By COLlive reporter
Photos: Yisrael Belizovski
A unique mix of people gathered Tuesday morning in Crown Heights to respond to a string of apparent bias attacks on Jews over the past two months.
Community leaders, elected and police officials, and principals of Intermediate and High Schools from the Jewish, African American and other segments of the community sat around a kosher breakfast to exchange ideas.
Held at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva on Crown Street, the conversation focused on possibilities to educate local youths on the long-term ramifications of their crimes and the need for better understanding of their Chassidic neighbors.
“It’s sad that in 2013, in our beautiful Brooklyn, we are meeting about this,” said outgoing Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, echoing the sentiment of most participants.
Activist Chanina Sperlin, host of the forum and governmental liaison of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, said “it’s important that we should reach practical results for the benefit of the entire community.”
But midway through the meeting, Tessa Alleyne, the principal of Public School 91, began to express frustration. “I’m not hearing a lot of concrete solutions,” she said. “We need concrete solutions. More needs to be done for our kids.”
Comptroller-elect Scott Stringer pledged a citywide program to educate youth and stop the progression “before it becomes the rage that will be front-page headlines one day.”
Sperlin advocated to speak to youngsters about the consequences of their actions. “If they do a crime, they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and can go away for 7-8 years,” he said. “Why do kids want to throw away their future?”
Laurie Cumbo, the new City Council Member representing Crown Heights, suggested to make teenagers aware of what transpired in the neighborhood during the 1991 riots against Jews.
Devorah Halberstam of the Jewish Children’s Museum said they have been welcoming public school students for open conversations and dialogue. Michael Johnson, principal of PS 161, related that they have started a “hate crime curriculum” in his school.
There were some practical suggestions.
The most obvious, yet only related by one participant, was the need for an immediate arrest to be made in the case of anti-Semitic attacks, whether or not it is part of a violent game or many isolated incidents.
“People in this community have been attacked,” said State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who grew up in the neighborhood. “I want those people who did the crimes arrested. They committed a crime which could’ve caused serious injury. We need to apprehend the individuals who committed these crimes.”
Assistant Chief Owen Monaghan, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, updated that there’s been a rise in uniformed visibility and that “we are utilizing the resources of the entire police department. Results are what we want. Arrests are what we want. We are out there investigating and pledging to do what we can.”
Markowitz suggested to the police, “you’ve got to get your undercover cops out there. Let them be dressed as Chassidim, the young kids (will strike) and (you will) catch them. History has shown, if this is not caught now and nipped in the bud, it gets worse. I don’t want any stain on Brooklyn.”
Lastly, Community Board 9 Chairman Jacob Goldstein raised an issue he said he’s been promoting for years. “We need cameras on Kingston, Troy and Albany Avenues. I have asked numerous times, it falls on deaf ears. They say ‘No money.’ It’s time the NYPD put cameras in our streets.”
The event concluded with participants agreeing that this event should not be a one-time occurrence, but rather should take place a few times a year, to continue the dialogue. “We need to make quarterly meetings to discuss this and make sure this work continues,” said District 41 Council Member Darlene Mealy.
Assistant Chief Owen Monaghan, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South speaks:
Elected Officials in attendance:
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; Comptroller elect Scott Stringer; Council members Darlene Mealy, David Greenfield, and Mathieu Eugene; Council members elect Laurie Cumbo and Chaim Deutsch, Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
Representatives of the following elected officials were in attendance:
David Lobl for Governor Cuomo; Pinny Ringel for Mayor-Elect Bill Deblasio; District Director Anita Taylor and Eli Slavin – community liaison for Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (who was in Washington, DC); Reuven Lipkin for Senator Eric Adams; Sarana Purcell and Shea Halberstam for Assemblyman Karim Camara and Gregorio Mayers and Fred Kreizman from Mayor Bloomberg’s office.
Agencies at the meeting:
State Human Rights, DOE (Superintendent of School District 17 Buffie Simmons, and Principals Michael Johnson PS 161, Tessa Alleyne PS 91, Dr. Shannon Burton PS 61, Andrea Whiteheart, NYPD (Police Commissioner’s Office, Chief Osgood and Commanding Officer of Hate Crimes, Brooklyn South Chief, Commanding Officer 71 Pct, Reps from Community Affairs and 77 Precinct) and Chairmen of Community Board 8 and 9 (both cover Crown Heights) Jacob Goldstein.
Other notable attendees:
JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council of NY) David Pollock and Bob Kaplan; Medgar Evers College Vice President Dr. John Fasteau, plus head of security and Director of Government Relations; Church Pastors — Pastor Gil Monrose, Taharka Robinson, Reverend Norman and others; Precinct Council Presidents, James Caldwell and Colin Kohn; Richard Green from the Crown Heights Youth Collective; Devorah Halberstam from the Jewish Children’s Museum; Crown Heights Jewish Community Council reps.
Related Articles:
+ Black Women Attack Jewish Boy
+ Putting an End to “Knock Out”
+ Boy Injured From Thrown Rock
+ ‘Knock the Jew’ is Name of Game
+ Community Wants Arrests Made
+ Second Hate Attack Within a Week
+ Boy Attacked in Broad Daylight
+ Moments Before Thugs Strike
Start a meaningful discussion on community relations with educators and leaders who really care, and mere matching suits.
all the cops do is go on Kingston not on scary streets and sit on there iphone ipod ipad
There is plenty of ignorance about ‘The 7 Noahide Laws’ amongst ‘Anash’ here in Crown Heights. Just today an elderly ‘Yid’ in ‘shul’ said: “You cannot teach the non-Jews (‘Goyim’ Rebbe, MH”M did not like use of this word for non-Jews.) ‘Torah.’ If they learn Torah,” he continued, “They’re ‘chaiv misa.’ This is NOT true. Read Rabbi Moshe Weiner’s (From ‘Eretz Yisroel’) ‘Halachic’ book called: ‘The Divine Code’ where we learn that a non-Jew can learn much, but it cannot be ‘leshaime shemayim.’ A number of ‘Anash’ question my use of teaching the ‘chochmos’ in ‘the aleph beit’ Rabbi Y.… Read more »
They may be committing hate crimes against yidden but C”V what would happen if a yid would do or say something offensive to them? I have many many friends who would love to play “knockout” with one of them just for who they are! Just remember that we are not all so innocent as well.
True story, gong back many years. When my boys caught the bus to school on our corner, every morning a little Black kid going to the public school on Montgomery Troy/Schenectady pushed them, threw stones, called “hate-filled” slurs at them & generally terrified them. One day I had enough, stood away, watched it happen and followed the thug to school. I marched right in, the only white person in sight & demanded to speak to the Principal. She wasn’t too happy but I insisted she dealt with the kid she called Charlie (I could identify him) or…I would. And it… Read more »
They have money to put up cameras at traffic lights,, so they can catch you going through a red light, the city has money for that, because it is a billion dollar business I read, but for this knockout game that these kids are playing and our kids have to be scared to walk the streets they dont have any money
Those kids in those photos are in someone’s school!! Are you trying to tell me that no black principal, or teacher in the African American schools in town can identify their student?? Why are they protecting and harvesting criminals? Can you imagine how our yeshiva principals would react if one of our students would walk around punching people in the streets? Where are the African American principals? Why are they letting their students do this? Where are the teachers? Where are the parents??!! And forget the whole hate crime talk. Let’s just stick to regular crime. Who allows they’re youth… Read more »
There’s a lot of screaming going on here, will that help anything?
I was happy to see such a large and diverse group of many different leaders and service individuals getting together. That’s a great start. I don’t know what happened there so I can’t judge.
I would say one thing, making arrests, like the officer mentioned, is not the most important factor. It’s the punishment that comes after that’s important. Others will only stop when they hear that “you don’t want to play around with this or you’d be locked up for good”
What if these attacks are motivated by jealousy of the Jews?
If a person knows and feels he/she is made ‘In the Image of G-d’ doesn’t this change their perception of life?
Anyway, these children are growing up in a violent society. The media is full of this.
Hello ‘Esav.’
