Race Riot Of 1968: A Brief Summary

For decades racial discrimination has been a reoccurring issue that has shaped the relationships across the country. Riots, in the case of the L.A. riots, are a form of venting and a negative form of freedom of expression. Almost immediately after the jury`s decision to seize the officers of charges that included assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force towards King, riots broke out across Los

Social and economic disparities are plaguing the city of Baltimore. There are numerous issues that the city of Baltimore is facing, many of which did not come to light until the case of Freddie Gray. On April 2015, a 25-year-old black man by the name of Freddie Gray fell victim to police brutality. After the discovery of his death and the unreasonable way he was treated, Baltimoreans began to protest. The anger and frustration began to escalate due to other social and economic problems the city faces regularly.

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

Race riots are one of the major news items we hear about via the media when a social crisis occurs. The riots in Baltimore, however, were not so much about race, but more about economic and social class separations. The riots began as a peaceful protest amongst the citizens of Baltimore over the death of one of their own, Freddie Gray. Gray was a young, African-American, from a financially lower class area of Baltimore. Unfortunately, he died while in custody of the Baltimore Police. While this is a tragic loss, he was unlawfully detained by the police (Sarlin, 2015) during this ordeal. On the surface, the riots may appear as a cut-and-dry race provoked, once they are looked into further, that is not necessarily the case.

The riots helped bring a change to the community for the African Americans because before the riots they didn't have a voice, any protest or march they did didn't receive attention. When the riots happened, they got the attention that they were searching for. The communities were said to be too "poor" to care about them. In the article Sandy banks publish it said "The devastation was heartbreaking, but I understood the rage behind it. Los Angeles had been building to this moment, with years of protests, meetings, and marches that got little attention outside a black community seemed too wretched and too poor to care about." Los Angeles was going to have a breakout sooner or later due to the little attention put for the communities that were in need. The communities felt that with Rodney King, they finally had a voice. For the community Rodney King was their voice because of him the people

The events of the Detroit Riots are much like the 2015 Baltimore Riots of today. Freddie Gray, who was apparently in good health at the time of his arrest, sustained neck and spine injuries while in transport in a police vehicle. Gray was in a coma and died the following day. What initially started out as peaceful protests began due to the inability of the police to adequately or consistently explain the events following the arrest and the injuries sustained by Gray in police car, turned violent after Gray’s funeral. Stores were looted, rocks were being thrown at the police and buildings and cars were set on fire. The end result was at least 400 people arrested with hundreds injured including police and civilians along with hundreds of businesses

A state in a stage of peace was brutally ended on April 12th, 2015. The streets of Baltimore were crowded as a crowd of people filled the streets. Freddie Gray was one of the many in the crowd at the corner of W. North Avenue and N. Mount Street. Four officers on bicycles were patrolling a crowd that had formed. Slight tension was felt in the air as the police presence was felt by all.

The Baltimore riots began on Monday, April 27th, 2014 sparked by the death of Freddie Gray. He died under the hands of police custody and it triggered an anger that has been building up over the months by African American who are desperate for justice. In our community I feel as if every person should feel welcomed and loved and not excluded or made an outcast based on their race, beliefs, gender or disability. This is very important because lately there has been much discrimination on the news and in our community by misunderstanding and it has lead to a lot of misunderstanding.

In the 1968 and th 2015 riots there are some similarities both riots started peacefully then turned to violence, in the 1968s the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Tennessee triggered the 1968s riot and In 2015 Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old Black man who was a resident of Baltimore was harshly beat and arrested and placed in a police van without the seatbelt on him and a week later he died the officers were responsible for his death. As I say on the top both riot started peacefully protests in the 1968s riot children were also involved in demonstrations. In the 2015 riot mostly adults between 20 to 30- years-old were involved. In the 1968s riot residents were upset about poverty and suffering from the riot and in the 2015s riot residents feared living their homes.

The riots helped bring a change to the community for the African Americans because before the riots they didn't have a voice, any protest or march they did didn't receive attention. When the riots happened, they got the attention that they were searching for. The communities were said to be too "poor" to care about them. In the article Sandy banks publish it said "The devastation was heartbreaking, but I understood the rage behind it. Los Angeles had been building to this moment, with years of protests, meetings, and marches that got little attention outside a black community seemed too wretched and too poor to care about." Los Angeles was going to have a breakout sooner or later due to the little attention put for the communities that were in need. The communities felt that with Rodney King, they finally had a voice. For the community Rodney King was their voice because of him the people started caring, everything started changing. Later in life they would not be ignored anymore. The government and the people would focus more on them and not treat them as bad as they had.

The first protest was formed on April 18th, by residents of Baltimore, in front of the Western district police station; after Gray’s subsequent coma. After Gray’s death became public knowledge, further protests were organized, amid the police department of Baltimore’s inability to adequately explain the events following the arrest and the injuries that led to Gray’s untimely death. On the day of Gray’s funeral service, violence engulfed the streets of Baltimore. Spontaneous, violent protests began to occur after Gray’s service was held. What started as peaceful protests in the days that led up to Gray’s funeral developed into full blown riots. Rioters took part in looting local businesses, setting cars and buildings ablaze, and throwing rocks at police

People were afraid to come into the city after the riots. That is when the downfall of Detroit started.” Gray noticed a lot of bad side effects from the rioting. Most of the after affects affected the city financially because the rioting destroyed homes and business as well as scared people

On July 23, 1967, a massive riot began in Detroit because a rumor was spread that police used excessive force during a street bar raid on an unlicensed bar. During the riot many buildings were destroyed and a lot of people were killed and injured, with some people being shot and killed by police trying to control the riot. Many people like Detroit Congressman John Conyers and Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh helped to stop the riot. Finally, the riot ended on July 27th, although the aftermath of the riot left about $32 million in property damage. When the rumor was started that police were using excessive force during the street bar raid on July 23, 1967, people got furious, which led to the start of the riot, which caused a lot of damage to people

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.

In April and May of 1963, Birmingham, Alabama was a focal point for the civil rights movement. Birmingham was home to one of the most violent cells of the KKK and violence against black people was so commonplace (especially in the form of explosives) that it was referred to as “Bombingham.” It was these conditions that lead Martin Luther King to arrive and organize a series of non-violent protests in the city. These protests were relatively low key and weren’t very well attended. This was due to the fact that political rivalries between King’s organization, the SCLC, and other civil right’s organizations like CORE and the NAACP. However, the Birmingham protests soon became headlines due to the response of the city’s police