| Race and Religion Among the Chosen People of Crown Heights In August of 1991, the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights was engulfed in violence following the deaths of Gavin Cato and Yankel Rosenbaum--a West Indian boy struck by a car in the motorcade of a Hasidic spiritual leader and an orthodox Jew stabbed by a Black teenager. The ensuing unrest thrust the tensions between the Lubavitch Hasidic community and their Afro-Caribbean and African American neighbors into the media spotlight, spurring local and national debates on diversity and multiculturalism. Crown Heights became a symbol of racial and religious division. Yet few have paused to examine the nature of Black-Jewish difference in Crown Heights, or to question the flawed assumptions about race and religion that shape the politics--and perceptions--of conflict in the community. Henry Goldschmidt is an assistant professor of religion and society at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He is the coeditor (with Elizabeth McAlister) of Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas. |