Riots 1964-68 Flashcards
how many riots were there? How many casualties/arrests
329 riots
220 fatalities
52,629 arrests
The first riot
New York City, July 1964. Began when police shot a black man
worst riots of 1964
New york, Philadelphia, Rochester
worst riot of 1965
Los Angeles
worst riots of 1966
chicago, cleveland
worst riots of 1967
newark, detroit
The riots tended to happen in summer. Why?
heat during the summer made ghetto conditions worse
how did police discrimination provoke riots?
The police seemed to spend more time harassing young black men than keeping ghettos safe. Were quick to shoot “suspects”. in the 30 months before the Watts riots, 65 black people were shot by police.
how did discrimination from white officials provoke riots
city officials didnt respond to complaints such as badly repaired roads and landlord harassment
how unemployment provoked riots
black people were twice as likely to be unemployed and they mainly had unskilled, low paying jobs
how people being poor provoked riots
black people were more than twice as likely to be poor. landlords (mostly white) crowded them into cramped, badly repaired, over priced housing. schools were rundown, underequipped and lacked funding
who would riot
80% of young black men with support from their communities. they saw riots as a reaction to the actions of white people. white business which discriminated against black people were targeted.
why did riots spread?
more people joined black power groups. they drew attention to ghetto problems
MLK’s response to the riots
visited Watts during the riots and decided SCLC needed to campaign in the North
Kerner report of 1968
Was the result of an enquiry into the riots set up by president Johnson. says they were caused by poor ghetto conditions and white official’s reluctance to listen to black community
