“There is a big demand for Jews, more than ever before,” said Yossi Popack, a residential property owner in the area.
Property values are soaring in the heart of Hasidic Crown Heights. One could find a two bedroom apartment in the area of $1500, but most Hasidic families here have between eight and 12 children. A two family building has gone for over $700,000, something that might have sold for less than a quarter of a million dollars about a decade ago, according to one news report. And unless a Lubavitch family gets a job in another city, they stay in New York and want to remain within walking distance of their main synagogue on Eastern Parkway. Thus, Hasidic families are moving farther south and settling near and in Flatbush for cheaper living spaces in proximity to the synagogue. This is putting a strain on the African-American and Afro-Caribbean community and is adding to renewed tensions between these communities after more than a decade of calm since the infamous riots of 1991 that resulted in the murder of one foreign, Hasidic visitor.
A Hasidic Migration Renews Crown Heights Tensions
Until a few years ago, the Jews of the Lubavitch Hasidic sect living in Crown Heights told their children to not to venture south of Empire Boulevard into the African-American and Afro-Caribbean neighborhood of Flatbush. But crime has gone down ever since Rudy Giuliani’s anti-crime mayoral administration of the 1990s. Now the scene is different. A new Jewish-owned residential building is being erected on Lefferts Avenue in Flatbush. Nearby, developers are trying to put up luxury housing. A young Hasidic couple opened a stylish clothing store on the same street a few months ago.
“There is a big demand for Jews, more than ever before,” said Yossi Popack, a residential property owner in the area.
Property values are soaring in the heart of Hasidic Crown Heights. One could find a two bedroom apartment in the area of $1500, but most Hasidic families here have between eight and 12 children. A two family building has gone for over $700,000, something that might have sold for less than a quarter of a million dollars about a decade ago, according to one news report. And unless a Lubavitch family gets a job in another city, they stay in New York and want to remain within walking distance of their main synagogue on Eastern Parkway. Thus, Hasidic families are moving farther south and settling near and in Flatbush for cheaper living spaces in proximity to the synagogue. This is putting a strain on the African-American and Afro-Caribbean community and is adding to renewed tensions between these communities after more than a decade of calm since the infamous riots of 1991 that resulted in the murder of one foreign, Hasidic visitor.
“There is not enough housing,” said Mae Williams, an African-American health care worker and a Parent Teacher Association president at a local elementary school. “It is hard to find places to live for minorities.”
Rents are rising around the border of Flatbush and Crown Heights, causing many of the neighborhood’s original minority residents to move farther out in Brooklyn or out the city altogether. Some move in with family or friends. Solomon Long, the principle at the elementary school at which Williams works, says that his school’s enrollment drops every year because families are moving out to places like New Jersey due to housing prices.
But Williams believes that African-American and Afro-Caribbean residents are being pushed out by more than just market forces. She said she went to one of the new Jewish-owned housing developments at the corner of New York and Lefferts Avenue, and the contractor working there would not even give her a phone number in order to obtain an application for a unit.
“This is not right,” she said.
Many buildings right on the border between these two neighborhoods show that the exodus of minorities leads to the inflow of Hasidim. A plush, new seven story residential building sits at 502 New York Ave in Flatbush, surrounded by older buildings. The common lounge on the first floor has a portrait of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher’s late spiritual leader.
Nearby, the condominiums that are occupied at 645 Lefferts Ave. have mezuzahs on the door to signify that it is a Jewish home. The names on the front door buzzer are all Jewish and the mailman who delivers to the building says that only Jews live there. The manager, Shaul Cohen, declined to comment.
Elliot Ginsburg, a professor of Jewish thought at the University of Michigan, notes that Jewish law does permit a certain amount of discrimination between Jews and non-Jews, but he doubted that Hasidic Jews in Crown Heights had malevolent motives.
“On some level you’re trying to build a cohesive world in a setting where the dominant social reality doesn’t support your vision of the world,” he said.
“I don’t see that,” said Yossi Jacobson, a rabbi and orator in Crown Heights, commenting that realtors are not discriminating against non-Jews. “A lot of people move out. Real estate has shot up rocket high.”
But for Cajuan Keith, an African-American elementary school teacher in the neighborhood, whether or not the exclusion is intentional is immaterial to the consequences.
Keith lives in a predominantly Hasidic building and for the most part he enjoys it. But he says that he is subject to feelings of exclusion. During Jewish festivals, police do not let him park his car outside his own building while they allow out-of-town Hasidic Jews to do so. While he has not experienced violence or any kind of threatening racism in his building, he does feel that some of the children there are condescending towards him.
“They give you a look like you’re lower than them,” he said.