Right on!
boruch hoffinger
Thanks for the meeting. I’ve spoken to hundreds of Afro-Americans and Hispanics in this neighborhood since I’ve had my ‘shiur’ in ‘The 7 Noahide Laws,’ with Mr. Don Goodman as teacher. (I’ve spoken to about 600 all-told. Many out of Crown Heights: Ground Zero, Battery Park, The Staten Island Ferry [Large groups waiting for a ferry.] subways, buses, parks, airplanes [One after the other — sometimes over an hour or two] telephone, Internet [I send comments to moral issues using ‘7 Mitzvot’ material— I received responses. Most Americans know little or nothing about these two topics — tragic. Without these… Read more »
Both the sheva mitzvos and moment of silence were spoken about
Time for action. These meetings are bs and accomplish nothing. No one is any safer than before and no changes are made so why bother. Hate is a big part of a lot, not all but a lot of african americsn culture. Hate and anger. There is a time and place for respectful dialogue and a time for actions. The low lifes committing these crimes understnd only one thing. Force and fighting fire with fire. Words and dialogue wth the kids and adults that commit hate crimes are a waste and wont accomplish anything
In other inner-city minority communities, chess clubs, drama clubs, etc. have made a tremendous impact. These are usually organized through the public schools. I am sure schools that have had success in these areas would be happy to share information about how to get started. The children are taught the value of hard work, how to live morally, self-worth, the value of life, etc.
Hatzlocho rabboh to all involved…
(while we may live out of town, for many of us Crown Heights is home 🙂
town,
why do people join gangs? may i suggest they need a sense of being part of a group that cares about them perhaps we should create a program in the schools to give the students a sense of the community they are part of and to give them a sense of pride in belonging to it we can begin with projects highlighting the various service groups in the area, how they started, how they work and the heroes of each group such departments as firemen, sanitation, police, hospitals and ambulances, teachers and colleges could be represented this could entail :… Read more »
Throwing these kids into jail so they can turn this sick “game” into dead kids is not the answer. If each kid was held until their mom met with the victim’s mom and came up with consequences – it would be more effective. These kids are more afraid of their moms who don’t believe in In authoritative methods of parenting. For some jail is a step up – 3 hot meals is more than they are getting. The other people the kids would listen to are their stars – have rappers and the other big stars come out against knock… Read more »
When it came to crime the Rebbe’s stand was clear. Teach them that there is a Baal Habus to this world, and it’s not a Jungle. Its called chinuch. Anyone bring that up in the meeting?
To make themselves feel better and to say they had a meeting about it. No arrests and no responsibility.
BS”D no on ate
is that Clarence Norman resurrected
Undercover cops are the only solution – the only way to finally nab these criminals
DEJA VU. IT SEEMS THAT EVERY TIME THERE IS BLACK ON WHITE INCIDENT, THE FIRST THING WE HEAR IS WHAT WILL BE DONE FOR THEM ( TO QUOTE TESSA ALLEYNE THE PRINCIPAL OF P.S.91 “MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE FOR OUR KIDS”). WE HEARD THE SAME LINE FROM AL SHARPTON AFTER THE 91 RIOTS.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IS FOR THEM TO RAISE THIER CHILDREN WITH THE BASIC TENETS OF HUMAN DECENCY.
SD
He represents the whole chabad community??
it is suprising our very own latish james who is still our council member and soon to be public advocate is not there
The Rebbe gave the answer years ago, now we have to implement it in all the public schools.
this meeting should have been done in the evening so the commuity can come out and speak and be heard y hush hush ???????????
Arrest the kids.keep them locked up Nd this will teach the others. Forget talk and education. It is the black kids fighting not our kids. This meeting was awasteoftime because for an african american to say his kids arenot safe makes thewhole the whole thing null and void. The black. Kids are safe and continue
WOW!! THEY ATE SOME BAGELS, TOOK SOME PICTURES, AND EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. (NOT)
Serial burgular , is let out a day after he is caught , repeating these burgularies again , rap sheet of 20 years.
throw out liberals and judges soft on crime
As long as our so called community leaders keep on letting the leaders of the African American communities throw around their equivalency comments i.e “there’s racism in the community” “We need to work together to bring down the violence”, will never see any positive change. Lets be clear the history of Black on Jewish crime VS Jewish on Black crime is so clear it doesn’t even merit a stat. That’s where the conversation needs to start, we need to demand from the City and Black leadership an answer as to WHY this happens. Lastly in a sense its our fault,… Read more »
What a dog and pony show (load of krap)
Are they putting up cameras on every corner?? Then please do not waste our time, or insult our intelligence.