- Got tips? Send them to tips (at) r8ny (dot) com
- Blog on Room Eight
- sign-up to receive a daily digest by email
- Advertise on Room Eight
- Login / Sign-up
Antisemitism of "Corbin Place" and even "New York"Names and words can be tricky things. Some names should be changed and some shouldn't. Some words should be spoken and some shouldn't. We've seen the "n word" legislation, and I've made known here that the city council resolution was incredibly poorly researched (even a junior high school student would check a dictionary) and selective (what about "faggot" or "swastika"?), among many other problems. Now comes "Corbin Place." People were living on Corbin Place without any problem at all until last month, when Denis Hamill's Daily News column revealed that Austin Corbin was anti-Semitic. Really anti-Semitic. Proto-Nazi. And, wouldn't you know, lots of Jewish people live on Corbin Place today. A city council member has proposed a possible name change. The Jewish Press has called it "Brooklyn's Hitler Street:" "To leave Corbin’s name on the street, in these circumstances, would be tantamount to saying that his anti-Jewish incitement didn’t matter. To change it to Celler Place would bring the Corbin saga to a fitting end: the Brooklyn street named in honor of a bigot would instead pay tribute to a Brooklynite who devoted his life to fighting bigotry." However, the Jewish Press also acknowledges (as all do) that Corbin was an important figure in the development of Brooklyn: "As president of the Long Island Railroad during the late 1800’s, Corbin built the first railroads to Manhattan Beach, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island. He also built the luxurious 358-room Manhattan Beach Hotel, a favorite summer spot for that era’s rich and famous, as well as another area hotel, the Oriental." The two people who recent wrote a book on Brooklyn names (it's a great book) argue against the change, pointing out that there are about seventy Brooklyn names celebrating slaveholders. You can't change history. No one (but me, of course) points out that not even the name "New York City" is entirely clear of antisemitism. How many of you have visited the city of York, in England? If you have, you can never forget Clifford's Tower (York Castle), and what happened on that site on March 16, 1190. From Wikipedia: "Isolated attacks on Jews occurred also at Colchester, Thetford, and Ospringe, but the most striking incident occurred at York on the night of March 16 (the day of the Jewish feast of Shabbat ha-Gadol, the shabbat before Passover) and March 17, 1190. The Jews of York were alarmed by the preceding massacres and by the setting on fire of several of their houses by the anti-Jewish rioting in the wake of religious fervor during crusaders' preparations for the Third Crusade against the Saracens, led by Richard. "Their leader Josce asked the warden of York Castle to receive them with their wives and children, and they were accepted into Clifford's Tower. However, the tower was besieged by the mob of crusaders, demanding that the Jews convert to Christianity and be baptized. Trapped in the castle, the Jews were advised by their religious leader, Rabbi Yomtob of Joigney, to kill themselves rather than convert; Josce began the self-immolation by slaying his wife Anna and his two children, and then was killed by Yomtob. The father of each family killed his wife and children, and then Yomtob stabbed the men before killing himself. The handful of Jews who did not kill themselves surrendered to the crusaders at daybreak on March 17, leaving the castle on a promise that they would not be harmed; they were also killed. In the aftermath the wooden tower was burnt down." Who reads about York in any New York City school book? No one! But anyone who has been to York can never forget it. "New York City"--how can any city be named that? How can Jews live there? History ain't neat. Corbin did good and bad things. The citizens of York also did good and bad things. We can learn from history, but we shouldn't re-write it. That would be censorship. IMHO, and in the opinion of the Brooklyn naming scholars, leave "Corbin Place" be. It's part of Brooklyn's history, Brooklyn's very soul, Brooklyn's good and Brooklyn's bad. Don't change all the street signs to "Fluffy Kittens Way." If Jewish people leave on Corbin Place, so much the better! LINKS: New York City isn't named for the city of York, but for James, Duke of York. The Duchy of York, however, is not identical to the city of the same name.
Yes, the Duchy of York is larger than the city of York. Peter Stuyvesant's name has come up in the internet discussions of this renaming issue. Stuyvesant was no friend of the Jewish people, but his name remains on a public school and a public street. The thing is how do you know that Corbin didn't change later in life and change his views? Are we to assume, without benefit of having read his mind, that he was as bitterly anti-semitic as an older man, when he accomplished all these other things, as he was a young man? This is like the Gunter Grass situation. Gunter Grass is the nobel prize winning author and peace activist who revealed not long ago that in his youthful days, he had been a member of the SS. To some, Grass admitting this negates his being one of the great novelists of the twentieth century and his having been a passionate and outspoken liberal progressive for most of his life since his early days. Grass's publishers have been petitioned by some to stop re-printing his books and booksellers to stop selling them. Gunter Grass clearly was someone who changed, and became a different person, as he got older. Must he not be given credit for that, and punished for actions of his long ago youth? Must Austin Corbin not be given the benefit of the doubt that he didn't learn from his mistakes and change as a person?
Your point is ludicrous. Naming a street after a person honors that person. The incident you describe at York was one incident carriedout by people who happened to live there. Plenty of good things happened there too. I think Corbin Place should be left alone since its the ultimate burn. The guy wanted Jews out of New York. In that regard he was a colossal failure, since Jews thrived here. Isn't it a beautiful irony to have his name on a street adorned with menorahs on Chanukah and where Jewish children play? Do you know how racist anti-semitic many of the Founding Fathers were? Have we changed the name of our nation's capital because George Washington owned slaves? (I think Corbin Place should be left alone since its the ultimate burn. The guy wanted Jews out of New York. In that regard he was a colossal failure, since Jews thrived here.)
The aforementioned Andrew Jackson is famous for his opposition to having a national central bank, and closed down the Bank of the United States when he became President. That his face is on the "Federal Reserve Note" that spills out of ATMs is another irony. Post new comment |
Hot Topics
Gov Wire
Political Update
Google AdsSearchRoom Eight Extras |
delicious
digg
How about Andrew Jackson, former president and Indian killer/murderer, his face is on every $20 bill in America.