
I can’t believe it’s been nearly 20 years since the Crown Heights Riots, a three-day riot in August 1991 in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The community, which contains a mix of West Indians, African Americans and Jews had longtime simmering tensions. The riots began on August 19, 1991 after the child of Guyanese immigrants was accidentally killed by automobile that was part of a motorcade of a Hasidic rabbi.
During the riots an Orthodox Jew was killed. The riot unleashed tensions between the neighborhood’s black and Jewish communities. The riots influenced the 1993 mayoral race and led to the defeat of David Dinkins, who was viewed by many as having had a weak response to the riots…
Continue reading 20 Years Later Blacks & Jews Come Together in Crown Heights