Jewish bus blaze evokes tension of 1991 Brooklyn riots

NEW YORK (AP) — For days, the charred school bus sat in front of a Jewish girls' school in Brooklyn, its ruined hulk posing a troubling question:

Twenty five years ago this August, the neighborhood's black residents exploded into days of rioting after a 7-year-old boy, the son of Guyanese immigrants, was accidentally struck and killed by a car in the motorcade of the leader of the Lubavitcher sect.

The episode prompted at least one leader in Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish community to formally complain to police about what he saw as a trend in anti-Semitic incidents.

Richard Green, a black community activist who has worked with neighborhood kids for more than three decades, said he thought the burning of the bus was "more about idle hands than hate."

Daniel Berry, 29, a Jewish computer technology student who moved to Crown Heights from Los Angeles three months ago with his wife and toddler son, said he thought the bus attack was an isolated incident.

[...] she summed up the sentiments of many in Crown Heights by suggesting that a reckless act by one group of kids was no sign of more trouble to come.