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together down the same streets, and
when indifferent to one another — as
they often were — it seemed sincere, not
studied.
The heart of Jewish Crown Heights,
surrounding the Lubavitch world head-
quarters on Eastern Parkway and
Kingston Avenue, includes tree-lined
streets of single-family homes, close to
the many small synagogues and yeshiv-
as where the Lubavitch and other Or-
thodox Jews pray. Yiddish is the
language of choice in laundromats,
kosher restaurants and other business-
es that form the neighborhood's com-
mercial core.
Florence Richardson, a 68-year-old
grandmother, agreed that the blacks
and Jews who co-exist in the approxi-
mately 80 square blocks heavily popu-
lated by Orthodox Jews do so with a
minimum of problems.
"My neighbors are Jewish, and I've
babysat many times for them when they
needed somebody," said Ms. Richard-
son, who, like most people on the street
But according to interviews with
seemed happy to stand and talk in 30- dozens of Crown Heights residents,
degree weather to correct what they say many of the area's problems concern
is a mistaken impression about their crime, racial issues and allegations of
complex neighborhood, one of the few in preferential treatment — not anti-
the country where large numbers of Semitism.
blacks and Jews live side by side.
"During the riots, I listened to black
She recounted a poignant moment a radio stations to find out what they were
few years back when she spent part of thinking," said Hensha Gansbourg, a
Yom Kippur with a Chasidic family, one Chasidic woman living in the most af-
of whose daughters had been burned fluent section of Crown Heights. "What
and was in a hospital. Ms. Richardson I heard was frightening, but it was most-
periodically called the hospital and told ly anti-white."
the family the news about the girl's re-
And try as she might to forge bonds,
covery, and no one, she said, thought it hasn't been easy. She explained that
twice about who was black, white or despite her requests to be informed
Jewish.
about her area's homeowners' associa-
Despite interactions like these, "there tion meetings, she is never told about
are social problems, no doubt about it," them by her black neighbors.
said Zalman Schmotkin, a rabbinic stu-
But for some Jews in Crown Heights,
dent who helps the Lubavitch organi- it's too late to forge bonds. An elderly,
zation deal with the press. But the non-Chasidic Jewish woman, who said
inward-looking nature of the Chasidic crime in Crown Heights has forced her
community, he continued, reflects reli- to remain in her house at night, added
gious views and not discriminatory ones. that the mostly young blacks who par-
"When the Rebbe told us not to desert ticipated in the riots last summer were
Crown Heights, he said there was no "animals."
need to fear people of another color,"
The situation is only made worse, res-
said Mr. Schmotkin, adding that the idents say, by outsiders intent on mak-
Rebbe's few statements after the August, ing trouble and by tabloid newspapers
1991 riots have only accentuated that that fan the flames of hate with sensa-
viewpoint.
tional headlines.
But certainly all is not well in Crown
"Most of the problems come from out
Heights. Anti-Semitism surely exists, of the area, young men from elsewhere
and Jews' fear of their physical safety in Brooklyn or the Bronx who, for in-
has increased, say residents. And Rab- stance, got bussed in to take part in the
bi Schneerson's illness — the 90-year-old riots," said Paul Coleman, 31, who lives
spiritual leader is mostly confined to his just outside of Crown Heights but works
room after a stroke earlier this year — in a barber shop in the neighborhood. "I
has only increased the Chasidic com- feel very comfortable walking around
munity's concern about its future dur- here. Sometimes I feel more comfortable
walking around here than where I live,
ing a time of messianic fervor.

where a lot of young Crown
men don't have any-
thing to do and want to Heights
residents
fight, for no reason."
Felicia Smith, 17, blame out-
and Lisa Jones, 20, siders and
said that for the most the media
part there was little
tension in the racially for fanning
mixed section of Crown the flames
Heights where they of hate.
live. But they said their
viewpoints were at odds with most of
their friends; Ms. Smith said frankly
that her contemporaries "don't like the
Jews much. .
"A lot of them think that the Jews get
more protection than us, and the press
always takes their side," she continued.
"A lot of them don't really care though,
and probably won't take the time to talk
to you about it."
The sense of separation between
blacks and Jews increases markedly
north of Eastern Parkway, the dividing
line between the wealthier Jewish area
and the much poorer, solidly black ar-
eas where contact between the two
groups is purely commercial and most-
ly sporadic.
On "the other side" of Eastern Park-
way come the familiar refrains: Jews get
preferential treatment, they park where
they like (double-parking in the Jewish
area of Crown Heights is commonplace),
they get better police protection, they
get better city services.
"School gets out in 15 minutes. Do you
see any crossing guards or police
around?" asked one man, who said he
managed recording artists, as he fin-
ished making a call at a local diner.

"Now, go up two blocks and you'll see po-
lice on the corners. And look at these
windows here," he said, tapping a num-
ber of them to indicate they were plas-
tic replacements for glass windows
recently broken. "Do you hear about
when places like this are hit? No. And
it wouldn't happen if we had cops on all
the corners."
Other blacks — especially those in the
20s and 30s — reserved their most bitter
comments for the Jews who lived near
"the Embassy," as some called the world
headquarters of the Lubavitchers at 770
Eastern Parkway.
One man, a waiter at a restaurant
just two blocks north of Eastern Park-
way, told a story of being chased from
the Jewish part of town as a teen-ager
in the early 1970s.
"They ran me back into this part of
town, and beat me up. It was definite-
ly discrimination," said the man, who
wouldn't give his name or provide ex-
planation as to why a group of Chasidic
men chased him. "But I still got the hat
that I grabbed off of one of their heads,"
he continued, "and I'll use it for evidence
if I ever sue."
Yet mixed with anger, there is a sense
of hurt in the voices of some blacks. They
let on that they felt like minorities in
their own area when confronted with
the solidity and health of the Orthodox
community.
"The Jews all band together to take
care of themselves, and they just want
to be with themselves, without any mi-
norities," said the owner of a diner sev-
eral blocks north of Eastern Parkway.
`They'll slip pieces of paper under peo-
ples' doors wanting to buy their houses, -‘=;
offering them very good prices to leave
the neighborhood."
But the restaurateur admitted that
the Jewish community should be com-
mended for taking care of itself, and pro-
viding a stable environment free of drugs
and other problems that have scourged
the black community.
`Maybe we should do the same thing,"
he said, softening his tone for the first
time in more than an hour of harangues.
Perhaps the most hopeful sign that
Jews and blacks might get along was—,
the reaction of two Chasidic boys to a
black man camped on a street corner.
He was sitting on a crate with the hood
of his gray sweatshirt pulled over his
head. The boys approached cautiously,
but seemingly without fear. They
touched his long beard, and he gave -)
them a pat on the arm.
"Hey, little buddies," he said to them.
"Hey there."
They gave him a quick hug, then gig-
gled and ran across the street. ❑