There’s another incident of antisemitic flyers in Connecticut communities, this time across Hamden and New Haven.
“I don’t feel hurt by this, I feel emboldened by it,” said Paul Wessel who lives in East Rock.
His home was among several this week hit with anti-Semitic flyers in neighborhoods along Whitney Avenue, stretching from New Haven to Hamden.
“It looked like it had some research behind it and made all sorts of crazy allegations, but it just felt crazy,” Wessel said.
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It was part of a string of recent incidents across the state, according to Stacey Sobel of the Anti-Defamation League of Connecticut.
“New Haven and Hamden were among them, and those flyers were particularly heinous in that they named individuals and really attacked individuals,” Sobel said.
New Haven police and the FBI are investigating. At a news conference Wednesday afternoon denouncing the flyers, Wessel said he has never experienced this before. He also said he isn’t sure if his neighbors in East Rock received the brochures, too.
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NBC Connecticut asked Wessel if he thinks he was targeted.
“I don’t know. That’s a good question, but I don’t know the answer to that,” he said.
There’s also no answer yet to who’s behind the incidents, according to Assistant Police Chief Bertram Etienne, who says the flyers were found in sandwich bags with rocks to weigh them down.
“Right now, we have not identified anyone who is responsible for the dissemination of these flyers,” Etienne said, adding they reached out to the FBI to assist in the investigation.
Sobel said there’s fear among the Jewish community.
“Is this somebody from the neighborhood? Is this somebody I know? Will one of my neighbors be recruited to this? It really makes people fearful,” said Sobel.
Dozens of supporters came together to speak against the hate, including New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett.
“It is hurtful to people to walk out of their door and see this kind of crap in front of their door, in front of their house, and not know where it came from,” said Garrett.
“We are still where we were when I was a 13-year-old child. There’s something very seriously wrong with that,” said Rev. Lucille Browne of the Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church. “We believe that everyone deserves the life that God has given to them, not the life that other people decide they should have.”
“Jews are not afraid of antisemitism; we protect ourselves from it. We’re used to it. It’s been happening for two thousand years,” said Gerald Barker of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven.
As Passover begins Wednesday night, Barker says there are plans for prayers against oppression of all forms.
“This is the bread of affliction and none of us are free until all of us are free," said Barker.
