Multiethnic Uprisings in Urban America and their Implications for Progress

While many writers and intellectuals use the word riot (erroneously) to reference many of the protests that have transpired in the wake of the murders of Black people by white police officers, we use the words uprisings, revolts, and/or rebellions. Riots are large-scale acts of violence that are spontaneous and frivolous. They lack a political purpose and are without substance. Uprisings, revolts, and rebellions are large-scale acts of violence by people who lash out in response to an injustice. The insurrectionists have legitimate grievances that have long been ignored or unaddressed. Among the grievances are segregation in housing, a lack of access to adequate healthcare facilities, steady increases in joblessness, substandard public schools, and a corrupt criminal justice system, to name a few. The murder of a Black person by a police officer is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, so to speak. This final straw prompts people to lash out, sometimes violently, as a last resort. Oftentimes, they have sought redress through conventional channels, to no avail. Again, rebellion is the last resort.

Even when compared to the few uprisings that occurred in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, these more recent revolts appear to be much more heterogeneous in their racial composition.

Although most blacks die by shooting, there have been instances of police officers tasing, choking, or beaten to death Black motorists and pedestrians.

The words Black and African American are used interchangeably throughout this work according to sound and context, as well as to avoid redundancy.

The lone exception is that of Seattle, Washington which saw tens of thousands of anti-globalization activists show up at Paramount Theater and Convention Center where the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference was scheduled to be held in late November 1999 in order to protest the meeting. Called the Battle of Seattle, activists blocked traffic at major intersections, thus preventing delegates from getting to the conference, and police responded by firing tear gas, pepper spray, and eventually rubber bullets, to disperse the crowds and get delegates through. Protestors responded by destroying storefronts, setting dumpsters afire, and pushing them into intersections as well as slashing the tires of police cars. The demonstrations lasted from 28 November to 3 December 1999. Six hundred people were arrested; the chief of police Norm Stamper resigned amid vandalism that caused $20 million in damages.

The late Rodney King was an African American man in his 20s who led police officers on a high-speed chase in Los Angeles, California in 1991. When the police finally caught up to him, they administered a beating that resulted in broken bones, nerve damage, and psychological trauma. The ordeal was filmed by a nearby resident who had just recently been given a video recorder as a gift. George Holliday, the videographer, and Caucasian gentleman stood on the balcony of his apartment and filmed several minutes of the brutal encounter, which saw the officers taking turns violently striking King with their nightsticks as he lay on the ground. Holliday sold the tape to a television station, resulting in the savage beating being shown worldwide. One year later, the officers were brought to trial but acquitted of all charges, despite the visual evidence clearly showing the four LAPD officers as the aggressors. The city erupted not long after the verdict was announced.

See Dr. Martin L. King, Jr’s. (1963) A Letter from Birmingham Jail.