Urban riots and low quality housing

Urban riots - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[edit]Causes of Urban Riots

Riots have occurred before the rapid urbanisation starting in the mid-20th Century, hence the occurrence of riots in urban areas in itself is not special. While a riot may be initially sparked by a specific event, scholars, commentators and commissions have sought to identify the deeper reasons and have identified a number urban conditions that may underline urban riots. These urban conditions are often associated with urban decay more generally and may include: discrimination, poverty, high unemployment, poor schools, poor healthcare, housing inadequacy and police brutality and bias.[1]
See also: slum and ghetto
[edit]List of Urban Riots

This section requires expansion.
This is a list of riots that have occurred in the context of urban conditions and more broadly urban decay.
[edit]Pre-1960s
1909 Greek Town Riot
21 February 1909, South Omaha, Nebraska, USA. During a period of economic downturn in the city, a successful community of Greeks in Omaha, Nebraska was burnt to the ground by a mob from Omaha. This happened after they almost lynched a Greek immigrant accused of having sex with a Protestant woman. A federal trial brought by the Greek consul to the United States ends in stagnation. No person is ever convicted.
1917 East Saint Louis, IL.
July, 1917, East Saint Louis, IL, USA.[2]
1919 Chicago Race Riot
27 July-2 August 1919 Chicago, IL, USA. An African American teenager who was swimming in Lake Michigan drifted near a beach that whites considered their own. A white man on a breakwater assailed the black youth with stones and the black youth drowned. The white police officers who investigated the incident refused to arrest the assailant. The tension escalated into riots between blacks and whites. The Governor of Illinois, Frank Lowden, called in the Illinois National Guard to quell the unrest, but at least 38 people were killed and 500 injured over a period of seven days.[3][4]
1921 Tulsa Race Riots
31 May-1 June 1921, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
1935 Harlem Riot
19 March 1935, New York City, USA [5]
1958 Notting Hill race riots
late August and early September 1958, London, UK
[edit]1960s
Rochester 1964 race riot
24–26 July 1964[6]
Cypriot intercommunal violence
1963-1964. Major riots in the cities of Nicosia, Famagusta and Larnaca led to the division of Cyprus, and its two communities, the Turkish and Greek Cypriots.
Philadelphia 1964 race riot
28–30 August 1964, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, Allegations of police brutality sparked the Columbia Avenue race riots.[6]
Watts Riots
11 August 1965, Los Angeles, California, USA, The McCone Commission investigated the riots finding that causes included poverty, inequality, racial discrimination and the passage, in November 1964, of Proposition 14 on the California ballot overturning the Rumford Fair Housing Act, which established equality of opportunity for black home buyers.[7]
Hough Riots
18 July 1966, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, The underlying causes of the riots may found in the social conditions that exist in the ghettos of Cleveland.[8]
Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska
5 July 1966, North Omaha, Nebraska, USA, More than 500 black youth gathered to protest the absence of recreation programs and jobs storm a local business district, throwing rocks and bricks at Jewish-owned businesses in the area. The National Guard is called in after three days of random violence and organized raids.[9]
1967 Newark riots
12 July 1967, Newark, New Jersey, USA, Factors that contributed to the Newark Riot: police brutality, political exclusion of blacks from city government, urban renewal, inadequate housing, unemployment, poverty, and rapid change in the racial composition of neighborhoods.[10]
1967 Plainfield riots
14 July 1967, Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
12th Street riot
23 July 1967, Detroit, Michigan, USA, The origins of urban unrest in Detroit were rooted in a multitude of political, economic, and social factors including police abuse, lack of affordable housing, urban renewal projects, economic inequality, black militancy, and rapid demographic change.[11]
Minneapolis-Saint Paul
USA, Fall 1967. Racial tensions boil over in North Minneapolis as whites continue to leave the decaying core of the inner city bound for the suburbs.
1968 Chicago, Illinois riots
In Chicago, violence erupted in the black ghetto on the west side, eventually consuming a 28-block stretch of West Madison Street. Looting and arson took place primarily in the corridor between Roosevelt Road on the south and Chicago Avenue on the north.
1968 Washington, D.C. riots
4 April 1968, Washington, D.C., USA, A report from National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders identified discrimination and poverty as the root causes of the riots that erupted in cities around the nation during the late 1960s and in Washington, DC in April 1968[12]
Baltimore riot of 1968
4 April 1968, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Glenville Shootout
23 July 1968, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, Shootout between black militant organization led by Ahmed Evans and Cleveland Police Department attracted large and hostile black crowds that caused a 4 day long riot
Stonewall riots
June 1969, New York, New York, a turning point for the modern gay rights movement
1969 North 24th Street Riots
24 June 1969, North Omaha, Nebraska USA, An Omaha police officer fatally shoots a teenager in the back of the head during a gathering of youth in local public housing projects. Many youth and adults from the local African American community gather in the local business district, routinely burning and otherwise destroying non-Black-owned businesses.[13]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark,_New_Jersey


