Black history month begins tomorrow and apropos of that I wanted to share an article I did about 50 years of civil rights and unrest. Click below to see a PDF of the article as it appeared in the magazine or continue scrolling for a text only version.
Black History – Text only version:
1967 – A MOST TURBULENT YEAR
One by one, the southern US states attempts to circumvent the 1964 Civil Rights Bill were being challenged. Laws on segregated travel, dining and marriage were overturned. But while the law was changing, the tensions on the street were as high as ever.
June 11th
Race riot in Tampa Florida after the shooting death of Martin Chambers by police while allegedly robbing a
camera store, the unrest lasts several days.
July 12th.
After the arrest of an African American cab driver for
allegedly illegally driving around a police car a series of riots break out in Newark, New jersey lasting 6 days and leaving 26 dead.
July 19th.
Race Riot in Plymouth Street on the North side of
Minneapolis with mass vandalism and damage. Although the riots are quelled in a few hours, a shooting the next day re-ignites the conflict that sees 3 further shootings, 36 arrests, 24 serious injuries and $4.2 Million damage.
July 23rd.
12th Street riot, Detroit. One of the worst in history sees 43 dead, 342 injured and 1,400 buildings burned.
July 28th – The Silent Parade is organised by the NAACP in New York City to protest the riots of July 2nd as well as a spate of lynchings in Tennessee and Texas.
July 30th.
Milwaukee race riots lead to a 10-day shut down of the city.
Aug 1st.
Race riots spread to Washington DC
Aug 25th.
American Nazi party leader, George Lincoln Rockwell is assassinated in Arlington, Virginia.
Since 1967, there have been racially fuelled clashes across the years and across the globe, not least the 1980’s Brixton riots and the Tottenham riots of 2011, after police shot dead Michael Duggan.
But 2016 in particular saw an alarming pattern repeating in the USA with a series of riots stemming from the shooting dead of un-armed African American teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri. Nationwide Black Lives Matter led protests were all too familiar after numerous police shootings.
Yet for many the real trigger was 2015’s horrific attack on a Methodist Church and the subsequent changes in law – though the actions taken as a result of these changes have divided opinion – within and across various ethnic groups.
Then FBI director, James Comey revealed that Roof had prior convictions for possession of narcotics that should have been flagged up and prevented him from purchasing the
firearm that he used in the shooting.
A former friend stated that Roof had initially targeted a school, but feared that security would be too tight. He opted to attack the 201-year-old church because of its long association with civil rights movements throughout two centuries and numerous attacks.
The attack was treated as a hate-crime and an act of terrorism. Roof told investigators that he had almost backed out of the attack ‘because they had been so nice to me.’ Roof faced 9 charges of murder by the State of Carolina AND 57 federal charges (18 of which carried the Death Penalty). On 10th Jan 2017, Roof was sentenced to Death and on 10th April 2017 he was further sentenced to Life without parole. At his sentencing hearing Roof was insistent that he was completely sane and “[sic] had not shed a tear for any of them innocent people”
The blanket coverage by the media featured numerous quotes from Roof that became part of the 2016 Presidential Campaign-speak. Investigations revealed websites and social media that espoused racial hatred and called for a return to segregation. Images appeared of Roof with various flags including those of the apartheid era South Africa and the Southern Confederacy.
On June 18th, flags across Carolina were flown at half-mast, except for the flag at the South Carolina Confederate Monument. This sparked an impassioned debate. On June 20th, a petition with over 370,000 signatures to remove the flag was submitted to the State House.
Speaking at a Charleston memorial service President Obama said “once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.”
While a typically defiant representative from the NRA (National Rifleman’s Association) Charles Cotton, placed the blame for the shooting on Pastor Pinckney for not allowing churchgoers to carry concealed weapons in order to defend themselves! The pro & anti gun lobbyists resumed their perpetual cycle of mudslinging.
But the heated debate relating to the
Confederate flag was gathering momentum. On 23 June 2015, retailers including Wal-Mart, Amazon and Ebay announced plans to stop selling merchandise with the flag. Warner Bros. announced that they were halting production of “General Lee” car toys – famous from the “Dukes of Hazard” TV & Movie franchise.
On July 6th 2015, after a 13 hour debate in the Carolina State House, members voted 94-20 in favour of removing the flag from all Government and State buildings. On July 10th, 2015, the flag was taken down from the State house for the last time; it is currently in storage until it can be used in a suitable setting, such as a museum.
