1967 Minneapolis disturbance

Last updated

1967 Minneapolis Riot
Part of Long, hot summer of 1967
DateJuly 20–23, 1967
Location
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Parties
Protesters, rioters
Lead figures

Governor of Minnesota

Mayor of Minneapolis

Minneapolis Chief of Police

Casualties
Injuries24
Arrested26

The 1967 Minneapolis disturbance was one of the 159 disturbances that swept across cities in the United States during the "long, hot summer of 1967". [1]

Contents

On July 20, 1967, widespread violence erupted in North Minneapolis, an area known for its Jewish and African American communities. The reported origins vary from the police mishandling a teen dispute over a wig to a pre-meditated plot by Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael. [2] Widespread violence, including rock and bottle-throwing at law enforcement and fires set to businesses along Plymouth Avenue, quickly engulfed the area and lasted three days. [3]

Arthur Naftalin, mayor of Minneapolis, petitioned Minnesota Governor Harold LeVander for assistance from the Minnesota National Guard. After three days of demonstration, there were 26 arrests, 24 injured, and no deaths. Damage to public and private property totaled $4.2 million. [4]

Background

The civil rights movement occurring mainly in the southern portion of the United States to protest the unequal treatment of African Americans in business, politics, education, and housing resulted in rippling effects across the nation. Soon, civil uprisings extended outside the southern states. Cities like Boston, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis experienced similar racial tensions that erupted in violence.

Before 1960, restrictive housing guidelines prevented the working-class African American and Jewish communities from residing in certain parts of Minneapolis. Because of this, the two marginalized communities found common ground in North Minneapolis, where they built businesses, friendships, and families. [5]

After World War II, societal opinions toward the Jewish community shifted away from anti-semitism. With this, business and job opportunities became available to Jewish citizens outside of North Minneapolis. The Black community, however, did not receive similar treatment. This imbalance created fissures between the two communities. Between the growing Civil Rights movements and rising tensions in North Minneapolis, a riot erupted in 1966.  The period of unrest was short-lived. It resulted in arson and looting. For a short period, the Minnesota National Guard deployed to quell the violence. In the aftermath of the 1966 riot, a community center called "The Way" was established on Plymouth Avenue, the cultural and business hub of North Minneapolis. This center became a nucleus for neighborhood extracurricular activity, including meetings and music. It is also known as the hub for community activism in North Minneapolis.

after a disturbance born of disillusionment and anger exploded spontaneously in the streets. Its emergency purpose was to help calm the neighborhood by providing an off-the-street facility for youth and a meeting place for residents.

Rioting

The reports on the genesis of the riot on July 20, 1967, vary dramatically. Historical documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) allege that Stokely Carmichael, the Black Panther movement's political leader, met with acquaintances in North Minneapolis months before July 1967.  The report states that Carmichael warned that "the blood will flow in the city of Minneapolis this summer. [2] He allegedly communicated to the group that the protests would begin at the city's annual Aquatennial Parade.

Harry Moss, a co-founder of The Way Community Center and North Minneapolis resident, recalled the Plymouth Avenue unrest began when a black resident was shot by a Jewish business owner for petty theft. [6]

Most news outlets report that the riots began when two teen girls were in an altercation over a wig at the Aquatennial Torchlight Parade. When Minneapolis police responded to the incident, one of the girls was met with extreme force, triggering an outcry for justice.

Residents gathered at The Way to organize a protest against the police brutality. The citizens marched along Plymouth Avenue to demand justice for police behavior. Soon police responded to the disturbance. Tensions rose as they attempted to break up the demonstration. Police allegedly struck a pregnant woman.  From there, the protest became violent, including rock-throwing and Molotov cocktails. Protesters burned local Jewish businesses.

The protest continued into the next day. Minneapolis mayor Arthur Naftalin, petitioned governor Harold LeVander to activate the National Guard to restore order to the area. The governor ordered 600 National Guard Soldiers to deploy to the site. [7] Milt Sunde and Ron Acks, two Minnesota Vikings football players, also serving in the Minnesota National Guard, responded to the riots. [8] Federal troops also covered South Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Throughout the three days of protest, African Americans expressed anger at police brutality, discriminatory housing, and education practices. Most of the property destruction focused on white authority figures. [4]

Damage

Protesters destroyed ten stores on Plymouth Avenue during the first night of violence. Fire consumed two local groceries stores: Silvers Food Market and Knox Food Market. Jewish residents owned both businesses.

