Long, hot summer of 1967
The long, hot summer of 1967 refers to the 159 race riots that erupted across the United States in the summer of 1967. In June there were riots in Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Buffalo, and Tampa. In July there were riots in Newark, Detroit, Birmingham, Chicago, New York City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Britain, Rochester, Plainfield, and Toledo. The most destructive riots of the summer took place in July, in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan; many contemporary newspapers headlines described them as "battles". As a result of the rioting in the summer of 1967 and the  preceding two years, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Kerner Commission to investigate the rioting and urban issues of Black Americans. History. A history of institutionalized unemployment, abusive policing, and poor housing was already present in certain areas of the United States. Riots began to flare up across the country but especially during the summer months. While rioting happened across the country the Summer of Love was occurring in hippie communities and Americans witnessed troop movements in the Vietnam War on the nightly television news. At the end of July, President Lyndon B. Johnson set up the Kerner Commission to  investigate the riots; in 1968 it would release a report blaming pervasive societal inequalities in American ghettos for the riots. By September 1967, 83 were dead, thousands injured, tens of millions of dollars in property had been destroyed and entire neighborhoods were burned. Reactions. It is in the context of having been through the "long, hot, summer" that in December 1967, Miami police chief Walter E. Headley uttered the now-infamous phrase "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" after which Frank Rizzo, Richard Daley and George Wallace also spoke out in favor of a hardline approach towards looters and  rioters. In early July 1967, the Justice Department met with local media to ask "restraint in reporting". In December 1967, a psychologist was asked about "deterrents" and told "The New York Times" that the riots would continue. Polling. A poll of Minnesotans asked respondents to gauge the perceived relationship between the riots and the Civil Rights Movement. When asked if there were a connection between the movement and riots, 49% said there was, and 38% disagreed. A full 65% thought the riots were planned, rather than just uncontrolled skirmishes. In another poll of Minnesotans, respondents were asked if the cause  of the riots was racial discrimination or lawless hoodlums, 32% said racial discrimination while 49% said hoodlums. In a March 1968 Harris poll reported in "The Washington Post", 37% of Americans agreed with the Kerner Commission's report that the 1967 race riots were brought on mainly by inequalities; 49% disagreed. A majority of whites (53%) rejected the idea, with just 35% agreeing. In contrast, 58% of blacks supported it, and only 17% disagreed. List of riots. Some of the riots include: