Yesterday evening, in a moment that still has me reeling 24 hours after it occurred, my two-year-old son and I were denied service at a sushi restaurant because I did not have my “vaccination” papers. After taking my son site seeing in Manhattan, inspired by the memory of my father taking me on a tour of the Big City forty years ago, I decided to have my own father and son moment as I took my firstborn son to downtown NYC.
We walked all around 42nd Avenue, I wanted to stop by the AIPAC office to drop off a message of peace and unity after I realized that condemning all Zionists was a form of collective judgment that I abhor. No one was available at the AIPAC office so my son and I did some additional site seeing. Yohannes, being the social butterfly that he is, made countless people smile as he did Ethiopian danceand waved at everyone that passed by. Even the most detached New Yorker was brought to a smile the minute they made eye contact with my little one.
After we did enough walking, on our way to the car I saw a sushi restaurant. I love sushi and Yohannes loves avocado rolls so we made a pit stop to grab a quick bite. The minute we walked in, the host asked for proof of “vaccination” and I told her I don’t have one. She told me that I could not enter the establishment even though I had my son with me. I cannot tell you how dehumanizing it was to experience discrimination I thought we overcame a generation ago. The day before I was denied service at three other establishments—including an Ethiopian restaurant—because I did not have “vaccination” papers on me. As painful as that was, it paled in comparison to being told to leave like we were unwelcomed dogs as I was carrying my son.
I am writing a full-length article about segregationist NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “vaccinated only” policy that will be published tomorrow. For now, I am presenting this article to premiere this video below as I recount my experience with a de jure form of apartheid that I call Jab Crow. For those who excuse this heinous segregation policy that de Blasio has implemented in New York City, just know that you are in league with Germans who likewise minimized the suffering of Jews by justifying the way Nazis ghettoized them. To echo Martin Niemöller, first they came for the “unvaccinated”, they will come for you and your children soon enough.
