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NAR:
It started with a tragic auto accident. An Afro-Caribbean child was hit and killed by a car driven by a Hasidic Jew. Black resentments against their Jewish neighbors exploded into violence that resulted in more than a hundred injuries and two deaths. In the aftermath, the Crown Heights Mediation Center was set up to help resolve future conflicts. Amy Ellenbogen is its director.
ELLENBOGEN:
It's very difficult for Crown Heights to get over the stigma of what happened in 1991. In reality, if you live here and work here you know that every day what's happening is peaceful coexistence.
NAR:
She says there's conflict too sometimes, but over ordinary stuff like loud music and garbage.
ELLENBOGEN:
We live in very close proximity to each other and that lends itself to certain kinds of problems. All those tensions, when you're throwing into the mix race and religion and culture can be a lot more heated, can be a lot more difficult to untangle.
NAR:
Groups in conflict see each other and the world differently. For some Blacks, the 1991 riots were about racial oppression and Jewish privilege. For many Jews it was an anti-Semitic pogrom. Ellenbogen explains.
ELLENBOGEN:
Because the communities are so different and are educated in such a different way, sometimes similar events are actually perceived in different ways. The types of larger issues that come up a lot are certain groups feeling like other groups are getting special privileges.
NAR:
People who think city government favors others sometimes lash out against their neighbors. And when they do, Ellenbogen says it's important to have institutions ready to deal with it.
ELLENBOGEN:
We all hope there will be times when there aren't racially or religiously biased incidences, but in the meantime there are mechanisms for the community to respond, but the interest in maintaining those mechanisms ebbs and flows. Programs such as ours and other programs lose funding in times of peace.
NAR:
One organization that's played a big role in building bridges between the communities is the Crown Heights Youth Collective. Its director is Richard Green. For years, he's been bringing Jewish and Black youth together to get to know and learn about each other.
GREEN:
We did it through basketball, we did it through music, we did it through having young people come to the Seders during Passover, and the Hasidic community came by our center.
NAR:
Green says there's less misperception and more willingness to work together. When conflicts arise, they don't get blown out of proportion. Brooklyn Community Board 9 Chairman Jacob Goldstein agrees.
GOLDSTEIN:
It's much more open. The communities understand each other a lot better.
NAR:
It's about transcending differences, says Green.
GREEN:
It's not about Blacks and Jews, or Whites, it's about what I call this holy alliance of good people.
NAR:
And there are a lot of good people in Crown Heights. I'm Matt Hirshberg, Columbia Radio News.