Event Description:
The CUNY Dispute Resolution Center at John Jay College and The Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York
Monthly NYC-DR Roundtable Breakfast
PEACEMAKING in the COMMUNITY:
Reflection on a quarter of century in Crown Heights
Professor Richard Green
What can be done after a community experiences major racial tensions? What do peacemaking and peacebuilding in the community look like? In 1991, Crown Heights, Brooklyn erupted in three days of race riots after a 7 year old black child, Gavin Cato was accidentally struck by a station wagon in the motorcade of a Jewish spiritual leader. Soon after, a 29 year old Hasidic scholar from Australia, Yankel Rosenbaum, was surrounded by a group black youths and stabbed to death. Richard Green assumed a leadership role in building and sustaining peace in the shattered community. For him, "Making peace is deliberate, while keeping peace is legacy." He encourages races “to interact instead of react,” and he has said, in Crown Heights “are Blacks, Blues and Jews, each sharing with the other to strive for the best so we all can emerge and spend a peaceful quiet time with our friends and loved ones.” At this Breakfast, Richard will discuss what contributed to the unrest, and the tireless work that has gone into peacemaking and peacebuilding.
Richard Green is Founder and Executive Director of the Crown Heights Youth Collective, which he established in 1978 in response to the need for comprehensive services for disadvantaged youth ages 3-25. The Collective serves the diverse African American, Caribbean American, and Hasidim communities of Crown Heights. The Collective has forged a relationship with New York’s Police Department, for which Richard often addresses new police officers as part of an informal orientation to the community. Richard teaches at Medgar Evers College and is a widely sought after speaker at conferences, meetings and in local communities experiencing conflict.
RSVP: mvolpe@jjay.jjay.cuny.edu |
