{"id":2800,"date":"2008-04-23T07:24:41","date_gmt":"2008-04-23T15:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=2800"},"modified":"2008-04-23T12:46:31","modified_gmt":"2008-04-23T20:46:31","slug":"the-joys-of-diversity-in-crown-heights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=2800","title":{"rendered":"The Joys of Diversity in Crown Heights"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the New York Daily News<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Nearly 17 years after riots tore Crown Heights<\/a> apart, the recent beating of a black college student by Jewish assailants has exposed rising tensions between blacks and Jews in my neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Cops and city officials have quietly gone on high alert, worried that another riot could be in the works.<\/p>\n

The troubles began on April 14, when Andrew Charles<\/a>, a 20-year-old sophomore at Kingsborough Community College<\/a>, says he and a friend encountered a pair of young Jewish men while walking down Albany Ave. about 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

"One was on bike, one was on foot. They were staring at us, staring us down," Charles told me. "We stared back. They approached us and asked if we had a problem."<\/p>\n

The man on the bike sprayed Charles with tear gas, and a few minutes later a contingent of Jewish men arrived by car and in scooters and began chasing them.<\/p>\n

One man beat Charles on the back and arm with a nightstick, inflicting injuries that sent him to the hospital. The group fled, but not before a witness on the street got the license plate number.<\/p>\n

In any other neighborhood, a staredown between young men, even one that turns into a beatdown, would barely count as major news.<\/p>\n

But this is Crown Heights, where a smoldering pile of intergroup grievances and injustices – some real, many imaginary – set the stage for the shocking outburst of mob violence in August 1991.<\/p>\n

According to a memo circulated by Mayor Bloomberg<\/a>‘s Community Assistance Unit, city officials immediately descended on Crown Heights last week to establish "contact with the [Charles] family before outside agitators could jump in and reach out to the family to create community turmoil."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the New York Daily News: Nearly 17 years after riots tore Crown Heights apart, the recent beating of a black college student by Jewish assailants has exposed rising tensions between blacks and Jews in my neighborhood. Cops and city … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[5559,5556,5554,5561,5558,5563,5551,30957,1690,5560,3771,5562,5553,5552,1742,5557,5565,5555,5564,1761],"class_list":["post-2800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-race","tag-agitators","tag-albany-ave","tag-andrew-charles","tag-assailants","tag-beatdown","tag-city-officials","tag-community-assistance-unit","tag-crown-heights","tag-injustices","tag-intergroup","tag-jewish-men","tag-major-news","tag-mayor-bloomberg","tag-mob-violence","tag-new-york-daily-news","tag-nightstick","tag-outburst","tag-staredown","tag-tear-gas","tag-york-daily-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t