Editor’s Note: The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our latest print edition.

After the success of the inaugural Norwood Pride Festival last year, Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC) and the Jerome Gun Hill Business Improvement District (BID) hosted the second edition of the festival on Sunday, June 15, held once again in the Williamsbridge Oval.

 

MPC advances the health and wellbeing of Bronx communities through small business support, neighborhood development, quality housing and local news while, similar to other BIDs, the Jerome Gun Hill BID is a geographical area where local stakeholders oversee and fund the maintenance, improvement, and promotion of a specific commercial district.

 

The event was sponsored by State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), Assemblyman Carl Heastie (A.D. 83), Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr. (A.D. 80), City Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11), Montefiore-Einstein, Destination Tomorrow, the Bronx LGBTQ Center, MetroPlus Health, NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, VNS Health, Select Health, Ponce Bank and the LGBTQ outreach unit.

 

Attendees were treated to a drag queen show, a live DJ, musical performances, giveaways, free resources, cupcakes, cotton candy, hot dogs, and plenty of entertainment from noon to 5 p.m. While a bit of rain and cooler weather kept some people away, others, including kids, arrived equipped with umbrellas and rain jackets to enjoy the festivities.

 

After thanking the sponsors, Jus Jahlisa, emcee for the event, said, “Please enjoy and support our local businesses, ok? We have cupcakes from a local confectionary, and we have juice from Crazy Fruits, Bainbridge.” Later, addressing those gathered, Dinowitz also thanked his colleagues in government, the various sponsors, and all who showed up for the event.

 

“In the City Council, I know government seems so far removed sometimes from what we do, and our lives here in New York City, but in the Council, we’re doing very important work for our LGBTQ+ community, whether that’s addressing runaway, homeless youth or making sure our LGBTQ in the community is represented and counted, and we know how we’re best supporting them or funding organizations….. I see, over there, Destination Tomorrow, and funding the organizations like MPC that do the work that support our LGBTQ siblings,” he said.

The councilman also used the occasion to announce some additional funding for MPC, saying, “I want to right now present the Mosholu Preservation Corporation with a check for $77,000 for them to continue their really incredible work for all of us here. Thank you.”

 

At one point, a few protestors carrying a sign which included the wording “Please sign the anti-genocide pledge” and who were holding a Palestinian flag and a Pride flag interrupted the councilman, who is Jewish, and appeared to question how the referenced funding would be allocated. The group are also heard in a video asking Dinowitz something to the effect of “What about the queer youth of Palestine?” Dinowitz is seen responding to the group but as he had already handed the mic to MPC, his response cannot be heard.

 

Gesturing to the protestors and appearing a bit taken aback, in a subsequent video, obtained by Norwood News, he is heard saying, “If anyone is curious about the international politics that they’re bringing here, number one, by definition, there is no genocide, and second of all, if there is one place in the Middle East, a single country that I am proud to support, it is called Israel.”

 

According to Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, who has recently been sanctioned by the United States for her work, genocide is being carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza as a form of “colonial erasure.”

 

According to her report, “The violence that Israel has unleashed against the Palestinians post-7 October is not happening in a vacuum, but is part of a long-term, intentional, systematic, State-organized, forced displacement and replacement of the Palestinians. This trajectory risks causing irreparable prejudice to the very existence of the Palestinian people in Palestine.”

 

In light of the above, and notwithstanding that U.S. foreign policy is decided at the federal level and not at the New York City Council level, Norwood News contacted the councilman about his remarks at the public event and asked him if he stood by them. The councilman responded, saying, “The war that Hamas began on October 7 by targeting civilians with rape, kidnapping, and murder, and perpetuates by refusing ceasefire agreements, has resulted in the death of many enemy combatants and tragic deaths of innocent civilians.”

 

According to various media reports, in May, the White House said its officials submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. They said discussions were continuing, and it was hoped that a ceasefire in Gaza would take place. However, the BBC reported that a senior Hamas official later said the deal contradicted previous discussions between the group’s negotiators and the White House official.

 

According to the BBC, the Hamas official told the media company that the ceasefire offer did not include guarantees the temporary truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, nor a return to the humanitarian protocol that allowed hundreds of trucks of aid into Gaza daily during the last ceasefire. The BBC also reported that nonetheless, the Hamas official said the group remained in contact with the mediators and would submit its written response in due course.

The Arab American Institute argues that the war did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023, and that the terrorist attack by Hamas on this date was a reaction to decades of forced displacement by the Israeli government of the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, others, including the Israeli government, argue that since circa 2005/2006, Hamas has been responsible for governing and running Gaza and therefore, there was no rationale for the terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

 

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, [notwithstanding this fact] Hamas military leaders justified the attack by citing Israel’s long-running blockade on Gaza. [Israel also controls resources like the water supply into the Palestinian territory of the West Bank.]

 

Based on their respective actions taken in the context of the conflict, international bodies, including the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, have since issued investigations into both Israeli and Hamas officials for violating international law. Both parties reject the claims.

 

Back at the Pride event, the councilman continued, saying, “When it comes to LGBTQ rights in the Middle East, there is a single country that I am proud to support in the Middle East called Israel. It is the only country in the Middle East that supports LGBTQ rights. That is a simple fact. I’m sorry.. I’m sorry you’re supporting the organizations, the terrorist organizations that murder you if you are a member of the LGBTQ community, and that’s why I’m proud to support, here in The Bronx, the LGBTQ community, here in The Bronx and abroad, and I support the countries that support their rights to live with dignity, and love who they love.”

