Anarchy? Police State? Revolution?
Some began recalling the Civil War, and the Revolutionary War. Others saw the massed troops as a drift toward a virtual police state.
In the wake of the riots, leading magazines published interviews with Negro "moderates" and "militants" alike.
Some said they saw no hope for America's cities. This clearly implied more and more of the same kind of violence, finally resulting in all city life in many areas simply ceasing — with the cities becoming literally waste places — devoid of life.
Other saw more hope in the symbol of the massive funeral for Dr. King, and the hastily approved Civil Rights legislation by Congress than in any events of the past several years.
But all, universally, saw a magnitudinous problem of such gargantuan proportions so as to be virtually indescribable. All saw America at the crossroads — tottering on the brink of destruction from within — crumbling as a society unless some way could be found to solve racial problems.
From world capitals came expressions of profound shock, dismay, or resigned aloofness. Perhaps it was equally symbolic that, at the very time President Johnson was seeking a "mutually acceptable" site for talks with the Hanoi Government, America was rent asunder again by massive race riots which this time came within sight of the White House windows.
Were These Riots?
But were all the riots really riots? Observers noted there were no demands made — no slogans shouted — no placards or banners evident. Just wanton arson and looting. Were the so-called riots CAUSED by the death of Dr. Martin Luther King? Certainly, the immediate national coverage of the assassination, plus additional national coverage of each and every important incident of violence, helped give impetus to smoldering feeling. But was it the real CAUSE?
Many officials noted the riots, if they were that, seemed run almost on a timetable — and that fire-bombing and harassment of firemen and police seemed almost planned. So, once again, the specter of Communist opportunists taking advantage of an explosive situation reared its head.
But, regardless of whether riots, crimes of opportunity, or attempted revolution, each act was using the death of Martin Luther King as an EXCUSE!
An excuse. Not a cause, or a "reason" — but an excuse!
How else can the profile of rioting in Washington and Baltimore be explained?
Surprising New Profile of Rioters
Some very revealing facts have been unearthed from the ashes of Washington following the riots in the nation's capital.
The Negro population in Washington, D.C. is almost two-thirds of the total, and Washington has a Negro mayor. There is a majority of Negroes serving on the city council, and also on the school board.
While the police force is nearly one-fourth Negro (not quite the same ratio as the population of the city), a continuous attempt to bring about friendly relations with the Negro populace and the police department has been maintained.
Obviously, the biggest employer in Washington, D.C., is the Federal Government. And more than thirty percent of all local Federal Government employees in Washington are Negroes. Looking at the District of Columbia as a whole, Negroes account for more than fifty-five percent of the District payroll.
Integration has been in effect in schools, housing, and all public accommodations and services for a very long time!
STILL, many of Washington's Negroes rioted!
But who were the rioters? Were they only a "minority" of the underprivileged and poverty-stricken who did not have jobs? Were they those who were somehow "demonstrating" against discriminations, or venting their wrath against the white population as a result of Dr. King's death?
Hardly.
Many of those arrested for looting during the riots had good paying jobs, drove late model automobiles, and were well dressed!
Many of the automobiles used in looting of shops and stores were late model. Even expensive foreign sports cars were seen, and, perhaps the most shocking of all, several of those arrested were employees of the Federal Government with jobs above the $100 per week bracket.
As you read this article, those employees of the Federal Government are back at work.
In Baltimore, Maryland, a city which had been a near "model" in race relations, and had never before experienced a major racial disturbance; it took nearly 11,000 troops to bring the riotous conditions under control.
Was it a "coincidence" that Stokely Carmichael, racist black-power militant, was seen meeting local black-power leaders only three days before the Baltimore riots began?
Strangely, almost as if on cue — almost as if "planned" from the outside, young hoodlums began to form in groups at exactly 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 6. In only moments, firebombing and looting broke out. And, as mentioned earlier, the Baltimore looters followed an almost routine schedule in their setting of fires and looting of shops.
Were these, then, riots? Were these outbreaks of wrath demonstrating the frustrations of a downtrodden and beleaguered part of the population who were somehow enraged because of poverty, discrimination, and the time-honored and traditional causes of race riots?
Hardly. What broke out in many of these cities was not a "race riot" but simply a wanton series of crimes of opportunity!
What possible excuse could a group of thugs in Washington, D.C. have for carrying boxes of new shoes from the shattered interior of a shoe store because of a murder in Memphis?
What possible excuse would a fifteen-year-old in Chicago have for burning the store of a Jew because of a depraved act of an unknown assailant in Memphis? What possible excuse could there have been for Negroes fire-bombing homes of Negroes, and shops of Jews, other Negroes and whites alike with indiscriminate vandalism — because of a sickening murder in Memphis?
