Content, Context, Etc...

Photo: © Stan Banos

Now, I was previously aware that Hasidim did not believe in the establishment of an official Jewish homeland (ie- Israel) before the coming of the Messiah. Granted. But I never in my life thought that any of them would actually go out of their way to actively support the Palestinian cause. And yet here they were, not many to be sure, but present all the same, sporting pro-Palestinian signs and giving pro-Palestinian speeches- one while holding his infant son aloft! It kinda made one think that anything was possible...

Of course, the further irony in all this is that these Hasidim were not backing their Palestinian brothers because of some deep and fervent belief in the brotherhood of all men- but simply because of a Fundamentalist interpretation of a Biblical (Torahnic) declaration. Had the "prophesy" concluded that the Messiah would not come until the formation of a Jewish homeland- these same Hasidim would be just as rabidly anti-Palestinian (if not more so) as the Jewish counter protesters located just across the street...

Photo: © Stan Banos

Now, neither of these are particularly outstanding photos, but they do carry (especially the latter) their full measure of context. I came upon this scene as you see it- tense, but under control. I do not know what led to the eventual placement of handcuffs on this individual, but I'm guessing it got pretty crazed... considering the number of cops for one person, and the fact that a passerby warned me not to get too close (which of course, only encouraged me to do just that). 

But one can't help but look upon that scenario and reflect: 

1) How eerily reminiscent it is of a slave auction block. Flesh bared, head bowed and surrounded to the authority of an inexorable fate...

2) How about a literary interpretation via Hugo's Quasimodo- the "other" on public exhibit not as slave, but as a freak of nature?

3) These police were going out of their way to seem well composed, restrained, even respectful (least while I was there). Was this because this was happening in the heart of Times Square surrounded by hundreds thousands of tourist eyes? Would they have acted the same had this been Staten Island away from the public eye where Eric Garner was needlessly killed- over a couple of cigarettes by a legally outlawed police choke hold (the only person incarcerated, the person who filmed the murder)? 

Like they say, a photograph seldom answers anything...