History of SITE

In August 1991, two Guyanese immigrant children were struck by a car whilst they were playing on the sidewalk. The car was driven by an Orthodox Jewish Rebbe, a leader in the Jewish community, and other leading individuals of this faith where in the car during the time. At the time, community members that were in the surrounding blocks, recall the events stating that the car was speeding through an intersection and red light at the time the incident occured. When the first police officers arrived on the scene, they did not take the individuals into custody, instead ushering them into another community vehicle and taking them off scene. Residents state that ambulances that arrived to the scene did not attend first to the injured children.

Shortly after the events, the community broke into three days of riots, significantly looting business; A Jewish child from Australia was killed and several Jewish residents were attacked by black residents in the days that followed. [2]

Today, The community hosts yearly festivaly to bring these two communityes together: the Crown Heights Unity Festival.