The death of George Floyd, an African-American citizen, has triggered widespread protests across the US, including USA’s capital Washington D.C. The 46-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest while being mercilessly restrained, with a knee on his neck, by Minneapolis police officer. Floyd’s death, along with inviting a strong reaction, both in the US and abroad, has also brought up the question of whether USA – the strongest economy and an apparent symbol of “democratic and liberal values” – is any better than “developing states” when it comes to dealing with the peripheral groups and listening to their grievances. In this context, we present a chronology of significant riots and protest – relating to racial and economic inequalities – in the US, the UK and India below.
United States:
1: 1898: Wilmington, North Carolina
While Democrats held power at the state level in North Carolina, a coalition of white Republicans and African Americans controlled politics in Wilmington, in 1898. A group of Democrats sought to remove African Americans from the political scene and launched a campaign to do so by accusing black men of sexually assaulting white women. A prominent black newspaper editor, Alex Manly, responded with an editorial suggesting that relations between white women and black men might have been consensual —a taboo subject at the time. About 500 white men attacked and burned Manly’s office. Fourteen African Americans were killed in the violence.
2: 1906: Atlanta, Georgia
Racial tension had been building in Atlanta in 1906 and race-baiting in the state’s gubernatorial election brought it to a boil. African Americans in Georgia had begun to prosper economically and socially, and the Democratic candidates for governor, Hoke Smith and Clark Howell, played on whites’ fear of a rising black middle class. Anti-black violence broke out in September after two newspapers printed stories about black men assaulting white women. Most of the allegations were false. About 10,000 white men and boys took to the streets, beating black men. Between 25 and 100 African Americans were killed and hundreds were injured.
3: 1917: East St. Louis
Several thousand African Americans seeking employment opportunities moved to East St. Louis, historically a white city, from the South during World War. On July 1, a black man was rumoured to have killed a white man. Anti-black violence followed, with the white citizens shooting, beating, and lynching African Americans. Arson against African-American homes also occurred. The violence continued for a week. Estimates of deaths range from 40 to 200 African Americans. Also, some 6,000 African Americans fled East St. Louis.
4: 1919: Red Summer
Race riots erupted in 26 U.S. cities during the year, including Washington, DC; Knoxville, Tennessee; Longview, Texas; Phillips County, Arkansas; Omaha, Nebraska; and Chicago. Many of the riots occurred during the summer months, in what is known as the “Red Summer.” Racial tension was particularly bad in northern cities as white soldiers returning from World War I found that their jobs had been taken by African Americans who had migrated north during to take advantage of employment opportunities. Also, black soldiers returning from war became embittered by the lack of civil rights extended to them, particularly after they risked their lives fighting for their country. Chicago experienced the most violence. On July 27, 1919, Eugene Willaims, a 17-year-old black man, was swimming with friends in Lake Michigan and entered into a “whites only” area of the water. A group of white men threw rocks at Williams. He was hit in the head and drowned. Police refused to arrest the man who threw the rock, and fighting between white and black gangs erupted in Chicago’s South Side. The violence escalated, and the state militia was deployed. Fighting continued until Aug. 3, and 15 white people and 23 African Americans were killed. About 1,000 black people lost their homes to arson.
5: 1921: Tulsa, Oklahoma
The Greenwood section of Tulsa, the wealthiest black community in the country, erupted in violence on May 31 and June 1 after a young white woman accused a black man, Dick Rowland, of grabbing her arm in an elevator. Rowland was arrested and police launched an investigation. Accounts of the assault were exaggerated, and a mob of armed white men gathered outside the Tulsa County Courthouse. The sheriff enlisted officers to protect Rowland, and an armed group of black men went to the courthouse to help protect Rowland. Gunfire was exchanged between the groups, and the violence intensified. Many of the black people retreated to the Greenwood neighbourhood. The white citizens followed, burning and looting the buildings and homes. About 1,250 homes were destroyed. The Oklahoma National Guard was called in and imprisoned some 6,000 African Americans. There are reports that white citizens fired on Greenwood from planes. Reports of fatalities vary, but the state of Oklahoma reports that 26 African Americans and 10 white citizens died in the violence. A report released in 2000 by the Tulsa Race Riot Commission said about 300 people died.
6: 1943: Detroit
In the 1940s, Detroit, a segregated city, was a hotbed of racial tension. On a steamy evening in late June, a fistfight broke out between black and white young men at an amusement park called Belle Isle. The fighting quickly grew in scope and intensity. The violence escalated when rumours about violence against white and black women circulated, and both white citizens and African Americans engaged in retaliatory attacks. Homes and businesses were burned and looted and people were beaten and shot. The fighting raged for three days, and 6,000 U.S. Army troops were brought in. Twenty-five black people and nine white people were killed. About 700 were injured.
