SOURCE:http://www.nj.com/essex/index.

ssf/2017/07/what_you_need_to_know_about_the_1
967_newark_riots.html

July 13, 2017 NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Adapted from

50 years ago Newark burned

By Jessica Mazzola and Karen Yi

For 50 years, many people in Newark have pointed to July 12-16,

1967 as the days that changed their world. To some extent, the
impact of the Newark riots -- a five-day civil disturbance that
resulted in 26 deaths, hundreds injured and $10 million in damage
to the city -- has been overemphasized and mischaracterized. But,
in many ways, the riots came to define the city, and its future.

Once a city of well over 400,000 people, Newark's population

started declining in the 1950s due to suburbanization and the
shrinking of the city's industry-based economy. It had experienced
housing issues for at least a decade because of its aging housing,
high tax rates, and red-lining practices that effectively segregated
residents.* A changing population also led to racial tensions in
what was, by 1967, a majority black city controlled by white
politicians, historians say.

The Newark Police Department's reputation for brutality toward

black residents came to a head on July, 12, 1967, when two white
officers arrested and beat black cab driver John Smith near the 4th
Precinct, dragging him inside in full view of black residents of the
Hayes Homes public housing development.

As rumors spread that Smith had been beaten to death, some

residents threw rocks and other items through the precinct's
windows -- a move that would come to be the start of the riots.
The rumors were quickly dispelled, Smith was not dead. A few
stores were looted that night, but the damage was minor, and
things momentarily calmed.

On July 13, residents planned a march to protest Smith's beating.

During the rally, an unidentified woman smashed the windows of
the precinct with a metal bar. Soon, more and more people turned
violent, shattering windows, and looting nearby stores. The riots
had truly begun.
 Looting and rioting spread quickly. Residents began throwing
Molotov cocktails into shops, burning down buildings and stealing
liquor, food, clothing, electronics, and other items sold in the stores
along Springfield Avenue and beyond. Witnesses have described
the situation as chaotic and out of control. Police attempts to
stop the rioting were unsuccessful. At 2:20 a.m. on July 14, after
news of the looting of a Sears and Roebuck -- which carried guns -
- Mayor Hugh Addonizio reluctantly called Governor Richard
Hughes for help. Before that call, no one had been killed in the
riots. Hughes called in thousands of state police and National
Guard troops.

Historians have viewed the next several days as a "police riot,"

during which they say officers shot at the windows of high-rise
housing complexes and at groups of looters and rioters on the
streets. Authorities at the time said they were shooting at snipers --
residents who were shooting down from the complexes. Historians
have since debated just how many snipers there were, if any.

Tedock Bell was the first casualty of the Newark riots. Twenty-
five more killings would follow, including a city firefighter and
police detective. Most of those killed were black Newark
residents.

Late on July 16, Hughes met with black community leaders. Both
sides wanted the riots to end, so they reached an agreement. The
state police and National Guardsmen were pulled out of the city
the next morning and the looting ended. Newarkers were left to
clean up the pieces of a broken city.

Experts now say the city had a lot more to recover from than the
five days it was on fire. All of the underlying issues that led up to
the riots were still present. But, the impact of the riot is undeniable:

 26 people died during the riot

 More than 700 people were injured
 The city suffered $10 million in damage (about $73 million
in 2017 dollars)
 1,465 people were arrested
 7,917 law enforcement officers were deployed
 Authorities logged more than 12,000 shots fired

* RED-LINING a discriminatory practice by which banks, insurance companies, etc., refuse or

limit loans,mortgages, insurance, etc., within specific geographic areas, especially
inner-city neighborhoods. Source: www.dictionary.com/browse/redlining