Anti-Semitism is alive and well, even in New York. But so is good Samaritanism: the other day, a Bangladeshi named Hassan Askari stepped in to assist a group of Jews who were being attacked by a gang of ten thugs on the subway.

What’s slightly amusing to me about this headline is how small Askari is (140 pounds), and how big (and intimidating) Walter Adler seems to be, what with the leather coat and all. But I suppose in these situations there’s a lot of power even in the symbolic act of stepping up and challenging the mob — even if you’re just going to get pummeled by guys who look like this. (Apparently, Askari’s intervention gave Adler time to pull the emergency brake, which alerted the cops.) According to the New York Post story on this, afterwards Adler invited Askari over to his house to celebrate Hanukkah. A nice touch.

Incidentally, before people start speculating, the goons in question are Caucasians; two of them have even been charged with hate crimes—against blacks—before.

(Earlier desi hero story here. Apparentely Amarjit Singh hasn’t been doing so well, but the NY Daily News started a fund to help him out.)

amardeep on December 13, 2007