Riotsville, U.S.A. (2022) - full transcript

A door swung open
in the late '60s,

and someone, something

sprang up and
slammed it shut.

Nothing that big or bright
or sudden had ever happened,

and in so many
American cities.

Nothing so fierce

or hard to grasp.

The riots blew the
roof off daily life.

1965:

Watts, ripped apart by crowds.

1966:



Chicago swarmed
by the National Guard.

And in 1967:

Newark, Detroit,
and 100 other cities,

what felt like
the entire nation.

That summer,

the people took revenge
on the cities that confined them,

retribution for a history
of containment

and contempt.

A new force lurched
to life in the '60s,

and threatened
to shatter everything.

But that didn't happen.

What does it look like when
the state, the establishment

whatever you want to call the people
who keep things locked in place,

is forced to face the consequence
of its own callousness?



How does the machine
go rumbling on

undaunted?

A brick flies through
a squad car's windshield,

and the riot
crashes through the night.

But we'll be lingering
on the cop car,

and the pile of shattered glass.

My fellow Americans,

we have endured a week

such as no nation
should live through.

A time of violence and tragedy.

For a few minutes tonight,

I want to talk about
that tragedy.

And I want to talk about
the deeper questions that it raises

for us all.

I am tonight appointing a Special Advisory
Commission on Civil Disorders.

Governor Otto Kerner,
of Illinois,

has agreed to serve as chairman.

The Commission will
investigate the origins

of the recent disorders
in our cities.

It will make recommendations
to prevent

or contain such disasters
in the future.

But first, let there be
no mistake about it:

Crime must be dealt with
forcefully and swiftly,

and certainly, under law.

It would compound
the tragedy, however,

if we should settle for

order that's imposed
by the muzzle of a gun.

The only genuine,
long-range solution

lies in an attack,

mounted at every level,

upon the conditions
that breeds despair,

and breeds violence.

So let us act,
in the Congress,

and in the City Halls,

and in every community,

so that this great land of ours

may truly be

one nation

under God

with liberty and justice

for all.

Bruce, what did
you think of it?

I think it was a great speech.

It was a call for
national unity.

It wasn't a political speech,

it was a great speech,
I think.

You all pretty much
share that view?

You know, I think he normally
gives a pretty good speech,

but I think this is a thing
that you have to dwell on, unity.

We haven't had
very much of that recently.

I share that-
as far as it is, tonight,

I can't say that's always true,

but I certainly agree with
Levi one hundred percent tonight

that this was
not political at all.

I could see no taint
of politics in it.

I thought it was a leader
addressing his people.

I don't think anyone can say

that the situation that's
arising all over the country today

is any one person's failure.

It's been
a failure of all of us.

Governor,
there have been criticism

of the Commission
on the grounds that

the voice of the ghetto
is not represented.

Would you comment?

Well, we discussed
this slightly.

And there's no reason
why we cannot have

even a voice of the ghetto,
so-called,

as part of staff.

And I can't imagine
a more preferable position

to be in to be heard.

One thing should be
absolutely clear,

this matter is far, far
too important for politics.

It goes to the health and safety
of all American citizens.

And I think the composition
of this Commission

is proof against any
narrowness or any partisanship.

You think it's a good idea

to have this sort of
Warren Commission

panel of some of the
biggest names in the country?

I think it's a good idea, yes.

My greatest concern is,

have we asked the people
who are in need of the program

what their needs might be?

We decide what
their needs are.

I think perhaps
that they should decide,

that they should be
able to speak.

This is a neighborhood
business district of Riotsville,

an area as yet unaffected
by the violence

occurring in other parts
of the city.

However, the situation here
is considered to be explosive

and the area is being
closely watched

by state
and local authorities.

The local police have assigned
covert agents to gather intelligence

and to report indications
of possible violence.

Joint military
and police patrols

are operative in the area
to maintain order

and to demonstrate the
presence of a superior force.

