There's been speculation of late as to whether or not a recent string of assaults in NYC are all connected to the so-called "knockout" game, in which the "players" pick out random unsuspecting individuals and try to knock them down with one punch. In New York, at least nine other Jews in Crown Heights, Borough Park and Midwood have come forward to claim they were victims of the game, including one 78-year-old Midwood woman who was punched in the face earlier this month. According to WCBS 2, the game has another name: "The alternate name "polar bearing" comes from the fact that the victims are white."

On Saturday Nov. 23, Rev. Al Sharpton has come forth to condemned "knockout" attacks, calling them acts of "insane thuggery."

"This kind of behavior is deplorable and must be condemned by all us," he said at his weekly National Action Network meeting in Harlem. "We would not be silent if it was the other way around. We cannot be silent or in any way reluctant to confront it when it is coming from our own community."

"Kids are randomly knocking out people [from] another race — some specifically going at Jewish people," he said. "This kind of insane thuggery — there is nothing cute about that. There is no game play about knocking somebody out, and it is not a game. It is an assault and is bias, and it is wrong."

Sharpton said he is also speaking to celebrities about doing public service announcements to denounce the attacks.

Critics of Sharpton suggested he could do more, but acknowledged his words as a "good start."

Source: New York Post