"Racist Lawyer" Goes Viral

[VGThuy]

So all of my friends, co-workers, and I are sort of having a field day with who both the NY Post and NY Daily News have both dubbed the "Racist Lawyer" Aaron Schlossberg who was caught on video berating a customer and a worker at a Fresh Kitchen eatery in midtown and going on a racist tirade all because the customer and worker were speaking Spanish to one another. As the manager was speaking to him, he doubles down and threatens to call "ICE" on all of the employees and goes into an ignorant tirade about paying for their welfare (if you understood how it works, then you know that's not how things work).

After the video went viral, people were able to ID him and all hell broke loose. Two NY politicians filed a complaint against him, as attorneys are subject to scrutiny for behavior from their state Bar. Although I don't think much will come out of that, it was more of a gesture. People started flooding his solo practice's Yelp page giving it 1 star reviews. He worked out of an office in a Midtown building that he used to collect mail and meet clients, and the building broke their lease with him due to the video and resulting media frenzie. Lots of reporters and such have been following him around asking for a follow-up to the video. He doesn't seem like such a big man in those videos after he acted all tough berating who he perceived as a voiceless people (restaurant workers and those he either sincerely thought were or just labeled as undocumented workers).

My comment is...he's in New York effing City. What? He never heard anybody speak to another person in a language that wasn't English before? If he wanted that, then he's in the wrong city. I bet many of the families of those Spanish-speakers he was berating have been living in the city for generations. Also, the fact that he so nonchalantly threatens people with calling ICE shows how out-of-touch people are with the real hurt and harm and trauma that is caused with deportation. I won't go into that much further, but it's BAD. Also, so mature that he didn't have much to say towards the end of the video so has to make a personal dig at the woman filming him's weight but that's par for the course with these types of people.

This link has more information and footage of the original video:

https://heavy.com/news/2018/05/aaron-schlossberg/

 

[skategal]

I watched the original video. So disgusting.

I'm glad he is at least suffering some consequences (albeit pretty minor ones) for it.

 

[oleada]

He’a a disgusting SOB. I’m not surprised though. My sister and my ex-roommate both got yelled at in public for speaking Spanish. They are both US citizens, not that it matters. It’s America and we’re allowed to speak any damn language we want. Also, it’s New York, where roughly 1/4 of residents speak Spanish, and where the multi culturalism is part of the city’s beauty.

Trump has made all these assholes feel empowered and vocal about their racism.

I work with a large immigrant community and the ICE situation is horrific. It’s is so, so bad.

 

[VGThuy]

I just cannot get over this video of this guy randomly shoving a person who doesn't know on the sidewalk and threatening to call the police on him while calling him a "dirty foreigner." The guy is actually an American-born white guy from Massachusetts. This incident happened two years ago and because of this viral video, Willie Morris, was finally able to ID him. That video is crazy. It seems this guy is a little prick who is angry about something and wants to mess with people who he thinks he can take. This guy has serious problems.

https://youtu.be/y3jXyq6B2i4

 

[Jenny]

Interesting because when I lived in New York for a couple of years, I actually didn't find it that integrated. Sure, there were people of all kinds, but there were still a lot of invisible lines as I recall. Which subway stops you got on and off of; which part of town you worked in, lived in, shopped in; which restaurants you went to, the shopping bags people carried; which side of the counter you were on; which sports you followed; what you did and where you did it in the parks.

I don't doubt it's a very multicultural city, and the masses of tourists contribute to that, but compared to where I'm from, it felt strangely not integrated.

 

[VGThuy]

New York is a very integrated when people work, go to school, commute, or simply run into each other, but there are lots of separate enclaves. However, even living in your enclave, it's hard to not be confronted with all kinds of different people unless you're a total hermit or live a life where you're not encouraged to step outside of your neighborhood ever. Living in NYC, you are just simply confronted with different types of people and it's just part of the energy of the city.

It's sort of normal in the U.S., even in multicultural cities, just because people gravitate towards their own communities here and forming their own neighborhoods. Maybe it's different in Toronto and elsewhere because there's more of an effort, by the State, to encourage actual integration. I grew up in a Vietnamese neighborhood in New Orleans, so I have had positive experiences growing up in an enclave but I also see how limiting it can be as well.

