Such treatment had deep roots in American history-from 19 th-century slave patrols to Jim Crow-era “ Black Codes” (designed to ease the arrest of Black people and profit from their free labor) to police-involved lynchings. Writer and activist James Baldwin, one of the most eloquent critics of racism during the civil rights movement, famously summarized the strife this way to a radio host: “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage, almost all the time.” His 1966 essay titled “ A Report from Occupied Territory,” published in The Nation, elaborated on the harsh conditions in America’s Black communities, calling out impoverished schools, limited employment opportunities and, especially, racist policing: “The police," he wrote, "treat the Negro like a dog.” “All of these things have brought about a great deal of despair and a great deal of desperation, a great deal of disappointment and even bitterness in the Negro communities.” warned of coming violence, even as he pressed for nonviolent direct action: “All of our cities are potentially powder kegs,” said the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner in a speech at Stanford University entitled “ The Other America.” But, he was careful to note, “I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air,” citing persistent poverty and the dismal conditions of segregated housing and schools. Three months prior to the start of the unrest in Newark and Detroit, Dr. In 1965, a traffic stop in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles quickly exploded into six days of violence, with more than 30 people dead, more than 1,000 injured and more than 600 buildings damaged or destroyed. In 1964, two weeks after the landmark Civil Rights Act passed, outlawing racial discrimination, police in New York City shot and killed a Black teen, sparking a six-day-long protest-turned-uprising in Harlem and other large African American communities around the city. And while the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s was making slow inroads, racial injustice and police brutality persisted, fomenting tension. A century after emancipation, Black citizens were still barred from many rights and privileges afforded to white Americans. Social unrest in Black communities had long been building.
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