Posted on 07/05/2013 9:20:56 PM PDT by MNDude
I've heard of race riots that took place back in the 1960's. I was wondering if anyone here is old enough to remember them, why they took place, and how bad they were?
The only ones I remember with any clarity were the ones shortly after MLK was assassinated.
Even in my small town, blacks rioted in the streets burning down their own homes, desecrating their own neighborhoods.
I remember sitting on the front porch of my aunts house about two miles form the riots with a shotgun in my arms hoping the riots didn’t spread ... they didn’t (I was 22).
Chicago’s East Side, a small industrial area and the home of many residents of Yugoslav heritage was probably better known as a hotbed of union activity and a stronghold for the Daley machine than it was for gangsters. Nonetheless “The Night Chicago Died” put the community on the map.
No matter how many posts are made to this thread, this one's the truest.
Coming from Vermont, I was very naïve, thinking people were just people.
The funny thing was, the older civilian black guys I worked with, and a few black friends who grew up out of the cities, couldn't figure out the behavior of the vermin who were rioting either.
There were around 30,000 of the creatures at Travis, probably around 2,000 folks who happened to be black and were just as upset, if not moreso than we non-blacks over the behavior of the creatures
The inner city types refused to work, claiming they weren't "slaves".
They spent the nights and days partying, smoking dope, getting drunk and listening to their "music" at such high levels, those of us who worked couldn't sleep.
You could feel the concrete walls of the barracks shaking to the "music".
These subhuman creatures taught me why many Americans are "prejudiced".
There was one chow hall on the end of the base where our dorms were, right in the middle of the dorms.
The creatures took it over and allowed no white people in.
They did the same to the Airman's Club.
We had to walk a couple of miles just to eat because of these creatures.
To add insult to injury, we, whites were forced to go to "race relations" classes so we could "understand" the creatures' "music" and "culture".
This was supposedly to defuse the situation.
I had just about gotten over my bad feelings, then the creature occupying the white house was elected.
The fact that he is a halfrican is of no interest to me.
I would have gladly voted for Alan Keyes, Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams or any other legally qualified, conservative / libertarian black candidate for President.
What bothers me is I see the same inner city creature in him and his appointees as I saw at Travis.
I wish "we could all just get along", but with the attitude these creatures have, they will not stop until, eventually there is war within, on a very large scale.
They will start the battle, they may be surprised by our reaction to their attack.
Competing currents in the civil rights movement. On one hand, there was MLK with his non-violent approach. On the other hand, there were assorted militant black elements primarily following orders from Moscow.
One cannot help but notice that since the Soviet Union fell, there have been none of the periodic riots that characterized the 60's, 70's and 80's. One can safely throw in the LA riots into that group since it occurred so soon after the Soviet Union collapsed.
(BTW, I date 1965 as the start of the decline of the American culture.)
That was basically the radical leftist motto.
Block upon block of the inner city burned and firefighters who came to put them out were killed by snipers. The Detroit police responded with an iron fist, shooting a lot of folks who were looting.
Even in the northwestern suburbs where 99% of the Whites fled, there were rumors (unfounded) that Blacks would come out to our areas and kill White people, just to make a point. We were in a sort of “lock down” and we were armed, almost creating a militia, just in case.
This landmark even of 1967 was worse than the previous race riots of 1945. I was not yet born in 1945, so I guess, look it up on Google.
Detroit never recovered, it remained a gutted, grammarian city with many African American (note, previously, I used the term “Black”, you could do that then) Mayors, each one more corrupt than the previous one.
The true downfall happened with the aid of two individuals, Mayor Coleman Young and City councilman, Kenneth Cockrel. These two, more than any other politicians, DESTROYED Detroit.
A few years later, Toyota and Japan, Inc. would polish off the job, began in 1967...
THIS IS A PORN SITE.
Ever notice how they stopped once the Soviet Union collapsed?
There were tons of activists (Black Panthers, Black Muslims, etc) that were whipping up the fever to get “our” fair share. Hot summers, a social match lit here or there and the riots would take off. And the community activists lighting the matches were most often self serving egoists (sound familiar with our POTUS?)
As some one said above, always in their own neighborhoods which set their cause back yet farther.
One of the more interesting books I read that discusses that era is David Horowitz’s biography “Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey”. Horowitz was raised by American Communists in the 1950’s on Long Island. Like a duck to water, he took to all the social movements of the 60’s - living in Oakland CA, until the hypocrisy woke him up.
During the Rodney King riots, I saw a thug being arrested by cops for assaulting and perhaps killing someone in the street. The newsperson shoved a microphone into the perp’s face and he shouted at the top of his lungs,
“Don’t mattah what I did, I’m a good person.”
And there you have it. Self-esteem training.
I lived in Compton throughout my teens. I grew antennas on my head and eyes in the back of my skull as a result. Those years left me with exceptional radar that's working to this very day.
When the Watts riots broke out, we were in Germany—and they made the headlines there. Outside the hotel where I was staying at the corner of Heidelberger and Moosberg in Darmstadt—halfway around the world from Watts—I heard someone out on the street shout, “burn, baby, burn”!
Look up the Algiers Motel incident in Detroit. Others were Sea Side, Ca., Watts in L.A. and other locales across the country, including Poughkeepsie, NY.
Anyone remember when Bobby Kennedy was killed? About the same time the feds raided an unlicensed machine gun manufacturing firm in so Cal. It was said LBJ knew of it and the guns were sent to South and Central America.
The first violent race riots occurred on a small scale in 1963-64 in southern and northern cities including New York and Chicago centered around police treatment of black people.
Grievances against the police for real or rumored wrongs could bring a crowd onto the streets leading to small scale disturbances.
Sometimes a peaceful racial protest would get out of hand.
The small riots of 63 and 64 were followed after a lull for the 1964 election campaign by the bigger riots punctuated by Watts (LA) in 1965 and Detroit and Newark, NJ in 1967.
Nationwide rioting followed the assassination of MLK in April 1968 with dozens killed and hundreds of millions in damage involving many cities including Baltimore, Washington DC and Chicago.
After the massive race riots energy moved to anti-war protests and riots for the next few years but racial rioting did spread to smaller cities like mine York, PA where two were killed and dozens injured in racial disturbances in July 1969.
Remember James Brown's "I'm Black And I'm Proud"?
The Watts riots weren’t about race!
It was a hit on businesses that refused to pay a protection racket and when the burning started the local animals got out of hand and began burning and looting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.