Riot In Newark During The 1960's

The events that occurred in Newark during the 1960’s should definitely be referred to as a riot. During the time the African Americans connoted wild, uncontrolled, criminal behavior. On the other hand they did have the aim to try to affect the government actions and policy, but they did it in an uncontrolled way. Using the word “rebellion” suggests that the African Americans had a clear cut reason to behave the way they did, without a justifiable cause. The government of Newark failed to incorporate blacks into the city’s administration which ultimately caused distrust and tension between African American’s. During this blacks expected appointments in the administration and changes in the police. These falsified promises that were not upheld
At many times the city demonstrated its lack of interest in the welfare of Newark’s Black community. For instance, many housing facilities in Newark were being torn down as a plan to develop a 150 acre medical complex. As part of a massive urban renewal project that included the construction of highways and downtown development that would also dislocate the black population, the mayor’s policy clearly had negative implications for the city of Newark. This was very unfair, because at the time, blacks were already paying much more for housing as compared to whites within the city. Due to the fact that very few blacks could afford housing in the suburbs due to discrimination, there was no other place for them to go. According to Bongiorno film, “by 1967 over 40,000 of the city’s 136,000 housing units were slums with landlords who never improved housing but collected high rent from poor tenants.” The conditions for housing in Newark were so terrible that landlords often burned their own property for insurance money. For those unable to afford over-priced private housing, most of the Newark residents lived in high-rise, high-density public housing during this period as well, which concentrated the poor in one centralized area. As a result, plans to force the black population to migrate was unrealistic and faced opposition through violent protests and rallies. In addition, since the mayors administration
Of course the turbulence of the 1960s contributed to the violent response of blacks throughout Northern cities. After witnessing incessant political exclusion, poverty, unemployment, segregation, and slum-life conditions, violent retribution by the black majority seemed the only way to get national attention to their plight. Resistance, self-determination through black representatives in the city government, and especially an end to the housing crisis, urban renewal projects destroying the black heart of Newark, and jobs for the unskilled were demands most blacks agreed