June 26, 1967 – For many residents of the Lakeview
Projects on the east side of Buffalo, New York the was only one thing
authorities paid attention to and that was violence.
As in so many cities across America Buffalo was generally segregated and for the Lakeview residents this meant the standard problems of economic inequality and police repression. This had been the situation for residents in the post-war years as Buffalo went through a process of deindustrialization with plants built for war production closed and this led to the closure of other businesses. Also as in many American cities, there was "White Flight" as White residents moved out to the suburbs further disrupting business taking retail and service jobs from the city.
On the afternoon of the 26th police
attempted to intervene in a dispute between two Black adolescents. This sparked
an explosion as 250 to 300 Blacks quickly surrounded the two officers demanding
they leave the boys alone and making accusations of unnecessary force. The
group quickly became a mob when they picked up bottles, clubs, or anything that
they could throw.
Soon more police arrived and this escalated the
tensions and the violence. Soon the mob swelled to at least 1,000 and they
began destroying storefronts and city property. As the violence escalated Mayor
Frank Sedita reached out to the Black leaders and met with Reverend Milton
Williams the local head of the NAACP.
Williams tried to talk to the mob, made primarily
of youth but as there really were no organizers he had a difficult time. He
added, “For these young people living in these conditions they know that
violence is the only language authorities understand.”
The violence carried over for the next four nights
with up to 400 police officers trying to quell the violence and making arrests.
After the 3rd night New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller requested
retired baseball star Jackie Robinson to go and try and speak to the youth,
Robinson was Rockefeller’s Special Assistant for Urban Affairs. Robinson met
with the mayor for over 6 hours to try and plan and coordinate activities to
quell the violence but whatever the plan was it failed. Robinson stated that
what he had heard in a meeting with some of the youth and social workers was that the
economics was the fuel for the unrest in the city not just the rioting.
“One social worker told me she had been to some
600 meetings with business owners and had secured 310 jobs,” said Robinson. “I
hear the same thing all over, ask a young man if he’d like to work it’s always
yes. These things happen when people have nothing to do.”
Once things had calmed down on the morning of July
1, and the uprising ended there was $250,000 in damage, 81 injuries, and 600
arrests. Fortunately, in this riot, there were no deaths.
The Buffalo Common Council (city council) met on
July 5th four days after the uprising and apparently felt that the
violence was not something to discuss as they didn’t mention the rioting in their
meeting. The disdain for the Lakeview neighborhoods continued at the next council
meeting where they ended with a resolution praising the police for not needing
outside help to stop the violence.
As summer turned to fall the council did finally
focus on the uprising but as so often happens, they focused not on the root
causes but on suppression. They appealed to the state to change firearm
regulations allowing police to carry heavier weapons and allow homeowners to
arm themselves. They increased police patrols in the Eastside neighborhoods.
The biggest thing the council did was a complete
revision of the disorderly conduct code for the city expanding it to include making
street baseball illegal and allowing the mayor to close taverns and restaurants
if he felt the presence of these businesses might impact the peace of the city.
The new laws also limited the size of gatherings and made flying anything but
the American flag illegal.
There was no action by the council to remedy the economics and recreation issues Black leaders spoke about, instead, it seemed that the focus was on punishing the Black neighborhoods with increased surveillance and profiling. Passing laws that helped to break up the community rather than push it together.
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/80150395/?match=1&terms=%22Buffalo%20riots%22%20&clipping_id=58646062
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/when-black-new-yorkers-decided-to-unite-for-their-own-buffalo-race-riots-of-1967
https://medium.com/@schafer.benjamin.j/weve-yet-to-heal-from-buffalo-s-last-riot-what-makes-you-think-this-one-is-any-different-afc1753efe6c
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