SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

You people need to get over yourselves. You see some Russian who isn't nice to you and you assume that it's because you don't speak the language. Newsflash: the ones that are rude to you are rude to Russians as well. That is probably the kind of people they are. Why on earth would Russians look down on non Russians?? They came to this country for a reason!
Although you may have a point about items in stores being labeled only in Russian. This is stupid from an economical sense.

You might never go back but you'll almost certainly go broke!

Further to my comment above, I enjoy going to Ginger Rose despite the subtle xenophobia. The atmosphere of snobbiness does take some getting used to, but pride is a big part of their culture and I find the displays of cockiness to be somewhat attractive. But I'm 27 and I've been going there since I was 13 years old, so Russian or not, I feel like I belong. And if you think I'm racist against Russian-speaking people, please think again. I'm under the impression that Russians are some of the sexiest people I've ever encountered: bold, confident, very competitive, but generally good-hearted, as a culture. I go to Sheepshead every weekend, rather than the city, because of all the eyecandy walking around, blasting electronic music, dressing trendily, driving expensive cars, and of course the local establishments like J & J Happy Nail Salon, Chicken Masters, Roll N' Roaster, Stop and Shop and other local joints. Combined these experiences make Sheepshead Bay my absolute favorite neighborhood in Brooklyn. I wouldn't want it any other way. Oh yeah - once you date Russian, you'll never go back. ;-)

SD, Ned needs more writers. Are you still living around here?

This thread is great. I grew up here in the 90's just finishing college now. My parents can not stand "The Russians" to the point where they are basically racist. My favorite quote was probably when my mother's friend asked when her daughter would get some "American friends".

Brooklyn has and hopefully will remain a borough of ethnic neighborhoods. Yes, I'm not going to lie I do miss the Sheepshead Bay from my early childhood when the Bay was full of boats and Emmons Avenue and Sheepshead Bay Rd. were a little more blue-collar and family-oriented but neighborhoods change. I love going out to eat in Carroll Gardens and god knows there are some Italian families ready to complain about the designer stroller crew over there or the Western European immigrants opening their fancy restaurants to cater to the designer stroller crew.

It's never easy for things to change but recently I've begun to become somewhat thankful for the changes the Russian immigrants have brought to Sheepshead. Linguistic barrier aside, the changes they've made might actually make Sheepshead more appealing to people moving to Brooklyn. The Russian community has demanded nice restaurants, nice shopping and nice apartments. Recent college grads (and I'm talking the ones going to Bushwick or Williamsburg right now) might rather live in a nice building by the Bay and eat sushi and shop at Loehmanns than live in Bushwick. There's an Armani Exchange in the plaza now and guess why we probably have it? Thank you Russian Community!

I'm not thrilled some Russian businesses are "unfriendly" to non-Russians but that's a Brooklyn problem. I've gotten stared down by the Orthodox in Borough Park and the Chinese in Bensonhurst, this is nothing new. Frankly this also affects the older generation more. When I was in HS at Midwood most people got along despite their ethnic differences. I had friends who were Russian, West Indian, etc. and yes I didn't know Russian or Creole but it didn't end our friendships. There is something to be said also for trying to keep your language alive in America too. I didn't love when the girls in my classes told secrets in Russian but at the some time I kind of wish I could've told secrets to the other Jewish kids in Yiddish (and btw I'm Ashkenazi and half Russian and totally rock the shut-up and just pretend your Russian technique in Sheepshead- shout out to people who do it too haha).

What Ned said is right- someone needs to organize some get together to experience the Russian establishments in Sheepshead and Brighton. The Russian kids in my HS used to bring their non-Russian friends down to Brighton or for a night out at Baku Palace and they just spoke for them- I doubt the waiter spit in their food or drinks because they were a non-Russian. Like I said about keeping a language alive as one Russian girl said in my high school "You're Russian but you don't speak Russian, that's a shame." I don't think we have a right to be mad at a community for wanting to keep its heritage alive. Maybe if we all just tried to learn more about each other (and by this I mean the old-school Sheepshead natives and the new Russian inhabitants) we'd get along better.

