The Notting Hill Race Riots 1958
Source Based
Source A is a piece from an article which appeared in Searchlight
Magazine in 1999. The author is trying to convey that the Notting Hill
race riots were a turning point in race relations in Britain.
This source was written by Gary Macfarlane who is most likely
anti-Nazi as he wrote this article for an anti-Nazi magazine, this
fact establishes that he is for race relations and immigration but
might exaggerate how bad his right wing oppositions are. Another fact
about this source is that it was written in 1999, over 40 years after
the riots so he might have hindsight or evidence that would make this
source more accurate. It is written in a powerful tone as it links the
race riots to Hitler, one of the most racist men in history. In my
opinion, the author wrote this article because he wanted people to
know that it was not the whole of the British population that was
racist but only some white and Nazi minorities and that black people,
mostly youths, were starting to fight back to these minorities after
years of torment.
I know that in most of the late 1950's race relations in Britain were
astonishingly poor. The British white population just could not accept
foreigners coming and taking their jobs, houses and even women. For
example, in 1958 a journalist interviewed a group of young white men,
the conclusion from these men was that West Indians are liars and
can't be trusted. Another example is Sam King, ex-mayor of Lambeth,
who came over on the 'Windrush' said that 'There is racism' but the
fact that he was a mayor of a British county, with mostly white
people, questions this. So there were white people who tried to
prevent racism like the woman on the bus in Source A. For example,
there was an Anti-National front demonstration in Manchester, the
photo of this showed mostly white people taking part. Also there were
many speeches from important people that supported immigration e.
On March 17, 1955, more than 10,000 crazed hockey fans from inside the Montreal Forum and from the streets outside gathered together to protest the suspension of Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. An outraged fan slapped and punched the president of the National Hockey League, Clarence Campbell who was quietly sitting among the spectators. This "seven-hour rampage of destruction and looting" was a result of this attack that occurred during the game that opposed the Montreal Canadians and the Detroit Red Wings (Zacharias, 2000). During this riot, there were many people who were injured and over 100 fans were arrest.
Once called the Public Housing capital in the United States, Newark was receiving more money than any other city from the federal government to clear slums and build public housing complexes. People like Louis Danzig who was the head of the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) used the federal funds the city received to destroy low income housing of minorities in Newark, then build public housing on the outskirts of the city putting all the poor minorities in these areas. The police brutalized the cities African-American citizens numerous times with no repercussions. The city was being segregated and African-American Newark residents started to feel more and more marginalized. In 1967 things finally came to ahead as an African-American cab driver was arrested and beat badly by the Newark Police Department and when rumor spread that he had died in police custody. Though the cab driver was in fact brought to the hospital, a group gathered out in front of the police station and started throwing bricks and other objects at the police station. The riot went on for six days and has shaped the image of Newark to this day the riots have given the city a negative appearance that still lingers.
The author points out that it was an issue of “white resistance” rather than racism that played a role in the violence of the protests. I believe that this is a contradictory statement. What Formisano calls “white resistance” is the violent reaction to the
As it was stated in the book, many factors led up to the race riots of 1919. The single incident was a highpoint. It more or less triggered all of the actions and feelings that were preceded in the years leading up to the riot. It is amazing how the differences of a race can change in a few years. Also the importance of little factors that can lead up to becoming huge and having great implications on actions. For blacks and whites both the riot was just a built up accumulation of hostility that has been going on for quite some time. One thing can be said though that the Chicago incidents seem to be the more ruthless and aggressive when compared to others. It may have been because of the blacks’ resiliency not to lie down and to fight back. A lot of the time it causes even more hostility to brew when compared to a nonviolent approach. Nevertheless, the Chicago riots and the incidents that led up to it were monumental in status.
Chicago Riots Have you ever felt as if your government is doing the wrong thing? During the Democratic National Convention in 1968, an estimate of 5-7K protesters were not happy with the results on what was happening in the government. So a group called Yippies started an organized protest. They started to have riots in places like Chicago, where soon after the police came in and started to relentlessly beat the protesters with billy clubs.
Waskow, Arthur I. “The 1919 race riots [microform]: a study in the connections between conflict and violence/Arthur I Waskow.” Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1963.
The Newark riots of 1967 were very extreme and terrible time in Newark, New Jersey, one of the worst in U.S. history. The riots were between African-Americans and white residents, police officers and the National Guard. The riots were not unexpected. The tension between the city grew tremendously during the 1960's, due to lack of employment for Blacks, inadequate housing, police brutality and political exclusion of blacks from government.
The Tulsa race riot changed the course of American history by actively expressing African American views on white supremacy. Before the events of the Tulsa race riot African Americans saw the white community taking justice into their own hands. Black citizens of Tulsa stood up against this sort of white mob. This escaladed into the Tulsa race riot. The Tulsa race riot and its effects weighed heavily upon the African Americans of this era.
Even though whites and blacks protested together, not all of them got punished in the same ways. Even though it wasn’t folderol committed by either race, racists saw it as this and would do anything to keep segregation intact. Sometimes, the whites would be shunned, by society, and not hurt physically. While the blacks, on the other hand, were brutally kille...
Bobo, L. (1999). microfoundations of a sociological approach to racism and race relations. Prejudice as group position, J. Soc. Issues 55:445–72.
On June 28, 1969, an event occurred that was to be the start of one of the most powerful movements in US history. On that Friday in June, the New York police force raided a popular bar in Greenwich Village called the Stonewall Inn because it was suspected of operating without a liquor license. Raids usually went on undisturbed by people involved, but during this raid the area around the inn exploded into fierce protest. The repercussions and multiple disputes that resulted from the initial raid would come to be known as the Stonewall Riots.
In a contemporary sense, however, racism is the claim that racism does not exist. The new ideal of colorblindness serves to promote niceness politics. The refusal to acknowledge the pervasiveness of racism is the new racism. Society promotes the use of politically correct terms and the idea of equality when the mentality of racism is far from extinct. The act of even recognizing race, of recognizing the mental associations with race, is in fact racism. This state of neutrality is a luxury only the privileged can access. This impartiality is the exertion of power by the racially privileged and is increasingly destructive towards the ‘other’.
Today, there is racial tension all around the world. Racial tension means the feeling that exists when people do not trust and be aggressive to each other. In Malaysia, racial tension has deepened recently. The Indian government has released an advisory for its foreign students that studying in Australia which showed that racial tension appeared around the White and Indian (“MEA issues travel advisory to Indian students in Aus”, 2010). Racial tension between the Han and Uighur communities in Xinjiang, China was enhanced in July 2009. There are several factors that causes racial tension to happen such as religion topic, government policy, prejudice and discrimination.
Another example of why blacks are overrepresented, was with their involvement with the Brixton riots. According to statistics by the Metropolitan Police, it showed that around 79% of robberies and 83% of offences of theft were carried out by black people. Solomos 1988 :107. These statistics were heavily reported by the media which attracted the attention of the public that created a moral panic of the ‘growing problem’ of the link between black people and crime. The reaction towards black criminality was a growing panic however Gilroy argued
Although it was not right for the University of Oklahoma to remove students from the school for their racist Chant, I feel that it was absolutely necessary. I feel that it was necessary because for example, when you walked out the house each day as a kid you were a representation of your parents/guardian. Same goes for the students and faculty at Oklahoma University, when students leave that campus, they are an epitome of their school. When they started chanting jovially about lynching black people, that's when it becomes inappropriate and unacceptable.