The Untold History Of Police Violence And Black Rebellion Since The 1960s

Police violence against the African American community has been a long-standing issue in the United States since the 1960s. Black rebellion, marked by protests and uprisings, has been a consequential response to systemic racism and police brutality. Despite progress being made, this untold history sheds light on the ongoing struggles that African Americans face, and the need for continued activism and reform.

During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, African Americans fought for equal rights and an end to segregation. However, the response from law enforcement often involved excessive force and targeted violence. Peaceful protests led by leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. were met with police brutality, as officers turned fire hoses and released attack dogs on peaceful demonstrators.

One of the most significant events was the Watts Riots in 1965, sparked by an altercation between police and a black motorist. The uprising lasted six days and resulted in 34 deaths, over 1,000 injuries, and millions of dollars in property damage. The Watts Riots were a turning point, exposing the deep-rooted frustration within the African American community against police violence and harassment.

America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s

by Elizabeth Hinton (Kindle Edition)

4.6 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	14317 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	401 pages
X-Ray	:	Enabled

FREE

Similar incidents followed in the years that followed, such as the Detroit Riots in 1967 and the Los Angeles Riots in 1992. These incidents, triggered by incidents of police brutality, showcased the deep-seated anger and feelings of injustice among African Americans.

While these uprisings were responses to police violence, it is essential to highlight the underlying factors that led to the breaking point. Decades of economic inequality, lack of access to quality education, and discriminatory practices within the criminal justice system all contributed to the mounting frustration felt by African Americans.

The 21st century brought new attention and outrage towards police violence through the advancements in technology and the rise of social media. The brutal killings of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown, among countless others, sparked nationwide protests, demanding justice and an end to police brutality.

Movement for Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, and other activist groups have continued to mobilize communities and shed light on the ongoing fight against systemic racism and police violence. These movements have sparked a significant nationwide dialogue and have resulted in some progress, such as the implementation of body cameras and police accountability measures.

However, the fight for justice and equality is far from over. Incidents of police violence against African Americans continue to make headlines, reminding us of the urgent need for comprehensive reform within law enforcement agencies.

Communities across the country have come together to demand change by calling for the defunding and demilitarization of the police, reallocating funds towards mental health resources, community programs, and education. They also advocate for the end of qualified immunity, which shields law enforcement officers from being held personally accountable for their actions.

The untold history of police violence and Black rebellion since the 1960s highlights the deep-seated injustices that African Americans have faced for decades. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing these struggles, taking action, and advocating for lasting change.

The fight against police violence and systemic racism requires collective efforts from individuals, communities, and institutions. Only through continuous education, awareness, and activism can we hope to create a future where every citizen is treated with dignity, respect, and equality.

America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s

by Elizabeth Hinton (Kindle Edition)

4.6 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	14317 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Screen Reader	:	Supported
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	401 pages
X-Ray	:	Enabled

FREE

A New York Times Notable Book

Best Books of 2021: TIME, Smithsonian

New York Times Book Review • Editors' Choice

“Not since Angela Davis’s 2003 book, Are Prisons Obsolete?, has a scholar so persuasively challenged our conventional understanding of the criminal legal system.” —Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr., Washington Post

From one of our top historians, a groundbreaking story of policing and “riots” that shatters our understanding of the post–civil rights era.

What began in spring 2020 as local protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police quickly exploded into a massive nationwide movement. Millions of mostly young people defiantly flooded into the nation’s streets, demanding an end to police brutality and to the broader, systemic repression of Black people and other people of color. To many observers, the protests appeared to be without precedent in their scale and persistence. Yet, as the acclaimed historian Elizabeth Hinton demonstrates in America on Fire, the events of 2020 had clear precursors—and any attempt to understand our current crisis requires a reckoning with the recent past.

Even in the aftermath of Donald Trump, many Americans consider the decades since the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s as a story of progress toward greater inclusiveness and equality. Hinton’s sweeping narrative uncovers an altogether different history, taking us on a troubling journey from Detroit in 1967 and Miami in 1980 to Los Angeles in 1992 and beyond to chart the persistence of structural racism and one of its primary consequences, the so-called urban riot. Hinton offers a critical corrective: the word riot was nothing less than a racist trope applied to events that can only be properly understood as rebellions—explosions of collective resistance to an unequal and violent order. As she suggests, if rebellion and the conditions that precipitated it never disappeared, the optimistic story of a post–Jim Crow United States no longer holds.

Black rebellion, America on Fire powerfully illustrates, was born in response to poverty and exclusion, but most immediately in reaction to police violence. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson launched the “War on Crime,” sending militarized police forces into impoverished Black neighborhoods. Facing increasing surveillance and brutality, residents threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at officers, plundered local businesses, and vandalized exploitative institutions. Hinton draws on exclusive sources to uncover a previously hidden geography of violence in smaller American cities, from York, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, to Stockton, California.

The central lesson from these eruptions—that police violence invariably leads to community violence—continues to escape policymakers, who respond by further criminalizing entire groups instead of addressing underlying socioeconomic causes. The results are the hugely expanded policing and prison regimes that shape the lives of so many Americans today. Presenting a new framework for understanding our nation’s enduring strife, America on Fire is also a warning: rebellions will surely continue unless police are no longer called on to manage the consequences of dismal conditions beyond their control, and until an oppressive system is finally remade on the principles of justice and equality.