Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ The history of the United States is filled with famous riots. Ferguson, Mo being the most recent was preceded by rioting during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the New York City Blackout, and the unforgettable riots of the 60’s where many cities across the U.S. suffered large communities being looted and burned, turning entire neighborhoods into burnedout ruins and leaving behind scores of dead and injured. Many “Baby Boomers” recall the great riots in Watts, Newark, North Philly, Detroit, and Chicago where whole neighborhoods lit the night sky with the eerie glow of their fires. Most of these former neighborhoods took a decade or more to recover. Some never did. The persons who once called these neighborhoods their home will never forget the loss of grocery stores, gas stations, homes, and area industries that provided meaningful work.
As a high school junior I recall the “North Philly Riots” during the summer of 1964. At the time I followed the nightly rioting in Philadelphia’s 3 major newspapers and watched the evening news on TV as stores and businesses were broken into, looted, and burned by roving mobs looking to take advantage of the situation. The activity of looting and arson back in those days was called “Christmas in July” because often the looters and arsonists cared nothing about the loss of civil rights and social inequities, but were there to take advantage of the lack of policing to engage in the criminal behavior of stealing and extreme vandalism.
During the North Philly Riots, area clergy and protest leaders were dismayed by the lawless behavior and wholesale destruction of large areas of North Philadelphia by persons engaging in stealing television sets, appliances, and liquor, and vandalizing businesses by breaking windows and burning buildings to the ground.
A few days ago in Ferguson, Mo any protest message was entirely overwhelmed and lost by mob criminal behavior when vehicles and buildings were torched and businesses got sacked. Many TV viewers across the country will more vividly recall the night fires and the scores of looters helping themselves to the contents of stores than they will any message. So it is when peaceful protests are eclipsed by “Christmas in July” Looting and burning.
How can protest organizers work around the possibility that some persons out there are not motivated by a message of social improvement, but will appear when an opening suddenly avails itself for looting and vandalism? When that occurs, the message is obliterated. TV cameras are most often are drawn to the most stimulating and visceral images.
The looting in downtown Salisbury, N.C. during Hurricane Hugo:
The North Philly Riots of 1964:
