Editing Civil rights movement (section)

=== Nationwide riots, 1965–1967 ===
{{Main|Ghetto riots (1964–1969)}}
{{See also|Long Hot Summer of 1967}}
{{Further|Watts riots|Detroit Riot of 1967|1967 Newark riots}}

In the mid-1960s, the U.S. experienced a series of "long hot summers" of [[Ghetto riots (1964–1969)|civil unrest]]. While the early civil rights movement primarily focused on legal challenges to segregation in the South, the "long hot summers" brought attention to the racial disparities and issues within urban communities in the North.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Upchurch |first1=T. Adams |title=Race Relations in the United States, 1960-1980 |date=2007 |page=35}}</ref> Systemic racism, police brutality, high unemployment rates, poor living conditions in urban Black neighborhoods, and a sense of hopelessness contributed to the widespread unrest.<ref name="Sullivan2021">{{cite book |last1=Sullivan |first1=Patricia |title=Justice Rising: Robert KennedyÕs America in Black and White |date=2021 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-73745-7 |page=346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vOsmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA346 |quote=The summer of 1967—the “summer of love” for America's youth counterculture—was a “long hot summer” for Black urban Americans, a season of the deadliest and most widespread racial strife in US history. Racial clashes, disorders, and rebellions erupted in an estimated 164 cities in thirty-four states, bringing the nation's crisis to a boil.}}</ref><ref name="The Riots of the Long, Hot Summer">{{cite web |title=The Riots of the Long, Hot Summer |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/the-riots-of-the-long-hot-summer |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |access-date=8 December 2024}}</ref><ref name=Ghettos>{{cite journal|title=The Ghetto Rebellions and Urban Class Conflict|author=Herbert J Gans|journal = Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science|year = 1968|volume = 29|issue = 1|pages = 42–51|doi = 10.2307/3700905|jstor = 3700905}}</ref>

====Watts====
[[File:40th in Watts.jpg|thumb|Soldiers direct traffic away from an area of [[South Central Los Angeles]] burning during the [[Watts Riots|1965 Watts riot]]]]

The momentum for the advancement of civil rights came to a sudden halt in August 1965 with [[Watts Riots|riots]] in the [[Watts, Los Angeles|Watts district]] of [[Los Angeles]]. The riots were ignited by the arrest of Marquette Frye during a traffic stop, which escalated into a physical confrontation with police officers and drew a large crowd of onlookers. During the six days of unrest, rioters engaged in widespread [[looting]] of stores, burning buildings through [[arson]], and in some cases, using [[sniper]] tactics to fire at authorities. To quell the violence, [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] troops were deployed to the area, imposing a [[curfew]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Watts Rebellion (Los Angeles) |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/watts-rebellion-los-angeles |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute |access-date=11 December 2024}}</ref><ref name="Oberschall">{{Cite journal | last1 = Oberschall | first1 = Anthony | year = 1968 | title = The Los Angeles Riot of August 1965 | journal = Social Problems | volume = 15 | issue = 3 | pages = 322–341 | jstor = 799788 | doi=10.2307/799788}}</ref>

After 34 people were killed and $35&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|35|1965|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) in property was damaged, the public feared an expansion of the violence to other cities, and so the appetite for additional programs in President Lyndon Johnson's agenda was lost.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dallek |first=Robert |title=Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961–1973 |url=https://archive.org/details/flawedgiantlyndo00dall/ |url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-505465-1 |pages=222–223}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Lyndon B. Johnson: The American Franchise| date=October 4, 2016| url=https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/the-american-franchise| location=Charlottesville, Virginia| publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia| access-date=June 22, 2017}}</ref>

====Newark and Detroit====
[[File:Newark Riots 1967 (305517077) (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[1967 Newark riots]]]]
[[File:Detroit 1967.jpg|thumb|Destroyed buildings during the [[1967 Detroit riots]]]]
Occurring well after the conclusion of the 1966 Chicago open housing movement, in what is known as the "[[Long hot summer of 1967]]" more than 150 riots erupted across the United States, with the most destructive occurring in [[Detroit]], Michigan and [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]], New Jersey.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thirteen.org/newark/history3.html |title=A Walk Through Newark. History. The Riots|publisher=Thirteen/WNET |access-date=July 29, 2016}}</ref> The ''[[Boston Globe]]'' called it "a revolution of black Americans against white Americans, a violent petition for the redress of long-standing grievances." The ''Globe'' asserted that [[Great Society]] legislation had affected little fundamental improvement.<ref name="Dallek 1998, p. 412">Dallek (1998), p. 412.</ref>

The [[1967 Newark riots|Newark riots]] were sparked by the arrest and beating of John William Smith, a Black cab driver, by police officers. The unrest lasted for five days, involving widespread looting, arson, and violent confrontations with police and National Guard troops. Some 26 people were killed, more than 700 were injured, and more than 1,000 residents were arrested.<ref name="Dallek 1998, p. 412"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Evans |first1=Farrell |title=The 1967 Riots: When Outrage Over Racial Injustice Boiled Over |url=https://www.history.com/news/1967-summer-riots-detroit-newark-kerner-commission |website=History.com |date=October 6, 2023 |access-date=8 December 2024}}</ref>

