HBO greenlights miniseries based on Yonkers desegregation

HBO has greenlit “Show Me a Hero,” a six-hour miniseries dealing with Yonkers”™ battle over building low-income housing in some of its middle-class neighborhoods, according to multiple reports.

The miniseries is based on the 2000 nonfiction book by former New York Times reporter Lisa Belkin, which outlines the stories of local politicians, public-housing residents and residents fighting the desegregation of their neighborhoods.

In the early 1980s, the city was ordered by a federal court to build the low-income units and the battle over construction raged for years, threatening to bankrupt the city, ending political careers and leading to someone placing a pipe bomb at the construction site of one of the public housing units.

The series is spearheaded by David Simon, creator of “The Wire,” and will be written by Simon and William F. Zorni, according to The Guardian in the U.K. Paul Haggis, an Oscar winner for “Crash,” will direct the series, which will star Catherine Keener and Oscar Isaac.