Talk:1967 Newark riots

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Possible Additions to the Background and Inciting Incident
I think the page can benefit from more facts being added to the background of this page. I noticed the link to the "White Flight" page, but I think it might be helpful to include a 1-2 sentence description of that here as well. The "Inciting Incident" Section seems to be a little broad as well when there are plenty of sources that have specific accounts of it. I am suggesting the following facts be incorporated.

Background Due to the legislation of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, white veterans, who had just returned from fighting in World War II, began to emigrate from Newark to the suburbs — a place where they would have access to interstate highways, low-interest mortgages, and college. The outflow suburban sprawl of white veterans from Newark was rapidly replaced with an influx of blacks moving into the Central Ward; the blacks, however, faced discrimination in jobs and housing, ultimately making their lives exponentially more likely to fall into a cycle of poverty.

Inciting Incident A person who had witnessed the arrest of Smith contacted members of the Congress of Racial Equality, the United Freedom Party, and the Newark Community Union Project for further investigation; they were subsequently granted access to Smith's 4th Precinct holding cell. After seeing the injuries Smith sustained from the police, they ordered him to be moved to Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, and were granted their request.

Michael.vitti (talk) 04:52, 8 December 2017 (UTC)

Untitled
I would like to suggest that the title of this article be changed to "Newark Rebellion." If not, could someone please explain what is intended by the word "Riot" in this article? Who rioted?

I was the youngest of seven children. The Newark riots started the day after my fourth birthday. There is something although insignificant to some it was very powerful in my conscientiousness. We lived on the fifth floor in the Scudder Home Projects which were located not far from Springfield Ave. I remember my mother turning the kitchen table on its side and making the smallest of us get behind it. To hear the noise was deafening, but to watch from the side of the table and see what I would now know as despair on my mother's face as she looked out the window searching for her three oldest children. Watching and praying.

Sheri Fryer-Morris

First off, this line is in dispute " The police department was dominated by officers who would routinely stop and attack Blacks with or without provocation". A source is needed before that claim can be substantiated.

Secondly, the writer of this article totally overlooked the impact of the Medical school expansion. The expansion of UMDNJ called for demolition of many properties owned by blacks in the Central Ward. This proposal is a major factor in the tension in the city in that time.

I left the south ward---Clinton and s. 20th Street---in 1965, the year I turned nine. Given the current state of the neighborhood (2007), I suppose my parents were prescient in seeing what was coming. Because I lived in the city for my first nine years, and because my dad became a firefighter there in 1965, I have always been drawn to the place despite many years of separation. In the end, Newark is my ancestral homeland in that both sides of my family---now all deceased---come from there.

With regard to the article, I think it should be noted that the FBI was aware of Tom Hadyn's presence in Newark just prior to the riot's eruption...and that the Students for a Democratic Society---largely composed of middle class, suburban white kids, were working with militant black groups at that time. If this is all true, then the Newark riot of July 1967 was planned...and blood is actually on the hands of the folks who planned it. That blood consists of one cop, one fireman, and the balance, as far as I know, black citizens.

Finally, mention needs to be made of the heroic effort put forth by the fire department during the disturbance. Whatever the underlying social causes and frictions which existed at that time, this bunch of largely white men---mostly the sons of immigrants---performed extraordinary feats and bore the pain of fire, rocks, and even bullets in an effort to protect the city and her, largely black, citizens. I recall being discomfited by the nightly news, seeing flames and hearing bullets knowing that my dad was in there. In the end, there were many victims and many ways to have been victimized by this very unsettling event.Mikegilmartin 18:04, 29 June 2007 (UTC)Mike Gilmartin

Umm, the name is Tom Hayden, not Tom Hadyn. As for riots being planned, that's nothing new. Street gangs are said to have planned Watts in 1965, and the Jakarta (Indonesia) pogrom of 1998 was also planned. I am not sure how spontaneous the 1992 Los Angeles riots were, though. &mdash; Rickyrab | Talk 14:08, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

1967 Plainfield Riots
Since the 1967 Plainfield riots occurred at the same time as the Newark riots and were arguably related, maybe they should share a page with each other. There were civil disturbances in several other cities, as well. In New Brunswick, the mayor, a woman at the time, Patricia Sheehan, went around the city with a bullhorn in an effort to ward off a riot. She succeeded, but New Brunswick was nonetheless reported in newspapers as suffering a "disturbance". &mdash; Rickyrab. Yada yada yada 02:43, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Police firing indiscriminately into residential buildings
I believe the PBS documentary shows footage of police officers firing automatic weapons indiscriminately into the open windows of a residential building, after they allegedly heard that there was a sniper "on the roof." If I could track the video down to confirm it...

Vandalism
I recently edited this article, albeit under an IP address, removing the statement about marxist revolutionaries. I was left a message saying that this was deconstructive - however, the citation is illegitimate, and the editor who added it has only 2 edits, which although I don't want to assume, certainly aids in the possibility that his edit was in fact vandalism. I have removed the information once again - if someone has an objection to this, please respond via the talk page to avoid an edit war.

Thanks,

Glassbreaker5791 (talk) 15:16, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

Dead link
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 * http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/lemas00.pdf
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 * In Florida Highway Patrol on 2011-03-19 08:30:30, 404 Not Found
 * In Fort Worth Police Department (Texas) on 2011-03-19 10:46:27, 404 Not Found
 * In 1967 Newark riots on 2011-05-25 03:58:51, 404 Not Found
 * In 1967 Newark riots on 2011-06-06 13:36:09, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 13:36, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Dead link 2
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 * In 1967 Newark riots on 2011-06-06 13:36:20, 404 Not Found

--JeffGBot (talk) 13:36, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Dead link 3
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--JeffGBot (talk) 13:36, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

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Inciting incident
I made numerous edits to this section. It was poorly written and had many grammatical errors. If I introduced any new errors in my edits, please correct them. Dreameditsbrooklyn (talk) 01:21, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

"July 14" section not worded clearly, omits information
This section reads:

Detective Frederick Toto was shot while patrolling in the streets of Newark at 7:30 p.m. on July 14. He was patrolling the streets with Patrolman Butross when a sniper fired at them from a high-rise, striking Detective Toto. He was sent to St. Michael's Medical Center where surgeons unsuccessfully attempted life-saving surgery. Toto was the first police casualty of the riots. After he was shot at from the high-rise, over 200 National Guard soldiers combined with state and city police opened fire on the building where they believed the sniper to be positioned, arresting 25 people in response. Rufus Council was shot and killed a short time after Toto when he was leaving a steakhouse where he had eaten dinner. Isaac Harrison and Robert Lee Martin were both also killed in the vicinity of Toto's shooting. Toto's death attracted national attention to the riots in the city.

1. It doesn't appear that any evidence of a "sniper" was found - in fact the Kerner Commission (also 1967) explicitly brought this into question. From pages 71-72 [Https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders-report https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders-report]:

"Lessons learned by the California National Guard two years earlier in Watts regarding the danger of overreaction and the necessity of great restraint in using weapons had not, apparently, been passed on to the Michigan National Guard. The young troopers could not be expected to know what a danger they were creating by the lack of fire discipline, not only to the civilian population but to themselves.

A Detroit newspaper reporter who spent a night riding in a command jeep told a Commission investigator of machine guns being fired accidentally, streetlights being shot out by rifle fire, and buildings being placed under siege on the sketchiest reports of sniping. Troopers would fire, and immediately from the distance there would be answering fire, sometimes consisting of tracer bullets. In one instance, the newsman related, a report was received on the jeep radio that an Army bus was pinned down by sniper fire at an intersection. National Guardsmen and police, arriving from various directions, jumped out and began asking each other: "Where's the sniper fire coming from?" As one Guardsman pointed to a building, everyone rushed about, taking cover. A soldier, alighting from a jeep, accidentally pulled the trigger on his rifle. As the shot reverberated through the darkness, an officer yelled: "What's going on?" "I don't know," came the answer. "Sniper, I guess."

Without any clear authorization or direction, some one opened fire upon the suspected building. A tank rolled up and sprayed the building with .50-caliber tracer bullets. Law enforcement officers rushed into the surrounded building and discovered it empty. "They must be firing one shot and running," was the verdict."

The section, as written, asserts that "a sniper fired at them"; "he was shot from a high rise"; and "the building they believed the sniper to be [in]." This last one is the only time the statement has a qualifier like "believed" (and even then, it doesn't necessarily indicate that the existence of a sniper was at all under question, which it very much was). The Kerner Commission further states, on page 77:

"Of the 27 persons charged with sniping, 22 had charges against them dismissed at preliminary hearings, and the charges against two others were dismissed later. One pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered gun and was given a suspended sentence. Trials of two are pending."

This is a crucial, and readily available part of the historical record. The section obviously suffers from its omission. As it is, the "Indiscriminate shooting at a building" and "These people in the area were shot and killed" are described as though they're not even connected events, the sniper claims are taken at face value, the multiple reports of residents and the conclusion of those in the Kerner Commission that fire likely came from Guardsmen and police are not touched on at all.

2. As I mentioned, there are resident reports as well. Historian Junius Williams has compiled court documents, witness testimony and interviews on his site which describe the shootings and their victims in extensive detail with appropriate sourcing. For Rufus Council, who is mentioned as one of the victims in the July 14 section, there is this statement:

"Wright testified, “As the car approached, I was able to make out three state troopers inside, two in the front sear and one in the back. The one in the back seat was leaning out the left back window (on my side) and pointing his long gun at people as his car passed by.”

At this point, Wright was inside the restaurant and Rufus Council stood in the doorway looking out onto the street. Wright continued, “I heard several shots which sounded as though they were coming from the car that had just driven up… Suddenly Rufus shouted ‘Ow!’ and he fell right in the doorway, backwards… After he fell he never moved. Neither did he say another sound. A few seconds after Rufus fell, I heard the motor of the car roar up, they were gunning the motor, then the car drove away.”"

I assumed the information simply wasn't out there, given there is quite a bit of detailing around Detective Toto's death while 3 others go essentially unremarked. This information is very much available, for whatever reason it just wasn't deemed important enough to include. Overall I think it's fair to point out that this is horrendously biased in favor of a widely challenged, poorly supported version of events, rather than seeking to actually describe what has been reported by the involved parties. Zukriuchen (talk) 00:15, 15 December 2023 (UTC)