By the time the violence subsided, there were three shootings, 36 arrests, 18 fires and 24 injuries. The total damage $4.2 million. [4]

Political response

The protesters consistently expressed discontent with discriminatory practices in Minneapolis.  Local leaders held a public forum for residents to discuss grievances within the community.

"This will show them we are not going to take any more of the cops shoving and pushing us," said one protester.

Another explained the violence of the protesters was a normal response to social conditions. "You back a colored man into a corner and complain when he comes out fighting," he said. [9]

Mayor Naftalin convened a grand jury of all-white residents to identify violent protestors and prosecute their actions. The grand jury concluded that police responded appropriately and did not fire weapons at the protesters, despite one young resident's report of a gunshot wound. The grand jury maintained that there was no evidence of police brutality.

The grand jury advised that The Way Community Center staff should be investigated for inciting the demonstration.

See also

Related Research Articles

In the broader context of racism in the United States, mass racial violence in the United States consists of ethnic conflicts and race riots, along with such events as:

Arthur Naftalin was an American political scientist and politician. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he served as mayor of Minneapolis from July 3, 1961, to July 6, 1969. He was the first Jewish mayor of Minneapolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 Los Angeles riots</span> Riots following the beating of Rodney King

The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after a jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) charged with using excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King. The incident had been videotaped by George Holliday, who was a bystander to the incident, and was heavily broadcast in various news and media outlets.

The 1967 Newark riots were an episode of violent, armed conflict in the streets of Newark, New Jersey. Taking place over a four-day period, the Newark riots resulted in at least 26 deaths and hundreds more serious injuries. Serious property damage, including shattered storefronts and fires caused by arson, left many of the city's buildings damaged or destroyed. At the height of the conflict, the National Guard was called upon to occupy the city with tanks and other military equipment, leading to iconic media depictions that were considered particularly shocking when shared in the national press. In the aftermath of the riots, Newark was quite rapidly abandoned by many of its remaining middle-class and affluent residents, as well as much of its white working-class population. This accelerated flight led to a decades-long period of disinvestment and urban blight, including soaring crime rates and gang activity.

Louisville, Kentucky experienced three days of rioting in May 1968. As in many other cities around the country, there were unrest and riots partially in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., on April 4. On May 27, a group of 400 people, mostly blacks, gathered at 28th and Greenwood Streets, in the Parkland neighborhood. The intersection, and Parkland in general, had recently become an important location for Louisville's black community, as the local NAACP branch had moved its office there.

Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Riots may be the outcome of a sporting event, although many riots have occurred due to poor working or living conditions, government oppression, conflicts between races or religions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King assassination riots</span> Riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The King assassination riots, also known as the Holy Week Uprising, were a wave of civil disturbance which swept across the United States following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. Some of the biggest riots took place in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City.

The Albina Riot of 1967 occurred in the Albina District of Portland, Oregon, during a year when other cities were experiencing similar civil right demonstrations and urban unrest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Floyd protests</span> 2020–2023 police brutality protests

The George Floyd protests were a series of demonstrations against police brutality and riots that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as reactions to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed African American man, by city police during an arrest. They spread nationally and internationally. Veteran officer Derek Chauvin was recorded as kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds; Floyd complained of not being able to breathe, but three other officers looked on and prevented passers-by from intervening. Chauvin and the other three officers involved were later arrested. In April 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. In June 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22+1⁄2 years in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul</span> Over murder of unarmed black man

Local protests over the murder of George Floyd, sometimes called the Minneapolis riots or Minneapolis uprising, began on May 26, 2020, and within a few days had inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality. The initial events were a reaction to a video filmed the day before and circulated widely in the media of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd struggled to breathe, begged for help, lost consciousness, and died. Public outrage over the content of the video gave way to widespread civil disorder in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and other cities in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area over the five-day period of May 26 to 30 after Floyd's murder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States racial unrest (2020–present)</span>

A wave of civil unrest in the United States, initially triggered by the murder of George Floyd during his arrest by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020, led to protests and riots against systemic racism in the United States, such as in the form of police violence and other forms of violence. Since then, numerous other incidents of police brutality have drawn continued attention and unrest in various parts of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Minneapolis false rumors riot</span> Unrest after a suicide incident

