1967 Newark riots

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The 1967 Newark riots were a major civil disturbance that occurred in the city of Newark, New Jersey between July 12 and July 17, 1967. The six days of rioting, looting, and destruction left 26 dead and hundreds injured

Social unrest

In the period leading up to the riots, several factors led local African-American residents to feel powerless and disenfranchised. In particular, many felt they had been largely excluded from meaningful political representation and often suffered police brutality.^[1] Furthermore, unemployment, poverty, and concerns about low-quality housing contributed to the tinder-box.

According to a Rutgers University study on the riot, many African-Americans, especially younger community leaders, felt they had remained largely disenfranchised in Newark despite the fact that Newark became one of the first majority black major cities in America alongside Washington, D.C.. In sum, the city was entering a turbulent period of incipient change in political power. A former 7 term congressman representing the overwhelmingly black central ward, mayor Hugh Addonizio (who was also the last non-black mayor of Newark) was charged with failing to incorporate blacks in various civil leadership positions and to help blacks get better employment opportunities. Black leaders argued that the Newark Police Department was dominated by white officers who would routinely stop and question black youths with or without provocation.^[2]

Despite being one of the first cities in the U.S. to hire African American police officers, the department's demographics remained at odds with the city's population, leading to poor relations between blacks and the police department. Only 145 of the 1322 police officers were black (11%)^[3] while the city remained over 50% black.

Sparking event

This unrest came to a head when two white Newark policemen arrested a black cabdriver, John W. Smith, for improperly passing them on 15th Avenue^[4]. Smith was taken to the 4th Police Precinct, which was across the street from Hayes Homes, a large public housing project. Some residents of Hayes Homes said they saw an incapacitated Smith being dragged into the precinct, and a rumor was started that he had been killed while in police custody. In fact, Smith had been moved to a local hospital, treated and released.

Nevertheless, the rumor set off six days of riots, looting, violence, that led to the intervention of the State Police and the National Guard, ultimately leaving 26 people dead, 725 people injured, and close to 1,500 arrested. Property damage, largely the result of looting and the trashing of businesses on Springfield Avenue rather than fires, exceeded $10 million.

In an effort to contain the riots, every evening at 6 p.m. the Bridge Street and Jackson Street Bridges, both of which span the Passaic River between Newark and Harrison, were closed until the next morning.

The 1967 Plainfield riots occurred during the same period in Plainfield, New Jersey, a city about 18 miles southwest of Newark.

The long- and short-term causes of the riots are examined in the documentary film Revolution '67. The riots were depicted in the Philip Roth novel American Pastoral.

Impact

While the riots are often cited as a major factor in the decline of Newark and its neighboring communities, the actual factors include decades of racial, economic, and political forces which generated inner city poverty; factors that sparked “race riots” across America in the 1960s.^[5] By the 1960s and '70s, as industry fled the city, so did the white middle class, leaving behind a poor population.^[5] During this same time, the population of many suburban communities in northern New Jersey expanded rapidly.^[5]

Newark's progress since 1967 has been questionable. The poverty rate was 18.4% in 1970; it had grown to 25% by 2006. As of 2000, the Newark Police Department is 37% Black, 27% Hispanic and 36% White^[6] though the city remains 53% black, 30% Hispanic, and 17% white. Many of the same problems that contributed to the violence and destruction in 1967 continue to plague New Jersey's largest city.^{[citation needed]} Today, poverty, unemployment, poor education, and high crime rates are still major problems.^{[citation needed]} Although property crimes such as burglary and theft rose in the first half of 2008 compared to 2007, a statistical increase that was attributed to better bookkeeping, murder rates dropped by nearly 40 percent for the period,^[7] and by 30 percent for the full year.^[8]