New York City continues to be a great place to live and raise a family:
Suspect busted in brutal stabbing outside Bronx firehouse: cops https://t.co/8X9LE4s7Vi pic.twitter.com/vqFPsLzJRP
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) June 17, 2022
Richard Cushnie, 33, was picked up on a Crime Stoppers tip Thursday and charged with assault in connection to the 12:10 a.m. May 23 attack on another 33-year-old man, police said.
The victim was on Sedgwick Avenue near West Burnside Avenue, outside FDNY Engine 43/Ladder 59, in Morris Heights, when Cushnie allegedly knifed him three times.
A surveillance image released by the NYPD shows the attacker approaching the victim with a threatening stance and raising a knife.
That’s nice.
Another NYC neighborhood I bet @JessicaValenti has no exposure to https://t.co/JDQH1EhWFx
— LB (@beyondreasdoubt) June 17, 2022
You might be wondering how stunning and brave feminist warrior Jessica Valenti fits into all of this. Well, we’re going to tell you.
See, yesterday, Valenti put together a thread in which she pushed back against the notion that cities like New York City and San Francisco are “unsafe.” According to Valenti, people use words like “unsafe” because they don’t want to admit they’re just scared of poor and homeless people:
The more I read these panicked articles about places like NYC and San Francisco being 'unsafe', the more I realize it's not about crime at all – just discomfort with poverty being more visible
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 16, 2022
*Feeling* unsafe and being unsafe are very different things, and I promise you the homeless person you're so afraid of is in a lot more imminent danger than you are
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 16, 2022
I'm a 3rd generation native NYer and the only times I've felt unsafe here was thanks to regular ass dudes harassing me.
Like, relationships & marriage are a lot more dangerous to women than living in a city but I don't see any panicked columns about that!
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 16, 2022
Sorry you knew you couldn't escape this thread without some ✨feminism✨
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 16, 2022
Of course. But seriously, folks:
Seriously, though. My 11 yr-old has started walking around Brooklyn by herself & the thing I said that gave her the most confidence was reminding her that when she's on the street, she's *surrounded* by adults who would help her if necessary
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 16, 2022
That’s good parenting right there.
Because it's true! New Yorkers are good people, and they watch out for each other.
That's why when I send my kid – who is my whole heart – out into Brooklyn, I have full confidence that she will be safe.
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 16, 2022
The word “privilege” gets thrown around a lot these days, and usually it’s by woke progressives who literally have nothing else to throw at the wall.
But we feel pretty comfortable using it to describe what Jessica Valenti has experienced during her time in New York City.
Ah yes, Michelle Go’s family mourning their daughter who was pushed in front of a subway train is actually just their discomfort with poverty
Thanks, elitist white lady! https://t.co/BjoIzbJBxZ
— Chet Cannon (@Chet_Cannon) June 16, 2022
Jessica Valenti is an elitist white lady.
How rich IS this woman? https://t.co/KEESrZPkyN
— Queen Velvet (@TMIWITW) June 17, 2022
Rich enough to look down her nose at people who don’t want to get stabbed in broad daylight or pushed onto a subway track.
Lol I'm pretty sure people are uncomfortable getting pushed into train tracks, getting robbed in broad daylight, etc, etc…but whatevs. https://t.co/JJKeowodKo
— Matt Schuck (@MattSchuckDC) June 17, 2022
The same progressives who obsessed over covid safety theater ("I just don't feel safe without my mask") are now telling us that we're wrong about safety in our big cities ("You just *feel* unsafe, it's not actually unsafe). https://t.co/ZYfCaFeCgb
— Daniela Jampel (@daniela127) June 17, 2022
I have lived here for 38 years & taken the subway as a solo female for over 25 years, & for the first time ever I make sure to stand in the middle of the platform when waiting for the train. There is a marked uptick in mentally ill people everywhere.
— Daniela Jampel (@daniela127) June 17, 2022
— Daniela Jampel (@daniela127) June 17, 2022
It’s only unsafe when Jessica Valenti feels unsafe.
Tell this to the moms of the homeless addicts getting abused in the streets.
Tell this to the children of the Tenderloin, who are walking past drug dealers on the way to school.
Tell this to the restaurant workers who are scared to leave late at night.
This is gaslighting. https://t.co/r1MJ1X17On
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
Jessica Valenti lives in Brooklyn.
I'd love to know the last time she walked the streets of SF's Tenderloin, Mission, or SOMA.
Here's a comment from a friend who left SF after almost all her friends were assaulted. pic.twitter.com/KzjMELKZeM
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
Having spent a lot of time in both Brooklyn and SF I can say with very strong conviction that unless you are living in SF and spending significant time downtown, you really shouldn't be commenting on the state of the streets.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
At least half of my friends in SF have had their homes broken into.
Virtually all have had their cars broken into. Many multiple times.
Many of my female friends have been chased, hair pulled, pushed.
Often while pregnant or with their children.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
One of my friends' nephews woke up to a burglar climbing through his window. He couldn't sleep for weeks, waking constantly from night terrors.
One friend's nanny was chased by a man holding a metal pipe.
Another friend was chased in the park while walking with her newborn.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
This uptick in crime is not about poverty. It's about organized crime & drugs.
People who can't afford to live in San Francisco move to other parts of CA or out of state. They go to the Central Valley, Sacramento, Arizona, Texas.
They don't move into tents on the street.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
The people who are engaging in crime in SF are primarily driven by drug addiction.
This is why I advocate so fiercely for mandatory rehabilitation. I do not see another way.
We have ~70 open treatment beds at any given time. People rarely voluntarily go.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
Until we create disincentives against crime (e.g., going to rehab, going to jail) the behavior will continue.
San Franciscans will continue to be terrorized by people who are mentally ill, addicted, and deranged.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
Valenti may be directionally correct that the media is whipping things up.
But she is wrong in her assertion that "it's not about crime at all – just discomfort with poverty being more visible."
It IS about crime.
And it isn't driven by poverty.
It's driven by drugs.
— Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler) June 16, 2022
Drugs … and racism. Not Racism™, but, like, actual racism.
Asian NYers and SFans experiencing 3-6x rise in hate crimes don't see things this way. https://t.co/ghCUtEq9OF
— American Wumao (@Mont_Jiang) June 16, 2022
CW: anti Asian violence.
Yes and Asian Americans are still being pepper sprayed, attacked in broad daylight, getting punched for wearing a turban, getting pushed in front of subways, having our skulls crushed while sweeping & getting murdered in our homes. Don’t erase us. https://t.co/iYiGyT6DC6
— Kalaya'an #WeKeepUsSafe Mendoza | ᜃᜎᜌᜀᜈ (@KalaMendoza) June 16, 2022
Check your privilege, Jessica.
Poverty doesn’t push unsuspecting commuters onto train tracks, or stab random people in broad daylight, or ransack stores.
But please, tell people who are afraid for their safety they’re just hating on poor people. That’ll work in an election year. https://t.co/UnoXc1yVHn
— Amy Curtis (@RantyAmyCurtis) June 17, 2022