Williamsburg, Brooklyn, behind a building on Metropolitan Avenue (digital) © Brian Rose

We live in ugly times. I woke up this morning and looked out our window in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A swastika had been drawn in the parking lot behind a newly completed, but unoccupied, apartment building. I know that this building, and the construction site next door, are owned by Hasidic Jews, who have a large presence in the neighborhood, especially on the south side of the Williamsburg Bridge.

The parking lot is locked, but easily accessible through the sloppily maintained construction fencing next door. But someone would have to know where they were going. The swastika was crudely drawn, but unmistakable.

Given the current situation in the Middle East, there is tension in the air–there were protesters at Union Square yesterday. But whatever one’s opinion concerning Israel and the Palestinians, such expressions of hate and/or ignorance are an affront to us all.