The Nineteen Sixties Riots: Disasters Waiting to Happen

841 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The causes of racism in America

The 1960s was a very turbulent time in American history. Cities across the country saw hundreds of incidents of racial violence. Various federal and state commissions were assembled to investigate the causes of these riots. Each individual riot had its own specific immediate precipitating incidents--"among them the Chicago riots of 1965 which erupted after a Negro woman was accidentally killed by a fire engine and the Daytona riots of 1966, which broke out after a Negro man was deliberately gunned down from a passing car" (Fogelson 217). Although race riots did occur, in part, because of the incidents, these were not the true causes. These events were only the catalyses that pushed people over the edge and caused them to go ballistic. The true causes of these race riots had been brewing under the surface for decades, just waiting for a crack to burst out of. All of the racial disturbances that occurred in the sixties can really be traced back to three main reasons: (1) discrimination and deprivation, (2) the civil rights movement and its doctrine of civil disobedience and (3) continuous mistreatment by the police. Racial injustice and discrimination is, perhaps the most obvious reason for the uprisings of Negro citizens of the ghettos in the sixties. Slavery laws were rejected in the 1860s but in the hundred years since then, Negroes were constantly subjected to Jim Crow laws and second-class citizenship. They could not eat at the same lunch counters a white people, their children were not allowed to attend the same schools and they couldn't even use the same bathrooms. During times of segregation, many black people were known to have died on the way to a "Negro hospital" because the closer, more efficient white ho... ... middle of paper ... ...on on the root causes of the rioting--living conditions in the ghetto, inadequate schools, poor employment opportunities, [police misconduct and civil disobedience trends]--producing a flurry of activity" (Spilerman 635). These root causes had been flowing underground for decades beforehand. If more attention was paid to the warning signs, this "disaster waiting to happen" could have been avoided. Works Cited Fogelson, Robert. "From Resentment to Confrontation: The Police, the Negroes, and the Outbreak of the Nineteen-Sixties Riots." Political Science Quarterly 83.2 (1968): 31 pp. 16Feb.2003 Scoble, Harry M. "The McCone Commission and Social Science." Pylon 29.2 (1968): 14 pp. 9Mar.2003 Spilerman, Seymour. "The Cause of Racial Disturbances: A Comparison of Alternative Explanations." American Sociological Review 35.4 (1970): 22 pp. 9Mar.2003

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of The Kerner Commission Report

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    To accomplish this, the Kerner Commission visited riot cities, spoke with witnesses and sought out help from other professionals. According to this documentary, 126 cities were hit and broken by these major race riots. The two main cities were Detroit, Michigan and Newark, New Jersey. 82% of the deaths and over half of the injuries occurred in these two cities. Towards the end, as the tension and conflict really thicken, the president even had to send in the army to put a halt to this violence that was corrupting our cities and nation. Yet, this riots were not your “typical” riots, they were described as unusual, unpredictable, irregular and complex. According to a study, most rioters were young black men, between the ages of 15-24 and about 74% were brought up from the south. In context to the documentary and the report, these riots were brought on by actions and responses of police force, local officials and the National Guard. This idea was brought about because some black people thought of the police as just a sign of white privilege and power. However, according to citizens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin they were “protests because of the loss of jobs.” But the youngest commission chair, who was featured in the documentary, Fred Harris, disagrees and says that they were not protests, there was no planning with a clear goal in

    Read More

  • The Enduring Legacy of Malcolm X

    1969 Words  | 4 Pages

    If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.

    Read More

  • Chicago Race Riots

    2859 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mistrust between the police and black community in Chicago only lent violence as an answer to their problems, leading to a violent riot. James Baldwin, an essayist working for true civil rights for African-Americans, gives first-hand accounts of how black people were mistreated, and conveys how racial tensions built up antagonism in his essays “Notes of a Native Son,” and “Down at the Cross.” In the mid and late 1910’s, a mass movement of African-Americans from the South to cities in the North took place.... ... middle of paper ... ... 2004 http://www.uic.edu/orgs/kbc/ganghistory/Industrial%20Era/Riotbegins.html.

    Read More

  • The Racial Contract, by Charles W. Mills

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. "Racial Formation in the United States." 1994. The Idea of

    Read More

  • The Watts And LA Riots

    1743 Words  | 4 Pages

    On the night of August 11, 1965 the Watts community of Los Angeles County went up in flames. A riot broke out and lasted until the seventeenth of August. After residents witnessed a Los Angeles police officer using excessive force while arresting an African American male. Along with this male, the police officers also arrested his brother and mother. Twenty-seven years later in 1992 a riot known as both the Rodney King riots and the LA riots broke out. Both share the similar circumstances as to why the riots started. Before each riot there was some kind of tension between police officers and the African American people of Los Angeles. In both cases African Americans were still dealing with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. Add these three problems with policemen having a heavy hand and a riot will happen. Many of the primary sources I will you in this analysis for the Watts and the LA riots can be found in newspaper articles written at the time of these events. First-hand accounts from people living during the riots are also used.