As a part of the precautions
to prevent Riotsville

from experiencing
a violent civil disturbance,

the authorities have made arrangements
to prevent weapons and ammunition

from falling into
the hands of troublemakers.

Even a routine
precautionary measure,

such as this
pick-up of weapons,

can breed resentment
among the local residents.

What are we looking at?

Riotsville is a chessboard,

a stage set,

everything

and nothing about the 1960s.

Fake names and non-places,

marched past by soldiers,
doing what they can

to move the play
to its next act.

Maybe it's a dream.

After all,

this is where the state
assembles its fears,

its cruel delusions,

its tattered scraps of memory.

So these are dream riots,

the young men
acting out the fantasy

of conquest and invasion.

What are they thinking of?

Home?

Vietnam?

Do they feel something when they
see a hammer smash a window?

Or when the tanks
come roaring in?

When we asked them,
they had different answers.

Some said,
"It was a long time ago."

Many said,

"I don't know."

I'll get you.

Once I get my boys,
I'll be back.

It is Sunday evening,
December 17th,

and this is the Public
Broadcast Laboratory,

an experiment
in public television

combining elements
of information,

education and entertainment.

Tonight, from PBL in New York.

and from cities
across the United States

a totally live and
unrehearsed examination

of police / minority relations

with PBL chief correspondent

Edward P. Morgan.

Good evening.

Do you believe that
there has ever been a case

of police brutality against

a black citizen
in the city of Newark?

Now that all depends
on what you consider

to be police brutality.

- I'm going to answer your question.
- Physical abuse of a citizen in the city.

Mr. Harrington, I interrupted
you a moment ago

do you have something that
you want to come in with now?

Yes, I had
about fifteen things

if I had the chance
to come back and say them.

Because I have a book here,
Reader's Digest,

which is a very respected book

and it states that-

Well, I'm sort of
in a tough spot here.

I know you are.

But you're always
short-cutting us.

Now, let us have our say
or we might as well go home.

I don't think we're
short-cutting you, Mr. Harrington.

And if you don't mind, we want to go to
Detroit, where I think the temperature

is somewhat high
in Reverend Cleage's church.

Yeah, we feel that this
whole program, up this point

has been a deliberate
attempt to evade the issue.

Police brutality-everybody
knows police brutality exists.

For police officers to take
our time, to waste the time

of an entire nation,
talking about

they never heard of
police brutality,

they don't know what black people
are talking about, they can't prove it.

We know, in Detroit,
any time a black person

is brutalized by the police,
he goes into court

and he's arrested
for assault and battery.

Everybody's talking about-

PBL will continue
its examination

of police / community relations

after this pause
for station identification.

You know, we policemen
are not responsible

because people riot
on account of not getting jobs.

We policemen didn't send
Carmichael over to the other side.

We didn't ask Rep. Brown
to damn and curse this country.

But if trouble starts,
we would have to stop it.

And I say to you:

it's only one thin line
between crime and society,

and that's us policemen.

I want to go for a moment
to Reverend Cleage's

congregation in Detroit.

All right, let's go.

We are through with this
white hypocrisy,

with the efforts
of white people

to set up a situation
that they can control.

We are tired of
sociologists and psychologists

talking us to death.

We are tired of
police commissioners,

and police experts,

telling us that we're
not getting our heads whipped.

The black revolution is in
progress and it's going on

and we don't care what-

Gentlemen, we would have been
presumptuous in the extreme

if we had thought that
we were gonna solve anything.

We saw society in conflict,

we examined the hostility,

we had some sharp
exchanges in views.

That's what makes an
open society stay open.

Thank you.

PBL hopes that during
this season of giving

you will add your
community-supported

public television station
to your gift list.

We take this opportunity to
wish you a Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year.

Tomorrow, the report of the
President's Commission on Riots

will go on sale in a paperback
edition for a dollar and a quarter.

