CROWN HEIGHTS — For the 25th anniversary of the deadly three-day clash in 1991 between the area’s black and Jewish communities, Brooklyn historians want to share “Voices of Crown Heights.”
To commemorate the Aug. 19 anniversary, oral historians have interviewed about a dozen residents, business owners and local leaders about their thoughts on what has — and hasn’t — changed since the riots, organizers of the "Voices" project said.
At an Aug. 10 event for "Voices," historians from the Brooklyn Historical Society will present five minutes of audio at their downtown headquarters at 128 Pierrepoint St. before a panel discussion and dance performance.
The presentation combines new recordings from the Weeksville Heritage Center and old recordings taken by BHS in the direct aftermath of the riots, organizers said.
One of the project's organizers, Zaheer Ali, a Crown Heights resident and BHS oral historian, hopes to “listen to the unheard," he told DNAinfo this spring when the project began with the help of Weeksville and the Brooklyn Movement Center.
The interviews will ultimately be shared at public at events, listening stations in the area and in an upcoming podcast, organizers said.
The Aug. 10 event event will be more of a kick-off for the bulk of the project, which is slated to take two years, Zaheer said.
“[The project] is designed to both reflect on the neighborhood’s past, including the August 1991 unrest, but not be confined by it,” he said.
“We hope this to be just the start of many conversations with Crown Heights residents about the issues facing the neighborhood today,” he added.
Those conversations will continue at the Aug. 10 event with a panel discussion about the effect of the 1991 clash featuring Crown Heights locals: artist Kameelah Rasheed, neighborhood tenant organizer Natherlene Bolden, Rabbi Eli Cohen of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council and Mark Winston Griffith, executive director of the Brooklyn Movement Center. The panel will be moderated by NY1 host Errol Louis, also a Crown Heights resident.
The “Voices of Crown Heights” event is free and will open to the public at 6:30 p.m., though organizers recommend attendees RSVP online.