7: 1965: Los Angeles
An identity check by police on two black men in a car sparks the Watts riots, August 11-17, 1965, in Los Angeles, which left 34 dead and tens of millions of dollars’ worth of damage. The trouble starts when Marquette Frye and his half-brother are stopped by police and taken in for questioning. Several thousand African Americans surround the police station and, after a week of arson and looting, the Watts neighbourhood is all but destroyed.
8: 1967: Newark
Two white police officers arrest and beat up a black taxi driver for a minor traffic violation, setting off rioting July 12-17 in Newark, New Jersey. For five days, in stifling summer heat, rioters wreck the district, leaving 26 dead and 1,500 injured.
9: 1967: Detroit
Race riots in Detroit, Michigan, July 23-27, 1967, kill 43 and leave more than 2,000 injured. Trouble spreads to Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee and Maryland.
10: 1968: King assassination
After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, violence erupts in 125 cities April 4-11, 1968, leaving at least 46 dead and 2,600 injured. In Washington, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson sends in the 82nd Airborne Division to quell riots.
Washington, DC, Chicago, and Baltimore experienced the most violence. In Washington, violence broke out hours after the assassination. On April 5, looting, arson and attacks on police increased, and as many as 20,000 people participated in the riots. The National Guard and Marines were dispatched. The riots reached within two blocks of the White House. Twelve people were killed, more than 1,200 buildings were destroyed, and the damage was tallied at $27 million, leaving the district’s economy in tatters.
Rioting in Baltimore began April 5. Maryland’s governor Spiro Agnew called in the National Guard and later needed to dispatch federal troops to help control the violence and looting. Rioting continued until April 14. Seven people were killed, 700 injured, and about 4,500 were arrested.
In Chicago, rioting took place over a 28-block area in Chicago’s West Side. As in other cities, rioters looted stores and homes, set buildings on fire, and broke windows. In addition to some 10,500 police officers, about 6,700 members of the National Guard and 5,000 federal troops were deployed. Eleven people were killed in the violence and 2,150 arrests were made
11: 1980: Miami
The acquittal of four white police officers in Tampa, Florida, on charges of beating a black motorcyclist to death in December 1979 after he rode through a red light sets off a wave of violence in Miami’s Liberty City, May 17-20, 1980, leaving 18 dead and more than 300 injured.
12: 1991: Crown Heights Race Riots
On Aug. 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, an enclave of both Hasidic Jews and African Americans, a car driven by Yosef Lifsh hit another car and then crashed into two black children, Gavin and Angela Cato, both age 7. Residents of Crown Heights gathered and began attacking Lifsh and other Hasidic Jews. A city ambulance crew and the Hasidic-run Hatzolah ambulance service arrived on the scene. The Hatzolah service brought injured Jews to the hospital, and the Cato children were transported by the city crew. Gavin Cato died. Black residents felt the Jews were given preferential medical treatment and began throwing rocks and bottles at police and the homes and businesses of Hasidic Jews. Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old Australian scholar, was stabbed by several black men and later died of the injuries. The riots raged for three days. More than 150 officers about 40 civilians were injured in the rioting
13: 1992: Los Angeles
From April 30 to May 1, 1992, riots erupt in Los Angeles, with a toll of at least 59 dead and more than 2,300 injured. The violence was set off by the acquittal of four white police officers who were filmed beating up a black motorist, Rodney King. Violence also breaks out in Atlanta, California, Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco and San Jose.
14: 2001: Cincinnati
On April 9, 2001, rioting erupts in Cincinnati, Ohio, after the killing of a 19-year-old black man, Timothy Thomas, by a white police officer.
Mayor Charlie Luken lifts a four-night curfew on the city on April 16, after the city’s worst rioting in more than 30 years, during which 70 people are injured.
15: 2014: Ferguson
Ten days of protests and riots and heavy-handed police tactics in Ferguson, Missouri, take place August 9-19, 2014, after a white officer kills an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. In late November, the announcement that charges are being dropped against the police officer leads to a new explosion of anger.
16: 2015: Baltimore
On April 19, 2015, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, dies a week after suffering serious spinal injuries in a police van after being arrested by Baltimore officers.
The arrest is captured on video and broadcast, leading to rioting and looting in Baltimore, a city of 620,000 inhabitants, of which nearly two-thirds are black. A state of emergency is declared and the authorities call in troops.