It will tell White America

what, in the past,
only novelists like

Faulkner and Baldwin
have said so well:

that the United States
is a racist country.

The report summons up an image

that is more like the
other side of the Iron Curtain

or the garrison states
of Latin America

than our image of
the United States.

What we've tried to
do in this report

is to let people see this
thing through our eyes

and to feel it in the pit
of their stomachs, like we do.

And then, if they see what
a crisis this really is,

what a terribly serious
crisis this is for our country,

there could be a
great deal more willingness

to try to move to do
something about it.

It says we must
take immediate action

to create two million new jobs
over the next three years.

Six million new homes
in five years,

a guarantee of minimum income,

far greater aid to schools
than proposed thus far.

A lot of whites might
still have their

bigotry and their racism,

but they will believe
this document

and they will
act accordingly to it.

I think this is the
important part about it.

Buy your books
on the Riot Commission!

On the Riot Commission.

At P.S. 151, where the pupils are
mostly Negro or Puerto Rican,

the school's book fair
was enlarged

to include a table-full
of the paperbound reports.

Throughout the neighborhood,
in various ways,

more than 2,000 copies
of the Riot Report

were sold in less than a week.

8,000 more copies
were quickly ordered.

Bantam Books, which
published the first edition,

calls it the fastest
selling paperback

since Valley of the Dolls.

700 pages,
with 300 footnotes,

based on thousands
of pages of records

gathered by staffers

pumping out reams
of surveys and statistics.

The result was a pointillist
picture of social collapse.

The Commission had
looked for a lot of things,

conspiracy, of course,

and the mythic
"outside agitators."

They found neither.

Instead, beneath the data
lay an obvious truth.

"Our nation is moving
towards two societies,

"one black, one white,

"separate and unequal."

With those words, 11 of the least
revolutionary people in America

started to sound, strangely,

like the people
in the streets.

In his last published essay,
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote:

"When millions of people have
been cheated for centuries,

"restitution is
a costly process.

"This fact has not
been fully grasped,

"because most of the gains
of the past decade

"were obtained
at bargain rates."

Civil Rights legislation
had been a victory

but it didn't force
anyone to take from the rich

and give to the poor.

That was to be
King's next step.

And, thanks to a hundred
flaming cities,

that demand would appear
in the report.

The Commission proposed a
program of unprecedented vastness.

A call to raise taxes,
spread the wealth,

lighten the burden
on the burning ghettos.

It was a high price,

but Johnson had called
for a Great Society.

What else could that
possibly mean?

What's going to be
the answer to this report?

What answer in the form
of action in Washington?

Here's Roger Mudd,
who covers Congress.

Roger, what's the
impact down there?

The one thing that struck
me as I talked to these members

over the last
two or three days

was that the obstacle, the
stonewall that this report will hit

in every committee room,

every caucus room,
every corridor, is money.

And they ask how can the
President run one war,

with barely enough
money to do it,

and can't even get
a 10% tax increase,

how can he now be expected
to run a second war?

They're talking about two billion
dollars a month, in the Report.

Well, that's equal

to what the current
expenditure is for Vietnam.

Sound 4.

Is the greatest amount
of publicity

which your company has
received as a result of Vietnam?

Yes, this is.

Do you consider your
production of this gas

to be a public service?

We consider it to be
a public service.

A contribution to the
order of a community?

Yes, we do.

Would you consider it something like
the production of an automobile, or-

Well, I would say that
this is a humane method

of handling
difficult situations.

Just like the dentist
gives you a shot of Novocaine,

before he pulls your tooth.

Are you the greatest
producer of tear gas?

We are the greatest
producer of tear gas in the world.

Could I ask you how much
tear gas you produce?

- Or is that a trade secret?
- That is-

Scene 2, Sound 3, Roll 3.

Are you the greatest
producer of tear gas?

We are the greatest
producer of tear gas in the world.

