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Hamodia
Councilwoman-elect Laurie Cumbo

Councilwoman-Elect: ‘Renew’ Crown Heights Relations

Reacting to a spurt of anti-Semitic attacks by an African-American youth gang on Jews, Crown Heights’s incoming councilwoman is urging the two communities to refresh their relationship so that the attacks don’t harden biases for future generations and destroy the fragile gains of the past two decades.

Laurie Cumbo, a former chair of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum who won Councilwoman Letitia James’s seat in last week’s election, said she watched a video of an alleged attack and was hesitant to call these attacks hate crimes without more information.

However, she was firm that a strong message must be sent that the violence cannot go on.

“You want to cut this down where it’s existing right now,” Cumbo told Hamodiaon Thursday. “You don’t want to have this become a trend or to gain any popularity or to grow any legs. You certainly want to make sure that you send a very strong message that in these communities this type of behavior is not tolerated.”

Crown Heights’s Jewish residents are increasingly nervous as an escalation in racial violence has enveloped the neighborhood since September, including three incidents in the past week.

Another attack came late Wednesday afternoon when two Jewish children were stoned by a passing gang of black and Hispanic youths in front of their yeshivah on Rutland Road and Brooklyn Avenue. One nine-year-old was hit in the head near the eye. The child’s father complained to police, who referred the matter to their Hate Crimes Task Force.

Police are said to have several strong leads in the case and are taking it seriously. They suspect that there is a single gang in a specific Crown Heights public school that conceived of a sick game called “knockout,” in which members go around punching Jews.

Jewish–black relations reached a nadir during the Crown Heights riots 22 years ago. While efforts by leaders of both communities have produced considerable strides in rapprochement, the large number of unemployed youths who hang out has made for a tense relationship.

Cumbo says that she wants to use her office, which she will enter on Jan. 1, to bring the communities back together and analyze how to prevent youths from becoming violent in the first place.

“I want to get to the bottom of why these particular young people feel that this type of behavior is acceptable. Why do they feel that this is a viable option for them at this time?” she said.

“The way I feel about this is, the conversation continues to be developed around how do we better police a community, or communities of color in particular, that are very challenged in terms of educational opportunities, as far as job opportunities, as far as family support, as far as economic support, and in an era of lawlessness in terms of not understanding their own value and their own worth.

“How do you change that dynamic so we’re not constantly talking about how to better police a community in that situation?”

A young African-American woman, Cumbo’s Democratic primary win in September made her a shoo-in for last week’s election. She is seen as a rising star in the council, where she could be for the next decade.

Cumbo called the transition period an “exciting” time, selecting a staff and office and getting up to date on the issues. Along with the election of her mentor, James, as the city’s next public advocate, and Bill de Blasio as mayor, she says she is “really looking forward to an opportunity to lead the city in a new way.”

She says that the attacks, which she calls “incidents,” cast a pall on her inaugural period.

“As a new council member,” she says, “this is really one of the last things that you want to see … people being attacked in this way.”

Cumbo, who was a young girl during the Crown Heights riots, noted that anyone below 35 would not remember the trauma wrought by those days of violence. She suggested joint meetings between the two communities on the civic, religious and official levels.

“It’s time for a renewal in the relationship,” she said.

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15 Comments

  • potato man

    Don’t think it’s us that needs to renew the relationship. I think it’s the black community that needs to renew the relationship and take responsibility.

  • boy from the hood

    so my people from the hood …what do u think ?
    is she for real ? is she serious about crime ?
    does she care about the Jewish community ?

    lets hear some thoughts

  • :-)

    I can’t stand this

    “councilwoman is urging the two communities to refresh their relationship so that the attacks don’t harden biases for future generations”

    As if Moshe Goldberg is beating Jamal Washington – please!!!!

    They are trying to make this into a “misunderstanding between two communities.”

    It’s the same BS they did in the riots. 90% of CH is black beats on the tiny 8% of CH with is Lubavitch and some how “we all need to get along.”

    They continue to ignore the issue by saying what it is……during the riots how many bochurim broke into black peoples homes???

