[janetjanet998]

For those of around in 68.....where there this many riots ongoing at the same time or was s spread out over time?

They didn’t have the instant media and social media back then so i was wondering

[RockyTx]

the only thing I remember about the Watts riot
was that Watts was a really nice area

[jjotto]

The riots of ‘68 were more violent, but were spread out over a longer time, and against a backdrop of unsettling events around the world, maybe worse than now.

But in ‘68, there were far fewer cities in America where this would have been allowed to happen.

[SamAdams76]

Riots were very widespread during the 1960s into the 1970s. Entire sections of cities were burned to the ground. There was also an incredible amount of terrorist bombings in the USA during that time. In fact, there was an 18-month period in which we averaged five bombings per day here in the USA. I remember as a child on a cross-country road trip with my family and it seemed that every city we drove through, the local radio station was reporting on a bombing that occurred that day.

As you state, there was no instant media during those times. Local TV stations had no satellite uplink capability so they relied on reporters traveling with a camera crew and they had to rush the tapes to the studio to make the 6 o'clock or 11 o'clock news program.

That's another thing. There was no 24/7 news coverage like we have today. The major networks would have a half-hour broadcast at dinner time and that was it. Local news was on at 6 and 11pm. If you missed it, you'd have to tune in the next day.

[alabama_heart]

I was 12 at the time. The only news we got was from radio or the 3 channels we could get via antenna on TV. I remember some of the major cities burning but I don’t believe it was to this extent. One thing I do remember was the dem convention in Chicago in 68. Mayor Daly was in then and the hippies were protesting in Chicago streets. They started to get into it with the cops. I think it was very near the convention center. The cops beat the hell out of the hippies. The news filmed it all and hippies were chanting “the whole world’s watching”. If these rioters got the beat down that the hippies did in Chicago, this crap would probably be over with. Someone else may remember how long the riots lasted. I can’t remember.

[laplata]

1968 was a tough year. Tet Offensive, Martin Luther King killed, RFK killed, Dem riots at Chicago Dem. Convention, USS Pueblo taken, Soviets cracked down in Czechlovakia and other countries, riots in America.

That’s what I remember and there was probably more. I was 17.

[Chickensoup]

Not quite as many not as well covered.

[Chickensoup]

The police were more proactive. I lived in locked down Boston. Cops stationed every 20 feet on some streets. Rioters went after a trolly or two after making sure everyone was off safely. Then police would move in. In full riot gear.