 

[Vash01]

I read the story in WaPo yesterday and I just had to shake my head. NY is a city of immigrants. It has the Statue of Liberty. This guy was accusing the poor workers for being illegals, not working, etc. We are seeing a lot more open hatred these days toward immigrants who are not white. The A..H knew he could get away with whatever venom came out of his mouth. The manager should have shown him the door.

 

[VGThuy]

I read the story in WaPo yesterday and I just had to shake my head. NY is a city of immigrants. It has the Statue of Liberty. This guy was accusing the poor workers for being illegals, not working, etc. We are seeing a lot more open hatred these days toward immigrants who are not white. The A..H knew he could get away with whatever venom came out of his mouth. The manager should have shown him the door.

The manager did. He was politely but firmly telling him to leave, which he did, because in this country, we train food service workers and retailer workers to take abuse from customers.

 

[Kasey]

because in this country, we train food service workers and retailer workers to take abuse from customers.

Nurses too.

This man is an entitled jackass who hopefully will quickly realize that he is NOT entitled to anything. But yes, our psychopath in chief has given these pieces of crap a louder voice, and it's just horrifying.

 

[snoopy]

Well could the US be having a mental health crisis? It seems like we are all more easily agitated than we used to be. Maybe there is something environmental that is going on, like the lead pipes in Rome.

 

[meggonzo]

I just cannot get over this video of this guy randomly shoving a person who doesn't know on the sidewalk and threatening to call the police on him while calling him a "dirty foreigner." The guy is actually an American-born white guy from Massachusetts. This incident happened two years ago and because of this viral video, Willie Morris, was finally able to ID him. That video is crazy. It seems this guy is a little prick who is angry about something and wants to mess with people who he thinks he can take. This guy has serious problems.

https://youtu.be/y3jXyq6B2i4

Buzzfeed has an article with this and some other incidents: https://www.buzzfeed.com/tasneemnas...on-schlossberg?utm_term=.kuwYJd35W#.egnwy8gMO

Just last month, he was yelling at someone on the subway. I can't imagine how miserable you have to be to start yelling at every person not speaking English in NYC. Especially when it has nothing to do with him!

 

[meggonzo]

Interesting because when I lived in New York for a couple of years, I actually didn't find it that integrated. Sure, there were people of all kinds, but there were still a lot of invisible lines as I recall. Which subway stops you got on and off of; which part of town you worked in, lived in, shopped in; which restaurants you went to, the shopping bags people carried; which side of the counter you were on; which sports you followed; what you did and where you did it in the parks.

I don't doubt it's a very multicultural city, and the masses of tourists contribute to that, but compared to where I'm from, it felt strangely not integrated.

I found it interesting that he made a point to say in the video that people working at a deli in Midtown Manhattan need to speak English.

 

[VGThuy]

That is what I don't get. I mean that makes no sense because Midtown has tons of stores, restaurants, bars, etc. that are owned by people who are either from a different country or were descendants of those from another country. There are customers and workers who speak Spanish and many other languages bustling about in Midtown all of the time.

Above the Law has a write-up about him:

https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/aaron-schlossberg-is-having-a-delightfully-bad-day/

Apparently, there used to be a picture of a female associate on his website that is no longer there after this whole thing went viral and she went on Twitter to say she no longer works with him and wants to have nothing further to do with him or his views.

He also lied about being a member of the New York State Bar Association, and he removed that part from his website as well. He's a member of the New York Bar, obvs as a working atty, but he's not a member of the Bar Association.

 

[allezfred]

The Mariachi band and taco truck GoFundMe is the best.

Seriously though why do some people find speaking in another language so threatening?

 

[FiveRinger]

It blows my mind that people get so rung out about hearing languages other than English out in public. This lawyer is a tool. Surely, as an attorney, he knows that US does not have an official national language. There are states that have English as the official language. New York is not one of them. Further, with a name like Schlossberg, which sounds to be German and may even have some Jewish lineage, the best thing for him to do would be to have a big, tall glass of STFU. He and Drumpf are obviously nuts that come from the same rotten family tree.

 

[VGThuy]

In that Heavy.com article above, there's a clip of him yelling as part of some Trump supporter-led protest (there were like 7-10 people...welcome to New York) with Milo Yiannopoulos against a counter-protest led by Orthodox Jews for Palestinian rights claiming the other side aren't real Jews and how he's a real Jew because he went to Israel twice. He also changed Milo's name (I thought Milo was noted for his Antisemitism) and lamely used the Game of Thrones "shame" chant.

