Document One
On August 11th, 1965, a riot broke out, and continued for six days. Throughout that next week, around 600 buildings were burned/destroyed.
What is a riot? A riot is a form of civil unrest, and a wave of very sudden violence is directed (likely in cities) towards authority, people, and/or property. Riots characterize "herd-like" and chaotic behaviors. Some incidents/protests become riots because sometimes the people who are protesting cannot deal with the situation through negotiation and/or law, by discussing right and wrong. This is because blacks were separated and whites felt superior. Most whites felt that anyone who associated with blacks were less than them, and this became a constant thought throughout whites' minds. Whites felt that their time was too worthy to spend "negotiating" with blacks and their demands/complaints/protests, etc. Some incidents like these cause riots because blacks feel it would be easier and more beneficial to them, to be violent in their protesting. MLK urges and encourages the blacks to fight together, nonviolently. One of the white officers points a shotgun at the black boy's mother, Marquette was hit with a nightstick, and Ronald and his mother were bruised up. They were all taken into custody. Within six days, six hundred buildings were destroyed if not burned to the ground. This incident in California became an ongoing 6-day riot. The blacks that were protesting were still let down without violence. The 3 blacks were taken into custody, insulted, and beat up, without blacks protesting with violence. And then this happens, and MLK continues to encourage the blacks to fight together, nonviolently. It is obviously very difficult for blacks to listen to MLK while their brothers are being de-humanized (with no violence in the first place). This is how the "incident" broke into a 6-day riot. Power lies upon the laws that are created discriminating against blacks preventing them from expressing their true feelings about whites and how the whites treat them.
"They're selling us again, and we're tired of being sold as slaves!" -one black man at MLK's speech, talking about Martin Luther King JR.
