Editing Waterloo, Iowa (section)

=== African American community ===
In 1910, black railroad workers were brought in as strikebreakers to the Waterloo area.<ref name="Halpern">{{Cite book|title = Meatpackers: An Oral History of Black Packinghouse Workers and Their Struggle for Racial and Economic Equality|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8N9WCgAAQBAJ|publisher = NYU Press|date = March 1, 1999|isbn = 9781583670057|first1 = Rick|last1 = Halpern|first2 = Roger|last2 = Horowitz}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web|title = Waterloo rallies to combat violence, racial divides|url = http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/kyle-munson/2015/07/11/african-american-black-iowa-waterloo/29942799/|website = Des Moines Register|access-date = 2016-02-15}}</ref> Black workers were relegated to 20 square blocks in Waterloo, an area that remains the east side to this day.<ref name="Halpern"/><ref name=":0" /> In 1940, more black strikebreakers were brought in to work in the [[Rath Packing Company|Rath meat plant]].<ref name="Foster">{{cite web|title = The 10th Worst City for African Americans in the U.S. has a Story: This is How the Dream Derailed: The History of African Americans in Waterloo, Working at Rath, Where is Today's Local 46?|url = https://medium.com/@dmegivern/the-10th-worst-city-for-african-americans-in-the-u-s-has-a-story-this-is-how-the-dream-derailed-9a1e12a8ad41#.c27ch0ul7|website = Medium|date = October 26, 2015|access-date = 2016-02-15|first = Deborah|last = Foster|archive-date = February 23, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160223150523/https://medium.com/@dmegivern/the-10th-worst-city-for-african-americans-in-the-u-s-has-a-story-this-is-how-the-dream-derailed-9a1e12a8ad41#.c27ch0ul7|url-status = dead}}</ref> In 1948, a black strikebreaker killed a white union member. Instead of a race riot, a strike ensued against the Rath Company. The [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] was called in to end the 73-day strike.<ref name="Foster"/>

==== Civil rights ====
[[United Packinghouse Workers of America]] became the main union of the Rath Company, welcoming black workers,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title = The Politics of Youth: Civil Rights Reform in the Waterloo Public Schools|last = Schumaker|first = Kathryn|date = 2013|journal = The Annals of Iowa |volume=72|issue = 4|pages = 353–385|doi = 10.17077/0003-4827.1740|doi-access = free}}</ref> but United Auto Workers Local 838 continued to refuse black members.<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title = Report: Waterloo is Iowa's most segregated large city|url = https://medium.com/@dmegivern/the-10th-worst-city-for-african-americans-in-the-u-s-has-a-story-this-is-how-the-dream-derailed-9a1e12a8ad41#.c27ch0ul7|website = Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier|access-date = 2016-02-15|first = Tim|last = Jamison|archive-date = February 23, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160223150523/https://medium.com/@dmegivern/the-10th-worst-city-for-african-americans-in-the-u-s-has-a-story-this-is-how-the-dream-derailed-9a1e12a8ad41#.c27ch0ul7|url-status = dead}}</ref> With the power of the union, Anna Mae Weems, Ada Treadwell, Charles Pearson and Jimmy Porter formed an anti-discrimination department at Rath by the 1950s. This department helped organize protests against local places that discriminated against blacks.<ref name="Halpern"/>

Porter would go on to organize the first black radio station in Waterloo, KBBG, in 1978.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Weems became the head of the anti-discrimination department and local NAACP chapter.<ref name="Halpern"/>

On May 31, 1966, Eddie Wallace Sallis was found dead in the local jail. The black community felt the death was suspicious, and protests were held. On June 4, Weems led a march on city hall to encourage investigation into his death.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The march led to the creation of the Waterloo Human Rights Commission, which lasted only a year due to lack of funding.<ref name="Foster"/>

On Sept. 7, 1967, a city report, "Waterloo's Unfinished Business", was released.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|title = Waterloo race relations still an issue 40 years after city report|url = http://wcfcourier.com/news/top_story/waterloo-race-relations-still-an-issue-years-after-city-report/article_42d89ae7-9c4e-5048-9877-ad949bbfc893.html|website = Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier|access-date = 2016-02-15|first = AMIE STEFFEN Courier Staff|last = Writer| date=September 9, 2007 }}</ref> The report covered the ongoing problems in housing, education and employment faced by Waterloo's black community. It confirmed the housing bias faced by black residents, that many of the schools were generally 80% of one race, and that 80% of black residents held service jobs.<ref name=":3" /> In a 2007 article, the Courier covered some changes in the 40 years since, finding that housing was now mostly divided by socioeconomic status, schools still violated the desegregation plan, and black unemployment was still double that of white residents.<ref name=":3" />

