The Nineteen Sixties Riots: Disasters Waiting to Happen Essay

Though sparked by the Rodney King verdict, there were many other causes of the riots that erupted on the streets of Los Angeles on April 29, 1992. The Los Angeles riots in 1992 were devastating. The obvious issue portrayed through the media was black versus white. If you did not live in Los Angeles or California chances are you did not hear full coverage of the story, you heard a simple cut and dry portrayal of the events in South Central. If you heard one thing about the riots, it was that there was a man named Rodney King and he was a black male beaten with excessive force by four white Los Angeles police officers on Los Angeles concrete. The media portrayed the riots as black rage on the streets due to the

Life in the ghetto was subjected to death. Many took their own lives, and others tried to escape.

Racism was a larger issue back in the 1930’s than it is today. During the 1930’s many Black Americans were unable to find jobs. With the Great Depression came the “last hired first fired” mindset. Many African Americans felt that this was targeted towards them (Racial 5). This along with Jim Crow laws kept most blacks in a level of poverty, which added to the discrimination (Racial 7). Throughout this time, all the way up into the 1960’s and 1970’s African Americans were under great segregation. During this thirty years, great strides toward social equality were made, but at the cost of numerous racial driven incidents. Many great African American icons were assassinated during this time. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 because he stood up against racial oppression as well as Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in 1968. Both of these two men were part of the leading force in the desegregation of America (Rosenberg 1). This movement led to great tension between the African American culture and white culture, which led to many very violent cases between the races. A great

Civil rights, a significant issue of the ‘60s, reached a climax in 1968 and hatched a novel approach racial strive. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. had waged a successful campaign of peaceful protests in US southern states, a growing number of younger activists began to feel that nonviolent tactics could not

The civil rights movement was one of the main elements that were responsible for agitation and protest that greatly expanded in the 1960s. This social movement “originated among black Americans in the South who faced racial discrimination and segregation, or the separation of whites and blacks, in almost every aspect of their lives” (“Protests in the 1960s,” 3). There was constant racial

like their jobs in the South. And those who found a job were lucky to have a job at all, because many blacks could find no job, leaving them to live with other job-less blacks in unsanitary and run-down housing. This type of housing grew, creating black slums, or ghettos,

The civil rights movement of the sixties is one of the most controversial times of the last century. Many, if not all, who lived through that time, and the generations following were enormously impacted. At the time passions ran so high that violence at peaceful

During the 1960’s of American history violent acts were aimed at African Americans in the name of racism and segregation. In a case such as this one, many would seek refuge from the government, but to little surprise, cries for refuge went unanswered. Making matters worse was the fact that the Government allowed segregation to continue due to legal documents in many southern states. Acceptable forms of oppression were separated into four categories: racial segregation; voter suppression, in southern states; denial of economic opportunity; private acts of violence aimed at African Americans. At this time, many civil rights laws were

In 1965 riots in L.A. occurred after a routine stop by the police involving drunk driving. This stop occurred very close the driver’s residence where massive crowd began to build. When it was all said and done

Usually, the government attempts to enact major reforms without consulting the ghettos or leave the ghettos alone. However, Shelby argues that the government should indirectly assist the ghettos by collectively bringing together both people from the ghettos and from mainstream society to fight for social justice. This would, “enhance self-esteem” and make the ghetto poor not as “potential beneficiaries… but as potential allies” (Shelby 116). What Shelby presents is an idea that doesn’t focus on the physical problems of the ghettos, but the mental challenges. By helping organizations and activists to work with the people of the ghettos to advocate for reforms and changes, the self-esteem and morale of the ghetto poor would be enhanced and would help mend the rift between mainstream society and the ghettos. Although some may claim that the physical aspects of the ghettos are more important than the mental aspects, it is evident that the current ghetto problem has been persistent and the problem has not been improved despite multiple different attempts. If mainstream society was more aware and willing to help promote the cause of the ghettos, it would allow the ghetto to increase their trust with society and possibly have a connection to mainstream society that was missing before. By doing so, this could allow a better understanding between the two sides and ensure that the ghetto poor has a say in the reforms and

The immigrants from abroad and the African-Americans both left their homelands of restricted opportunities and sought to find better ones. The African-Americans came without proper clothing and skills, unaware of the future obstacles ahead. Their environment and surroundings were significantly different in the South than the lively cities in the North. Before migrating, the African-Americans lives consisted of mainly working in the fields in the blistering, hot sun, or working as servants or tenants for white property owners; they had never laid eyes upon a building or factory. For the immigrants, coming to urban America was an enormous change as well. They were oblivious to the American culture, American politics and economics, and were unable to read or speak English, in most cases. While settling in the northern cities, there were certain harsh conditions that the African Americans along with the immigrants experienced. They both were forced to live with their families in small, unsanitary living spaces due to the intense persecution and racialization from American outsiders. Families in neighborhoods grouped together, and each family member contributed economically to the family income. To relieve these challenges and harsh conditions, both African-American and immigrant groups were obliged to do certain tasks in the new, metropolitan surrounding.

Tariq Ali’s Street Fighting Years depicts the 1960s British student protests regarding the struggles in Vietnam and was one-sided when it comes to violence during the protests (that one side being the police). However, historians and scholars have different perceptions of what was happening in regards to both violence and the real take-away from the 60s British protests..

The Civil Rights movement was sparked by Rosa Parks, people were sprayed with water on the streets at an effort to enter a library, people couldn't get on a bus without being discriminated against. Charleston, Ferguson, as well as many other events, sparked the Black Lives Matter protests. But all issues are dealt the same way, a person or child going about their life, brutally interrupted by stereotypes and misinformation.

In the report A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto, William Julius Wilson analyzes three research studies conducted in Chicago between 1986 and 1993. In these studies, Wilson identifies a new type of poverty, which he coins jobless poverty. Jobless poverty represents the growing number communities that are compromised of a high percentage of unemployed individuals. These communities have the same recurrent themes of isolation in inner-city ghettos where the surrounding area is abandon, desolate or deserted of economic opportunities and community benefits. In contrast to living in employed poverty or unemployed poverty in neighborhoods of high employment, jobless poverty causes negative effects that lead to

“So, race matters a lot. But, at the same time, the class divide among blacks has created such fundamentally different living conditions that there is growing hostility among the poor against those former brothers that left them out. Most middle-class blacks strive to get ahead not only from the reality of the ghetto, but from the stigma that echoes from the