    Please….cut the BS

  • Horrible

    She dosent appear to represent her jewish constitiuents. Imagine if she took office and had to deal with Jew on Black crime – they souldnt be called incidents – they would be called racial attacks – she is a racist from the get go. So lets hope she gets going and we get a jew in her place.

  • @Ms. Cumbo

    It isn’t JEWS attacking BLACKS! You think all this is OUR FAULT???? Are you really suggesting we make overtures toward these thugs? Who is responsible for robberies, muggings, murders, rapes etc in Crown Heights? Instead of preaching to us, go into your churches and schools and address the perpertrators and enablers. Make them stop.

    I am NOT interested in “renewing” any relationship with the Black community. Let their “leaders” & schools turn the thugs in. They know who they are.

    BTW…I did not vote for you in the primary. If you pander to these animals, then I was right to vote for the other woman. G-d help the Jewish community if you just care about your own, which it appears you do.

    signed – an irate JEWISH parent

  • Pops

    Just more b.s. from a politician. If it were an African American youngster being attacked I am sure that she would have no hesitation to call it a hate crime.

    • @Ms Cumbo

      OK I will say it because I am so enraged.

      You are a racist. You may cover it up with platitudes & softly-spoken words but we know the truth. And so do you.

  • TZIVIA PEKKAR [C.H].

    B.H. Laurie Combo, You have got it all wrong, we Jews are not harming anybody, and we have nothing to re-fresh, we do our thing, and mind our own business, and do not start up with anybody, but live peacefully with our Black neighbors.
    Laurie, you have major work to do, to go out to Black Schools in our area of Crown Heights, and educate The Black Youth.
    I met you Laurie on voting day, and you told me that you were at The Ohel that day, and I voted for you, and you got in, so please help with protecting The Jewish Community. Thank You.

  • Laurie Cumbo

    She isnt going to care one iota about her jewish constituents. She isnt going to care if we are robbed or beaten. So nothing will change much from the Leticia James days.

  • FactsRule

    The problem is that big-nanny-govt. supporters like Laurie think there is no end whatsoever to the few in govt. micromanaging the millions not in govt. She says:
    “I want to get to the bottom of why these particular young people feel that this type of behavior is acceptable. Why do they feel that this is a viable option for them at this time?” she said.
    “The way I feel about this is, the conversation continues to be developed around how do we better police a community, or communities of color in particular, that are very challenged in terms of educational opportunities, as far as job opportunities, as far as family support, as far as economic support, and in an era of lawlessness in terms of not understanding their own value and their own worth.”
    “How do you change that dynamic so we’re not constantly talking about how to better police a community in that situation?”
    No, Laurie, all of that has been tried & more & trillions spent on it resulting in kids & people only getting worse & worse-off than originally.
    Once a cretin has served notice on society that he or she will randomly perhaps FATALLY so cowardly, so brutally, so inhumanely suckerpunch women & elderly men (many times doing permanent brain damage), it is far, far beyond your job & at the cost of the bankrupt taxpayer to go figuring out how to change the attitudes & behaviors of millions of individuals & families.
    It’s obviously challenging enough of a job for you to have to appropriately respond in a manner that recognizes that this is NOT an issue for Jewish youth in Crown Heights or in any way the attitudes of Crown Heights’ Jews toward the 93% of Crown Heights that is Black or vice versa, Blacks who hate Jews for no reason. It’s an issue for the entire population of Crown heights regarding these young inhuman thugs exclusively hailing from its Black community. And, whether they’re currently playing Polar Bear (targeting Whites) or little old Black women who they may target if it’s more difficult to do so in the Jewish areas once you get the police to reassign some of their 30,000 officers serving in quiet neighborhoods to the under-siege Jewish sections of Crown Heights. I pray that this extreme Liberal Mayor isn’t half as bad toward Crown Heights as was the last extremely Liberal Mayor, Dinkins, who let them vent for four days before allowing the police to begin to do their job, as I personally witnessed.

  • # 2

    No, she’s not for real. she sounds like an obama offshoot “if I had a son”……The Jewish person is being unwarrantedly attacked and she makes it sound as though they contributed towards the attacks.