Newark was originally founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony. The city saw tremendous industrial and population growth during the 19th century and early 20th century, and experienced racial tension and urban decline in the second half of the 20th century, exemplified by the 1967 Newark riots. The city has experienced some revitalization during the 1990s and early 21st century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Newark_riots

Social unrest

In the period leading up to the riots, several factors led local African-American residents to feel powerless and disenfranchised. In particular, many felt they had been largely excluded from meaningful political representation and often suffered police brutality.[1] Furthermore, unemployment, poverty, and concerns about low-quality housing contributed to the tinder-box.

Sparking event

This unrest came to a head when two white Newark policemen, John DeSimone and Vito Pontrelli, arrested a black cabdriver, John Weerd Smith, for improperly passing them on 15th Avenue.[4] Smith was taken to the 4th Police Precinct, which was across the street from Hayes Homes, a large public housing project. Residents of Hayes Homes saw an incapacitated Smith being dragged into the precinct, and a rumor was started that he had been killed whi


This set off six days of riots, looting, violence, and destruction — ultimately leaving 26 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 Plainfield Riots were a series of racially-charged violent disturbances that occurred in Plainfield, New Jersey during the summer of 1967, which mirrored the 1967 Newark riots in nearby Newark, New Jersey.

On the night of Friday, July 14 a fight broke out at a local diner, The White Star. Afterwards about 40 young black men left the diner and marched back to their housing project in the West End section of Plainfield. They vented their anger along the way by smashing store windows and throwing rocks at police cars. When the local police showed up in force, the group dispersed.

Middlesex arms theft

That same night in nearby Middlesex an arms factory was broken into and 46 carbines were stolen. The Plainfield Machine Company was a small manufacturing company owned by William Haas and William Stork that, among other things, produced military style M1 carbines for the civilian market. The stolen guns were passed out to the men on the streets of Plainfield that very night. The police were anxious because of the large number of guns now on the streets and in one incident a local fire station was under gun fire for five hours. Finally, New Jersey National Guardsmen, in armored personnel carriers relieved the station.
Police tried to arrange a truce and have residents turn in the stolen carbines. Black residents felt that having the guns in the community kept the police at bay and that they now had power over the police. When none of the stolen firearms were returned, the area was cordoned off and 300 heavily armed New Jersey State Police and National Guardsmen started a house-to-house search for the stolen weapons. After about an hour and a half, with 66 homes searched, the operation was called off. The police felt that since Governor Hughes had declared a State of Emergency, no search warrants were needed.


Like many cities, Plainfield has suffered a decline from the stigma of riots[citation needed] with many of the burned and looted businesses have been remained vacant for over four decades. It remains one of the poorest urban areas in the state with a 16 percent poverty rate including over 7 percent having an income less than 50 percent of poverty level.
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