Racist Imagery Used in
Short-Lived Web Site
By Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
BROOKLYN – A hoax e-mail purporting to be from Forest City Ratner was making the rounds of the city’s media Monday morning, announcing a new “online park system to serve the young adults of the neighborhoods of Gowanus, Crown Heights and Park Slope.”
The e-mail, which appears to satirize the “conversion of 6 acres of park space” in the Atlantic Yards footprint to “needed office space,” also referenced a Web site, www.atlanticyardspark.com. The site was registered to “Alan Smithee,” which, according to Wikipedia, is a common pseudonym for film directors who want their work to be anonymous. In any case, the site was off the Web by early Monday afternoon.
The bogus “online park system” consists of three mock video games, which are described in what can only be called racist terms. For example, one game, “CrackDown,” allows player “to avoid the local drug dealers, their clients and prostitutes while walking to the neighborhood bodega.” Another, “Our Welfare,” teaches young girls “how to deal with their pregnancies and negotiate the welfare and child services system in New York they will be involved in.”
A third mock video game, “G’s Up, Ho’s Down,” teaches “business development skills” to teenagers, both in hip hop and its “secondary industries” such as feuds, drive-bys and drug deals.
A PDF attached to the e-mail has the actual Forest City Ratner logo, but the identifying title at the top says “ATHoax,” identifying it as a hoax, albeit in very small type. The site makes several errors that may be deliberate – for example, it names “Richard Ratner” as president and CEO of Forest City Ratner.
Loren Riegelhaupt, a spokesman for Forest City Ratner, stressed that “this site has no connection to Forest City Ratner or the [Atlantic Yards] project.”
Critics of Atlantic Yards similarly said they didn’t know who had sent the message, although some of them also received it via e-mail.
Dan Goldstein of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn said he wasn’t aware of any “Atlantic Yards Park” site until he received the e-mail.” Jim Vogel of the Council of Brooklyn Neighborhoods, said, “Somebody’s got way too much time on their hands.”
Councilwoman Letitia James, a longtime opponent of the Atlantic Yards plan, hadn’t received the e-mail, but said, “that’s terrible” when she was told of the ethnic stereotypes used by the hoaxer.
Barry Kamins, well-known Brooklyn attorney who currently serves as president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, said he doubted whether a suit would be “actionable,” adding that this could depend on how carefully someone had to read it to find out that it was a hoax.
“The problem is that people send out hoaxes all the time. This is a First Amendment issue – people can say this is a parody,” he said.
One criteria might be whether people would rely on such a site for information. If someone sends out such a site asking for money under false pretenses, then that could definitely lead to court action,” he said.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2007
All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law.
Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues.
So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
Main Office 718 422 7400