As one of the Commission's
staffers said,

"We could have tackled
the problem from any angle,

"from class, racism,
the economic system,

"but we didn't follow
any of them through,

"because everyone knew exactly
where dissection would lead:

"to the power and the interests

"of the people sitting
right there on our Commission."

Among the staffers,

mostly young,

one faction wrote
its own analysis.

Their findings:

that the rioters
were like the Algerians,

exploding against
French colonial rule.

"A truly revolutionary spirit,"

they wrote, "has begun
to take hold amongst some.

"An unwillingness to
compromise or wait any longer,

"to risk death rather
than have their people

"continue in a
subordinate status."

Those staffers
were taken off the project.

1967 had given
the establishment

proof that something
was broken

and being born.

But the Commissioners had
to fight that view, obscure it.

They wanted to present
innocent dissatisfaction,

pain without politics.

It was rhetorical alchemy.

In the language
of the official report,

a picture emerged
of black life,

poor life,

in America.

"Yes, there was hardship

"and who wouldn't
be angry about that?

"We ought to pity
the poor and their problems."

But only a radical
could possibly admit

that the rioters
might now

just be revising their
role in the social drama.

They were trying
to torch the whole script.

So the nationwide
rebellion was cast

as a mere string
of aimless riots,

structural catastrophe,

bad planning.

All the while,

young people went
blazing through the city.

I believe it was the system's
way of handling it.

I think it was the system's
way of reacting quickly.

And that's what we do
in this society.

We appoint a committee
and we investigate.

Ergo, something's being done.

That's just simply not true.

White America
seems to be engaged

in a kind of
public ventilation,

catharsis,

which takes two forms,
as far as I can see.

One, guilt,

in which many white people

seem to be getting their kicks

having Negroes flagellate them,

in terms of telling them
how guilty they have been.

And the other
form of catharsis

is by increasing the
hostility towards Negroes.

And I think-

Both things are happening
right now.

Both things are happening
at the same time,

and sometimes,
maybe in the same persons.

Do you think that we're headed
toward an Apartheid society, Mr. Rustin,

or are you still the optimist?

Either we integrate,
or the people of America

decide to give Negroes
a certain number of states

in which to live
and set up their own nation

or they shoot us
or the send us back to Africa.

Or they maintain
law and order

in the sense of rounding
or surrounding American ghettos

with mobile and effective
military force

the function of which is
to maintain law and order

with continued
inequities and injustice.

Negro leaders,
Dr. Kenneth Clark,

Bayard Rustin
and Charles Hamilton

continues with part three
in one minute.

Welcome to Riotsville.

This is a simulated riot
in a simulated city,

but as another summer approaches,
it might be Anywhere, U.S.A.

Welcome to Riotsville.

This is a simulated riot
in a simulated city,

but as another summer approaches,
it might be Anywhere, U.S.A.

Hell no, we won't go!

Hell no, we won't go!

Here's what I want you to do:

You put 'em in office
and you can take 'em out!

Please, please, do not listen
to false rumors or lies.

Go home, old man!

The police are not
picking anyone up

and they're not making
false arrests.

You're breaking my arm!

Get off! Get off!

You're breaking it.

Take thirty of you-

I'm not going in that thing.

I'll be back.

I'll be back, you rotten cops.

Rotten-

I'll be back!

I'll be back!

Chief, what will you do
with the information

that you learn at this school?

What would you do with it
after you leave here?

I'll go back to Chicago

and integrate the
information I have here

with our plans
in the department.

With the Democratic
National Convention coming up

and the threat of trouble,
do you feel that Chicago

needs this training
more than other cities?

Well, I believe that
we do have sufficient

force in the city of Chicago
to cope with that problem.

But, on the other hand,
we must always be prepared

for additional help
in case it's needed.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Increasingly, the computer

is becoming a police weapon.

Here, daily reports of crime
are fed into a computer

car thefts, muggings,
robbery, assault,

the statistics of violence.

