February 2, 2012 | 8:29 AM | By

Gentrification in a Former Riot-Torn Neighborhood

D.C. has its share of gentrification stories in neighborhoods that never fully recovered from riots long ago, but here’s one from Brooklyn: The New York Times profiles neighborhood changes in Crown Heights, a neighborhood that saw riots between black and Jewish residents in 1991.


The riots erupted when a driver from a Hasidic official’s motorcade struck and killed a 7-year-old black boy, which prompted black residents to take to the streets, some calling for revenge. A 29-year-old Hasidic scholar visiting from Australia was attacked and fatally stabbed.

Richard Green, who founded the Crown Heights Youth Coalition in the mid-1980s, said the racial violence occurred in part because blacks and Jews had kept to themselves. “We were never really formally introduced to each other,” Mr. Green said. “That’s a good lesson as we see new groups coming in.”

Read more at: www.nytimes.com