The internet has identified yet another unabashed bigot showing his true colors today. Manhattan’s Aaron M. Schlossberg, attorney at law, was caught on camera at the Fresh Kitchen near his office in east Midtown, where he apparently was Very Upset to hear people he didn’t know speaking Spanish to each other.
Schlossberg, whose website flaunts his own fluency in Español, soon escalated his eavesdropping into an epic rant that included complaints about “his country” and “welfare” and multiple threats to “call ICE” on people he assumed were “undocumented.” The video was initially posted to Facebook by user Edward Suazo. Suazo says his wife, whom Eater NY identifies as Deena Gonzalez, and her best friend were speaking to each other when this nosy lawyer lost it.
Schlossberg hits his peak as a xenophobic bigot while yelling at the manager with his own camera phone in hand.
“My guess is they’re not documented, so my next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country. If they have the balls to come here and live off of my money, I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to be here; the least they can do is speak English.”
Schlossberg then aims his phone at the woman filming him, and adds a little body shaming to the mix.
”Honey, I’m calling ICE. Maybe you shouldn’t eat that sandwich today. Take a break from the food.”
The video quickly went viral—as of this writing, it’s been viewed over 1.7 million times. On Wednesday morning, activist Shaun King took to Twitter to ask for help identifying the buttoned-down bigot, and the results came in fast, and couldn’t be less surprising.
The Twitter detectives dug deep. They found this disturbing clip of Schlossberg accosting a bunch of rabbis who support Palestine last May. He’s the Very Upset guy in the black puffer coat screaming “Fake Jews, Fake Jews” before joining in a chant supporting Milo Yiannopolous.
Then Twitter found the website for his law practice, where Schlossberg flaunts his Spanish fluency and his membership in Alpha Tau Omega, a fraternity that has recently seen members accused of gang rape and arson.
This is what a bigot looks like.
When I attempted to contact Schlossberg via his office for comment, I was unable to get past his automatic voicemail service. Eater NY reports similar struggles in getting through to the attorney, and the NY Daily News reports his office is turning away all visitors.
As Trump’s version of Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues to sharpen its talons as the American ethno-police, empowered bigots have increasingly latched onto the threat of “calling ICE” on those they see communicating in languages other than English. As cameraphones continue to expose these maniacs for who they are, it’s also important to note that the video also portrays a crowd of apathetic bystanders who did little to defuse the situation.
It should also surprise nobody that Schlossberg supported Trump, because, well, of course he did.
If progressives want to be allies to those in this country who struggle against bigotry of all sorts, it’s necessary to speak out against these people when they misbehave like this, and let them know that their hatred is NOT normal. Otherwise, communal silence is often interpreted as acceptance and agreement—not just by the bigots, but also by their targets.
Thursday, May 17, 2018 · 3:48:35 PM +00:00 · Jessica Sutherland
Yet another video (of someone who sure looks like Aaron M. Schlossberg, Attorney at Law) has surfaced. In this one, a Very Upset man accosts a couple on a Fifth Avenue sidewalk and calls them “ugly fucking foreigners.”
PS: Here’s the cover of the NY Daily News some community members predicted was inevitable:
