riots

Fred Siegel, Urban Historian and Liberal Turned Law-and-Order Conservative, Dies at 78

Siegel's work lamented what he saw as the failure of liberal regimes to safeguard urban quality of life and lambasted the indulgence of rioting. Those views led him to support Rudolph Giuliani's mayoral administration and remain relevant to discussions of social disorder in cities today. 

Inside Riotville: How the Military and the Police Prepared for Domestic Rebellion

by Bench Ansfield

“Riotsville” was the name the Army gave to the training grounds it built, beginning in 1967, to school police departments and military personnel in the art of domestic counterinsurgency. Sierra Pettengill's new documentary tells its story. 

Los Angeles's Response to 1992 Riots Remains Model of How Not to Do It

by V.N. Trinh

The strategy of encouraging private business development, without seriously reforming police, fixing public schools, or addressing poverty, proved unequal to the task of promoting justice in LA. 

Mosaic Theater Is Collecting H Street Residents’ Protest Stories And Turning Them Into Plays

“We want to be a place where the stories of our community are uplifted and celebrated and given the spotlight — particularly because so many of those residents are African Americans who have seen so much change happen without their input,” says Reginald Douglas, Mosaic’s new artistic director.

"The Essential Kerner Commission Report" Links Past and Present, but Abridges the Committee's Process

by James Thornton Harris

The Kerner Commission shocked Lyndon Johnson and much of white America by insisting that "the Negro problem" was in fact a problem of pervasive white racism. Two books are essential reading for understanding the commission's work and it's unmet demands. 

Podcast: Jelani Cobb on the Missed Lessons of the Kerner Commission

Cobb has edited a new annotated report of the Kerner Commission's findings, and argues that the report's unheeded recommendations are more important today than ever. 

Revisiting Portland a Year after the Rioting

Elliott Young, a history professor and police reform advocate, is among the Portand residents interviewed about the state of the city a year after destructive protests over police violence drew the far left, far right, and federal law enforcement to the city. 

Will We Ever Get Beyond "The Fire Next Time"?

by Elizabeth Hinton

"What we witnessed in 2020 was the latest manifestation of an ongoing crisis that could have been solved if elected officials had properly understood the root causes the first time around."

The Deep Downward Spiral of Police Violence and Rebellion, Explained

by Hamilton Nolan

A conversation with Elizabeth Hinton, author of “America On Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s.”

Recasting the ‘Riots’ of the 1960s as Rebellions by Blacks Under Siege

by Peniel E. Joseph

Peniel Joseph reviews Elizabeth Hinton's new book "America On Fire" and says it "reconceptualizes the Black freedom struggle between the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Lives Matter 2.0 demonstrations that galvanized the nation, and much of the world, in 2020."

The “Law and Order” Backlash Against Biden Was a Mirage

Donald Trump's "law and order" campaign message has failed to gain significant traction, which should put lazy comparisons to 1968 out to pasture. 

Gassed: A Personal History

by Ron Steinman

I first experienced the horror of CS gas more than 50 years ago. Today when I think of CS gas I remember how badly I felt when tear gassed on the streets of Saigon, and in Northern Ireland.

Understanding Today’s Uprisings Requires Understanding What Came Before Them

by Jeanne Theoharis

The history of social unrest like the 1965 Watts Rebellion must acknowledge that public authorities had ignored peaceful demands for inclusion and opportunity from communities of color for years before the unrest.

She Played a Key Role in the Police Response to the Watts Riots. The Memory Still Haunts Her—But Black History Is Full of Haunting Memories

by Morgan Jerkins

Regina was a Black woman working as an LAPD dispatcher in the 77th Street Division of South Los Angeles. She sent officers to respond to another's call for aid on August 11, 1965, warning them not to escalate any situation. Today she still asks “why didn’t they listen to me?”

Madison Protesters Tear Down Capitol Statues, Attack State Senator From Milwaukee As Fury Erupts Again

The statue of a Wisconsin abolitionist seemed an odd target for protesters. 

Racial Violence and a Pandemic: How the Red Summer of 1919 Relates to 2020

Geoff Ward, Cameron McWhirter and Saje Mathieu examine the parallels between the notorious "Red Summer" of 1919 and the present. 

Lyndon Johnson Addresses the Nation on Civil Disorders (July 27, 1967)

Lyndon Johnson's words after rioting erupted in Detroit speak to ongoing concerns in American society.   

Northwestern Historian Kevin Boyle Discusses History of Protests (Video)

"It's the most profoundly American of acts, to protest peacefully in this nation," Boyle said.

What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Say About The Current Civil Unrest?

by Peniel Joseph

Many commentators who now invoke Martin Luther King Jr. to condemn angry protesters fail to grasp that King insisted peace and order could not be achieved without addressing deep racial and economic inequality in American society.

Beverly Hills, Buckhead, SoHo: The New Sites of Urban Unrest

by Emily Badger

In a reflection of how American cities have changed since the 1960s, demonstrations have included many wealthy areas. Historians and scholars including Thomas Sugrue, Alison Isenberg and Lester Spence comment on this change.