August 29, 2001

Can Time Heal All Wounds?
Examining the Lingering Effects of Violence and the Healing Process in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and in Other Communities with Tense Pasts

Grades:  6-8,9-12
Subjects:  American History, Language Arts, Social Studies

Related New York Times Article
"In Crown Heights, a Decade of Healing After Riots, but Scars Remain", By JOHN KIFNER and FELICIA R. LEE, August 20, 2001

Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students examine a divided community's healing process by exploring relations between blacks and Jews in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in the decade following the 1991 riots there. They then investigate other communities that have been divided in the past and develop action plans to continue efforts of reconciliation and hope in those communities.

Suggested Time Allowance: 45-60 minutes

Objectives:  Students will:

  1. React to a New York Times article from 1991 recounting the riots in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; speculate on how the riots have had lasting impact.
  2. Examine the impact of the violence in Crown Heights in the decade that followed by reading and discussing "After a Decade, Scars Linger In a Healing Crown Heights."
  3. Discern between underlying and proximate causes of violence; brainstorm a list of historic examples of clashes between two groups that share a community.
  4. Explore, in groups, underlying and proximate causes of these past clashes within communities, as well as the outcomes and healing processes that ensued.
  5. Synthesize research and discussion by developing collages that illustrate the incidents and communities in conflict researched in groups; create action plans for the researched communities to further promote the healing within them.

Resources / Materials:

Activities / Procedures:
NOTE TO TEACHER: This lesson plan focuses on issues related to race. Because the topic of race is often incendiary, teachers should be particularly mindful in guiding the lesson.

  1. WARM-UP/DO NOW: Prior to class, put one copy of "A Boy's Death Ignites Clashes In Crown Heights" on each student's desk. Upon entering class, students respond to the following prompt, written on the board prior to class:
    In communities where a tremendously violent act occurred in the past, there is almost always a lasting effect or impact that remains long after the violence took place. On your desk is a New York Times article about an event that happened in Crown Heights, Brooklyn in 1991. Read the article carefully, and then finish each of the following statements in your journal with three endings that you feel are appropriate:
    • I believe the violence in Crown Heights ...
    • In 1991, Crown Heights was a community that ...
    • 10 years later, the community of Crown Heights ...
    • Violence like that which occurred in Crown Heights in 1991 ...
    Ask students to share their answers.
  2. As a class, read and discuss "In Crown Heights, a Decade of Healing After Riots, but Scars Remain", focusing on the following questions:
    1. What happened in August1991 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn?
    2. In what ways has Crown Heights changed since August 1991?
    3. According to the article, what kind of neighborhood is Crown Heights economically?
    4. Why do the Hasidic and black communities of Crown Heights "almost by definition" lead separate lives?
    5. How long did the violence in Crown Heights last?
    6. What was the reaction of the police to the violence?
    7. How has immigration changed the neighborhood in the ten years since the riots?
    8. Why do some community members call the violence "the incident"?
    9. The leaders of both communities are "vigilant for possible friction points." What are some of those points, and how have they been smoothed over or resolved?
    10. Why, regardless of tremendous gains in trust, does friction still exist?
    11. How do the accounts of the deaths in 1991 differ among many blacks and Jews?
    12. What kind of organization is Mothers to Mothers?
    13. According to Carol Meltz, a Crown Heights resident of 30 years, why did the riots break out? What does she mean by "things don't happen in a vacuum"?
    14. Why does Richard Green, the executive director of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, worry about the rage among young black men?
    15. How has recent immigration created new possibilities for conflict?
    16. How did the death of Menachem Schneerson, the rebbe of the Lubuvitcher community, change the community?
    17. Why does the Lubuvitcher's "intense inward looking spirituality, ... their devotion to family and religious ritual" virtually ensure that they will live entirely separately from their black neighbors?
    18. What is a "closed community"?
    19. What was the atmosphere like in Crown Heights right before the violence? What is it like now?
  3. In an informal discussion, discuss the ways that the communities in Crown Heights are trying to heal in the wake of the 1991 riots. Discuss the proximate cause of the violence (the death of Gavin Cato) and the underlying causes of the violence. According to the article, what reconciliation tactics have been employed in Crown Heights in the past ten years, and how successful have they been? Then, as a class, brainstorm on the board a list of cataclysmic events in which two or more groups within a community (neighborhood, city, country or other organization) with seemingly irreconcilable differences have clashed. These events may be historic, within students' own city or community, national or international. They may be a reaction to an injustice or perceived injustice that is aimed at other citizens or that is aimed at institutions, with citizens or institutions instigating the violence. Possible examples include the Los Angeles riots (1992), the Attica prison riots, the unrest in Cincinnati, Ohio (2001), the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle (2000), the protests in Genoa, Italy surrounding globalization (2001), and the current and historic unrest in Israel and Ireland. What common elements in all of these violent incidents can students identify?
  4. Divide students into pairs or small groups, and have each group select one event from the class's brainstormed list as the focus of brief research. Using all available classroom resources, each group investigates the answers to the following questions (written on the board for easier student access):
    • When did this event occur?
    • What was the proximate cause of the vioence?
    • What was (or were) the underlying cause(s) of the violence?
    • Who was involved? Who were the key players or stakeholders?
    • What were relations between these groups like prior to this event?
    • In the years following the incident, how have the communities involved addressed the underlying issues? (If the incident is recent, how do the communities plan to address the issues?)
  5. HOMEWORK/WRAP-UP: After completing their research, each group develops a collage of the event that expresses through images, words, newspaper articles and any other methods key information that will help inform other students in the class about the event. Then, considering the reconciliation tactics discussed in "After a Decade, Scars Linger In a Healing Crown Heights," each group drafts its own action plan for reconciliation between the communities and/or groups about which they researched. The action plan should take into account the different needs of these groups and should propose tactics on as many different levels as possible (such as developing community task forces, new curriculum in the schools, special community service projects, etc.) In a future class, each group should present their poster and action plan and contribute to a round-table discussion comparing and contrasting these events.