On 17th June 2015, Dylan Roof walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was welcomed by the prayer group of 13 including State Senator and Pastor, Clementa C. Pinckney.
The group discussed scripture briefly before starting their prayers. The 21-year-old Roof chose this moment to start shooting. He reloaded his gun 5 times between 9.05 and 9.11PM as he shot 12 of the 13 churchgoers, his intention to leave one witness to ‘tell others what he had done’. In total, 9 were killed. Roof was identified by his father from CCTV images released to the media and his subsequent arrest sparked a number of startling revelations.
At a eulogy in Charleston, before leading the congregation in a rendition of Amazing Grace, President Obama said that “Blinded by hatred, [the gunman] failed to comprehend what Reverend Pinckney so well understood: the power of God’s grace. By taking down that flag we express God’s grace. But I don’t think God wants us to stop there.”
The debate now moved onto other relics of the Confederate South’s links to slavery and segregation. While many statues and memorials had always been divisive, events in Charleston gave the debate new impetus.
In 2016 a disproportionate series of police involved killings of African American men saw an almost perpetual cycle of protests and vigils by African American communities and by groups such as Black Lives Matter. Sadly, many protests did not remain peaceful, with riots in many US towns and cities including, Baltimore (2015), St. Paul, Minnesota (2016), Ferguson, Missouri (2016), Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2016), Charlotte, Nth Carolina (2016).
But it was New Orleans Mayor, Mitch Landrieu who first broached removing his city’s monuments shortly after the church shooting. Then there were heated protests in Baton Rouge after police shot African American Alton Sterling, and a hesitancy by the District Attorney to charge a white man who had shot a black former NFL player, Joe McKnight.
After a protracted series of battles through the media, State House and the Courts communities and even families were split on the debate. There were argument’s that the statues were an integral part of the history of the state.
But the order was given and 4 statues were to be removed. The first statue had to be removed under cover of darkness because of death threats made to the contractors. There were protests and parties at each removal with police making numerous arrests. Confederate supporters travelled from every corner of the US to swell the ranks of protesters wielding flags, guns and rifles. But the work went ahead and the statues are now in storage. There are plans to replace the monuments with fountains that are intended to symbolise washing away the past. But the deep divisions that existed have begun to boil over – not least with the rhetoric and election of Donald Trump.
The 2016 Presidential election saw a drop in the % of African American voters, with many believing that if a Black President could not affect change, there was little hope of any real change in the future. While the Caucasian voters rallied around Trump’s campaign, with worrying ideologies of division such as bans on Muslims and a Mexican wall. Conflicts are only likely to escalate in the future.
While the vast majority of the US population support the ban on the Confederate flag, opinion is still divided on removing statues and monuments. Flags are fluid symbols by their nature and as such symbolise change. They have caused divisions across the world, be it the Union flag in Northern Ireland or a Daesh flag flying over Mosul. The removal of a flag signifies a change in current events and attitudes.
However, many argue that permanent statues should be treated differently, that by removing any monument we risk forgetting the lessons that have been learned, For example, the German Death camps where millions of Jews were killed are left today as a reminder and a warning.
There are campaigners who believe that the removal of the statues also wipes away the history and the sacrifices of all of those who fought against the racist and segregated ideology that those monuments represented. That there is merit in a constant reminder of how much progress has been made.
Like so many issues in life there will be winners and there will be losers. In this case, the removal of these monuments has created a bitter rift. It has exacerbated the feelings of resentment and division. But could this have been avoided?
There may be a lesson in statesmanship to be drawn from the actions of Nelson Mandela.
The South African rugby team, The Springboks were seen as a symbol of white supremacy during the Apartheid era. While in prison, Mandela and his fellow prisoners would listen to rugby on the radio and cheer for any team playing against the Springboks. But when Mandela became president, as part of reforms, his cabinet wanted to rename the team and to change the colours that they wore – to reflect the new flag. Mandela fought to preserve the team exactly as it was. He argued that it would be no benefit to attack or to change everything that had been a white privilege in the past. Instead he wanted every South African to forget old differences and to focus on what they had in common with each other. When South Africa hosted AND won the 1995 Rugby World Cup it was an event that saw South Africa embrace a new national pride. Nelson Mandela made a symbol of a hate filled past a beacon that would begin to unite a nation.
