Causes Of Violent Protest

President Kennedy was initially concerned about the march. Multiple incidents in America prior to this protest, have contributed to his concern that the protest would become violent and that the support for his civil rights bill would be weakened. Some incidents include the events that had occurred in Birmingham, Alabama and the 1896 court case involving Homer Plessy and Judge John H. Ferguson. These occurrences utilize violence and industrialize racism and discrimination. ____In 1963, thousands of African-Americans had participated in nonviolent protests, boycotts, and voter-registration drives in Birmingham, Alabama. Although the protesters had exhibited nonviolent resistance, authorities had reacted to their actions with violence. On page

Urban Blacks were also encounter with extreme racial violence in neighborhoods and at work. Different ethnic groups of new immigrants obtained power and used conflict as a strategy of diminishing urban Blacks power level. They began blocking Urban Black workers going to work throughout new immigrant’s neighborhoods. Race riots have played a crucial role in the social establishment of race, prejudice, and discrimination across the United States. Race riots uncovered fundamental tensions in societies experiencing swift technological and economic changes. In 1920, there were many race riots and other violence in many places, such as Red Summer Race Riots of 1919 and the St. Louis Riot of 1917 that took place during the segregation in the South and the Black urban migration to the North. These race riots were response to the reality that Urban Blacks were carrying on a powerful struggle against White supremacy. During race riots, Urban Blacks lived through a renewed flow of riots, massacres, and racial terrorism.

Through the past centuries many acts of rebellion have occurred. However not many have had such an impact compared to the L.A. riots of May of 1992. After the events that occurred on May of 1992 in Los Angeles, many things changed. The L.A. riots changed race relations between police and the people of Los Angeles for the coming years.

The Watts riots began in the summer of 1965, in a city in Los Angeles called Watts. It all began with the arrest of a young African American by a white California Highway Patrol officer. Now, it was not because he was arrested for already doing something illegal, it was for the way the police officer treated the individual. According to Lacine Holland, an eyewitness to the arrest, the officer “took him and threw him in the car like a bag of laundry and kicked his feet in and slammed the door.” (Flournoy) This caused lots of unrest among the fellow residents of Watts. This was just the beginning of years of pent up oppression for the minorities, which participated in the event. Similarly, in 1992, the Rodney King riots also arose due to the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers for their brutal beating

Martin Luther King Jr. wanted a demonstration, or protest, of the situation of the blacks and whites to be held in the most segregated city in the United States, Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham March took place between April and May of 1963. The protests and rallies were both peaceful and nonviolent. However, the police got tired of the daily protests and arrested hundreds that they found to be responsible for taking part in them and used unnecessary force, such as high pressured

The Watts Riots erupted on the backdrop of simmering racial tensions in the United States. There were many varied long term causes for the eruption of the riot that rocked Watts and the surrounding areas, but the immediate cause of the riot was routine police work - police responding to a call of a concerned citizen worried about a man driving his car erratically.

The Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s to the 1960s was a period that significantly changed America forever. African-Americans did not have the same rights as white men, and were faced with segregation and discrimination. Under the Jim Crow Laws, blacks did not have equal access to public facilities and were treated as lower beings than whites. After many years of pain and struggle, all the while remaining silent, blacks finally decided to stand up for themselves and refuse to be compliant. Many acts of civil disobedience took place during this time, some were peaceful, while some were violent. An example of a civil disobedience from the Civil Rights Movement was Robert Williams’ protest to integrate facilities, where he uses armed self-defense, so that blacks were able to have equal access as whites. This was an effective form of protest because without the arms to protect themselves, the African-Americans wanting their voices to be heard would be suppressed by the brutality of racist white men.

There were four young girls by the names of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed and fourteen others were injured. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at three of the girls’ funeral. The fourth girl’s family requested to have a separate funeral. There were over 8,000 people at both of the funerals. During this time blacks were being arrested for disorderly conduct. They were drinking alcohol, loitering, and being obnoxious. They were even trying to harm whites as they passed

Also, children were not given any care programs. At the same time, blacks were not included from public housing. A lot of them lived in a home were indoor plumbing is not available, yet they paid rent double than what white people are paying. Blacks faced many discriminations and imbalanced actions by police. Basically, the main cause of this riot is because of the segregation and the unfair treatment of society to black people.

There have been several riots throughout United States history. In the 1960s the riot most people hear about is the Detroit Race Riot. This riot took place during the Summer time in 1967. It sparked up because of segregation within housing, segregation within schools, and the rise of unemployment in the African- American community. Police brutality just topped off all of the issues which had been brewing for many years.

April 12, 1963, in an Alabama Birmingham Gaston motel room, twenty-five Southern Christian leaders sitting together seriously discussed whether to continue their protest activities in a despairing and helpless atmosphere. It was because two days ago, Birmingham government just got a ban from the court to prohibit black people from holding protest activities; otherwise, they would arrest and punish all the protestors severely. Nevertheless, as the leader of the activities, Martin Luther King knew that if he refused to comply with the court injunction, he would be jailed, but in order to keep his promise that he would adhere to struggle for African-American civil right, he insisted to lead the protest to fight for black people. In fact, about

The history of African-Americans in the United States is full of many periods of achievements, as well as periods of struggle. The Los Angeles riots of 1992 were the result of many years of systematic racism in the United States following the Civil Rights Movement. The beating and unjust trial of Rodney King exposed the unfair and brutal treatment of African Americans by the police. As well as the shooting of 15 year-old Latasha Harlins 2 weeks after the beating of Rodney King to further ignite hatred within African-Americans in Los Angeles. What came forth was a week long riot not only changed Los Angeles, but the United States. That is why the Los Angeles riots was the most devastating, yet consequential, civil uproar in the history of the United States.

These non-violent cases include one of the most popular civil disobedience cases of all time, involving Rosa Parks refusing to exchange seats with a Caucasian man on a non-segregated bus. She was later arrested for this action against a white person. This caused a revolt from the African American community in the city of Montgomery, Alabama. Many African Americans began a boycott over the public bus system and began walking throughout the town to get to their desired location. These actions sent shockwaves through the country and inspired other African Americans to protest. As the amount of demonstrations increased the government began to take action to make blacks and whites equal in the workplace, but also in social environments. As the Equal Rights Movement progressed, businesses though out the United States began to allow African Americans to work for them and decreased social discrimination. I think that by peacefully protesting during this time saved a lot of African Americans lives and it also brought attention to the subject of racial

One comparatively lesser known fact about the Washington March was the fact that is was completed without any violence. It also displayed the support of a lot of white citizens demanding equal rights for their “black” friends. The impact of the March and King’ speech was so huge, that even after decades people believe these to be the high points of the entire Civil Rights Movement. It was one of the classiest protests in the history of America bringing together people of different races, financial standing and views but merging people with good character. Martin Luther was quick to understand and respect the support of the white people as if commanded the African-American never to resort to violence I their fight for freedom.

From the Boston Tea Party of 1773, the Civil Rights Movement and the Pro-Life Movement of the 1960s, to the Tea Party Movement and Occupy Wall Street Movement of current times, “those struggling against unjust laws have engaged in acts of deliberate, open disobedience to government power to uphold higher principles regarding human rights and social justice” (DeForrest, 1998, p. 653) through nonviolent protests. Perhaps the most well-known of the non-violent protests are those associated with the Civil Rights movement. The movement was felt across the south, yet Birmingham, Alabama was known for its unequal treatment of blacks and became the focus of the Civil Rights Movement. Under the leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., president of