I write very extensively about racism against blacks, but I was taken aback by an article in the New York Daily News that states a Jewish Parks Department truck driver, Alan Spitalnik, claims he was subjected to anti-Semitic taunts by co-workers who put on a hateful skit in Nazi regalia, the Daily News has learned.
The department is investigating the allegations and said the employees accused of taking part in the Hitler parody at a Staten Island parkhouse may be disciplined. According to the NY Daily News, Alan Spitalnik said he walked into a break room last Wednesday to see three tree pruners putting on the tasteless show for eight other workers. “They just burst out laughing,” one source said.
Two sources identified the employees as Nick Johnson, who allegedly wore a motorcycle helmet emblazoned with a swastika; Charlie Ekonomakos, said to have sported a Hitler-style mustache, and Chris Mullusky, described as wielding a flaming aerosol can.
A representative from the Parks Department’s equal employment opportunity office visited the Forestry Division’s Staten Island headquarters last Friday and questioned the skit participants and witnesses.”He gave us all a tongue-lashing … he said that this is unacceptable,” one source said. “[He said], ‘If I had it my way, they would be fired on the spot.'”
Spitalnik was upset that after he complained he was transferred out of the Forestry Division against his wishes for safety reasons. He told a fellow employee he feels like he’s being punished for the incident.
Earlier this summer, Spitalnik complained to supervisors that Mullusky told him he’d like to shove him and his mother in a microwave oven. A source said no action was taken. After he walked in on the skit, the three men apologized to Spitalnik. “They said, ‘I’m sorry, it was a joke,'” one of the sources said.
If these allegations are proven to be true, these men need to be disciplined severely. This incident is no different from scumbags hanging nooses or writing racist graffiti to taunt blacks. This insensitivity should not be condoned on any level. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…..
Filed under: Alan Spitalnik, Charlie Ekonomakos, Chris Mullusky, Nick Johnson
Black Political Thought 