George,
Bigoted opinions (Mayhem in Little Tijuana, July 2018) should not be allowed space on the pages of WestView News. In his “Briefly Noted” letter, a Mr. Gilman calls the corner of 6th Avenue and West 4th “Little Tijuana,” “because of the crowds and the porn shops and Papaya Dog… Young men and women, sometimes in drag, hang out at this point looking for trouble and ready to act out their rage.”
I’ve never heard anyone refer to the corner of 6th Ave and West 4th as “Little Tijuana.” In coining that term, Mr. Gilman not so subtly implies that unruly Mexicans (including drag queens) were responsible for the civil disturbance he witnessed— which is not unlike Trump characterizing Mexicans as rapists and murderers disrupting our civil society. Mr. Gilman goes on to suggest that this kind of “disruption” is “an every-day-night” occurrence. Ridiculous. I frequent that quarter of the Village on almost a daily basis to access the West 4th Station, see movies at IFC, etc. The only daily disruption I’ve encountered in the area is the line of people blocking the sidewalk as they wait to buy a slice at Joe’s Pizza.
At the very least, WestView should have edited the letter’s most bigoted comments. Instead, the paper chose to repeat one of the most offensive in the headline.
—Bill Lynch, West Village Resident