17: 2016: Charlotte
In September 2016, in Charlotte, North Carolina, sometimes violent protests break out over the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, 43.
Police say the shooting happened when they saw him hold up a gun as they approached his vehicle after seeing him rolling a marijuana cigarette. His family says he was unarmed. The authorities impose a curfew and call in troops.
http://www.voanews.com/usa/timeline-us-race-riots-1965
http://www.infoplease.com/us/history/major-race-riots-us
This website provides a complete list of racial riots in the US since 1660:
UK
1: 1919 Race Riots
In the wake of the First World War and demobilization, the surplus of labour led to dissatisfaction among Britain’s workers, in particular seamen. This was arguably the key factor that led to the outbreak of rioting between white and minority workers in Britain’s major seaports, from January to August 1919. Along with African, Afro-Caribbean, Chinese and Arab sailors, South Asians were targeted because of the highly competitive nature of the job market and the perception that these minorities were ‘stealing’ the jobs that should belong to white indigenous British workers. The housing shortage due to a lack of materials and labour during the war exacerbated the situation. The issue of ‘aliens’ taking jobs and houses from white workers was raised in the House of Commons. Further, as Indian seamen were hired at a considerably lower rate than their white counterparts and had to tolerate much poor working and living conditions, they were blamed by unions for undercutting the wages of white workers. Of course, racism, and specifically the fear of miscegenation, also motivated the hostility towards these settlers.
During the months of racially motivated violence in 1919, there were violent attacks on minority workers, resulting in five fatalities, as well as vandalization of their homes and properties. South Asians suffered somewhat less than black or Chinese workers as they were not regarded as such direct competition for jobs and housing; most remained within the navy and their subsidized accommodation rather than seeking alternative employment and accommodation. However, several incidents involving South Asians have been traced. In May 1919, the Strangers’ Home for Asiatic Seamen in West India Dock Road was surrounded by a hostile crowd and ‘any coloured man who appeared was greeted with abuse and had to be escorted by the police. It was necessary at times to bar the doors of the Home’ (The Times, 30 May 1919). Newspapers of the time also report the devastation of a Malay boarding house and the shop of one Abdul Satar in Cardiff (Visram, p. 199).
2: 1958 Notting Hill Riots
In 1958 London was the scene of some of the worst racial violence Britain has ever seen when trouble flared in the Notting Hill area between the white citizens and residents from the Caribbean Islands. Rioting broke out every night in that part of west London throughout late August and early September as mobs broke shop windows and fought with police trying to restore order. The trouble is thought to have started when a crowd of white men attacked a white Swedish woman who was married to a West Indian.
3: 1981 Brixton Riots
Racial tensions were also to blame for transforming Brixton in south London into something resembling a battlefield in 1981.
The riots were sparked off in April of that year after the Metropolitan Police started Operation Swamp in response to a steep rise in a street robbery.
Plainclothes police officers stopped and searched large numbers of black youths on Brixton’s streets.
This caused widespread resentment against the police and the use of the infamous “sus” laws.
Hundreds of black and white youths went on the rampage, attacking police, setting cars alight and looting shops in a tense disturbance which quickly spiralled out of control.
Over 300 people were injured, including more than 200 police officers, and 83 premises and 23 vehicles were damaged, at an estimated cost of £7.5m.
4: 2005 Birmingham Riots
The Birmingham riots of 2005 occurred on two consecutive nights on Saturday 22 October and Sunday 23 October 2005 in the Lozells and Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. The riots were derived from ethnic tensions between the Caribbean and British Asian communities, with the spark for the riot being an alleged gang rape of a teenage black girl by a group of South Asian men. The rape allegation has never been substantiated. No evidence has been found to support the rumour nor has any victim come forward (further rumours asserted that this was because the victim was present in Britain unlawfully and feared deportation). The clashes involved groups of the Caribbean and South Asian men committing serious acts of violence against various targets from both communities. The riots were connected to the deaths of two men, 23-year-old Isaiah Young-Sam and 18-year-old Aaron James.
India
1983: Nellie massacre
More than 2,000 Muslims, who were labeled as foreigners, were killed in the northeastern Assam state. This blood-curling violence went on for six hours on Feb. 18.
1984: Anti-Sikh riots
For five days, starting Oct. 31, reports claim 2,800 to 8,000 Sikhs were killed across India. The violence, however, was centered in Delhi.
A series of anti-Sikh pogroms were launched after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards.
1992-1993: Babri Masjid demolition / Bombay riots
Hindu mobs attacked and destroyed the historical Babri Mosque in Ayodhya city of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The mosque was built by 16th-century Mughal Emperor Babur.