And then,
the computer draws a map

to show the
city's danger areas.

The program attempts
to match the MOs

of the known criminals
to new crimes.

The officers then follow up
these computer generated leads

of the most likely suspects.

The 21st Century is brought
to you by Union Carbide.

The Discovery Company.

Huh?

Police Chiefs
across the country

will soon be inspecting
the newest innovation

in riot control equipment.

This 20-ton, half track
tank of "Witch Craft"

designed to scare the wits
out of any steely-nerved rioter.

Tailor-made to subdue
Detroit and Newark-type mobs,

it comes equipped with
bulletproof armor

and blast window-

Well-

The new "Witch Craft" riot
tank carries 15 officers,

battle ready,
if anyone still wants to fight.

Oh, boy.

Governor Kerner also warned
against police departments.

over-preparing
for summer violence.

In the event of an emergency,
Kerner noted,

an armored vehicle
could be borrowed

from private sources,
such as banks.

And in Chicago,
a police spokesman said:

"It doesn't take any
imagination to buy a tank.

"Anybody can do that."

Anybody?

♪ Soldier boy ♪

♪ Oh, my little soldier boy ♪

♪ I'll be true to you ♪

All persons,
clear the building.

Sniper, throw out your rifle
and surrender.

♪ You were my first love ♪

♪ And you'll be my last love ♪

♪ I will never make you blue ♪

♪ I'll be true to you ♪

♪ In this whole world ♪

♪ You can love but one girl ♪

♪ Let me be that one girl ♪

♪ For I'll be true to you ♪

Attention in
the furniture building,

A sniper in the building
is firing at persons on the street.

Necessary force will be used
to apprehend this individual.

♪ Soldier boy ♪

♪ Oh, my little soldier boy ♪

♪ I'll be true to you ♪

All right, ma'am.

Now, your gun
is ready to fire.

You'll get a grip on it
with your right hand

support it with your left,
support it with your left,

bring your elbows up
and lock straight.

Now fire, right at the
midsection of the target.

Talk in the suburbs of
tax and troops

and terror in the streets
has led her to the pistol range.

A grandmother, fearful.

She's part of the what
the President's report calls

the "polarization of the
American community."

With the little manuals
that you have

that were furnished by
one of the shooting foundations

pretty well sum it up.

Maybe I should ask
if there are any questions?

Uh, like, combat shooting,
where is the vital point?

Well-

The head.

In this group, we don't really
go into the anatomy of this thing,

but you'll find that
those targets are marked.

They're the same targets
that the police departments,

the FBI use.
Study the target

and you'll see what they consider
to be the more vital areas.

Believe me, though,

there's nothing more vital

than being hit any place,
almost, in the body.

I think this is just
a terrible thought.

But if it's
a terrible situation,

and you have to resort to this,
well then, the middle, some place.

- Middle.
- Okay?

I don't like the idea
of shooting anybody.

I mean, I don't mind target
shooting. That sounds like fun.

But people, I just
don't like the idea at all.

But, if it's necessary,

I mean, you know,
you do what is necessary.

Isn't-necessity is the mother
of invention or something

or is that the opposite?

See here, one, two,

three, four, five, six.

- Pretty good.
- So you didn't miss by much.

No.

In nearby Pontiac,
an industrial town,

a large Negro population is
very sensitive to what it hears.

They're angry and frightened.

White people ask me
why am I so angry?

And, you know, I don't
have an answer for 'em.

because it would be
ridiculous for me to answer him.

Because he couldn't
understand anyway.

Obviously, because
he asked me the question.

But if a black legislator
was out in the county

telling black people
to arm themselves

where do you think
they'd be now?

If they got 'em to jail,

- Before they killed 'em.
- Before they're killed.

You know, people
talk about genocide.

A lot of people talk about it,
especially now.

And a lot of people
don't believe it,

but it's a very real factor.
It's a very real factor

and white people
are arming themselves

to, you know,
bring this thing about.

