Crown Heights riot

Crown Heights riot
Location of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in New York City.
Date	August 19–21, 1991
Location	Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Caused by	Chabad motorcade collides with Guyanese children, killing one
Methods	Rioting, looting, assault, arson, protests, property damage, murder
Resulted in	Controversy in New York City mayoral election of 1993 Eventual improvement of African American–Jewish relations
Casualties
Death(s)	2
Injuries	152 police officers 38 civilians
Arrested	129

The Crown Heights riot was a race riot that took place from August 19 to August 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. Black residents attacked Orthodox Jewish residents, damaged their homes, and looted businesses. The riots began on August 19, 1991, after two 7 year-old children of Guyanese immigrants were unintentionally struck by a driver running a red light^[1][2] while following the motorcade of Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the leader of Chabad, a Jewish religious movement. One child died and the second was severely injured.

In the immediate aftermath of the fatal crash, black youths attacked several Jews on the street, seriously injuring several and killing an Orthodox Jewish student from Australia. Over the next three days, black rioters looted stores and attacked Jewish homes. Two weeks after the riot, a non-Jewish man was killed by a group of black men; some believed that the victim had been mistaken for a Jew. The riots were a major issue in the 1993 mayoral race, contributing to the defeat of Mayor David Dinkins, an African American. Opponents of Dinkins said that he failed to contain the riots, with many calling them a 'pogrom' to emphasize what was seen as the complicity of New York City political leaders.

Ultimately, black and Jewish leaders developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations in Crown Heights over the next decade.^[3]