Following this incident, wide-scale communal riots took place in Mumbai, India’s glitzy commercial capital.
The riots began on Dec. 6 and raged on for a month. Some 900 people were killed and 2,000 injured.
2002: Gujarat riots
Nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the western state of Gujarat on Feb. 28.
Another 2,500 were injured as Hindu mobs went on a rape, loot and kill rampage.Some 20,000 Muslim homes and businesses and 360 places of worship were destroyed. Roughly, 150,000 people were displaced. The two-month violence took place when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chief minister of the state.
In 2019, there were several instances when BJP revealed its communal agenda with impunity, often in a bid to score political brownie points. Here’s a look at a few of those instances.
Muslims slapped with notices to pay damages in Uttar Pradesh
In the aftermath of violence during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), several Muslim households and businesses were served notice to pay for damage to public property. The Indian Express reports that the UP government has slapped such notices on 372 such people and that the total number of people identified for serving such notices stands at 478. It is noteworthy that in similar cases in the past, no notices have been served. For example, when a mob killed inspector Subodh Kumar Singh in Bulandshahr, a police chowki and several police vehicles were also damaged. But no notice for recovery of damages has been served in that case.
PM’s remark on clothes of anti-CAA protesters
It is unbecoming of the leader of a democracy to insinuate that members of a particular community are responsible for violence during protests, in a bid to further perpetuate the myth that Muslims are destructive and act against national interest. But PM Narendra Modi did just that when anti-CAA protests got violent in West Bengal when he said that those engaging in violence can be identified based on their clothes. Interestingly, shortly afterwards, the Bengal police apprehended a BJP worker donning a skull cap pelting stones at trains.
Criminalizing triple talaq
This was also a bald attempt to find new reasons to throw Muslim men behind bars under the guise of protecting the interests of Muslim women. As pointed out by many people, sending a divorced woman’s husband to prison doesn’t help her in any manner given how she loses the source of alimony from his income had be been free to earn a living. Had empowerment been the actual intention, the practice could have just been made illegal without adding a punitive aspect to it.
Alleged detention and torture of minors in J&K
Several fact-finding teams comprising some of the most respected civil rights activists, lawyers and journalists have reported multiple cases of minors, usually, teenage boys, being picked up by security forces, detained illegally and being tortured in custody. The only thing these boys have in common is that they belong to the Muslim community.
The CAA-NRC double whammy itself
The regime’s most blatant attempt to tear asunder the secular fabric of the country was to use the CAA to link the idea of citizenship with religion and then to use this as a backdoor to make minorities struggle more with proving their citizenship during the NRC, thus leading to large scale disenfranchisement and statelessness of people who are not a favourable vote bank. This also resulted in country wide protests against the BJP for this legislation.
http://www.sabrangindia.in/article/fanning-communal-flames
Deprived of income
A report by Reuters had found that in addition to attacks on Muslims because they were sending animals to the slaughterhouse, the self-styled cow vigilante groups were re-distributing the cattle seized from Muslims among Hindu farmers and cow shelters, causing a further marginalisation of the minority community. Some 22 people have been killed since the beginning of this year as a result of mob lynchings, often in isolated areas.
Re-writing history
The BJP government has added a “Hindu first” version of Indian history to the school curriculum, which had long taught that people from central Asia arrived in India much more recently, some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, and transformed the population.
Another tactic used by the government in this regard is the erasure of the Mughal rule-era of the subcontinent from the syllabus textbooks. The Mughal Empire, established and governed by a Muslim dynasty, ruled most of the sub-continent in the 16th and 17th centuries before the arrival of British colonialists. The government of Maharashtra state revised the curriculum of state textbooks by removing the Mughals from its history altogether.
Coronavirus related Islamophobia
Academics, students, lawyers, activists and others from across various walks of life have released a statement condemning the communalization of the COVID-19 spread in India and the automatic criminalization of Muslims in media and by the government.
The statement recognizes the sudden glare on the Markaz at Nizamuddin, the global headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat. There, a gathering was held recently, which was attended by thousands of delegates who dispersed to various parts of the country afterwards. Several of them have tested positive for the coronavirus. However, with the government’s recognition of Nizamuddin as a “hotspot” for the virus, a brand of raw communalism has been unleashed on Tablighi attendees in particular and Muslims in general. On April 6, 2020, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje claimed that members of Tablighi Jamaat who were admitted to a hospital in Belagavi in Karnataka were spitting, misbehaving with the hotel staff, and dancing and gesturing indecently. Her claim was later denied by the deputy commissioner of the district and hospital authorities. No action was taken against her by her party.