    Read More

  • The New Asylums

    1332 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sellin, Thorsten. "Race Prejudice in the Administration of Justice." American Journal of Sociology 41.2 (1935): 212. Print.

    Read More

  • The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...War and the Civil Rights Movements in order to illustrate how the 1960s was a time of “tumult and change.” To Anderson, it is these events, which sparked the demand for recognition of social and economic fairness. He makes prominent the idea that the 1960s served as the origin of activism and the birth of the civil rights movement, forever changing ideals that embody America. The book overall is comprehensive and a definite attention grabber. It shows how the decade had the effect of drastically transforming life in America and challenging the unequal status quo that has characterized most of the nation's history. Despite the violence and conflict that was provoked by these changes, the activism and the liberation movements that took place have left a permanent imprint upon the country.

    Read More

  • Origins of Funk Music

    2188 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the 1960s it was a hard time for black Americans. There was a revolution being driven by two well know black civil rights leaders. The first phase of the revolution was driven by a young Islamic black man, Malcolm X, who was a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was adamant that blacks needed to take care of their own business. In the issue of black integration in American culture. Malcolm X had the ability to reach any one member of the black nation in America. This revolution was cut short on a sad day in February of 1965, when Malcolm X was assassinated. This left a void in the hearts of the people who he had touched upon in his revolt. This was where things began to get funky.

    Read More

  • Counterculture

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    The sixties was an era that was filled with so many important events that caused people to become actively involved in challenging the structure of American society and taking a stand. Civil rights was one of the most important issues. African Americans were still treated unequally although the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were supposed to grant them equality. Separate but equal wasn't enough for most people. Incidents where African Americans were denied rights caused much rebellion. When Rosa Parks was ordered to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, Montgomery's black community boycotted the buses. These incidents became more frequent and more people took...

    Read More

  • James Baldwin versus Malcolm X

    2599 Words  | 6 Pages

    Harper, Frederick D. “The Influence of Malcolm X on Black Militancy.” Journal of Black Studies 1 (June 1971): 387-402.

    Read More

  • American Counter Culture Movement In The 1960s

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1960s was a decade full of cultural, political, and social change in the United States in which activism in the areas of civil rights and anti-war became widespread. It is remembered as a time where many ideas about counterculture permanently changed. It was the decade where African-Americans passionately fought for equal recognition, where young Americans who did not want to conform to the ideals of their elders created their own culture, and where average Americans began standing up against what they believed was an immoral war. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam War, and the Kent State massacre are often discussed events from the 1960s and early 1970s. However, one area of American

    Read More

  • Final Exam Essay

    1402 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1960s was a period well remembered for all the civil rights movements that occurred during that time frame and the impact these movements had on the social and political dynamics of the United States. The three largest movements that were striving in the 1960s were the African American civil rights movement, the New Left movement and the feminist movement. These three movements were in a lot of ways influenced by each other and were very similar in terms of their goals and strategies. However, within each of these movements there were divisions in the way they tried to approach the issues they were fighting against. Looking at each of these movements individually will reveal the relationship they all share as well as the changes that were brought forth as a result of each groups actions.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography On Police Brutality

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    Holmes, Malcolm D. "Minority threat and police brutality: Determinants of civil rights criminal complaints in US municipalities." Criminology 38.2 (2000): 343-368.

    Read More

  • Racial Stereotype in the Movie The Green Mile

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    One believes that the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s made America safer for all races, but in fact, racism and discrimination are still big factors that continue to plague films, music, and even video games. I the article Race the Power of an Illusion, Dalton Conley says, “the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s really marks both an opportunity and a new danger in terms of racial relations in America. On the one hand, the Civil Rights era officially ended inequality of opportunity. It officially ended de jure legal inequality, so it was no longer legal for employers, for landlords, or for any public institution or accommodations to discriminate based on race. At the same time, those civil rights triumphs did nothing to address the underlying economic and so...

    Read More

  • Crime and Social Inequality

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...bers fired upon police forces. Despite the controversy of May 13th, it exemplifies criminalization. The authorities felt threatened by a particular group, in this case MOVE, an organization predominantly African-American with radical political notions. Although race may not have been affected the motives of the group it is possible that they affected the actions taken against them. Keep in mind that although African-Americans had equal rights in the 1970s and 1980s, they were still a minority and heavily discriminated against.

    Read More

More about The Nineteen Sixties Riots: Disasters Waiting to Happen

Open Document