False rumors of a police shooting resulted in rioting, arson, and looting in the U.S. city of Minneapolis from August 26–28, 2020. The events began as a reaction to the suicide of Eddie Sole Jr., a 38-year old black man who was being pursued by Minneapolis police officers for his alleged involvement in a homicide. At approximately 2 p.m. on August 26, Sole died after he shot himself in the head as officers approached to arrest him. False rumors quickly spread on social media that Minneapolis police officers had fatally shot Sole. To quell unrest, Minneapolis police released closed-circuit television surveillance footage that captured Sole's suicide, which was later confirmed by a Hennepin County Medical Examiner's autopsy report.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daunte Wright protests</span> Series of demonstrations and riots in response to a police shooting in April 2021

Protests and civil disorder occurred in reaction to the killing of Daunte Wright on April 11, 2021. Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United States. Protests that first began in Brooklyn Center spread to other locations in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and then to other cities in the United States. Several nights of civil disorder in Brooklyn Center and adjacent cities resulted in sporadic looting and damage to a few hundred properties, including four businesses that were set on fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul</span> Aftermath of local civil unrest following murder of an unarmed black man

The aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul describes the result of civil disorder between May 26 and June 7, 2020, in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Protests began as a response to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man on May 25, after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as three other officers assisted during an arrest. The incident was captured on a bystander's video and it drew public outrage as video quickly circulated in the news media by the following day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Uptown Minneapolis unrest</span> Protests after the police killing of Winston Boogie Smith, beginning June 2021

Civil unrest began in the Uptown district of the U.S. city of Minneapolis on June 3, 2021, as a reaction to news reports that law enforcement officers had killed a wanted suspect during an arrest. The law enforcement killing occurred atop a parking ramp near West Lake Street and Girard Avenue. Police fired several rounds, killing the person at the scene. In an initial statement about the encounter, the U.S. Marshals Service alleged that a person failed to comply with arresting officers and produced a gun. Crowds gathered on West Lake Street near the parking ramp soon afterwards as few details were known about the incident or the deceased person, who was later identified as Winston Boogie Smith, a 32-year-old black American man.

The 1967 New York City riot was one of many riots that occurred during the long, hot summer of 1967. The riot began after an off-duty police officer, Patrolman Anthony Cinquemani, while trying to break up a fight, shot and killed a Puerto Rican man named Renaldo Rodriquez who had a knife and lunged toward him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protests in Minneapolis regarding the trial of Derek Chauvin</span> Local civil unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

In 2020 and 2021, several protests were held in the U.S. city of Minneapolis that coincided with judicial proceedings and the criminal trial of Derek Chauvin. As an officer with the Minneapolis Police Department, Chauvin was charged with the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man who died during an arrest incident on May 25, 2020. A bystander's video captured Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd struggled to breathe, lost consciousness, and died. Protesters opposed Chauvin's pre-trial release from jail on bail in October 2020. In the lead up to and during the criminal trial in early 2021, demonstrators sought conviction and maximum sentencing for Chauvin, and the enactment of police reform measures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020–2023 Minneapolis–Saint Paul racial unrest</span> Series of protests and riots in the U.S. state of Minnesota

In the early 2020s, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in U.S. state of Minnesota experienced a wave of civil unrest, comprising peaceful demonstrations and riots, against systemic racism toward black Americans, notably in the form of police violence. A number of events occurred, beginning soon after the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020. National Public Radio characterized the events as cultural reckoning on topics of racial injustice.

References

  1. ↑ Gonsalves, Kelly (August 2, 2017). "The 'long, hot summer of 1967'". The Week. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Canot, Robert (June 23, 1967). "Alleged Contemplated Riots". Subject Files of Robert Canot. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  3. ↑ Reporter (July 20, 1967). "Fires Set, Rocks thrown in City Mob". Star Tribune.
  4. 1 2 3 Marks, Susan (July 24, 2017). "July 1967: Civil unrest on Plymouth Avenue, Minnesota Post". MinnPost . Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  5. ↑ Bergin, Daniel (May 24, 2017). "Cornerstone: A history of North Minneapolis, Twin Cities Public Broadcasting Station" . Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  6. ↑ Bently, Rosalind (July 20, 1997). "Regret over Riot, butmore present day concern". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  7. ↑ Newlund, Sam (July 22, 1967). "600 Guards Mobilized to Keep Order in City". Minneapolis Tribune.
  8. ↑ Swanson, Merrill (July 21, 1967). "Two Minnesota Vikings called in National Guard". Star Tribune. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  9. ↑ Shabazz, Rashad (June 6, 2020). "'Long,hot summer of '67'—and parallels to today's protests over police brutality". Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.