In Detroit, a large [[black middle class]] had begun to develop among those African Americans who worked at unionized jobs in the automotive industry. These workers complained of persisting racist practices, limiting the jobs they could have and opportunities for promotion. The [[United Auto Workers]] channeled these complaints into bureaucratic and ineffective grievance procedures.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=3527 |title=Review of Georgakas, Dan; Surkin, Marvin, ''Detroit, I Do Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Revolution'' |first=Karen |last=Miller |date=October 1, 1999 }}</ref> Violent white mobs enforced the segregation of housing up through the 1960s.<ref name="pbs.org">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/profiles/57_mi.html |title=American Experience. Eyes on the Prize. Profiles |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=July 29, 2016 |archive-date=February 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218081425/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/profiles/57_mi.html}}</ref> The [[1967 Detroit riot|Detroit riots]] were sparked by a police raid on an unlicensed after-hours bar, commonly called the "Blind Pig," in a predominantly Black neighborhood. The riots lasted for five days, causing significant property damage, 1,200 injuries, and at least 43 deaths (33 of those killed were Black residents of the city).<ref name="The Riots of the Long, Hot Summer"/> Governor [[George W. Romney|George Romney]] sent in 7,400 National Guard troops to quell fire bombings, looting, and attacks on businesses and police. President Lyndon Johnson deployed [[U.S. Army]] troops with [[tanks]] and [[machine guns]]. Residents reported that police officers and National Guardsmen shot at black civilians and suspects indiscriminately.<ref name="pbs.org" /><ref>Hubert G. Locke, ''The Detroit Riot of 1967'' (Wayne State University Press, 1969).</ref>{{sfn|McLaughlin|2014|pp=1–9; 40–41}}

At an August 2, 1967 cabinet meeting, Attorney General [[Ramsey Clark]] warned that untrained and undisciplined local police forces and National Guardsmen might trigger a "[[guerrilla war]] in the streets," as evidenced by the climate of [[sniper]] fire in Newark and Detroit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinton |first1=Elizabeth |title=From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America |date=2016 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=108}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Flamm |first1=Michael W. |title=In the Heat of the Summer: The New York Riots of 1964 and the War on Crime |date=2017 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |page=276}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bigart |first1=Homer |title=Newark Riot Deaths at 21 As Negro Sniping Widens; Hughes May Seek U.S. Aid |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/race/071667race-ra.html |agency=The New York Times |date=July 16, 1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Roberts |first1=Gene |title=Troops Battle Detroit Snipers, Firing Machine Guns From Tanks; Lindsay Appeals To East Harlem; Detroit Toll Is 31 Rioters Rout Police-- Guardsmen Released To Aid Other Cities |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/07/26/archives/troops-battle-detroit-snipers-firing-machine-guns-from-tanks.html |agency=The New York Times |date=July 26, 1967}}</ref> Snipers were a significant element in many of the riots, creating a dangerous situation for both law enforcement and civilians, with shooters often targeting from rooftops and other concealed locations.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=1lUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17&dq=1967+life+magazine+newark+snipers&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizzOfjxpiKAxXwkYkEHfRfG9AQ6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q&f=false LIFE Magazine, July 28, 1967]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=51UEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=1967+life+magazine+detroit&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLpLyDyJiKAxXsrYkEHavxEjAQ6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=1967%20life%20magazine%20detroit&f=false LIFE Magazine, August 4, 1967]</ref>

==== Kerner Commission ====
The riots confounded many civil rights activists of both races due to the recent passage of major civil rights legislation. They also caused a backlash among Northern whites, many of whom stopped supporting civil rights causes.<ref>Mackenzie and Weisbrot (2008), pp. 337–338</ref> President Johnson formed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, informally known as the [[Kerner Commission]], on July 28, 1967 to explore the causes behind the recurring outbreaks of urban civil disorder.<ref>Mackenzie and Weisbrot (2008), p. 335</ref><ref name=africanaonline>{{cite web|url=http://www.africanaonline.com/reports_kerner.htm |author=Toonari |title=Kerner Report |website=Africana Online |access-date=23 November 2009 |archive-date= 7 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107022536/http://www.africanaonline.com/reports_kerner.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref> The commission's scope included the 164 disorders occurring in the first nine months of 1967. The president had directed them, in simple words, to document what happened, find out why it happened, and find out how to prevent it.<ref name="Johnson1967Remarks">{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Lyndon B. |author-link=Lyndon B. Johnson |date=July 29, 1967 |editor1-last=Woolley |editor1-first=John T. |editor2-last=Peters |editor2-first=Gerhard |title=Remarks Upon Signing Order Establishing the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238046 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California |location=Santa Barbara, CA}}</ref>

The commission's 1968 report identified police practices, unemployment and underemployment, and lack of adequate housing as the most significant grievances motivating the rage.<ref name=kerner>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/1968-kerner-commission-got-it-right-nobody-listened-180968318/|title=The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened|author=Alice George}}</ref> It suggested legislative measures to promote racial integration and alleviate poverty and concluded that the nation was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal."<ref name=kernerreport>{{cite web| title="Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies, One Black, One White—Separate and Unequal": Excerpts from the Kerner Report| url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6545/| publisher=American Social History Productions| work=History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web| others=Source: United States. Kerner Commission, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1968)| access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref> The president, fixated on the Vietnam War and keenly aware of budgetary constraints, barely acknowledged the report.<ref name=LHS67>{{cite book| last=McLaughlin| first=Malcolm| title=The Long, Hot Summer of 1967: Urban Rebellion in America| date=2014| publisher=Palgrave Macmillan| location=New York City| isbn=978-1-137-26963-8|pages=1–9; 40–41| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QI17AwAAQBAJ&q=%22long+hot+summer%22+1967&pg=PA1}}</ref>