You guys had a lot to say about our recent mugging interview. What I’ve done here is turned your comments into questions and put them to some Bushwickers.
JULIO FERGOSA JR, 21, BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
JuCIFER: Are Midwesterners who move to “the hood” “easy prey” because our “rosy cheeks” prevent us from looking like men?
I’m not going to say you’re easy prey, but some people—mostly African-Americans—believe the white man has brought them down. They believe you’re coming in and taking over the neighborhood. Sometimes when I talk to them they say, “Oh, look at this white man, he moved in across the street from me, look at his car, look at how he dresses.” Not only are they jealous, they think about how all the slavery happened. I don’t think that’s the case. I think some of them are just lazy. There’s a code in the hood: Keep your mouth shut. I personally think that’s a stupid code, but a lot of the people around here follow it.
Turd Town: If white people make friends with their neighbors, will they back us up?
Of course. If I see somebody actually come and get you, because I know you a little bit, I would defend you. You got my back, I’ve got yours.
Thanks Julio. Do you snitch?
If it’s for my best friend or somebody I know, I’ll snitch right on the spot with cameras, no problem. The majority of white people around the neighborhood do snitch. The elderly, too.
Vane$$a: Are white people in Bushwick the “brave pioneers of gentrification”?
I give them credit for coming here because there are a lot of dangerous people out here that very jealous and prejudiced.
If white people are the pioneers, are locals, by contrast, the savages?
That statement might have a little bit of racism in it, but a percentage of robberies and murders are by African-Americans here in Bushwick that I know of.
No.thanks: Will listening to gutter rap and dating a Puerto Rican for a month help white people blend in?
No, I don’t think it would help. They might be like, “Oh, he’s got a Puerto Rican girl and I don’t.” Jealousy might make it worse.
Clayton: Is it easy to date a Puerto Rican?
Anybody can date anybody. I don’t even like that question. I could get a white girl, Indian girl, black girl… it don’t even matter.
Vane$$a: When walking alone at night, should white people hone their inner-Jeffrey Dahmer?
Then you’ll definitely get jumped. C’mon. You see a crazy guy and you’re going to think “violator.” We’ve got kids running around here.
KESHY: Is it just white people getting mugged in Bushwick?
It doesn’t matter what color, what race—everybody gets robbed in Bushwick. When I turned 18, I was going to parties and drinking. I got mugged ten times that year. Each time I lost my cell phone. One time it was the phone, my chain, graduation ring, watch, and $200. I’ve had guns pulled on me, a big knife to my neck. Sometimes it was one guy, other times it was three or four guys. I’ve been mugged here, in Queens, Bronx, even the Lower East Side. I’ve stopped hanging out and I haven’t been mugged since.
Did you call the police?
Never. I didn’t get hurt and the police would never have found them.
ENRIQUE BACHON, 23, BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
JuCIFER: Are rosy-cheeked Midwesterners “easy prey”?
A person can be mugged anytime, and it doesn’t have to do with race.
Vane$$a: Are white people in Bushwick the “brave pioneers of gentrification”?
Yeah, I’ve noticed a lot of white people have moved here because of the economy. The rents in Manhattan have gone up. In a way they risk themselves, but I think most Latin people are friendly to them.
How about black people?
I’ll be honest, I don’t really have any black friends. I mean, I’ll say, “Hi, good morning, how are you.”
Should white people stop snitching?
It’s not only white people who snitch. There are some Latin people who if we somebody dealing drugs on the corner by our house, we’re going to tell because it’s my life and my family’s life.
Do black people talk to the police?
I think they mostly talk to the police when the officer is of the same race.
KESHY: Do only white people get mugged here?
No. Three weeks ago my brother was walking along Evergreen Avenue at Eldert Street when some kids started throwing rocks at him and they took his nice leather jacket. That’s why I recommend anybody to not walk alone at night.
lol@u: Can a manicured mustache alone warrant a beat-down?
No. If a mugger is high, they won’t care about that. I think if a black or Latin person or whatever is high on drugs, and he needs drug-money, he’ll rob anybody.
Just a Cunt Hair Away: Do white hipsters look alike?
Oh, I’d say yeah.
No.thanks: Do white people have trouble distinguishing between “niggaz that will rob you” and “niggas to get drunk with?”
Yeah, but it’s also a problem for Latin and Asian or whatever.
PAUL BUONAGURO, 24, BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN
JuCIFER: Are rosy-cheeked Midwesterners “easy prey”?