Some discussion came up

in the chambers
of the City Commission

and someone said something
about 25 million black people.

And you could hear a
little mumble in the background,

"Yes, and we've got
25 million graves."

This is a very real thing.

This is what they're
planning for us.

The footage of '60s rebellions has
traveled a long way to meet us.

and at least it seems
to prove something.

Here's a street,

a face,

a gun.

Real things.

Real and broken things,

which say:

"This happened and it hurt."

But there are dangers.

A picture can
become a stereotype

or be cleverly conscripted
to this or that project,

dogma,

lie.

Do we just want more
or different images?

Yes and no,
we tell ourselves.

Reminded of all those snapshots
of chaos which swarm us

and lose their meaning.

The camera swivels to catch
a cop car bursting into flames.

But that's just one point
in the process,

a single fragment
of the story.

We wish we could see
an image of a decade

or a whole century

working through its ironies,
wracked by its explosions,

but with all its conflicting
features settled

or at least accounted for.

Revolution and repression

trapped in a single film frame,

one total, impossible picture.

In Memphis,
people were injured,

stores were looted,
property was destroyed,

people were beaten
by hoodlums.

At least one Negro youth
is known to have been killed.

And massive rioting
erupted during a march

which was led by
Martin Luther King.

It was a shameful
and totally uncalled for

outburst of lawlessness,

undoubtedly encouraged by
his words and actions

and his presence.

When the predictable
rioting erupted,

Martin Luther King
fled the scene,

leaving it to others to cope
with the destructive forces

he had helped to unleash.

I hope that well-meaning
Negro leaders

will now take a new look

at this man who gets
other people into trouble

and then takes off
like a scared rabbit.

If anybody is to be
hurt or killed

in the disorder which
follows in the wake

of his highly-publicized
marches and demonstrations

he apparently is
going to be sure

that it will be someone
other than Martin Luther King.

♪ Middle of the summer, ♪

♪ Bitten by flies and fleas ♪

♪ Sitting in a crowded apartment ♪

♪ About 110 degrees ♪

♪ I went outside ♪

♪ The middle of the night ♪

♪ All I had was
a match in my hand ♪

♪ And I wanted to fight ♪

♪ So I said ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Nowhere to be ♪

♪ And Lord, no one to see ♪

♪ And now, nowhere to turn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ I called President Johnson ♪

♪ On the phone ♪

♪ His secretary
said he wasn't there ♪

♪ I tried to get in touch
with Mr. Humphrey ♪

♪ They couldn't
find him anywhere ♪

♪ I went into the courtroom ♪

♪ With my poor black face ♪

♪ Didn't have no money ♪

♪ Didn't have no lawyer ♪

♪ They wouldn't plead my case ♪

♪ So I said ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Nowhere to be ♪

♪ Lord, and no one to see ♪

♪ Now, nowhere to turn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ I really wanted
a decent citizen ♪

♪ I really needed
some scratch ♪

♪ I really wanted
a decent job now ♪

♪ All I had was a match ♪

♪ Couldn't get oil
from Rockefeller's wells ♪

♪ Couldn't get the
diamonds from the mine ♪

♪ I can't enjoy
the American dream ♪

♪ Won't be water
but the fire next time ♪

♪ So I said ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Nowhere to be ♪

♪ And Lord, no one to see ♪

♪ Now, nowhere to turn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ Need a concern ♪

♪ You've got money to earn ♪

♪ You've got midnight oil to ♪

♪ Burn, baby, burn ♪

♪ I really want
a decent education ♪

♪ I really want
a decent job, now ♪

♪ I really want
a decent place to stay, now ♪

♪ I want to live
like everybody else ♪

♪ I want to live
like everybody else ♪

♪ I want to live
like everybody else ♪

We need a new school bus
in this town, right?

Right!

That thing looks like it took
Henry Ford to school, right?

