Riot
In the 1960s there were riots in the Near North Side, related to problems of poverty and unemployment since the decline of the railroads, restructuring of the meatpacking industry, and deindustrialization in Omaha. Loss of tens of thousands of jobs since the 1950s had decreased investment in housing in Omaha, and services declined for a while, resulting in deteriorating conditions in structures already old. African Americans left in the community felt trapped. Riots in 1966 and 1968 were associated with civil rights protests and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1969 riots erupted after an Omaha police officer fatally shot teenager Vivian Strong near the Logan Fontenelle Project. Riots began after Walter Cropper, the judge at the preliminary hearing, found the shooter, Officer James Loder, not to be criminally liable for the shooting. A contemporary report stated, "Windows were broken and fires set in dozens of commercial buildings on and off Omaha’s 24th Street strip. The riot leapfrogged east to west, from 23rd to 24th, and south to north, from Clark to Lake."
Read more about this topic: Logan Fontenelle Housing Project
Famous quotes containing the word riot:
“So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.””
—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 27:24.
“The bowl will ensnare and enchant
men who crouch by the hearth
till they want
but the riot of stars in the night;
those who dwell far inland
will seek ships.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)