I don’t think so. I think a lot of the perceptions about the neighborhood have it being a lot more dangerous than it really is. The only real thing that will make someone susceptible to getting mugged is being really drunk or talking on your cell phone. When you don’t fit into a neighborhood, the tendency is not that you’re targeted, it’s that you’re ignored because you’re not a part of the community. You drop out of the equation.
After telling an anecdote about a victim getting his wallet back, John says New York is alright if you like saxophones.
In that context, the saxophone is a non-sequitur. It makes sense because New York is a city of non-sequiturs.
Vane$$a: Are white people in Bushwick the “brave pioneers of gentrification”?
I would say so, but the only problem with that statement is to take the word like “Bushwick” as one place because it’s such a continuum. The people who live in the western part of Bushwick by Williamsburg, they’re not pioneers anymore. They’re already settled. The pioneers are the ones who are moving all the way out to the eastern part.
If we’re the pioneers, does that make the locals “savages”?
It’s a problem even going back to the whole settlement of America because it had already been discovered and settled thousands of years before that. But I think there’s always a process of any land or any entity being discovered, being lost again, and then being rediscovered. Within that framework I think the use of “pioneers” is OK. There are so many connotations with the words “natives” and “savages.” I mean, I think you can call people natives without it carrying the baggage that goes back hundreds of years. To call them native doesn’t mean they carry around spears and bows and arrows and that they’re cannibals. The white pioneers were natives where they came from.
No.thanks: Will listening to gutter rap and dating a Puerto Rican for a month help white people blend in?
Yes, I think so. Living in Bushwick is a paradigm, it’s a collection of all the different vocabularies, mannerisms, and ideas that characterize a neighborhood. So if you’re dating someone within that paradigm and you learn all those things, that helps integrate you.
Is it the same with gutter rap?
Yeah, I think so. It’s a process of seeing how much you can learn from a culture.
Clayton: Is it easy to date a Puerto Rican?
I think it’s hard to meet people outside of your own social or ethnic group, but it’s something you can overcome over time. The more you become integrated into the neighborhood, the easier it will be to date people.
KESHY: Is it just white people getting mugged here?
No. That’s one of the big myths. I heard from black and Hispanic people that they’ve felt vulnerable because they got mugged. It’s also a gender thing because women get mugged; men generally don’t have to worry about it as much. It’s true white people can be targets, because of obvious signifiers of wealth like an iPhone. But black and Hispanic people have those signifiers, too. Basically, anyone can get mugged.
Vane$$a: When walking alone at night, should white people hone their inner-Jeffrey Dahmer?
I think that a good point. It’s not that you have to look crazy, but the point of the Jeffrey Dahmer thing is a matter of being in control of one’s environment. He’s not uptight and worried about being mugged because he’s being active and aggressive.
Just a Cunt Hair Away: Do non-white Bushwickers think all white hipsters look alike?
I think there’s some truth to that statement. Sometimes the reverse is true and all black people look similar.
Shame: Is asking black people to stop mugging white people like trying to stop mother nature?
I don’t think so. I think the problem is that there are a select few in this neighborhood who are very active muggers who mug the vast majority of people. That magnifies the perception that there are so many black people that are muggers but in reality there are very few of them. There are so many people in this neighborhood that are just going about their business. It’s things like the media that heighten the perception that it’s all people of one race.
No.thanks: Do white people have trouble distinguishing between “niggaz that will rob you” and “niggas to get drunk with?”
As for the n-word, white people think they have a handle on it but they don’t understand all its subtleties. It’s more difficult for them to use it correctly. I think it’s difficult to just look at somebody and know whether they’re going to be your friend or your enemy. It’s a process that becomes easier as you interact with people.
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Brilliant!
10.28.09 at 7:50 pm
Boner Alert scoop at ten minutes of the hour: http://lastnightsparty.com/flashfun/slides/IMG_4313.html
10.28.09 at 7:50 pm
@Just Ben: That’s completely irrelevant but thank you all the same.
10.28.09 at 7:52 pm
Can we get a report, and a response report about how rain gets people wet, and whether or not white people get as wet as black or puerto rican people as well please?
10.28.09 at 7:57 pm
Finally! An interview I can get through before falling asleep. Maybe you should take more questions from the cocksuckers down here, Mr. Madsen.
10.28.09 at 7:58 pm
*** AKA – You got took, so what, it happens to everyone, why write/cry about it?
10.28.09 at 7:59 pm
@Benz- Actually it was that fairy with the mustache that got took.
