Response to the "Slumlord" article condoning murder: This was my letter to the NYPost
To the Editor of the NYPost:
Re: "Slain slumlord found in trash has enemies list a mile long"
The real headline of this article should have been, "Where is Justice?" I thought we lived in a country of law, order, and due process. How can you write about a cold-blooded, grisly murder of a human being as if it was expected, inevitable, or worse, deserved? He was a husband, a father, a man engaged in philanthropy and good works in his community (according to your own article)!
If there are claims that he acted criminally in his business dealings, he surely deserved a fair trial in the courts of law. And the last I checked in our law books, owing money and getting served with building violations is not a crime punishable by kidnapping, smothering, and burning of one's corpse.
To insinuate otherwise is a monumental failure of editorial judgement, dangerous to the foundational principles of a lawful society.
I am an Orthodox Jew, and I would have been upset to see such a horrible statement about any human being from any ethnic or religious group. But it is especially disturbing that the NYPost cover at a quick glance, without reading the content inside, appears to show a stereotypical Hasidic Jew and claim that everyone wanted him dead. Only a few decades after the Holocaust, a time when no one did care that millions of Jews were being killed, this cannot be taken calmly by any ethical person.
I cannot think of any way you can adequately apologize to the family of this man, to the Jewish community, to New York City, and all of America, for the damage you have done today.