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By Max Jaeger<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Paper<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Call them politically active.<\/p>\n
A pair of teens scaled a baseball diamond backstop in Dyker Heights to tear down a pro-Donald Trump banner someone hanged there on July 11 because they thought the posting was racist, a witness said. An apparent fan of the divisive presidential hopeful posted the campaign paraphernalia in view of Dyker Beach Park’s soccer pitch, and the kids thought that was a dig at the people of color who frequent the field, so they pulled the political pennant and stomped on it for good measure, an onlooker told this paper.<\/p>\n
“Two kids climbed up the whole fence and tore it all down and stepped on it,” said resident Mario Caggiano, who happened upon the scene. “They were defending the Mexicans that were there — the kids specifically mentioned the Mexican soccer players.”<\/p>\n
Critics have blasted Trump, who has campaigned on building a wall separating Mexico and the United States, for a litany of remarks perceived as racist toward Latinos.<\/p>\n
The teens appeared to be Arabic — a primarily Islamic pan-ethnicity that Trump has also riled by proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the United States — but they seemed unconcerned with their own identity politics and only told Caggiano they were standing up for neighborhood Latinos, said Caggiano, a Hillary Clinton supporter and administrator at IS 303.<\/p>\n
The educator was glad to see kids getting involved, he said.<\/p>\n
“It was inspiring to see children doing that — taking a stance — because they felt that Trump was very divisive,” he said. “I felt pride in these children doing this. I don’t want our neighborhood to be cast in that light — that we’re close-minded. I don’t want any of that divisiveness.”<\/p>\n
The Parks Department bars people from posting signs in city greenswards without a permit, and the department did not sign off on the Trump banner, a spokeswoman said. <\/p>\n
If you are one of the teens who took down the banner, we?d like to get your take. Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeger@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.<\/p>\n
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