Historically, urban riots were often the unfortunate side effects of rapid urbanization and forced integration. However, the racial attitudes of local police often contributed to violent confrontations. Such was the situation with two unfortunate events in Houston, Texas, where the overzealousness of the local police actually ignited the riots.
Forms of Urban Violence
In the book Urban Racial Violence in the Twentieth Century, Joseph Boskin argued that race riots often resulted from white society trying to maintain superiority over minorities. He also found that urban violence assumed two forms. The first typically occurred in the early 20th century and usually involved violence committed by whites against minorities, mainly Blacks. This exposed the unsettling fact that many northern whites were not ready to give Blacks the same economic and social opportunities enjoyed by European immigrants. The second form transpired during the latter half of the 20th century when Blacks objected to the unfulfilled promises.
Factors Contributing to Urban Violence
In addition to identifying forms of urban violence, Boskin also argued that racial conflicts generally included some elements of the following:
· Extraordinary social change like wartime mobility and economic depression;
· Confrontations during the hot summer months, when large numbers of unemployed young people are idle and bored;
· Rumors, lies, exaggerations and general misinformation;
· Negative view of local police by the Black community; and
· The violence usually occurring in, or on the fringes of, the black community.
Camp Logan Riots
An example of the first form of urban riots involves the Black soldiers of the 24th Infantry stationed at Camp Logan, just outside Houston, Texas. In 1917, two Houston police officers known for their harsh treatment of Blacks manhandled an innocent Black female and pistol-whipped a Black soldier when he tried to intervene on her behalf.
In less than an hour, rumors circulated at Camp Logan that the police killed a Black soldier. Already enraged by local racism, Black soldiers armed themselves and destroyed practically everything in sight for over 10 hours. When order was restored, there were 13 dead, including four police officers.
Within days, 34 Black soldiers were charged with murder, and the army hurriedly removed the remainder of 24th Infantry from Camp Logan. Thirteen Black soldiers were eventually executed and the remainder were either dishonorably discharged or imprisoned.
Texas Southern University Riots
Like the Black soldiers at Camp Logan, Black students from Texas Southern University (TSU) often found themselves in confrontations with the police. Black students throughout the South were protesting unjust treatment and Houston city officials wanted to prevent such demonstrations from occurring. As a result, local police were on high alert and actually infiltrated numerous TSU student organizations.
There were at least three different versions of the events of May 1967. In the end, a rookie police officer was killed, 488 students were arrested with five charged with murder. Even though weapons were found in the TSU dormitories, the five students, known to the Black community as the TSU Five, were released because none of the confiscated weapons matched the bullet that killed the police officer. This led to the hypothesis that a ricocheting bullet fired by a fellow police officer accidentally killed him.
The commonality in the Camp Logan and TSU riots were the overzealous actions of the local police, misinformation, and the already heightened racial tensions. Houston city leaders have fought hard to erase this bloodshed from local memory and improve the image of the police. Still, many in the Black community see the police as defenders of white liberties and the oppressors of Black freedoms.
Sources
Boskin, Joseph. Urban Racial Violence in the Twentieth Century. The Glencoes Press, 1969
Robert Haynes, Robert. A Night of Violence: The Houston Riot of 1917. Louisiana State University Press: Baton Rouge, 1976
Houston Chronicle. August 24, 1917
Houston Post. August 25, 1917