The [[Iowa Supreme Court]] outlawed school [[Racial segregation|segregation]] in 1868.<ref name="Foster"/> A 1967 commission found most schools were still segregated and recommended immediate desegregation, which Mayor Lloyd Turner opposed.<ref name=":1" /> In 1969, the Waterloo school board voted to allow open enrollment in all their schools to encourage integration. Many parents felt it was not enough.<ref name=":1" /> Despite the efforts between 1967 and 1970, already-black schools in the area increased in their segregation.<ref name=":1" />

==== Protests and riots ====
By the 1960s, Rath was declining and jobs there were harder to come by. A federal government program trained 1,200 local youths with the promise of summer jobs, only to hire two as bricklayers.<ref name="Halpern"/> Starting in the summer months of 1966,<ref name="news.google.com">{{cite web|title = The Telegraph – Google News Archive Search|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19670726&id=C64rAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kf0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6840,2694969&hl=en|website = news.google.com|access-date = 2016-02-15}}</ref> Waterloo was subject to riots over race relations between the white community and the black community. Many white residents expressed confusion as to why riots were occurring in Waterloo,<ref name=":1" /><ref name="news.google.com"/> while younger black residents felt they were being treated unfairly, as their conditions seemed worse than those of their white neighbors.<ref name="news.google.com"/> In 1967, the black population of Waterloo was equivalent to 8%, and according to the Courier, had a 4% unemployment rate.<ref name="news.google.com"/> Waterloo was segregated at the time, as 95% of its black population lived in "East" Waterloo.<ref name="news.google.com"/> While the white community felt East High was integrated with a 45% black student body, the black community pointed out that the elementary school in East Waterloo had only one white pupil.

Protests were mostly organized by black youths aged 16–25.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="news.google.com"/> Protests became riots when the youth felt protesting wasn't effective.<ref name="news.google.com"/> Protests turned into riots in July 1968<ref name="news.google.com"/> and reached a critical mass by September, with buildings on East 4th street torched and vandalized.<ref name=":3" />

In August 1968, East High students Terri and Kathy Pearson gave the principal a list of grievances detailing how they felt the discrimination could be lessened. The principal refused to implement any of the requested changes.<ref name=":1" /> Student protests and walkouts continued through September. Students were angry that no African American history course was being taught, and that [[interracial dating]] was discouraged by teachers and administrators.<ref name=":1" />

On September 13, 1968, during an East High School football game, police attempted to arrest a black youth.<ref name=":0" /> He resisted arrest, drawing attention of students in the stands. Black students fought and argued with the police, and police responded by using clubs and mace.<ref name=":1" /> The riot continued into the east side of Waterloo, with a subsequent fire that claimed a lumber mill and three homes. There was an attempt to set East High on fire as well.<ref name=":1" /> The riot lasted until midnight and resulted in seven officers injured and thirteen youths jailed. The National Guard was called in the following day. The riots were called off and a solution was reached thanks to civil rights leader William G Parker.<ref name=":1" />

==== 21st century ====
In 2003, Governor [[Tom Vilsack]] created a task force to close the racial achievement gap in Waterloo.<ref>{{cite news|title = Vilsack looking to Waterloo in closing achievement gap for black males|url = http://wcfcourier.com/news/metro/vilsack-looking-to-waterloo-in-closing-achievement-gap-for-black/article_425ff00a-ac34-5c70-bf5e-8b6c53bd3bcd.html|work = Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier|access-date = 2016-02-15|first = Andrew |last = Wind}}</ref> In 2009, a fair housing report, "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice", compiled by Mullin & Lonergan Associates Inc., found Waterloo to be Iowa's most segregated city.<ref name=":2" /> "Historical patterns of racial segregation persist in Waterloo. Of the 20 cities in Iowa with populations exceeding 25,000, Waterloo ranks as the most segregated".<ref name=":2" />

Many activists who participated in the original protests feel that Waterloo has remained the same.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> In 2015, The Huffington Post listed Waterloo as the 10th worst city for black Americans.<ref>{{cite web|title = The Worst Cities For Black Americans|url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/worst-cities-black-americans_us_5613d10ee4b0baa355ad322f|website =Huffington Post|date = October 6, 2015|access-date = 2016-02-15}}</ref> The site noted that the city's black residents have a 24% unemployment rate compared to 3.9% for whites, giving Waterloo one of the highest black unemployment rates among Midwest cities.<ref name=":0" /> Waterloo still has a higher percentage of blacks than most Iowa cities.<ref name=":0" />

In December 2012, Derrick Ambrose Jr. was shot by a police officer. Ambrose's family maintains he was unarmed, while the officer stated that he felt his life was in danger. A grand jury acquitted the officer. The shooting sparked outrage in the community.<ref name=":0" />

===== Flood of 2008 =====
[[File:WaterlooAISandbagsJune2008FEMABig.jpg|thumb|Waterloo after the June 2008 flood]]

June 2008 saw the worst flooding the Waterloo – [[Cedar Falls, Iowa|Cedar Falls]] area had ever recorded; other major floods include the [[Great Flood of 1993]]. The flood control system constructed in the 1970s–90s largely functioned as designed.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}