Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, whose time in office was marred by rising crime and his failed response to the Crown Heights riots, died Monday night at 93.
By Anash.org reporter
Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins, whose time in office was marred by rising crime and his failed response to the Crown Heights riots, died Monday night at 93.
Mayor Dinkins served as the 106th Mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. He was the first and, to date, only African American to hold that office.
The low point of his career was his failed leadership during and in the aftermath of the Crown Heights riots.
When a car driven by an orthodox Jew accidently struck and killed a black 7-year-old boy, numerous African Americans joined by growing numbers of non-residents, rioted in Crown Heights for three days and nights.
Dinkins intentionally held back police in the first days of the violence, allowing the riots to spiral out of control. Nearly 190 people were hurt, and Yankel Rosenbaum, a yeshiva student from Melbourne, Australia, was stabbed to death by a rioter.
But he became just a one-term New York mayor, losing his seat in a 1993 rematch against Rudy Giuliani and a lingering backlash from the Crown Heights riots.
In 1991, in the wake of the Crown Heights riots, Mayor David Dinkins visited the Rebbe on Sunday afternoon to receive a dollar and a blessing. The Rebbe told him, “We are one side. We are one people, living in one city, under one administration and under one G-d.”
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