Yeah!

And playgrounds,

we haven't got one playground
in this town, do we?

No!

Isolated and secured

from outside
interference or agitation,

such demonstrations will
usually terminate peacefully

in a minimum of time.

Now, an incident which will
demand more positive action.

They don't tell me
what to do, man.

I'm a civilian, you dig it?

I put in my time
in that Army, you know?

In these staged demonstrations

the men dressed in black
will typify

hard-core,
professional agitators

When the group refuses to disband,
action must be taken.

Now, the agitators shift their
troublemaking skills

into high gear, using the
naturally contagious qualities

of excitement and violence
to incite them into action.

These confrontations
demand much of you.

You must work within
an atmosphere

of explosive emotionalism

and yet remain
calm and rational.

You will be subjected to
the worst extremes of provocation.

And yet, you must be guided
only by logical thought.

When every natural instinct
within you begs for action

you must remain passive.

And when, finally, the
preservation of law and order

requires the use of force,

you must exercise it with
judgment and without malice.

Why do you want
to be a riot deputy?

Well, I've lived in
Chicago all my life

and if anything were to happen,

I'd like to help out
in any way I could.

Do you know,
as a volunteer,

you have to purchase
your own gear and equipment.

That's correct.

You're willing to go through
all the military training

that's going to
be involved in this?

Yes, sir.

You were in the Military Police,
in the Army, honorably discharged?

Yes.

Why do you want to
be a member of this unit?

Well, I did this type
of work before

and so I like it.

You're not racially
prejudiced, are you?

- No, sir.
- In any way?

None whatsoever.

Do you believe people
have a right to march?

To march,
you mean demonstrations?

That's right.

If it's peaceful.

Go there in the hallway and see
Sergeant Black, he'll fingerprint you.

- Thank you.
- Thank you for coming down.

Do you see anything racial

in the nature
of this organization?

No, I think having
half of the group

being half the group colored
and half the group white,

I think it'll be-
I think this is a very good idea.

Some people have said

that this is
anti-Negro in nature.

Obviously,
you don't feel that way.

No, I don't.

How do you feel?

Well, a riot could be-
it could be among the

whites, just as it could
be the Negroes.

But nobody's really expecting
whites to riot this summer, are they?

They're expecting
Negroes to riot.

I don't expect
Negroes to riot. No.

The Chicago Democratic
National Convention.

The sense was mounting,

irrefutable,

this would be the
TV event of the century,

a catastrophic spectacle,
and gripping primetime showdown.

On one side,
an infamous police force

armed with every lethal gadget
they managed to get their hands on.

And on the other,
the shaggy underdogs

and soft-skinned campus waifs.

Unlike Watts,
these young people

were white America's
sons and daughters,

yearning children
of the middle class.

Some media outlets
sent their war reporters,

others sent TV critics.

And when the police
started gassing students,

and swinging billy clubs
at camera crews,

the stations got their wish,

the tape went national,

then worldwide.

The point of the demonstration

was to rouse
the conscience of America,

to summon the moral prestige
of Birmingham or Selma.

And in one fell swoop,

bring the war machine

howling to its knees.

That isn't how the chips fell.

Though some still
like to say so.

Something was amiss
in the opinion polls.

The audience
tuning in at home,

treated to this televised
feast of state brutality,

wasn't rooting for the kids,

wasn't moved by their
cracked skulls or slogans.

The fact is
that white America

ended up siding with the cops.

But another scene
had unfurled that summer,

further south,

though it would
be overshadowed by the DNC,

the 1968 Republican
National Convention.

We've heard about Chicago,

but we've been
living through Miami Beach.

Live, from
Miami Beach, Florida.

NBC News reports, the
Republican National Convention.

Good evening.

NBC News is pleased
to bring you

the proceedings
and some of the background

of the second day
in the third session

of the 1968 National
Republican Convention.

It will help, probably, if I have
a microphone attached to me.

