They’re planting hate.
A community garden in Ridgewood, Queens, has morphed into a group of pro-Palestinian green thumbs who grow “Poppies for Palestine” and host “Free Palestine” poster making events.
Sara Schraeter-Mowers told The Post she can’t remember the last time she felt welcome in her own neighborhood, where she’s lived for 18 years.
She blamed the Sunset Community Garden, in part, for “creating an environment” in Ridgewood “that’s very hostile towards me and my family.”
Jewish Ridgewood residents are now afraid to go dig in the dirt at the garden, said Schraeter-Mowers, a teacher whose cousin was killed at the Nova Festival massacre on Oct. 7.
Schraeter-Mowers said she was profoundly offended by a July 28 post to the garden’s Instagram page, showing a painting that had been created during the “Free Palestine” arts and crafts event.
The painting featured the words “From the River to the Sea,” an anti-Semitic phrase calling for the destruction of Israel.
“They’re hosting events specifically designed to promote hatred toward Jewish people,” Schraeter-Mowers said.
“They don’t care that they’re alienating certain members of the community, even while putting on the mask of being inclusive.”
“I’d be safer in my home country [of Israel] than I am here,” Schraeter-Mowers added.
“I basically feel like we’re not allowed to be part of the community. I understand they’re trying to ensure people aren’t being discriminated against, but in doing so, they’re discriminating against an entire population in your community.”
Steph Herold’s Instagram post accused the garden’s heads of pushing “out every Jew in the neighborhood who doesn’t conform to your narrow view of acceptable political opinion on Israel.”
In June, the group’s “community agreements” were first posted to the social media platform, and later updated in August.
They’re essentially 10 separate, brevity-challenged pledges all prospective members must make prior to joining the community garden.
One agreement required members to express “solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized people in our own neighborhood and across the globe, especially Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Hawaii,” and Puerto Rico, “as well as with the land and water protectors globally. Active genocides, ecocide, the rise in climate disaster and refugees, victims of class warfare, and others are a direct cause for action in our collective liberation against human rights and environmental justice violations.”
Coincidentally, another required a commitment from members to interrupt “violent behavior or rhetoric that expresses all forms of hate (such as homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, fatphobic, xenophobic, Zionist, anti-Semitic, nationalist and or racist beliefs) in order to preserve a safer space built on trust, respect, and self-awareness. This is not the space to shame or bully anyone based on identities or appearances.”
Statements supporting the Palestinians are also plentiful on the garden’s Instagram page.
Another of the mandates stated “we center and celebrate our queer, trans, disabled, chronically ill, femme, poor, immigrant, refugee, fat bodies, and richly melanated community.”
The garden also called on members to commit to using “people’s correct pronouns” and asking “if we are unsure.”
Located at Onderdonk and Willoughby Avenues, the Sunset Community Garden was built by the city Parks Department and GrowNYC with public funds, on part of an athletic field owned by the city Department of Education.
Christina Wilkinson led efforts to secure public funding for the garden, but left soon after it opened in June 2023.
She has, however, checked in on the garden through social media, and told The Post she noticed things started changing in March, when the garden hosted a trans visibility event.
“That’s when the posts stopped being gardening focused,” Wilkinson recalled.
“It started out non-political, then it got hijacked by crazies,” said Wilkinson.
“Why is DOE tolerating this group forcing participants to pledge allegiance to pet causes in order to participate?”
Laura Merrick, who runs the community garden, did not respond to emails seeking comment.
“Community gardens are inclusive spaces regardless of age, race, citizenship status, skin color, disability, gender, gender identity, marital status, national or ethnic origin, pregnancy, religion, sexual orientation, creed, and military or veteran status,” the Parks Department said in a statement.
The department “will respond accordingly if any garden group violates the anti-discrimination clause of their license,” which bars discrimination, restrictions on eligibility for membership, and failure to “comply with all applicable federal, state, and local civil rights and human rights laws and regulations pertaining thereto as applicable.”
Wilkinson is hopeful the garden’s leaders will tamp down the politicizing.
“They want to create their own bubble,” Wilkinson said.
“They say groups are welcome to rent it. But what if a conservative group or a Jewish organization wanted to rent that space — what would happen? Would they be welcomed?”
She added: “Telling people how to behave and what they’re supposed to espouse… if I was gardening, I wouldn’t go there and start talking about Palestine, I would be gardening. I wouldn’t be discussing who’s right and who’s wrong — it’s so ridiculous and it’s exclusionary and it’s a shame.”
Additional reporting by Tina Moore
