On the evening of July 12, 1967, residents of the Hayes Homes Projects watched as John Smith was dragged inside the Fourth Precinct directly across the street.  As the crowd grew in size and anger, it quickly became clear that John Smith’s arrest wasn’t the only issue on the minds of the people.  One woman outside of the precinct shouted “We want to talk about what we see here happening every day!” What the people saw was a city government that refused to adequately address issues plaguing their communities, such as police brutality, job discrimination, and urban renewal. With little meaningful access to the formal political system in the city to change these conditions, the people took politics to the streets that week in July.

Veteran community organizer Robert Curvin estimated that around 25,000 people in Newark participated in the 1967 rebellion in some way, shape, or form. This participation, Curvin said, ranged from “throwing a rock” to “trying to hurt somebody.” Beyond rock-throwing and acts of violence, though, community members took action in many ways during the rebellion to address the problems taking place in their neighborhoods. People marched on picket lines to protest police brutality, submitted petitions to government agencies, and took to the streets to try to promote peaceful demonstrations. Though the range of actions taken by individuals in the community varied, “an extremely large percentage of the community felt in sympathy with the riot.”

Many commonly told stories of the 1967 Newark rebellions focus on acts of “looting” stores and businesses by community members.  While it is true that “looting” was widespread during the rebellion, much of this activity was directed at white-owned businesses that were known to exploit African-American communities in Newark.  According to Don Wendell of the United Community Corporation, “The wrath of the people was taken out on the store owners whom they felt were robbing them.” As Tom Hayden of the Newark Community Union Project put it, “The people voted with their feet…They were tearing up the stores with the trick contracts and installment plans, the second-hand television sets going for top quality prices, the phony scales, the inferior meats and vegetables.” Businesses that had a reputation for treating African-American customers fairly were generally left alone.  

Speaking about the actions of Newark’s Black communities during the rebellion, former Essex County Republican Freeholder Earl Harris told the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorders: “Negroes have been painted because of these disturbances as people who are irresponsible, going around throwing bricks, filling up a bottle of gas, throwing it like a God-damned fool, but it is not like that. The true picture must be told. The truth of the matter is there are conditions that cause that person who is irresponsible enought to throw that rock to get it and throw it.”

References:

Witness Testimonies from the Governor’s Select Commission on Civil Disorders

Tom Hayden, Rebellion in Newark: Official Violence and Ghetto Response