Moments after the assassination, Washington began to erupt

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27044-2004Aug23.html

The Wreckage of a Dream

After King's assassination, riots tore through Washington, eroding the hope of a few years before.

By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 24, 2004; Page B01

It was the summer the dream died, the hot and impossible months after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis and the commercial hubs of black Washington melted in the fires of next time.

The city spun into full-blown riots the next day along the black business corridors of 14th Street NW and H Street NE. In the ensuing three days, there were 12 deaths, 1,097 injuries and more than 6,100 arrests. More than 900 stores lay in ruins.

It started in May, when hundreds of the nation's most impoverished citizens -- black, white and brown -- camped on the Mall and staged demonstrations. The hub was Resurrection City, a 15-acre encampment in West Potomac Park, near the Lincoln Memorial. For six weeks, protesters lived in huts made of plywood and plastic sheeting to dramatize the misery of the disenfranchised.

The camp's population peaked at 2,600, an uneasy melange of country folk, urban street gangs, elderly blacks and idealistic young whites. They were joined by thousands more local protesters.

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I recommend reading this entire article. This was the scariest period of my entire life. I had turned 13 years old a month before this happened. It left lasting impression on me to this day. We probably better not forget this.

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More from Wiki on this subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots

Five days of race riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following the April 4, 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement-leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil unrest affected at least 110 U.S. cities; Washington, along with Chicago and Baltimore, were among the most affected. snip

Crowds of as many as 20,000 overwhelmed the District's 3,100-member police force, and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C. National Guard troops to assist them. Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rioting reached within two blocks of the White House before rioters retreated. The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, twelve had been killed (mostly in burning homes), 1,097 injured, and over 6,100 arrested. Additionally, some 1,200 buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million. This can be estimated to be equivalent to over $156 million today. snip

Walter Washington, who reportedly refused FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's suggestion to shoot the rioters, went on to become the city's first elected mayor and its first black mayor.

[FSogol]

1. My Dad was a DC Cop during those riots. He didn't come home for 2 weeks.

Are you familiar with Ben's Chili Bowl? From wiki: "The U Street corridor was devastated by the 1968 riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. During the riots, black activist Stokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, asked Ben to keep his restaurant open and the Alis obtained permission to stay open past curfew. The restaurant fed both the police officers and firemen working to impose order on the neighborhood, as well as the black activists. The violence and arson reached such an extent that Ben wrote "Soul Brother" in soap on the front window in the hopes that it would stop the angry mobs."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben%27s_Chili_Bowl

[Kingofalldems]

2. I got called up by the Maryland National Guard that night

As I looked down Georgia Ave., the sky in DC was orange. Never forgot that.

[OverseaVisitor]

3. He try

The world becomes a better place cause he try.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. We were living in Baltimore Maryland at the time. It was a scary time for sure.

I remember my dad hadn't come home yet and the curfew was coming fast. I was a teenager and my poor mother was so worried. When he finally got home we asked him what took so long. He said there was this black lady trying to get home and couldn't get a ride. So he drove her home with her groceries. At that time she lived in the area called Cherry Hill. She was so greatful and thanked him. My dad was a wonderful man like that. He raised us not to hate. My family was very sad about the riots. When people are pushed to the brink it is natural they will react and I don't care what color people are when pushed people push back.

[Solomon]

5. I was there. I too was 13 yeats old when it happened,

Tanks and soldiers everywhere. Smoke, lots of smoke. And that orange color mentioned upthread.

[NNN0LHI]

6. I seen that orange color mentioned upthread and smoke from my suburban home 20 miles from Chicago

Sure did.

Don

[struggle4progress]

7. Everybody's Got a Right To Live

[struggle4progress]

8. Camp life in Resurrection City 1968

&playnext=1&list=PL518A5497733C6989

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. I was in Battle Creek, Michigan at the time

and the racism was incredible. Battle Creek had a fairly large black population and white people were openly saying ALL black people nationwide should be shipped off to Africa. (Not the way they said it, but you know what I mean).

I had black friends and if there is one thing racists hate more than the "N's it's the "N Lovers" for being "traitors to their race".

I was even accused of being their spy at one point as if we were literally at war.

Some white people live in total fear and paranoia. It's embarrassing.