One of the men, they said, then threw a bottle at them.

Then, yesterday, a noose was found hanging around a black professor's door at Columbia University (CNN: Rally set to protest noose found at Columbia University by Sarah B. Boxer, 2007-10-10):

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A rally was planned for Wednesday afternoon at Columbia University to protest the discovery of a noose on the office door of an African-American professor.

The noose was found Tuesday at Columbia's Teachers College, said Joe Levine, executive director for external affairs at Teachers College.

The New York Police Department is investigating the matter as a hate crime.

The apparent target, Madonna Constantine, 44, is a professor of psychology and education at Teachers College. She co-wrote the book "Addressing Racism: Facilitating Cultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings."

The noose apparently was placed on the office door sometime before 9 a.m. ET Tuesday, Levine said.

Police received a 911 call concerning the noose about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. They were told it was on the fourth floor of Teachers College.

Security cameras monitor the entrance to the building, but there are none in the hallway where the noose was discovered, Levine added.

The building, which is open 24 hours a day, is accessible only to those with a Teachers College ID card or other credentials, he said