1967 Newark riots

--71.255.8.116 15:30, 1 August 2006 (UTC)This article and the following article, "A Walk through Newark" fail, as most artcles do, to hold the Black population that burned and looted cars and homes and businesses, fired FIRST at police and National Guardsmen, gulity of anything. According to these articles it was ALL the fault of the government and police. I WAS THERE. The blacks had NEW brick apartments built for them. We entered these buildings because the blacks were firing from inside toward us. We DID NOT FIRE BACK at these buildings. We went inside to arrest the criminals. These NEW buildings were disgusting. The residents urinated and deficated IN THE HALLS. So when you list "sub-standard" housing. It WASN'T sub-standard when it was built, the residents turned into that state.

It's sad to me that the TRUTH is left out of historic accounts. This article blames the government for the blacks feeling "powerless and disenfranchsied". How much more did you want the governement to GIVE the blacks involved in this? They got free housing, free food, free medical, free schooling. They gave NOTHING BACK!

TELL THE TRUTH!

Earl Cain --71.255.8.116 15:30, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

The 1967 Newark Riots were a major civil disturbance that occurred in the city of Newark, New Jersey between July 12 and July 17 1967. In the period leading up to the riots, several factors led local African-American residents to feel powerless and disenfranchised. In particular they had been largely excluded from political representation and often suffered police brutality. Furthermore, unemployment, poverty, and concerns about low-quality housing contributed to the tinder-box.

This unrest came to a head when a black cab driver named John Smith was arrested for illegally passing a double-parked police car and brutally beaten by police who accused him of resisting arrest. A crowd gathered outside the police station where he was detained, and a rumor was started that he had been killed while in police custody. (Actually he had been moved to a local hospital.)

This set off six days of riots, looting, violence, and destruction — ultimately leaving 23 people dead, 725 people injured, and close to 1,500 arrested. Property damage exceeded $10 million.

In an effort to contain the riots, every evening at 6 p.m. the Bridge Street and Jackson Street Bridges (both of which span the Passaic River between Newark and Harrison) were closed until the next morning.

The riots are often cited as a major factor in the decline of Newark and its neighboring communities, as many of the city's residents immediately fled to the suburbs.

The 1967 Plainfield riots occurred during the same period in Plainfield, New Jersey, a town about 18 miles southwest of Newark.

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