 

[my little pony]

he went to high school a mile away from me. it's an expensive school. he's not exactly self made.

 

[skatingfan5]

he went to high school a mile away from me. it's an expensive school. he's not exactly self made.

While he may not be a self-made man, he certainly is bringing about his own undoing.

 

[Kasey]

He's a self unmade man.

 

[MacMadame]

Well could the US be having a mental health crisis? It seems like we are all more easily agitated than we used to be. Maybe there is something environmental that is going on, like the lead pipes in Rome.

We are having a mental health crisis. But I don't think that's it and I don't think there is some chemical in the environment that is causing this sort of behavior. I think it's a breakdown in society caused by the continual mocking of anything that respects differences, that involves education, or the government. It's also the last gasps of a dying breed who feels threatened by change and/or finds their place in society tenuous.

Seriously though why do some people find speaking in another language so threatening?

Jealousy. Not everyone can speak multiple languages.

 

[Prancer]

That is one ANGRY man.

Jealousy. Not everyone can speak multiple languages.

He claims to speak four languages--English, Spanish (irony), Hebrew and Mandarin.

 

[skateboy]

The Mariachi band and taco truck GoFundMe is the best.

Seriously though why do some people find speaking in another language so threatening?

Because they can't do it. And they can't stand not knowing what's being said.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

The mariachi band is a good response with some spirited humor to his ugly tirade; but I wish the people writing the death threats & other such things to him would put their time to good use for a good cause rather than crawl into the gutter of violence with him.

It sounds like he's a big Milo fan, so he obviously wants to provoke people. Now that his face is out there, perhaps when he does these things some of them will seek assault charges, obtain restraining orders, or at least file police reports so there is a nice long paper trail following him around. For example, in this week's incident the poor restaurant people may have to listen to his rant, but the customer might be able to make the case that he was forcefully intimidating & threatening her for no reason & it caused her to feel unsafe.

 

[Japanfan]

He is just a racist with little self-control - very unbecoming for a lawyer.

Unfortunately I don't think his sentiments are all that rare. I've heard complaints here in Vancouver BC that Chinese is the official language and immigrants should just "speak English" because they live in a country where English is one of the official languages. This of course makes no sense in a country based on immigration. A large number of first generation immigrants historically and currently did not/do not speak English well, but their children/the second generation, will speak the language. Also, many refugees come to Canada and the US, fleeing situations of conflict and terror. Expecting the older ones among them to become fluent in English is not fair - though SFAIK, they do their best to learn the language.

Also, this idiot may not have noticed that Latinos do a lot of the low paid jobs in the US that average Americans don't want to do. For example, they do seasonal farm work, and I would expect they do it for far less pay than an average American would. We used to visit a part of Washington state where agricultural workers were housed in run-down huts.

We have spent quite a bit of time in Southern California, and I don't think I have ever met a housekeeping staff that was not Latina. And nor have I ever met a housekeeping staff who did not do her job with a smile.

 

[bardtoob]

I find it so odd that these rants often sound programmed.

he went to high school a mile away from me. it's an expensive school. he's not exactly self made.

Maybe he is "small $1,000,000 loan from daddy" self-made?

 

[PeterG]

Seriously though why do some people find speaking in another language so threatening?

Because the U.S.A. has only two languages: 'Murican and Gun.

 

[once_upon]

Seriously though why do some people find speaking in another language so threatening?

According to some relatives of mine (by marriage) it is disrespectful to speak in any language that (s)he doesn't know and they could be talking about them or plotting something. Besides they live in America - they should do what I want them to do, speak English. Sometimes most times all the time I wonder about my relatives by marriage.

 

[Japanfan]

Seriously though why do some people find speaking in another language so threatening?

It threatens some Anglo/white people's feeling that the country belongs to them. Especially those who want to see America become great again!

Racism is alive and well, and a lot of people still feel threatened or frightened by 'the other'.

 

[PeterG]

Especially those who want to see America become great again!

Have any of these people expressed shame or guilt for having dropped the ball and letting America become un-great?

 

[VGThuy]

Not that I’ve seen. They actually think America is better than it was under Obama OR if they admit it’s not, then they blame it on the evil media, evil Dems, “libtards”, “feminazis”, immigrants, socialists, social engineers, SJWs, intellectual class, hypocritical Hollywood, liberal arts majors, DC politicians part of the swamp, business interests (Trump is not included for some reason), et al.