10.28.09 at 8:24 pm
Last but not least – You’re from Burnsville, Minnesota… Minneapolis is a tough enough city that getting mugged shouldn’t be entirely foreign to you. I’m not even from there and I’d be more scared of going to the crack stacks than going to any part of Bushwick.
10.28.09 at 8:25 pm
Wow, Benz. Minneapolis is rough, but I haven’t lived in Burnsville since 1992.
10.28.09 at 8:28 pm
@Clayton – Well, someone got took. This is the blog that when the whole ‘hipster grifter’ thing was going on Gavin was quoted one of his friends in saying ‘ This is New York, you get took ‘ or something to that effect.
Come on guys, look into the history of Bushwick and you’ll find that getting took for your cell phone or your wallet is small beans compared to the 100’s that got burned alive in their houses here in the late 70’s and 80’s.
10.28.09 at 8:29 pm
Yeah? And what about the Holocaust, huh?!
10.28.09 at 8:33 pm
EPIC POST!!
10.28.09 at 8:35 pm
good job at turning a issue of rich vs poor into a topic of race.
white well to dos yuppies moving into a trashy white neighborhood would get their asses kicked too
10.28.09 at 8:46 pm
@ John Doie, Well i think if you were in Auschwitz sensationalizing how rough it is these days a similar response would be expected.
@Peter Madsen, You are doing a good job. You’ve sensationalized something that happens every day in every city in America into something that has riled every reader of this site into a frenzy. I was simply trying to highlight that fact in pointing out that there are parts of your home city that are much more terrifying than Bushwick 2009.
Last but not least, I totally suck for even replying to this.
Amen.
10.28.09 at 8:48 pm
I LIVE HERE! WOW!
10.28.09 at 8:52 pm
I hope no one’s jealous of my puerto rican girlfriend.
10.28.09 at 8:52 pm
hahahahah.
oh my god.
i was NOT expecting this shit.
fyi Paul, I am black, so I have fun with it.
10.28.09 at 9:02 pm
I’m one of the Bushwick gentrifiers, and if I saw that dandy Paul jogging down the street I’d mug him
10.28.09 at 9:37 pm
This is great, well done.
10.28.09 at 9:45 pm
how come you didn’t interview any black people?
10.28.09 at 9:51 pm
what’s with the white hate? we can’t try to live in affordable housing. i do hate when places get redeveloped for the trust fund trend chasers but the majority of us are just trying to pay bills. and you get in my face and get in yours.
white with balls
10.28.09 at 9:53 pm
i did enjoy the article. especially taking it back to the community. thank you
wwb
10.28.09 at 10:00 pm
@flynn: Agreed! “Gimme the baby rings and the #1 Mom pendant!”
10.28.09 at 10:06 pm
that fucking goatee makes me so angry
10.28.09 at 10:14 pm
if paul hasnt got mugged yet, its bound to happen soon
10.28.09 at 10:56 pm
I just now realised the mugger guy thought to bring along a woman accomplice just so he didn’t have to search balls himself. This brings up a whole new set of questions altogether…
10.28.09 at 11:49 pm
Peter ‘Meta’ Madsen does fine reporting
10.29.09 at 12:10 am
Fuck his goatee. Anybody talking nonsense on Paul should realize he’s the most self-aware person out the bunch.
10.29.09 at 12:36 am
Paul wins the liberal pussy of the year award for his Jeffrey Dahmer answer.
Also, saying “n-word” instead of nigger is far more insulting than just using the word nigger directly. What’s next, the “p-word” for polack and the “c-word” for chink? When some says “n-word” what they are implying is that black people are so emotionally fragile that they cannot handle racial slurs and must be treated like babies. Racial slurs are used way too casually these days, but it’s even more de-humanizing to say “n-word”.
10.29.09 at 3:06 am
I’m astounded how much you suck – couldn’t you have interviewed a black guy? You’re friends with bn, have him do it if you’re too much of a pussy
10.29.09 at 9:07 am
Paul gets the gas face.
I <3 East New York, fuck Bushwick.
10.29.09 at 9:41 am
rjb do you even know any black people
10.29.09 at 10:14 am
That Paul guy answers questions like a total douche. You should start a column called: “Ask a Douche” and see what he has to say about shit.
10.29.09 at 10:16 am
holy fuck- is this for real? does it matter to anyone?
@ not cool- because they’re all pussies.
10.29.09 at 10:27 am
EDIT- @not cool- because they’re (ie, SBTV) all pussies.
10.29.09 at 10:32 am
people who move to bushwick now think its somewhat safe cause people from the outside who want to sell it to those from the outside call it ” east williamsburg” which is no such thing. pussy fags there are no “pioneers” left. someone did that a while ago. only people moving there now are following someone they know or a friend. want inexpensive housing? move to fucking, um east new york? real cheap out there. or how about east flatbush? pretty cheap. crown heights is cheaper then bushwick too. well fags? fuck you get out of my brooklyn
10.29.09 at 11:12 am
i agree with @Sal. this kid is not from new york
10.29.09 at 11:12 am
people from out of town get mugged in cities or places like bushwick because they are scared little pussys. just mind your own business and be nice to others and they will treat ya the same. NEW YORK CITY AINT NO FOREIGN PLACE. YOU AINT COOL JUST COS U MOVED HERE
10.29.09 at 11:16 am
A country boy can survive.
Hank Williams Jr. said it.
I believe it
That settles it.
10.29.09 at 12:31 pm
I suggest a perusal of this NY Times report: http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map?ref=nyregion&emc=eta1 Golly. Only 40% of NYC’s murders starting in 2003 and into 2009 happened in Brooklyn while 8% of NYC’s murders are comprised of victims under the age of 18. And I’m not even bringing up the racial shit they uncovered. Nope…Julio. No free roaming monsters up in your ‘hood that need “jumped” outside of them loco-eyed nerdy ass white boys. Hypocrisy’s a real motherfucker. And yeah, jealousy’s a bitch too. I heard that.
P.S. Unless their Mike Tyson or some shit, every black and hispanic dude I’ve ever met would never mess with a “white boy” unless they’re with crew and “white boy’s” alone. Weapons wielded against the unarmed also do wonders for their courage. Mano y mano is not the forte of America’s most prominent racial minorities. You know how the old cliche goes…if “I only had a dime” for every time some melanin blessed posse jumped me and only me…Sorry if that offends any tender sensibilities, but that has, with zero deviation, been my experience.
10.29.09 at 12:34 pm
Great. America’s getting taken over by a race of people who can’t even grow 1/2 a fucking beard?
10.29.09 at 12:40 pm
Here’s an experiment: Have you ever heard that old conservative saying that goes something like this? “Every conservative is a liberal who’s been mugged.” You should keep a close eye on your roommate. Start looking for hidden copies of the National Review under his mattress along with sexy photos of Anita Bryant. Let’s see if the old maxim is really true.
10.29.09 at 12:44 pm
AGAIN- Nice work Madsen.
I suggest handlebar mustaches for everyone, maybe a dirty denim jacket, ohh and a scar on the cheek, that’ll toughen up Midwesterners.
10.29.09 at 12:53 pm
@Mary Magdalene – I’m robbin n****s like Shaquille – S*** is real!
10.29.09 at 12:56 pm
Can someone help me out… I’m still confused about the part where the woman treated the jerkstache dude’s nuts like Chinese medicine balls. I just assumed it was an intimidation tactic or a way to get the victim to hold still as the mugging was taking place. Are they really checking for something?
10.29.09 at 1:19 pm
yeah for baggies in his sackie
10.29.09 at 1:25 pm
Bad job, Madsen.
(Somebody has to come on and counterbalance all the friends you get to come on and say, “Good job.”)
10.29.09 at 2:29 pm
haha they may not mug you just because of the stache, but trust me, it aint helping you either.
10.29.09 at 4:00 pm
still though, this was a good episode, and you got some real answers.
10.29.09 at 4:02 pm
Statistics show that people over 5′8″ rarely get mugged. Victims: Wear lifts.
10.29.09 at 4:19 pm
I’m coming into your loft and stabbing you with a screwdriver just to get your serato scratch gear and your Wii motherfuckkkkkkkker PS I’m dead
10.29.09 at 5:05 pm
A fight, a fight, a nigger and a white, if the nigger don’t win then we all jump in. . . . smoking all America’s white boys
10.30.09 at 3:15 am
Vane$$a, thanks for posting the link to NYC crime map. Race of victim percentage is equal to race of perpetrators as expected. Nothing to see here folks, move along…
10.30.09 at 4:38 am
FUCK THIS SHIT MAN. I want to hear about the fucking Brooklyn Yeti.
10.30.09 at 6:01 pm