Joan Walsh: "Almost every major urban riot of the 1960s ... was touched off by police misconduct"

[Hissyspit]

Almost every major urban riot of the 1960s – Harlem and Philadelphia in 1964, Watts in 1965, Newark and Detroit in 1967 – was touched off by police misconduct.

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/29/new_yorks_epic_white_backlash_how_a_horrid_1960s_relic_is_still_with_us_today/

JOAN WALSH

MONDAY, DEC 29, 2014 07:00 AM EST

New York’s epic white backlash: How a horrid 1960s relic is still with us today

O’Reilly, Hannity and a defiant NYPD are fighting battles of 50 years ago. The chaos ended but the backlash endures

- snip -

White New Yorkers fear a return to the bad old days of riots, escalating crime and attacks on police. In the 1970s, 46 officers were killed in the line of duty, according to the New York Times, and 41 more in the 1980s. Before these latest murders, the last police killing was in 2011.

- snip -

It wasn’t just race: the flight was driven by crime and arson and riots, and a sense that the world was unraveling. I tried to write about some of this sympathetically in my book: the transformation of New York in the 1960s and 70s was scary. Crime and arson rates spiked: the murder rate jumped 150 percent between 1965 and 1973; property crime jumped by a third. Some of my uncles and cousins were cops and firemen, including my mother’s two brothers. She worried about them every day, and so did I.

But for a whole lot of people, it was all about race. Conservatives made sure of that, with William F. Buckley running for mayor in 1965 mocking the liberal idea that social factors drove the rising crime rate – as if poverty and racism could “make Negro crime any less criminal.”

Significantly, that comment came in a debate over whether cops needed civilian review. Almost every major urban riot of the 1960s – Harlem and Philadelphia in 1964, Watts in 1965, Newark and Detroit in 1967 – was touched off by police misconduct. When Mayor John Lindsay appointed a police review board, Pat Lynch’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association sponsored a ballot initiative to repeal it. To the shock of liberal Manhattan, a coalition of outer-borough Jews and “white ethnics” voted with the cops.

- snip -

Excessive force by police, and rampant racism, was never acceptable, not even in the years of crime and chaos. But what stuns me now is: crime is way down. Arson is almost non-existent. There are no more riots. Most protests against police abuse are peaceful. Sure, there are a few saboteurs smashing windows and punching cops, but you’ll also see a whole lot of protesters trying to stop them – and it seems most of the violent folks are white.

With one critical exception: Ismaaiyl Brinsley, the mentally ill Brooklyn native who shot his ex-girlfriend (an Air Force reservist) in Baltimore, then shot Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu.

Even before those murders, despite the overall calm, the defense of the cops had been just as shrill and unyielding and frankly anti-democratic as it was when crime was spiking in the 60s and 70s. It’s no accident Rudy Giuliani became the national spokesman for the cops’ point of view. Sean Hannity, the pride of Nassau’s Franklin Square, turned his show into a headquarters for the defense of Darren Wilson, the Ferguson officer who killed an unarmed Mike Brown in August.

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[Faux pas]

1. Got caught in a 'riot'

in Haight-Ashbury back in '68, I watched/witnessed a cop start it.

[PeoViejo]

6. Same here in Philly in the 60's

I was on a Bus from the Navy Yard to downtown. We were stuck in traffic when I looked out the window as two cops began to hassle a couple of Black guys who were just standing there minding their own business. Soon, more people began to stop and tell the Cops to leave the guys alone. By the the street was full of Police vehicles and we weren't going anywhere, then the TV crews showed up and the show was on. It dispersed after about 10 minutes and the two Black guys were hauled off to the can.
Watching the TV News that Night, you would think it was a major riot. They blew it all out of proportion and did their best to make the Black guys look like the perpetrators. I watched the whole thing from about 10 feet away, like the proverbial 'Fly on the Wall.'

The 'News' was pure Racist Propaganda.

[Faux pas]

27. Amazing

huh? Hippies were the target in my 'riot'. Started with some kid sitting on the curb playing bongos. The riot squad shows up out of nowhere, marching up and down the street, one steps out and grabs the kid by the shirt and yanks him off the curb then proceeded to pull a trash can off the sidewalk. He dumps the trash in the middle of the street and smashes all the glass with his baton. Everybody was just standing there asking what was going on. Pretty soon bottles start flying from the back of the crowd that had gathered to see what was going on. I looked back to see who was throwing the bottles. It was a group of 'clean cut' asses (agent provocateurs?). Then all hell broke lose. The news on the radio, all the way home, was hippies cause huge riot in Haight-Ashbury. Crazy.

[Trillo]

2. The destruction of the First Amendment.

By cops, a group largely populated by right wingers.

[bemildred]

3. "Never trust your local FBI plant."