The exclusion goes beyond housing, according to Keith. While Jewish businesses do not deny African-Americans or Afro-Caribbean people from patronizing their stores, he said, they do not tend to hire any. The people who work for Hasidic business owners are either other Jews or Latinos from outside the neighborhood, he said.
There are exceptions. The main Hasidic synagogue on Kingston Ave. and Eastern Parkway employs several African-American custodians. One of Keith’s friends does in fact work for a Hasidic man.
“His boss is a cool Jew,” he said.
On a scale of one to 10, Keith placed the current racial tensions between Hasidic Jews and African-Americans at seven.
Williams believes that it is a trend in exclusive housing like this and the condescension that people like Keith have experienced is what contributes to the friction between the two communities.
“We should all try live together,” she said. “They wonder why blacks get pissed off at the Jews.”
Organizations like the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council and people like Jacobson are aware of the friction and cite crime as a major concern for the Hasidic community.
“For many years it’s been pretty peaceful,” said Jacobson. “Last year, we saw an increase in violence.”
A middle aged Jewish man was beaten by a group of African-American teenagers allegedly shouting anti-Jewish remarks in August. Break-ins and muggings have also been reported.
Some indicators show crime is rising in the area on the whole. Errol Louis wrote in the New York Daily News in November, “In the 77th Precinct, where I live, there were 15 murders last year – way down from 1989, when 70 people were murdered, but still an unacceptable 66% increase from 1998. In the neighboring 71st, which covers lower Crown Heights, there have been 18 murders this year, an eye-popping 157% increase from last year.”
Jacobson, whose car has been broken into twice, thinks that the crime committed against Jews is serious.
“I don’t think it’s random because it happens in one direction,” he said. “It is African-American brothers who attack the Jews living here. I call them brothers because I believe that we are all children of one God.”
Both the pushing out of minority residents at the border with Flatbush and the crime in the neighborhood have people in both communities fearing the reopening of the wounds from the Crown Heights riots.
In the summer of 1991, a Lubavitcher driver hit and killed an African-American boy named Gavin Cato in Crown Heights. One of the Hasidic ambulances came to the scene and only picked up the Jewish driver, while Cato was still alive. After Cato died, African-Americans protested and the protests turned into three days of violence. Many Jews were beaten and storefronts were smashed. Yankel Rosenbaum, a student from Australia, was killed. The rioting went on for several days. Many Hasidic residents refer to it as a pogrom.
Williams and Keith do not think that the friction caused by the Hasidic migration to Flatbush or the lack of affordable housing for minorities will be the spark that sets off another riot. But neither of them dismissed the prospect of tensions rising to the boiling point.
“We don’t need that,” said Williams. “Someday, there’s a possibility.”
Jacobson sees that the ingredients are in the air. Leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton were able point to Cato’s death and use the African-American community’s anger to inspire a revolt in 1991. There is crime in Crown Heights and minorities are frustrated by the shrinking of the housing supply near the border with Flatbush.
“All we need is one reverend who’s an anti-Semite to flare up his community,” said Jacobson. “Today a riot? No. But tomorrow?”
Ari
Recently, I was approached by a nice black indiviual who asked me why he’s exdluded from moving into the new Jewish developments. I asked him if he thinks he could afford one of thos eunsubsidised condos. He responded that he was quite wealthy and indeed could afford more than just one. He said that he was feeling sentiments of discrimination. My response to him was that we Jews have resided and still do amongst our black neighbors and try to live with them in peace. However, when was the last time that you possibly found a nice Jewsih boy trying to brake into your home or the residence of any black or any individual for that matter?! Yet, we are always experiencing burluries, muggings, harrasment and other criminal activities coming from these dear neighbors. This for me is a valid reason to build exclusive housing for our families and freinds to feel safe and be secure from all these unnecessry happenings.
Besdies, if you go to BP or Williamsburg or any other flourishing, thriving Jewish communities, you wil see that we all build private housing just for UNZERE! And that works. There is no need for any excuses or justifications. WE are entitled build homes and schools and Shuls just for US. Will the next complaint and suggestion for a riot be that we exclude them from our private Yeshivas, that’s discrimation! Or that we don’t invite them to join us in our Shuls and Mikvahs or Frabrengens. PLease, let’s not be shy and say the truth the way it is. No need to leave room for any confusion.
It’s great to see the influx of pride in the shichunas HAmelech, kan tziva Hashem es Habracha. May we speedily merit to be reunited with Malkeinu Mishicheinu.
Aaron
Oh please! Were not only politically incorrect these days but also politically gullible. A few weeks ago all of the newspapers where reporting that blacks are moving out of NYC at large, not just crown heights. This black migration is not isolated to crown heights and anyone that blames jews for it is an idiot. This article seems pointless.
