HIST 113 | 1968: The Year That Rocked the World | Spring 2014 | Writing assignment II - Essay Example

Riots for economic and social justices of 1968 The disputes, social unrests, riots, assassinations, wars in Vietnam and the American presidential elections contributed to the year 1968 being a unique year in the history of the world (McNeese, 3). All around the world, unique events were taking place just in the same year. For instance in Egypt, the Aswan Dam was completed, the television broadcast was unveiled in this year too. Majorly, the riots of the nineteen sixty eight caused the loss of lives of many resident African Americans. The discrimination that was so vivid resulted in various disputes that ended up with massacres and violence (McNeese, 3). This paper will focus on the social and economic injustices among the black Americans.
As Sandra West puts it in her story, the riots in Detroit led to 43 deaths, 7000 arrests and destruction of infrastructure. This tragic event was in protest of arrest of arrests of 82 revelers who were nabbed in an afterhours night club operations (Sandra, 35). It is reported that a crowd gathered around the police and the arrested individuals before they started throwing stones at the police. The police stood their ground in claiming that they had been provoked to act in the way they did. The cause of the attack on the police would never be established although it is suspected that they could be associated to the previous loss of jobs (Sandra, 37).
In order to advocate for economic justice, Reverend Martin Luther King, a civil rights activist led various peaceful riots in this year shortly before his assassination on March 4th 1968 during another peaceful riot in Tennessee. At the time of his death, Martin Luther King had a peaceful riot coming up dubbed the Poor Peoples March. The living conditions of African Americans were wanting. Although the civil rights had been observed, poverty along ethnic and racial lines were still dominant. The census conducted in 1960 showed that 35 million Americans lived in poverty. It is for this reason that violence was rampant among the residence of the poor who were mostly black Americans (Bruce, 1863).
In conclusion, the Americas black community never despaired despite all the barriers to freedom and emancipation. Despite the assassination of Martin Luther King, the march still went on. This proves the height of need in the Black American community which lacked appropriate attention. The story by Sandra West who was a journalist, brings the dark day of Detroit which resulted in the Kerner Commission Report demanded by the President Kennedy (McNeese, 3).
Works cited
Finkelman, Paul, and Bruce A. Lesh. Milestone Documents in American History: Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped America. Dallas, Tex: Schlager Group, 2008. Print pg. 1863
McNeese, Tim. The Civil Rights Movement: Striving for Justice. New York: Infobase Pub, 2007. Internet resource. pg. 3
Sandra A. West. Riot! —A Negro Residents Story: The Detroit News, July 24, 1967. pg. 35-37 Read More