Even with the right to vote, even with the right to sit anywhere on a bus or eat in any restaurant, black people were struggling. Too many did not have jobs. And those with jobs weren’t making enough to live decently. They lived in homes with no heat and leaky pipes. Many people were sick and did not have money to see a doctor.
Black people were angry. They were frustrated. Some were tired of listening to Martin. Change wasn’t coming fast enough. People who had followed Malcolm X, who was killed in 1965, were forming groups to carry on his message of fighting back with violence. Groups such as the Black Panther Party emerged. These groups talked about black pride.
In August 1965, a riot broke out in a Los Angeles neighborhood called Watts. Angry mobs of black people ran through the streets. They threw rocks and bottles. They shattered store windows. They stole. They set fires. Many people were killed andinjured. The rioting went on for six days. Finally, the U.S. Army was called in to stop the violence.
WATTS RIOTS
On AUGUST 11, 1965, A BLACK MAN NAMED MARQUETTE FRYE WAS PULLED OVER WHILE DRIVING On A CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY. A POLICE OFFICER LATER SAID HE WAS DRIVING DANGEROUSLY.
AS THE POLICE QUESTIONED FRYE AND HIS BROTHER, A GROUP OF PEOPLE GATHERED. THEY WERE ANGRY. SOME PEOPLE BEGAN TO SHOUT AT THE OFFICERS. THEY SAID THE FRYE BROTHERS WERE ONLY PULLED OVER BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK. SOME PEOPLE THREW ROCKS.
WHEN FRYE AND HIS BROTHER WERE ARRESTED, THE CROWD GREW ANGRIER AND BEGAN RIOTING. THE RIOT LASTED FOR SIX DAYS.
In WATTS, PEOPLE FELT DESPERATE AND HOPELESS. THEY FELT LIKE VICTIMS.
Martin understood people’s frustration. But he said, “When people are voiceless, they will have temper tantrums like a little child who has not been paid attention to. And riots are massive temper tantrums from a neglected and voiceless people.”
In response, one of the angry rioters said to Martin, “We know that a riot is not the answer, but we’ve been down here suffering for a long time and nobody cared. Now at least they know we’re here. A riot may not be the way, but it is a way.”
The root of the problem was poverty. People were sick of being poor. So Martin turned his attention to employment—getting better jobs. On July 26, 1965, he led a march to Chicago City Hall.
Chicago was the second largest city in the United States. More than one million blacks lived there. Some people called Chicago “the Birmingham of the North.” Most blacks living in Chicago were poor. They had low-paying jobs or no jobs at all. People lived in old, rundown houses. Although there were laws against segregation, white-owned buildings would not rent apartments to blacks.
In 1966, the Kings moved to Chicago. They were used to living in comfortable houses. But Martin thought it was important for his family to know the way too many blacks in the United States lived. They paid ninety dollars a month for a rundown, four-room apartment. A much nicer, five-room apartment in a white neighborhood cost only eighty dollars a month!
After a while, Martin’s children began to have temper tantrums. At first, Martin couldn’t understand why. But then he realized that they were misbehaving because they had nowhere to play. There was no park nearby where they could run around. Martin began to understand what being dirt-poor felt like.
Martin led many marches in Chicago that summer. Although Martin’s marchers were not violent, they were met by violence. Bricks and bottles were thrown at them. People yelled at them. Still, none of the protestors fought back.
Martin Luther King, Jr., marched to Chicago City Hall. He posted a list of demands on the door for Mayor Richard J. Daley to read. The demands included an end to police violence and an end to job and housing discrimination.
There was no answer from Mayor Daley. So the marches continued.
Jesse Jackson, a young member of the SCLC, planned a march through a neighborhood called Cicero. Seventy thousand white people lived there. Mayor Daley and the police knew that a march through Cicero would end in violence. So, finally, the mayor told Martin Luther King, Jr., to call off the march. The demands would be met.
So, in good faith, Martin and the leaders of the SCLC agreed. As for Mayor Daley, he went back on his promise. Nothing changed in Chicago. Where would Martin Luther King, Jr., go from here? |