By: Jared Evan
A new protest movement has sprung up and they take their right to petition the government for a redress of grievances as given to them by the first amendment very seriously.
Orthodox Jewish children took to the streets of Brooklyn Friday to protest — but in this case, the cause of their ire is summer camp, NBC NY reported.
JTA described them as blocking traffic much like we have seen city wide at George Floyd protests, but this was a peaceful “movement” with little kids holding signs saying “camp” to be found. JTA reported there were some seeking “racial justice” as well, but mainly their grievances were directed towards de Blasio and Cuomo.
They chanted “We want Camp”
The young Orthodox “activists” want Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allow sleepaway camps to reopen for the summer, even with the risks posed by COVID-19.
Cuomo said June 2 that day camps could reopen June 29 but left the decision on sleepaway camps for another day. He has suggested, strongly and repeatedly, that he would be wary of sending his own children to an overnight camp given the emergence of the pediatric condition known as MIS-C, NBC reported.
A complication of COVID-19 infection, MIS-C strikes kids with symptoms that mirror toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease. The majority of children who develop it end up in intensive care, and at least three have died in New York.
JTA reported: videos posted to Twitter showed young boys on bikes and scooters riding through the streets of Williamsburg and shouting. In a video shared by the Orthodox news site Vos Iz Neias, children gathered on a street in Borough Park after dark. In another video shared by Orthodox journalist Jake Turx, children blocked traffic on a Borough Park street in front of a yeshiva.
The Association of Jewish Camp Operators, whose members run dozens of summer camps, has lobbied local officials for weeks to press Cuomo to allow camps to open this summer, while the Union for Reform Judaism opted out of sleepaway camps this summer, NBC reports.
State Sen. Simcha Felder wrote a letter Thursday to de Blasio saying, “we can no longer tolerate the excessive restriction of closed playgrounds.” Access to many green spaces in the city has been restricted because they contain playgrounds, which are closed to stop the spread of disease, J.T.A reported
During the height of the George Floyd protests over the initial weekend of the sometimes-violent street gatherings, reports circulated from Brooklyn social media that police officers were ticketing Jewish families who were using public playgrounds, enforcing social distancing ordinances. However, as the protests became violent near Barclay’s Center, those rules were not being followed nor enforced.
There have been some tensions among the Orthodox and Hasidic communities and the NYPD mainly over social distancing ordinances which seemingly are being selectively enforced. DCNF recently reported that Jewish congregants have filed a lawsuit against Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over double standards on worship and protests.