I'm just going to end on what I said before. We're getting a Starbucks. We have a Cold Stone. We have that ridiculously expensive Steakhouse on Emmons. We have some semblance of a froyo place. You can buy designer clothes at Loehmanns and Downtown. Love it or hate it, these are the things the trust-fund kids are going to want when they come down here if they ever do (and god-willing they will). The Russian immigrants' expensive taste (regardless of where they get the money to pay for it) has helped keep our neighborhood with the times and that's a big deal. We're too far from the city to be attractive, at least we've got the infrastructure to entertain the new "Brooklyn immigrants".

Agreed. We have a long way to go before we will learn that all of us are in this together. Whatever we do to others, we do to ourselves. Our anger weakens us, our intolerances invalidate us. We live in a time when distance is no longer a barrier to communication, but we won't communicate with our physical neighbors because they came from another country, or they were born in this country. We believe all sorts of people are "not like us". We isolate ourselves into smug little groups of same-minded people. In the end, most of us become intolerant, many little realizing how much the poison of societal intolerance has permeated our thinking. I think it's time to stand beside ourselves and ask-is this who we wish to be? Do we want to define ourselves by our hatreds?

Let's stop seeing people as labels and start seeing them as human beings. Perhaps we can even start to understand why people behave the way they do. Maybe we can actually find the good in people that we assumed to be hostile and unreachable. Lets try to take that with us wherever we go and to whoever we meet. We start some real communication in the real world.

MISHA, не надо нах@й...


"Ребята, давайте жить дружно!" ("Let's live in friendship, guys")

(the above is a quote from an old Soviet cartoon "Leopold the Cat" - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_the_Cat )

But I'm not very optimistic this is even possible... During last election season, my own relatives came within a step of physical assault because of me arguing that "f-ing ape" is not an acceptable characterization for a political candidate. So, unfortunately, Misha is hardly alone.
Meanwhile, just another day, a black woman on the B36 pretty much quoted Ann from above to me (maybe she WAS Ann?!).

So let's summarize (based on blog postings and other anecdotal evidence): Whites hate Russians, Mexicans and Arabs; Russians hate Blacks and Arabs; Blacks hate Whites and Russians; and they all hate Teh Gayz.

Think of this when preparing "Peace on Earth" cards this holiday season...

So, I stumbled upon this delicious little discussion today. I read and REREAD all of your comments. WOW. I lived in Sheepshead Bay through the 90's. I seen the bad and the good. I went to Sheepshead Bay High, Shell bank, and P.S. 52. I moved to Jersey in 2000 with my parents. I am what you would call a non-practicing Russian. I was born in the USSR. I speak primarily in English, having gone through my entire schooling here, including a university but, I am very fluent in Russian. When I go into Russian stores, although I can speak the language with no problems, I choose to speak English to them. Never had I ever had any problems.

What does it matter if the Russian stores have signs in Russian. they are specialty stores! If you don't understand what things are, bring a friend. I know how many Russian's are around the neighborhood. Make a friend and dive into a new culture.

Now what about China town? They all have signs that are in Cantonese/ Mandarin. WITH NO ENGLISH sign's.

What about in Downtown Brooklyn, where you go into a West Indian store and all the signs are in their native language? This is New York people, the great melting pot, if you want to live in an all white English speaking community, move to freakin' Missouri or Montana.

I am moving BACK to Brooklyn because of all of its diversity! Because of the different people (rude or not, this is NYC after all). You want nice, move to South Carolina. Its real nice there. people are real slow, and no crime.

"Now I could agree with this guy on this topic and I quote him:

Someone should explain the whole thing w/going shopping in a supermarket, looking all fancy and loaded with fat wallets……and woah! Out come the food stamps??

Driving in a fancy Lexus/BMW/Mercedes, etc…but claiming that you’re poor? And the people who really are, have to suffer for these assholes?"

VERY VERY GOOD POINT! Now that pisses me off and no one has done a damn thing about it.

At least we don't have those STINKY CANADIANS!!!

Misha is a stuck up a-hole. Plain and simple.

who would think this post would be so popular...

Lisa: Yes, that is the exact policy we currently uphold. However, there's a fine line between hate speech, and what may just be reprehensible opinions.

You may think Misha's point of view is deplorable. I may agree with you. But he didn't go about screaming "Death to..." whatever group, or just fling around curses and act like a general ass. He made a point - whether we agree or disagree.

What I consider hate speech - and surely the definition is flexible - is when a commenter advocates harm to another person or people, or when their comments contribute nothing to a conversation. We had to delete a comment as recently as this weekend following the Eid article. There was no sense to it - just pure hatred.

I don't know if you were suggesting Misha's comments should be deleted. I used his as an example, and it contrasts well with the sort of comment we had to delete this weekend (which I don't care to repeat). But I appreciate that you've given me yet another opportunity to clarify on the rules. We haven't yet made a formal policy, but every chance I get I attempt to explain the guiding principles I use. So thanks for that. ;)

Ok, Lisanne! Thank you. I 100% agree. Racism is never acceptable.

And Micha- I have NOT had to look far AT ALL to find all sorts of cool black people around me. IN Sheepshead Bay. My (black) Jamaican tenants upstairs are educated (the husband is working on his masters degree while working full-time as a computer programmer), enterprising, polite, personable, clean, etc. etc. My black kids in my daughter's preK class are as cute and smart and kind as all of the other kids (and have clearly "together" parents). The black people living on either side of me have good jobs and nice kids and keep housing values up by maintaining their apartments/balconies very nicely. THEY ARE HERE FOR THE SAME REASON YOU ARE: they want to be in a safe community with other people who take care of their houses and pay their taxes.

Saywhatuthink: Lisanne! already said it. Racism is not acceptable.

Ned: have you considered a "if you engage in hate-speech, be forewarned, I will delete your comments" policy? I like your site and would hate to see it derailed if/when people really start slinging nasty stinky mud at each other....

Leave the Russians alone! I enjoy the drugs they sell, they're cheesy lounge singers, and I can't say enough about their whores, strippers and prostitutes. (Thank goodness there's an "аптека" on every block). So STOP hating!

If only society was a huge orgasm....that would be awesome.

Ned. I see where you are coming. But with all due respect I tend to disagree.

lets see our society or our world as a huge organism. now some of the cells start to behave abnormally causing cancer and putting the whole organism at danger. we have a choice of surgically removing the sick cells or try to pursue them to be good cells explaning them that the whole structure will be extinct if they do not stop to grow abnormally.

"It is their parasite mentality that serves them no good. Their perception that the world owes them something. Their inability to understand the consequences of their actions. Their laziness. Their ignorance toward life of others. Their violence. Their culture, better the absence of such."

It's funny that - even in the comments above - some people have used the same language to criticize Eastern Europeans. Seems a bit telling to me.

FYI - Same language the Nazis described the Jews in.

Lisanne!

"Racism is never acceptable."

it is the matter of opinion.
it depends what is the root cause of the problem.

trust me. I came here as a friend to the whole African American population. But after 20 smthng years living with them, working with them, commuting with them.....I saw that those people deserve all bad rap they have around them. It is their parasite mentality that serves them no good. Their perception that the world owes them something. Their inability to understand the consequences of their actions. Their laziness. Their ignorance toward life of others. Their violence. Their culture, better the absence of such.

There are a lot of blacks in Sheepshead Bay. There is a black community here that dates back 100 years.

Racism is never acceptable. Whether its directed against Russians, blacks, or any other group.

You can only earn respect when you give it.

Lisanne! whose fault that normal people despise blacks? theirs. I would understand anti-Semites if 50 % of Jews were behind bars and the other 50 % sneaking around at night looking something to steal. yes there are very intelligent and nice African-Americans, I agree. I just never been in those parts of Africa or America where they breed. go live in Crown Heights or East NY for a while and than we will talk.

It's been awhile since I've heard such blatant racism.

Your recollection of Sheepshead Bay is quite flawed, as is your attitude.