 

He continued, “There is a single country that allows that in the Middle East. I am proud to support Israel but more importantly, today, I am proud to support the Mosholu Preservation Corporation ’cause they know what’s important here at home and that is supporting everyone’s right to dignity no matter who you love, no matter where you come from, no matter what you believe, no matter anything, and that’s why I am so proud to work with Daniela [Beasley, executive director of MPC] and Edwin [Reyes, manager at MPC]. Thank you so much.”

 

The equaldex website provides an overview and ranking of LGBTQ rights per country, as does the Williams Institute at UCLA. Another source providing such data is the Human Rights Campaign.

 

Throughout the councilman’s remarks, AJ Ramos, a Norwood resident who has long campaigned for more visibility around the LGBTQ+ community within Bronx Community District 7, including the raising of a Pride flag during Pride Month in the district, was witnessed heckling the councilman while he was speaking, while wearing a New York City-issued press pass. Ramos called out, “Free, free Palestine! Free, free Palestine! No pride in genocide! Stonewall was a protest!”

 

Earlier during the event, in a video posted online, Ramos is seen approaching a table set-up displaying the Pride flag and Palestinian flags and a sign that says, “We will resist genocide.” He addresses those at the table saying, “Thank you for doing this. The city councilmember over there, Eric Dinowitz, is so pro-genocide. He’s horrible, yeah.”

 

Ramos continues, “He sponsors the event only because I’ve been asking for a Pride flag for like five years, so him and the hospital did this to try to quiet the neighborhood but even at every community board meeting, pro-genocide, pro-genocide, pro-genocide. I wanted to have my ‘Fight Aids, not Palestinians’ flag. He tried to silence me but he’s here. Get that b*tch. [Congressman] Ritchie Torres [NY-15] is also going to be here too.” We reached out to the councilman for comment on Ramos’s remarks and he had none. Reyes pointed out to Ramos that a large Pride flag was prominently displayed at the event.

Meanwhile, Beasley said she was really appreciative of the funding which she said supported everything that MPC was doing in the community, which she added was community-led.

 

“We listen to what you guys want and then we make programming from it,” she said. Thanking everyone for showing up and encouraging everyone to have a great day, she added that she hoped the event would be back again next year, bigger and better, and also acknowledged that the councilman had supported MPC over many years and had helped build it into what it is today. She later said the funding MPC receives is used for the benefit of all members of the community.

 

For their part, Jahlisa later said, “Today is about celebrating Pride. We all can definitely come together. We all can definitely make sure our voices are heard.” They went on to remind everyone that it was a public park, that children were present, and to be mindful of their comportment.

 

Ramos had also complained that the sponsors of the event were included in the Norwood Pride Hall of Fame this year, even though they were not, to his knowledge, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and he further complained generally about the commercialization of Pride Month.

 

Beasley said that, as reported, last year [as part of an exhibit created in conjunction with the Bronx County Historical Society] many historical figures from the LGBTQ+ community were honored as part of the Norwood Pride Hall of Fame [including James Baldwin, Sylvia Rivera and many others].

 

She said this year, the event was more about honoring present day LGBTQ+ figures and organizations, like Jus Jahlisa and Destination Tomorrow, as well as allies of the LGBTQ+ community, including those sponsoring the event. Norwood News reached out to the various elected officials for further comment on this point and will share any feedback we receive.

 

The latest phase of the war in Gaza has prompted many public rallies in the U.S. and in The Bronx by those supporting Palestine, as reported. Local Norwood resident, pediatric nurse, and former editor of City Limits, Jarrett Murphy, recently participated in a 40-day group fast in hopes of raising awareness about a blockade of food and other supplies by Israeli authorities into Gaza.

 

Meanwhile, many recurring gatherings have also taken place locally among those calling for the return of the various Jewish hostages who were kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. According to reporting by the Associated Press as of June 11, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed since that date by the Israeli Defense Authority [IDF], many of whom are children, and 127,394 have been wounded.

Citing the Gaza Health Ministry as a source, AP reported that at least 21 people were killed while on their way to aid distribution sites. AP also reported that the Ministry “is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records.”

 

AP further reported that since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 hostages, more than half the captives have been released in ceasefires or other deals, while Israeli forces have rescued eight, and recovered the remains of dozens more hostages.

 

The Israeli government has disputed the number of Palestinian fatalities but has not permitted international media organizations inside the region so there is no way of independently verifying the number. Most information is being sourced from humanitarian and other transnational organizations like the World Health Organization, Amnesty International, and the United Nations.

 

Wrapping up the public comments at the event, Rivera said he was happy to be there to celebrate Pride and encouraged everyone to reach out to his office if anyone was in need of assistance. “This has been a very challenging year,” he said. “I think all of us in our different ways have had a very challenging year,” he added. “It is during these very troubling times, the one thing that we can do to make sure that we can go to the other side is making sure that we can find other people who we love, who we can support, who we can build with on the things that you care about.”

 

He continued, “There’s a lot of people that care about the same things. Here, today, all of us care about supporting our brethren, our sistren in the LGBTQ+ community. That’s what we care about, because we love them, we support them, they are our family members, our neighbors, our friends, our people, and we want to want to make sure that they know we love them and we support them. So make sure that you continue to do that as challenging times come and go, it is this that will actually get us through.”

In a subsequent post, the senator wrote, “As we wrap up #PrideMonth, let’s renew our commitment to protect the LGBTQ+ community against the barrage of attacks from the Trump administration. I was proud to sponsor events in my district where Bronxites celebrated #Pride in style, including the 4th Annual Riverdale Pride and the 2nd Annual Norwood Pride. To my LGBTQ+ friends in The Bronx and across our State, you are seen, and you are loved.”

 

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Editor’s Note: This story has been expanded on based on additional video footage received of the event.