Archive Report
Archive Report
Anti-Police Character of Negro Rioting
A Striking Feature of the riots which occurred in Negro sections of a number of eastern cities during the latter part of the summer was their marked anti-police character. Many rioters took advantage of the disorders to loot neighborhood stores, but the main impetus behind the rioting appeared to be a desire to avenge real or imagined abuses suffered by Negroes at the hands of law enforcement officers. In this respect, the riots differed only in degree and duration from street disorders that have occurred in other cities with large Negro populations crowded into slum districts. Authorities have long realized that a considerable segment of Negro slum dwellers is so hostile to the police that even those among them who ...