‘Listen to the people from the neighborhood’: Tweets from Sunset Park

By Brooklyn Magazine

A day after a devastating mass shooting in New York’s history, commuters have cautiously returned to a fully functional subway, and a manhunt is underway for a “person of interest” in an attack that left at least 23 people shot or otherwise injured.

The entire city is rattled from the shooting, which occurred on a Manhattan-bound N train at the heavily-trafficked 36th Street subway station. But in a time of an uptick in racially motivated attacks on certain members of the city’s population, the neighborhood of Sunset Park has been particularly shaken.

It is also incredibly resilient. Home to a robust immigrant community (and increasing number of gentrifiers)—including a booming Chinatown and vibrant Latinx community—the area surrounding the intersection where the shooting took place has come together in mutual support and resilience.

On Twitter, members of the community expressed solidarity with their neighbors, strength in the immediate aftermath of trauma, and an almost entirely uniform resistance to calls for more police. Here is a brief snapshot of thoughts from a corner of Brooklyn in a horrifying week.

Because I’ve seen some misinformation out there- Sunset Park is not “yuppies with $7 lattes” Brooklyn, it’s not “spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way” Brooklyn, it’s soccer and paletas and “ICE couldn’t detain anyone because their neighbors chased them out the building” Brooklyn.

— Dominique Jean-Louis (@DominiqueJL15) April 12, 2022

they’re gonna try to crystalize us in fear but i am staying focused on the heart of sunset park. the resistance and joy in the park, in our small businesses & street vendors, in our multicultural mecca. tiny avatars resisting for decades. truly keeping each other safe.

— Whitney Hu 胡安行 (@whitney_hu) April 13, 2022

Sunset Park is a heavily immigrant working class neighborhood. I’m thinking of the scenario of any immigrant victims having to choose between seeking healthcare for injuries and exposing their status to law enforcement in order to do so.

— Yee-Kay Chan 漪琪 (@yeekaychan) April 12, 2022

South Brooklyn is home to all kinds of immigrant stories. Sunset Park is Brooklyn’s first Chinatown. All the lives converging on the N, many on their morning commute on this clear, sunny day. Change is needed on so many levels. My heart is breaking.

— Hikaru Yamagishi (@YamagishiHikaru) April 12, 2022

This is terrifying for all New Yorkers, but Sunset Park is a predominantly working-class Mexican and Chinese community already facing so much racist violence by both individuals and the state. My heart goes out to this most vibrant and special of Brooklyn neighborhoods. https://t.co/inAy5JFnI8

— c. stella becerril (@LoveU410000yrs) April 12, 2022

One of the signs outside Sunset Park High School right now says “make nyc safe again” @NY1 pic.twitter.com/Gi8YCdHVKN

— Shannan Ferry (@ShannanFerry) April 12, 2022

If you see a plaque on a building, read it. You can learn something. Here’s one in #sunsetpark, Brooklyn. pic.twitter.com/WQIRij9xnu

— S Kadinsky (@SergeyKadinsky) April 13, 2022

I walked into 36th St station in the immediate aftermath of this morning’s incident, turned around as cops were swarming. Didn’t realize how serious it was. Sunset Park is my home, one of NYC’s truly special communities. We will band together. My heart goes out to my neighbors.

— Jody Avirgan (@jodyavirgan) April 12, 2022

⁦@Uber⁩ turn off surges in sunset park. People are scared, let them get out safely pic.twitter.com/e31KIPE3ND

— Shannon McDonagh (@shananigans022) April 12, 2022

a bunch of asian and latino folks on their morning commutes were just shot up in a subway station in sunset park. it’s so insane how the worst day of someone’s life can happen in two seconds. and it’s literally ALWAYS working class people simply existing

— Sakshi Venkatraman (@sakshi_saroja) April 12, 2022

Whatever the hell is happing in Sunset Park, Brooklyn right now right now, LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD FIRST NOT THE COPS, NOT THE BLANCO MAINSTREAM PRESS, NOT ERIC ADAMS

— The Looted Futures Generation (@PeoplesHistory) April 12, 2022

If you want to support the community of Sunset Park following today’s attack, support South Brooklyn Mutual Aid.https://t.co/2YauLXtC0ihttps://t.co/IylWtn7g8R

— NYC Sweep Alerts (@SweepAlertNYC) April 12, 2022

it’s a shame the shooter didn’t jump the turnstile cus nypd would’ve been caught him by now

— jaboukie (@jaboukie) April 12, 2022

NYC is one of the most policed cities in the country.

This illustrates that police *do not* prevent crime nor do they make us safer.

Praying for Brooklyn and the whole city.

— dr. jenn m. jackson (@JennMJacksonPhD) April 12, 2022

i’m devastated and sickened by the subway shootings in Sunset Park this morning. people have been coming to that neighborhood for generations for a chance at a better life, and putting down roots in their own slice of South Brooklyn. we all deserve to be safe in our public spaces

— Andrew Giambrone (@AndrewGiambrone) April 12, 2022

Our Sunset Park community is deeply shaken by this morning’s mass shooting.

My response to this morning’s 36th Street Station shooting with @MMitaynes. pic.twitter.com/FPjEXA3RGM

— NYC Council Member Alexa Avilés (@NYCCouncil38) April 13, 2022