Further Questions for Discussion:

Evaluation / Assessment:
Students will be evaluated based on written journal response, participation in class discussion, group research, group collages and thoughtful action plan development.

Vocabulary:
spasm, mediation, Hasidim, sect, chaos, distressed, appreciable, adjacent, raucous, accommodation, alliance, entourage, vacuum, idleness, rebbe, ghetto

Extension Activities:

  1. One community response to the incident in Crown Heights was the formation of a student organization called S.A.V.E. (Students Against Violence Everywhere). Research the organization. Draft a charter for your own chapter of S.A.V.E or organize a group around an issue in your own community. Draft the goals and objectives for your group.
  2. The neighborhood of Crown Heights now has a mother's group, a community Halloween party and mixed security patrols. Create a brochure for any of the groups or community events mentioned in "After a Decade, Scars Linger In a Healing Crown Heights." Target the brochure toward the youth that Richard Green describes as "society's ghosts."
  3. Read coverage of the incident in Crown Heights from The New York Times. If you can, find alternate sources of coverage as well. What do you think happened? Can you ever know exactly what happened? Analyze the coverage that you read and write an essay sharing your analysis.
  4. The Lubavitch are described in the article as a "closed society." Research the customs and beliefs of the Lubavitcher people. Report upon your findings.
  5. How do you identify yourself? Create a list of the words you use to identify yourself. Prioritize them. Imagine that your list could only be five words. How do you identify yourself now? Read works of fiction or non-fiction that explore identity and respond to it in a creative way. (Some books to read include "Down These Mean Streets," "Black Boy" and "More About Me.")

Interdisciplinary Connections:

Other Information on the Web
The New York Times Learning Network's How Race Is Lived in America special feature (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/race) explores, through a variety of resources, the many ways in which race is a critical element of life in the United States. The special feature provides the full-text version of every article from this Pulitzer Prize-winning series from Summer 2000, and each article is accompanied by a Learning Network lesson plan.

Copyright 2001
The New York Times Company

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