In 1991, I was doing my masters in New York, when I was asked to handle production for a documentary that centred around the co-existence of Hasidic Jews and Black Muslims in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights area. Friends, relatives and most other people warned me to stay away. They were not entirely wrong because Crown Heights was racially very sensitive and it had just been in the news due to its communal riots. A gangster hub, Crown Heights was infested with gun-toting drug dealers. I remember thinking that everyone there was either a murderer, or an arsonist.

That said, I made up my mind to go into the tiger’s den. But then came certain people who broke these stereotypes. For starters, there was Richard Joyce (name changed), who ran a ‘reform programme’ for juvenile delinquents. These were kids who were out on parole for various crimes; some of them had even committed murders for just 20 bucks! Joyce was of the opinion that some of these youngsters were good at heart. He felt that peer pressure — fuelled by ‘hate speeches and racial incidents’ — had led them down the path of crime. These boys (aged 12-17) were upset over neighbouring Jews getting preferential treatment and it had now turned Crown Heights into a breeding ground for hatred.