Last edited Mon Dec 29, 2014, 11:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Words to live by.

[blackspade]

4. Exactly.

Buckley's comment still rings true to the wing nuts and not a few 'centrists' even today.

[LiberalArkie]

5. I grew up having to listen to Buckley on PBS here in Arkansas

and conservatives talk about liberals being elitist and arrogant.

[safeinOhio]

7. Here is a good one.

#t=42

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

8. Description of the start of 1967 Detroit Riot.....

http://www.detroits-great-rebellion.com

Interesting read even though I live here I was very young and really didn't understand why my city burned. I learned later in life. This is a brief history but pretty accurate.

[mopinko]

9. chicago 68

[tblue37]

18. That one was *officially* labeled a police riot after the investigation. nt

[mopinko]

23. and the murders of chairman fred hampton

and mark clark. assassinated by cpd. and how many more? who knows.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. So were the ones in 1992 in Los Angeles.

nt

[calimary]

11. No kidding. That was a police pile-on, too. HORRIBLE example of police brutality.

Caught on video, too. It was AWFUL. Brutal in every sense of the word. Just ridiculous. So much has NOT changed.

[jwirr]

12. They were actually called "police riots" and if I am not mistaken there was an investigation to

determine what they were doing wrong that caused the riots. I think things like kettling were mentioned.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. The Kerner Commission report, perhaps. n/t

[jwirr]

21. Yes, that rings a bell.

[niyad]

13. k and r for continuing visibility, and bookmarking.

[HoosierCowboy]

14. Law Enforcement people

Are a reflection of the community. If the people treat police with contempt and disrespect on a continuing basis they are going to react.
Rude, inconsiderate, hostile people can only expect the same from police. New York is ground zero for rude, inconsiderate and hostile.

Want better police? Try being better citizens...

[A Simple Game]

16. It appears you took a left turn into DU when you should have

taken a right turn to somewhere else.

How did the guy buying a BB gun in Walmart show contempt for the cops? How did the 12 year old boy with a BB gun in a park disrespect the cops? Do I have to go on?

[HoosierCowboy]

22. and obviously..

...you've never been to NYC.

[A Simple Game]

24. I have been to New York City, why would you think otherwise?

The first time I was in New York City was when the twin towers were being built. Quite a sight for a young country bumpkin from Northern New York.

But why do I tell you this, you being from Indiana and all probably know a lot more about New York City than a New York native.


From your earlier post:

Are a reflection of the community. If the people treat police with contempt and disrespect on a continuing basis they are going to react.
Rude, inconsiderate, hostile people can only expect the same from police. New York is ground zero for rude, inconsiderate and hostile.

Want better police? Try being better citizens...

After rereading your post I must agree with you, being rude and disrespectful and treating people with contempt will earn you the same! Shame on the people of New York City for stopping and frisking their police, and especially shame on those citizens that used the illegal choke hold to kill that innocent police officer. Shame on the citizens for shooting more than 40 times at the cop that was just getting his wallet out when asked for his ID and oh so many more examples of disrespect and contempt for those lesser people.

You are right, you have to earn respect, or do as some, settle for fear. Whatever works, right?

[immoderate]

19. So, who the fuck are you?

--imm

[Hissyspit]

25. Oh, bullcrap.

[nichomachus]

26. As someone who has spent a lot of time in NYC

I can say with confidence that you are full of horse poop. New Yorkers are direct and blunt and won't take bullshit from anyone. Maybe that's why you find them hard to deal with. I've traveled a lot and don't find them more rude or hostile than anywhere else.

[OldRedneck]

15. "He became a deputy because . . . "

I"m an EMT with a volunteer rescue squad in rural Virginia. Our 911 calls go to the sheriff's office who dispatches us. We know the sheriff's personnel, especially the deputies, because we work with them on accidents, domestic disputes, shootings, stabbings, overdoses, hunting accidents, and the like.

A new deputy showed up about two years ago and immediately we rescue people began to distrust him. In our opinions he was overly aggressive and too "in your face," especially with black people who make up almost 30% of our county. We really became worried when he ditched his deputy uniform -- shiny shoes, tan trousers, dark brown shirt, drill sergeant hat -- and started wearing desert camouflage military uniforms with his pistol strapped down on his thigh.

I noticed about a month ago he was no longer around and I didn't hear his callsign on the radio. I asked one of the other deputies about him -- according to one of the other deputies, he was fired because "The only reason he became a deputy was he made C-minus and D in all his high school classes."

Sadly, he was hired by a neighboring county.

[Sivafae]

17. Years ago I was listening to Henry Rollins' "Get in the Van" book

He talked about how there were plenty of punk shows where there was no violence to speak of, until the cops showed up. I remember his words so clearly, "The police were the riot."