Crown Heights Riot Totally Explained

Everything about The Crown Heights Riot totally explained

The Crown Heights Riot was a three-day riot in the Crown Heights neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The community was home to approximately 180,000 people – consisting of Caribbean-Americans and West Indians (50%), African Americans (39%), and Jewish residents (11%). The riots began on August 19, 1991 after a Guyanese boy was accidentally struck by an automobile in a motorcade for a prominent Hasidic rabbi. The boy subsequently died of his injuries. Historians have described it as "one of the most serious incidents of antisemitism in American history". The riot was also viewed as a pogrom by some members of the Jewish community.

Event immediately precipitating the riot

At approximately 8:20 p.m. on August 19, 1991, Yosef Lifsh, 22, was driving a station wagon, with three passengers, east on President Street, part of the three-car motorcade of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. The procession was led by an unmarked police car with two officers, with its rooftop light flashing. Lifsh’s vehicle struck a car being driven on Utica Avenue, veered onto the sidewalk, knocked a 600-pound stone building pillar down, hit a wall, and injured a seven-year-old Guyanese boy named Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela Cato, also seven.
   Lifsh believed he'd the right of way to proceed through the intersection because of the police escort. The EMS unit that arrived on the scene about three minutes after the accident said that Lifsh was being beaten and pulled out of the station wagon by three or four black men. All accounts agree that Lifsh was beaten before ambulances and police arrived.
   A volunteer ambulance from the Hatzolah ambulance corps arrived on the scene at about 8:23 pm followed shortly by police and a City ambulance which took Gavin Cato to Kings County Hospital, arriving at 8:32 p.m. Cato was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. According to the New York Times, more than 250 neighborhood residents, mostly black teenagers, many of whom were shouting "Jews! Jews! Jews!", jeered the driver of the car and then turned their anger on the police. Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews. Their anger was compounded due to a rumor at the time that Lifsh was intoxicated. A breath alcohol test administered within 70 minutes of the accident indicated that this wasn't the case. Other false rumors that circulated shortly after the accident included: Lifsh was on a cell phone, Lifsh didn't have a valid driver's license, and that police prevented people, including Gavin Cato's father, from assisting in the rescue.
   Later on that evening, as the crowd and rumors grew, people threw bottles and rocks to protest the treatment of the children. At about 11:00 p.m., someone shouted, “Let's go to Kingston Avenue and get a Jew!“ A number of black youths then set off toward Kingston, a street of predominantly Jewish residents several blocks away, vandalizing cars and heaving rocks and bottles as they went.

Conflicting Community Viewpoints

After the death of Gavin Cato, members of the black community believed that the decision to remove Lifsh from the scene first was racially motivated. They also maintained that this was one example of a perceived system of preferential treatment afforded to Jews in Crown Heights.
   Members of the Jewish community didn't share this view. Many believed that allegations of favoritism made by blacks were not supported by facts; a number of studies disproved the allegations, including one study conducted specifically in response to this allegation. It was widely believed in the Jewish community that these allegations were an attempt to mask blatant anti-Semitism committed against Jews during the riot. As examples, they point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters throughout the rioting, and comments made at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton made statements regarding "diamond dealers" and commented "it's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights." In addition, a banner displayed at the funeral read "Hitler didn't do the job".
   For three days following the accident, numerous African Americans and Caribbean Americans of the neighborhood, joined by growing numbers of non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights. In the rioting of the ensuing three days, many of the rioters "did not even live in Crown Heights." and 225 cases of robbery and burglary were committed. Property damage was estimated at one million dollars. Subsequently, Lifsh moved to Israel, where his family lives, because his life was threatened.
   Afterwards, Hynes fought unsuccessfully for the public release of the testimony that the grand jury had heard. His lawsuit was dismissed, and the judge noted that more than three-quarters of the witnesses who had been contacted refused to waive their right to privacy. The judge also expressed concern for the witnesses' safety.

Impact of the riot on the 1993 mayoral race

"The repercussions of the Crown Heights riot, based on the official indifference to the plight of Jews, contributed directly to the defeat of the incumbent mayor of New York," David Dinkins. He was embattled by many political adversaries in his reelection bid, including vocal proponents of “black nationalism, back-to-Africa, economic radicalism, and racial exclusiveness.” Many Jews criticized Dinkins for this. The first night of the riot, Dinkins, along with Police Commissioner Lee Brown, both African Americans, went to Crown Heights to dispel the false rumors about the circumstances surrounding the accident, but they'd no impact on the rioters, most of whom were young black men.
The Crown Heights riot was an important issue raised repeatedly on the campaign trail. Rudolph Giuliani, who would become the next mayor of New York, called the Crown Heights riot a pogrom because "for three days people were beaten up, people were sent to the hospital because they were Jewish. There's no question that not enough was done about it by the city of New York" Giuliani won by over 44,000 votes. Support for Dinkins by Jews, Hispanics and Puerto Ricans, Asian-Americans, uniformed police officers, and first-time voters decreased significantly from the previous election. The Crown Heights Mediation Center was established in 1998 to help resolve local differences. On August 19, 2001, a street fair was held in memory of Cato and Rosenbaum, and their relatives met and exchanged mementos of hopes of healing in Crown Heights.

Aftermath

Jews didn't flee from Crown Heights after August 1991. In fact, the Lubavitch population of Crown Heights increased after the riot, the area in which they reside has expanded, and property values in the area have risen dramatically.

Fictional portrayals in film and television

On the sketch show In Living Color the 1991 season 3 premier episode does a sketch called Crown Heights Story.
A 2004 television movie, Crown Heights, was made about the aftermath of the riot, starring Howie Mandel.
Two episodes of Law & Order, one during season two and another during season four, were based on the riots.
Anna Deveare Smith wrote a play called Fires in the Mirror, depicting 29 real interviews with real people involved in the controversy.
'Brooklyn Babylon', a feature film starring Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and The Roots, presents a fictionalized version of Crown Heights neighborhood unrest in the 1990's, set off by a car accident.

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