Nob Hill, Albuquerque – There are a few words in our language
devoted exclusively to hate.
The owner of a Jewish deli in Albuquerque opened up shop early Wednesday
morning to find one of those words wrapped up in a threat, and tacked to her
front door.
Now she’s speaking out, only on KOB Eyewitness News 4.
The Nosh Deli on Amherst in Nob Hill serves Jewish food, celebrates
Jewish culture, and now is the target of an antisemitic attack.
“I haven’t heard that word in a long time,” said Alisa
Turtletaub. “Theres a lot of darkness out there. There’s a lot of
hate.”
Alisa Turtletaub thought she’d missed a delivery when she saw mailing
labels on the door of her Nob Hill deli.
Scrawled across the label, in the space reserved for a mailing address,
was an antisemitic word.
“It was like they’re sending me a message,” said Turtletaub.
The message: “To: The kikes who should die.”
It’s the kind of hate she says she hasn’t felt in years.
“Not here anyway,” she said.
Turtletaub says many groups deal with ugliness. She’s seen her share.
“Swastikas on lockers in school growing up,” she said.
“Never this blatant. Never this blatant, with that word.”
She kept the labels there, so police could investigate.
“It ruined my morning,” said Nosh customer Doug Crowder.
“I’m just floored.”
So is Susan Seligman with the New Mexico chapter of the Anti-Defamation
League.
“I put out a security advisory to all the Jewish organizations in
the state,” said Seligman.
The threat is the first reported in a couple years in New Mexico.
Seligman says white power prison gangs were active 15 to 20 years ago, but she
says now its more isolated.
“Whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing,” she said.
The league keeps tabs on people known to make threats like these. She
says this time it’s probably one person.
“It’s always the lone wolf that we are concerned about because we
don’t know where they’re coming from,” said Seligman.
Back at Nosh, famous Jews proudly look on as comfort food is served, and
Turtletaub says she’s had plenty of comfort after what happened.
“People have been coming in just saying, ‘Can we give you a
hug?'” said Turtletaub.
That, she says, is her message.
“Show love. Everybody just needs to get along,” she said.
The FBI takes these kinds of threats seriously.
There is a special agent looking into what happened at Nosh. Seligman
says she wouldn’t be surprised if it’s prosecuted as a hate crime.
