Welcome to Turf Tension:
Howard Beach, Crown Heights, Bensonhurst & Flatbush
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DEMOGRAPHICS – (HK)
QUEENS – Howard Beach:
Described as being an upper middle class neighborhood– raises question of how economic demographics of a city affect its racial demographics?
BROOKLYN – Crown Heights/Flatbush/Bensonhurts:
Demographically speaking, racial tensions arise when the people of historically established ethnic enclaves in NYC must accommodate to the changing ethnic profile of their communities.
How does the Problem of Contested Turf Emerge?
NYC is known as the melting pot of the world, the place where people of all races and ethnicities can live and thrive. The opportunities, the social acceptance and equality in this city are unparalleled. (Go on to talk about despite the aura of freedom and hope that surrounds NYC, it is a very segregated city, polarized along the lines of class and race, and it is this polarization that has lead to the establishment of historically ethnic/racial enclaves)
BROOKLYN
A RACIALLY POLARIZED BOROUGH
Discuss the demographics of Brooklyn, what are the established ethnical/racial enclaves? Is there any correlation between these enclaves and incidents indicating contested turf ?
CROWN HEIGHTS – FROM THE RIOTS OF 1991 TO NOW
Potential Quotes from Readings:
“Korean merchants who chose to do business in Flatbush choose overwhelmingly to live elsewhere, fueling the Black nationalist notion that outsider merchants drain money out of the economy.”
– Bitter Fruits by Claire Kim
“Race Relations can be an appropriate issue… but only if you want to craft solutions and not catalogue complaints. If we use this issue appropriately, we can transform it from the cancer of our society into the cure.“
-Mayor David Dinkins
(BD) – Based on the governmental census, this image shows the massive increase in the Black population
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VISUAL MEDIA – (BD)
- Crown Heights: Mural opening in Brooklyn Museum representing a united Crown Heights, commemorating 25th anniversary of the Crown Heights Riots
- Bensonhurst: Cover from a 1991 New Yorker magazine, depicting a Chasidic Jew kissing an African American woman
- Image of Yusef Hawkins’ grave which has on it a fist rising into the air above his name
- Various newspapers’ cover stories with headlines reading (Daily News) “Bensonhurst Awaits Verdicts TENSION”, “WHITE GANG Not a racial crime, says local chorus”, and “KILLS BLACK 30 teens shoot youth, 16”
- Flatbush: Image of Sonny Carlson, “Black activist” involved during Dinkins’ term. Fought in Bensonhurst and led riots in Flatbush
- Image of street in front of Korean-American grocery stores in Brooklyn in a continuing boycott. This photograph was taken in May, 1990 after protest leaders rejected Mayor David Dinkins’ call for compromise.
OTHER VITAL SOURCES – of its time
- Howard Beach: Video – Interviews with Mayor Ed Koch and the then police commissioner about the attack: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/From_the_Archives__1986_Racial_Attack_in_Howard_Beach_New_York-158608385.html
- Howard Beach: Article written about the aftermath of the Griffith murder: http://thegrio.com/2011/12/20/howard-beach-incident-25-years-later-a-community-still-mourns/
- Crown Heights: A podcast created by WNYC with a news reporting on the riots– it includes an introduction, interviews, and how the area has changed: https://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/403626
- Crown Heights: Youtube video – Reporting by the Daily News. Very personalized interviews of individuals on the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_O3GFU-SS0
- Bensonhurst: Radio Podcast Media coverage by WNYC on the case of Yusuf Hawkins and Al Sharpton’s involvement – includes many interviews from people who live in Bensonhurst and their reactions now: https://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/396629
- Bensonhurst: YouTube video – “48 Hours” program made by CBS news, focusing on Al Sharpton and the work he did after each tragedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r20m7K45zRI&feature=youtu.be (4:00-6:20)
- Bensonhurst: YouTube video – segment by NY1 News on the meeting of Yusef’s father, Mr. Stewart, with AL Sharpton & mob’s leader Keith Mondello (the convicted teen) 25 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjypp71Y6h0&feature=youtu.be
- FLATBUSH VISUAL RESEARCH TO COME…
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GothamGazette Findings – (EA)
- CROWN HEIGHTS http://www.gothamgazette.com/citizen/jan02/15.shtml
- “The Crown Heights tragedy of 1991 seems destined to go on haunting us….It is a tragedy and travesty that this case remains an open wound.”
- 2002 update on the killing of Rosenbaum – retrial
- “Howard Beach is a brand name when it comes to bias violence.”
- “There seems to be a great desire–especially on the part of politicians–to treat bias incidents as aberrations and police matters, not reflective of some deep-seated problem among the good and unprejudiced people of New York”
- Covering events of 1986 versus 2005, Koch/Dinkins/Bloomberg
- **** gives links to articles
http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/archives/1984-bias-violence-on-staten-island
- Howard Beach & Crown Heights mentioned, end of Koch effects Dinkins/Giuliani
- Staten Island more so
- BENSONHURST
- Parallels of response and mayor’s actions – A History Of High-Profile Bias Crimes
- Michael Griffith vs Michael Sandy deaths
- In general: focus on Guiliani
http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/open-government/2914-giuliani–savior-of-the-city-or-its-enemy
Gotham Gazette’s Reading NYC Book Club held a conversation on July 27 at the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library with authors of two newly-published books about New York City under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
- Etc. DA’s of NY
http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/topics/2752-the-das-of-new-york
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TENSIONS TODAY IN THESE COMMUNITIES – (BK)
- Crowns Heights: Blacks and Chasidic Jews still the two groups: http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/80-a-history-of-tension-race-relations-in-crown-heights
- Explains that Blacks and Jews still have tensions as of 2008, when attacks happened on both communities. The main thing stopping another Crowns Heights Riots is an increase in police presence since the event occurred. People in the area say the problem is more about crime than race, and it becomes about race when the media gets involved.
- Black community feared being pushed out of their homes by the growing Jewish community, and also resented their success: https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131204/crown-heights/councilwoman-blames-knockout-attacks-on-tension-between-blacks-jews
- Personal reviews from residents, giving their opinions on the situation, does not seem as if they are overly concerned: http://www.streetadvisor.com/crown-heights-brooklyn-new-york-city-new-york
- Howard Beach: Still predominantly white, with only a 2% black population: http://thegrio.com/2011/12/20/howard-beach-incident-25-years-later-a-community-still-mourns/
- Bensonhurst: Doesn’t appear to have a racial issue today – the article asserts there is no current racial tensions within the very diverse neighborhood, which is no longer dominated by Italians and Jews: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/bensonhurst-transforms-international-families-move-article-1.1044306
- “Today, black Bensonhurstians say racial tensions in the neighborhood have eased somewhat, and new waves of Chinese, Russian, and Latino immigrants have arrived, chasing the same dream the Italians once did—a suburb of their own. But the Italian influence still permeates the streets of this brick-hewn residential area” http://www.villagevoice.com/news/close-up-on-bensonhurst-6408449
- Flatbush: Blog postings – Tension between blacks and whites, specifically with gentrification, may be unspoken tension and may be only from the blacks towards the whites: http://equalityforflatbush.tumblr.com
