NATIONAL

Violence In Brooklyn

Crown Heights

children indoors. They don't
let them go anywhere that's
not necessary.
"The neighborhood has
suddenly turned into a war
zone," said Mr. White, 32, a
former Detroiter.
The racial melee brought
to the neighborhood bands of
uniformed police officers in
riot gear. Also to the scene
came black activists Rev. Al
Sharpton and Alton C.
Maddox. They led a jeering
procession of blacks, deman-
ding the arrest of Yoseph
Lisef, 22, the Jewish driver.
"The last few nights have
been rampages," said Mrs.
White, 31, a native of South
Africa.
Cars vandalized. Homes
damaged. Jagged-edged
stones and bottles hurtling
down streets. People
shouting. Street fighting.
Black and Jewish neighbors,
once civil, now regarding
each other with suspicion
and fear.
Mr. White said Chasidim
were advised to hide any
evidence of Jewish books or
items from their cars.
• "Now, there are swarms of
police officers on every street
corner," Mrs. White said.
"This place is beginning to
feel like Soweto. There are
even police helicopters fly-
ing over my house."
Mrs. White, born near
Capetown, is used to racial
tension.
"Where I come from, Jews
were mostly liberal when it
comes to treating blacks,"
Mrs. White said. "A lot of
Jews used to fight for them.
But since I've been living in

Photos by Bruce Sau adow

Continued from Page 1

Black activists led a march through Crown Heights after the accident.

New York, it's completely
opposite. Here, a lot of Jews
are afraid of the blacks. A lot
of us have been touched by
crime."
Last year, the Whites, who
have four children, were
awakened one Shabbat
afternoon by a black man
walking through their front
door asking for directions.
"Instead of pulling out a
piece of paper on which to
write directions," Mrs.
White said, "he pulled out a

Mayor Dinkins met
with Rabbi
Schneerson.

gun from his pocket and
pointed it in my face."
"That was pretty unusual
even for our area," Mr.
White said. "Usually, break-
ins occur when you're not
home."
Mr. White misses Oak
Park and suburban life, but
said he and his wife remain
in Crown Heights to be close
to Rabbi Menachem M.
Schneerson, the Lubavitch
Rebbe.
The Rebbe has publicly
prayed for reconciliation on
both sides. He gave Mayor
Dinkins two $1 bills for
charity as part of his bless-
ing.
"We get along with our
black neighbors," Mr. White
said. "There are many who
share some of the same con-
cerns about family and edu-
cation. And it's more than
just 'Hello, how are you?' A
young, black neighbor of
ours babysits our children.
When my wife and I went on
a short vacation, we left
some of our valuables with
her family.
"This is a busy Jewish
community, commited to
studying and reaching out to
fellow Jews," he said. "We
have a lot to do and not
much time to do it in. Our re-
ligious center is here, and
we're not running."
Fearing for the safety of
the Crown Heights commun-
ity, the Lubavitch Founda-
tion of Michigan organized a

local letter-writing cam-
paign to put pressure on
New York Gov. Mario
Cuomo, New York Mayor
David Dinkins and Presi-
dent George Bush to enforce
law and order in Crown
Heights.
"Crown Heights is not just
any community," said Rabbi
Yitschak Meir Kagan, asso-
ciate director of the Lubavit-
ch Foundation. "It's an
international center which
attracts thousands of
tourists and world-wide dig-
nitaries."
Each week, throngs of
Jews and non-Jews descend

"We get along with
our black
neighbors. Many
share the same
concerns."

Asher White

upon 770 Eastern Parkway,
the New York home of the
Rebbe, to wait their turn for
a brief audience with the
Chasidic sect's 89-year-old
spiritual leader.
"In the first three days of
violence, there was no
curfew, no arrests, police
were just standing by, wat-
ching," Rabbi Kagan said.
"It was an embarrassment
for the city."
Rabbi Kagan, who studied
in Crown Heights many
years ago, is a frequent

visitor and guest in the area.
His son, Chanoch, lives in
Crown Heights.
"The media has made too
much out of racial tension in
Crown Heights," Rabbi
Kagan said. "Tension has
been no more than super-
ficial there for the last 15
years. The idea that two
peoples live there is true, but
that did not lead to the
violence."
Chanoch Kagan, a former
Detroiter, said much of the
agitation is being stirred by
outside catalysts.
"They come in, stir things
up, incite people to violence,
and leave. I don't take the
train to work anymore. If
you're white and Jewish,
you're a walking target."
"We've lost the capacity to
call a thug a thug," Rabbi
Kagan said. "What we had
here was a band of two-
legged animals who went on
a rampage. When Al Capone
gunned people down, no one
made a social issue out of it.
To try and call it that is a
travesty and not at all repre-
sentative of what's happen-
ing there."
But in meetings this week
with Mayor Dinkins and
Police Commissioner Lee P.
Brown, black residents com-
plained that the Chasidic
community of Crown
Heights receives preferen-
tial treatment.
Tempers boiled over Aug.
19 when Hatzolah, a private