Chanale
I live in a building where most of the residents are african-americans. I am very close to the scene of the latest crime where a jew was murdered a couple of weeks ago. There is tension in the air and I live with it every day… besides, the housing prices are really rocketing… and in the world could we remain in C. Heights? I think this is a problem for both communities. None of them could afford to live here… we are seriously thinking to move out in the next months…
Crown heighter
what ever happened to Capitalisim? I thought that whoever payes more wins? This is a pro Black artical with anti semetic overtones.
MFH
I think it would be a good idea to include wealthy black people, those which can afford condominiums, and perhaps will be enlightened by our way of life, and will in turn enlighten us that not every shvartze is a monkey. In fact, i had an african-american tenant not that long ago; and had less problems <i> vi fun unzere </i>
MFH
And this isn’t about capitalism; as we see, the worker in the lefferts condos refused to give that man his phone number – is this capitalism or is this ethnocentrism?
ex crown heightser
that contractor is an idiot.
any black that can pay is highly unlikely to cause trouble. would he treat a white goy the same way?
racist pig.
Ari
Dear sirs,
The well=to=do black individual who claims to be able to afford the expensive condos that e were discussing, may indeed be a nice and fine fellow. However, just as it was back in the 60’s, in case you don’t recall, the parents were nice chaps and so-called good neighbors. But the education that their children receive lead them to act criminally.
There is not the slightest bit of racism in building exclusively for our own. They do that just as well. We want to be safe and want our kids to be guaranteed safety. It is stupid to jeopardize that sense of security just to be politically correct.
qwerty
There’s a black development that has existed near Nostrand for years. Isn’t "Black" neighborhoods being discriminatory and segragated against non-Blacks? Why should white neighborhoods have to make room for blacks and not vice-versa?
A Concerned Resident
Even if the shvartze family can afford to live there, that does not mean their kids wont bring over friends and that their kids arent those bully type…..
What the contractor did was right just get rid of him, don’t even bother trying to be politicly correct, (and checking out their kids and how low they wear their pants).
MFH
It is very foolish of you to be prejudiced against them because they favor a certain style of clothing "how low they wear their pants" it would be correct, accordind to this pattern of thought, to exclude tzfatim because of how obsessed they are with their flags, sephardic women who’s head covering doesn’t reach chabad standards and satmar because of how low they run their peyos
About the education.. if you read the article, the complaint was that the exodous from CH is actually harming the education system, causing friendships to cease and familiarity to decintegrate.
You can’t compare the era of the civil rights movement – the 60’s – to present times
amusing
hehemmmm
right across the street from me there is a 4 floor building that ONLY ALLOWS BLACKS to live there.
Screwed
Just look at 2 buildings in CH where Jewish people are "verbotten" Corner Crown and Brooklyn and Corner President and Brooklyn. Both buildings are owned by black people how come they don;t allow any of our people to move in? Is our money not green? How come nobody is shouting raciscm?
In response
To: ex crown heightser who wrote:
>> that contractor is an idiot.
>> any black that can pay is highly unlikely to cause trouble. would he
>> treat a white goy the same way?
>> racist pig.
This is not about discriminating against ‘blacks’, though it sounds like you have something against African Americans by your choice of words.
This is a discussion of whether *exclusive housing* is legal and politically correct. Exclusive housing by definition excludes anyone and everyone who doesn’t fit the bill, in this case that would be anyone who isn’t Jewish. Now to answer your question, in his case the contractor would have treated ANY goy the same way.
——-
To: MFH who wrote:
>> And this isn’t about capitalism; as we see, the worker in the lefferts condos
>> refused to give that man his phone number – is this capitalism
>> or is this ethnocentrism?
Just to clarify according to the Princeton dictionary a contractor is: someone (a person or firm) who contracts to build things. The owner of the building is responsible for sales, the contractor is responsible for construction.
It is very likely that the said contractor didn’t know the number to the sales office, after all he has no reason to be involved with them. It would also be extremely unprofessional for him to give out the private numbers of the owners and project managers to someone of the street he never met before. Think of it as your credit card company giving away your cell-phone number to a telemarketer, would you be happy about it?!
To the author
It sounds like you are severely misinformed, you should practice better research before writing such a lengthy article.
A) Lefferts Ave. is NOT in Flatbush rather in an area referred to as either Greater Crown Heights, or East New York.
B) There have been plenty of Jews living on Lefferts Ave. for over 45 years. I’ve been living there myself for over 12 years, and the Jewish population there when I moved on the block was rather large.
Oh and by-the-way since when is it wrong for Jews to move into a black community (as you claim Lefferts is) by opening stores and capitalizing on lots that have been vacant for years, while the non-Jews must have a right to move into no, not our communities, but OUR OWN HOUSES!! C’mon be real! If we shouldn’t be able to move into ‘their’ communities, how much more so, they shouldn’t have a right to move into our houses!!
I’ll stop here not because everything else you wrote is accurate or makes sense, but to get ready for Shaboss
Good Shabbos everyone
MFH
To "In Response"
I wasn’t that medayek in the words of the story, and therefore didn’t realize that it was a contractor, not a worker, who wasn’t willing to give him the number.
To To the author:
while you are correct, you are not addressing the issue. The problem isn’t about the mass migrations of Jews into the black neighborhoods, but about the individual exclusion of blacks from newly acquired jewish properties.
hashfanatic
First off, not that I’m taking sides, but can I point out that was I was very young, and lived about ten blocks south of the location in question, the ENTIRE neighborhood was very Jewish. Jews tended to live in the larger apartment buildings, there was a small section closer to the park that was considered elite that only WASPs lived in. There was a smaller Irish contingent throughout that favored the private homes, and a lot of Italians were to the south and east (they called it "Pigtown"!
The black residents that have been here since the mid-sixties are frightened for three big reasons: the real estate has gotten VERY expensive, pricing them out; many see Jews in general as looking down on them and discriminating against them; and the vast majority of Brooklyn slumlords are Jewish in general and frum in particular, and they have had nightmarish dealings with them over the years.
Of course, there are a million other causes, but those are the biggies.
Mendy
To all offended by the article:
Understand that the overarching value in the media when it comes to anything black-related is… fear.
The media is positively petrified of being called "racist." Therefore, they do, say and write anything, NOT to make whites, Jews and non-blacks look bad, but… out of fear of making blacks look bad.
See, in the media, if something you do, say or write can in any way be construed as making blacks look bad, that makes you a "racist." So you can’t do that. Rather, you must make the other side look bad, because, in the black mind, everyone is out to get the blacks (especially the Jews), and if you do not make your article seem that way, you’re being critical of blacks, which, of course, is "racist."
So it’s a fear of being called "racist," not necessarily Jew-hatred, that drives the media with these sorts of articles.
Also, it’s because we do not have anywhere near as well-oiled a political attack machine as blacks do to keep the media in our back pockets. We do not have an Al Motormouth Sharpton. We may have Chanina and Dov Hikind and Shea Hecht, but these guys are Jews, not Mafia terrorizers of the media or anyone who gets in their way like Fat Al.
hashfanatic
Mendy, do you SERIOUSLY expect anyone to believe that blacks have more political juice in New York than the Jews do?
To MFH
To MFH who wrote:
"To To the author:
while you are correct, you are not addressing the issue. The problem isn’t about the mass migrations of Jews into the black neighborhoods, but about the individual exclusion of blacks from newly acquired jewish properties."
I actually answered that very question when I wrote that "the non-Jews must have a right to move into no, not our communities, but OUR OWN HOUSES!!" and I quote myself below.
"Oh and by-the-way since when is it wrong for Jews to move into a black community (as you claim Lefferts is) by opening stores and capitalizing on lots that have been vacant for years,
**
while the non-Jews must have a right to move into no, not our communities, but OUR OWN HOUSES!!
**
C’mon be real! If we shouldn’t be able to move into ‘their’ communities, how much more so, they shouldn’t have a right to move into our houses!!"
hashfanatic
I think there are already established laws and guidelines regarding renting out apartments and such to tenants, and if I’m not mistaken, there’s a distinction made, based on how many units there are in a particular building.
My understanding of the situation is that the non-Jewish residents of Crown Heights simply want for these existing regulations to be enforced in this area, as they generally are in most others.
Given that I recall that the Rebbe had very definite opinions about there only being one Crown Heights community, as opposed to two bifurcated halves, I would think that observance of the city laws pertaining to housing discrimination would very much fall into the line of his goals.
ex crown heightser
to in response:
i take it, youre the builder here and as such i wish you luck with the project.
1. i happen not be politicaly correct and as such i see no problem to refer to black people as black.
2. you have every right to exclude anyone from entering your project. and you also have every right to be a racist pig, which you are.
in response
To ex crown heightser who wrote:
"to in response:
i take it, youre the builder here and as such i wish you luck with the project.
1. i happen not be politicaly correct and as such i see no problem to refer to black people as black.
2. you have every right to exclude anyone from entering your project. and you also have every right to be a racist pig, which you are."
—
I just thought I’d let you know that I am in no way connected to this particular building, nor do I even know anyone connected to it either. I’m just a regular CH resident expressing my views on the topic, and pointing out discrepancies and inconsistencies with the original article.
But I do give you two points for imagination and originality!
ex crown heightser
in response
lets do this again.
you have every right to exclusive housing. its private property. youre still a racist.
now for some more imagination and originality……
if some white upper class anglo-saxon protestant didnt want you on his property, while an anti semite bastard, he would be well within his rights and you’d be screaming racism all the way up to the supreme court.