Racism & Hate Speech on the Unofficial NYPD Message Board Following West Indian Day Parade

(by Alissa Fleck) Various unofficial online NYPD discussion forums-including Facebook and the message board Thee Rant-have been an outlet for intense racism by NYPD officers in recent years. Gothamist reports last year numerous officers faced disciplinary action for hateful comments posted on Facebook following the West Indian Day Parade. The recent dismissal of Fishel Litzman, a Hasidic cadet, for controversial reasons, spurred a renewed onslaught of hate speech. Now, Gothamist reports, officers have taken to Thee Rant to spew more racism over this weekend's West Indian Day Parade and subsequent violence, even referring to parade-goers as "savages" and saying should be allowed to kill themselves. NYPD Confidential columnist Leonard Levitt highlighted the hate speech in his column, at which point the commenters turned on him, slinging all imaginable variety of anti-semitic slur. [Thee Rant message board can be accessed here.](http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/52794/Bloody-violence--West-Indian-Day-Parade-Two-men-stabbed--dea#.UEdxJY51RRe)