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Op-Ed: The Crown Heights Riots

by Eliyahu Federman

Healing racial tensions between the black and Jewish community of Crown Heights is imperative for the two groups to co-exist. No one disputes that. I certainly don’t. In fact, after the 1991 Crown Heights riots the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in looking toward the future, told Mayor Dinkins that the black and Jewish communities are “one side, one people, living in one city.”

With that said, there is no basis to equate the Jewish communities culpability with that of the black rioters. Gavin Cato was killed in a tragic accident that had nothing to do with Gavin’s race. The Grand Jury composed of mostly minorities found no cause to indict Yosef Lifsh because what occurred was an accident even though a tragic death resulted.

Even if Hazolah failed to treat Gavin, there was no excuse to cast collective blame on the Jewish community at large. Gavin’s parents should have sued Hatzolah if in fact they were negligent in not treating him although media reports indicate that Hatzolah was blocked from treating Gavin and had to attend to Lifsh who at that point was attacked by a mob yelling anti-Semitic epithets. By all accounts volunteers from a second Hatzolah ambulance helped Gavin’s sister who was injured, until a second City ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital so given the circumstances there is no basis to believe that Hatzolah refused treatment to Gavin.

But a tragic accident that left a kid dead is not morally equal to the vicious stabbing of Yankel Ronsenbaum – a Jewish man – by a marauding mob yelling anti-Semitic epithets. One is negligence or an accident the other is an intentional hate-based homicide.

It is disturbing that the murder of Yankel is equated with the horrible accident of Gavin. Representing the story as a mutual race-riot is inaccurate and irresponsible. Out of the 152 police officers and 38 civilians that were injured how many were injured by Jewish rioters? How many Jews were involved in the looting or burning of the seven stores? How many of the 27 vehicles destroyed were destroyed by Jews? Out of the 225 cases of robbery and burglaries that were perpetrated, how many were committed by Jews? A Jew was murder by an anti-Semitic mob who then went around rioting and pillaging because of a tragic accident. The responsibility lies in the hands of the rioters not the Jewish victims.

Those are my reflections on the recent reporting of the Crown Heights riots. What are your thoughts?

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12 Comments

  • sam

    maybe when the rebbe said “one side, one people, living in one city.” he was talking about yiden and that all the shchoirim should get outta our hood

  • merliner

    Great job Eli. All of the media attention casts much confusion and ambiguity on the riots.
    Your consise essay goes straight to the essence of things, clearly and frankly.
    Thank you
    (p.s.2nd to last paragraph should say murdered, not murder)

  • a fed up resident

    How about mentioning the real truth! which is that the riots were planned well ahead of time. The accident was a excuse.Most if not all the rioters were bussed in from other neighborhoods. The stooges of Sharpton Jackson Maddox & Mason( the latter 2 were eventually disbarred for other crimes) All were heavily involved in the planning. You also fail to mention that Dinkins ordered the police to let them vent their frustrations

  • Anon

    Sam,

    Jews did not arrive in CH until the ’40s. Blacks were here before then.

    Your language is disgusting and your mindset is the same as the racists on their side.

  • cma

    My thoughts are that you are stating the obvious that everybody reading this already knows …

  • History Corrected

    Jews did not arrive in CH until the ’40s. Blacks were here before then.

    —

    Not correct. There was a secular Jewish community that dominated CH until the blacks started to come in and unscrupulous realtors played the old blockbusting game. Blacks from the Caribbean bought homes and are the foundation of the decent bnei Noiach who live in CH. An underclass came from the South to get benefits after WW2 and that started the trouble in all of NY.

    The Jewish Center that (BE”H) became Oholei Torah was built by the old secular Jewish community long before the first black moved in. Most of the best homes in CH (President St, Eastern Pkwy) were built by Jews.

    My secular grandparents lived in Crown Heights from the 1920’s until my grandmother no longer felt safe in the mid-70’s. Their entire block on Union St. between Troy and Schenectady was Jewish until the 50’s. Now there are Lubavitchers living there but even in the late 80’s when I first became involved with Chabad that was a no-go zone.

    Chassidim only arrived in the 40’s after the war. But they arrived to what was still a largely Jewish neighborhood.

  • The Point!

    Eli, nice article, but… you missed the point! The Rebbe speaks about “bringing nationalities together,” and the “melting pot” of New York, TWO YEARS BEFORE the riots!

    Here: http://youtu.be/i-etVw9PZUs

  • mendel

    the only solution (in my oppinion is) to EVERY appartment of shvartzes, im sure they will also enjoy it living in a cheaper neighberhood, to #4 it does not matter who was living were before who becouse if yes then we want back the whole lower east side!

  • seriously?

    Wonderful — you rehashed a point from Goldman’s article. But what he said poignantly and succinctly, you dragged out in several rambling, incoherent, grammatically incorrect paragraphs. Proud of yourself?

  • To 10

    Ten, it’s the second time your first sentence is also grammatically incorrect.

    The first time – you wrote, “Well argued piece — though Rabbi Altein’s could have been written better.” This time you fell into the same trap of interrupting your opening sentence with a dash: “Wonderful — you rehashed a point from Goldman’s article.”

    http://www.crownheights.inf…

    Although you can improve your own grammer, it would be worthwhile to improve the point you are trying to get across. For example, questioning weather one is proud of his grammar doesn’t come across very pursuasive to the reader. In fact, the reader would question the inteligence of the writer. If you don’t have anything meaningful to share, at least try to make it sound as if you do.