There was no excuse. No reason. That's because violence is inexcusable and unreasonable! The new profile of many of the rioters in the April upsets across the length and breadth of the United States was that of crimes of excuse! Crimes of opportunity!
You could almost HEAR the self-justification and excuses used by those who indulged in the violence. They would have said, "Well — Dr. King tried it the NON-violent way — and look what it got him!"
But what a shopworn, picked-over, misused excuse! And what shameful hypocrisy. Does it make any sense? Riotous youths who ostensibly decry the violence that took Dr. King's life will brutally MURDER, LOOT, PILLAGE — all the while HIDING behind the excuse of "revenge"!
No, these were not "race riots," nor were they "caused" by the death of Dr. King!
Obviously, seething tempers exploded at the news of Dr. King's death. But law-abiding, respectable Negro Americans, while expressing anger, shock, and dismay at the brutal killing of Dr. King, would no more have thought of rioting, burning, or killing indiscriminately than should the white population think of blaming ALL Negroes for the criminal acts of the rioters!
There is always a natural, human, carnal RACIST reaction to crimes of this nature!
The natural, RACIST reaction to Dr. King's death was, "Whitey got him!" It was, "White America killed him!" And the natural, RACIST reaction to the riots which broke out was "The Negroes are rioting!"
What was your reaction?
Towering Hypocrisy
"They killed him! They killed Dr. King," sobbed a young girl in Watts. But who were "THEY"? No one asked. And no explanation was given! By the hundreds of thousands other Negroes reacted similarly.
The bigger, truly objective and sincere NON-racists reaction would have been, "What a dirty, wretched SHAME that some evil, twisted, DEPRAVED MURDERER would take it upon himself to kill another human being because of his unbridled RACISM and HATE!"
The NON-racist reaction would have been one of shock! Of outrage! Of SADNESS, and of PITY for Dr. King's widow and children! It would have been SINCERE and DEEPLY FELT! But it most certainly WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN dodging behind the murder, almost as if being glad it happened — because it provided an hypocritical EXCUSE to indulge in the kind of violence the violent had hoped for all along!
Don't delude yourself!
The human mind is capable of shameful, towering hypocrisy. And the worst kind of hypocrisy was evidenced all around us recently — from all sides! Many who had been totally OPPOSED to Dr. King, including some Negro militants who had called him "Uncle Tom" and a "Honky" were suddenly using his life, and his dream, AS IF IT WERE THEIR OWN! They were suddenly unable to say anything nice enough about this fallen Civil Rights leader.
In like fashion, Negro militants were quick to see this same hypocrisy in many leading whites who, only days before, could say nothing good about Dr. King — but immediately after his shocking death were quick to eulogize and praise!
Just as Jesus Christ saw the deep HYPOCRISY in the minds of the Pharisees of His day, so we should be able to appraise the incredible hypocrisy in the hearts and minds of people in our day.
Jesus said, on one occasion, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: therefore you shall receive the greater judgment!" (Matt. 23:14) Continually, through that 23rd chapter of Matthew, Jesus is quoted as calling the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of His day, HYPOCRITES who outwardly appeared righteous to men but inwardly were full of "hypocrisy and iniquity" (verse 28).
Jesus warned, in likening the leavening of bread to the vanity and hypocrisy of human nature, that His Disciples should "beware . . . of the leaven of the Pharisees, WHICH IS HYPOCRISY" (Luke 12:1).
And that hypocrisy IS PRETENSE! And so is that same hypocritical PRETENSE evident today!
To those who riot in America's streets today, Jesus Christ says, "HYPOCRITES! You burn, stab, maim, destroy and kill — all the while PRETENDING you are doing it in outrage against a senseless murder — but you do it almost GLEEFULLY! You do it JOYFULLY, you do it as if HAPPY for the opportunity! You do it in HYPOCRISY! You do it in the face of a fallen man who claimed he gave his life to further NON-VIOLENCE! HYPOCRITES! You who believe stealing, burning, and KILLING is the answer to murder are reverting to the law of the jungle, all the while hiding behind an EXCUSE of Dr. King's death! HYPOCRITES, who claim to be shocked, saddened and hurt by violence — and who gleefully indulge in violence yourselves!"
HYPOCRITES, who claim to have pity and sorrow for Dr. King's widow — and yet hurl into her face the very action and deeds Dr. King spoke against much of his life!
No, these were not "riots" in the classic sense of the word. These were massive crimes of opportunity. Undoubtedly, many misguided persons vented their anger and frustration over Dr. King's murder in some unlawful act — but the many thousands who leapt at the OPPORTUNITY of breakdown in law and order were not rioting — they were merely stealing, burning, looting or sniping at others in a mad orgy of violence because they now had some sort of an "excuse."