Put your microphone.

Tonight-

Well, just start over.
They didn't hear the first part.

Welcome to the second day
in the third session

of the GOP National Convention.
How's that?

It is understandable
that the Republicans

decided to hold
their convention

south of the
Mason-Dixon line.

They had not done so
in 104 years.

And it obvious
why anyone

might want to come to
Miami Beach.

But the real reason for
the Republican presence here

are less obvious.

This nine-mile long sandbar

has on advantage
above all others.

It is remote.

Would-be demonstrators could
be met by raised drawbridges

and blocked roadways,

cut-off except for the four
causeways across Biscayne Bay.

It's therefore easy
for the Republicans

to avoid the danger of large,
militant demonstrations.

♪ Well, before I'll be a slave,
I'll be buried in my grave ♪

♪ And go home to my Lord
and be free ♪

Now to Aline Saarinen,
at the headquarters hotel.

Things have livened up
in the headquarters lobby.

The poor people
have come in,

they have been followed
not only by the crowd

but by more Secret Service men
than I can count,

who are trying to figure out

how they can get Governor Reagan
through the group of people

and are decided they're
just going to have to

just push their way through.

And now, a motorcade
of Governor Ronald Reagan

is arriving outside,

although most of the people
inside are not yet aware of it.

Here is the Governor,
carried along

by a phalanx
of Secret Service men.

He's a big man
and he looks really

as if he were in
a football game.

He's going over
toward the room,

the French room,
as it's called.

But I am amazed
at the speed

with which the
Secret Service men

can move through an
absolutely solid mass of people.

The Governor was looking
very chipper in his white suit

and I don't know
how he survived.

And the poor people
are keeping going.

They are interested, of course,
in making their point

not only to
the candidate himself

but really to
the American people in general.

How do you think you did
this afternoon in the hotel?

You'll have to choose to do
what you can to help us out.

We got no decision.
It's up to you.

We'll be back in just a moment

after this message from Gulf.

Here is an item, which has
just come to our attention.

At 1675 62nd Street
Northwest in Miami,

there is a large crowd
of about 400 Negroes

most of them young,
conducting a noisy demonstration.

There are reported to be
twelve policeman on the scene

and more coming to
control the situation.

The demonstrators
are demanding

the resignation of
Senator Edward Brooke,

over the seating
of a lily-white delegation.

The noise is loud,
and the people seem

extremely determined in
their protest, so we're told.

By the way,
it might be explained

that obviously these
people are demonstrating

because they are objecting to

the decision of this convention
to seat a rather small number

of Negro delegates here.

Here is some more on
the disturbance in Miami.

When the police pulled back
from the troubled area,

groups of Negroes
gathered on the streets.

Some carried signs
calling for "Black Power"

and others were generally
just anti-Republican.

At the corner of
16th and 62nd,

one group stopped a car,
turned it over,

and set it on fire and fled.

No one knows what
happened to the driver.

The Associated Press quoted
one of the sponsors of the rally

earlier today
as blaming the police.

He said, "If ten
black people get together,

"they call it a riot,

"but 300 white people
can get together

"and they call it a convention."

More from Convention Hall
in a moment.

Right now, a message from Gulf.

Swat it.

Hit it.

Get mad.

Or kill it.

Yes, there are many
ways to deal with a fly.

But Gulfspray
contains more pyrethrins

for more instant
knock-out power.

It's available at your
favorite grocery, drug

or hardware store.

And at your Gulf dealer.

Played for as fools.

And they're talking about
everything else but the truth.

We're being sacrificed

in the city of Liberty City.

That's what's happening to us.

So tell the people the truth,
and we can accept it.

I'm afraid I don't know
what we can say.

I just want peace
in the community

and I'm determined to get it,
one way or the other.

I don't know what
the means will be.

It's out of my hands
at the moment.

It is my privilege

to place in nomination

the one man

whom history has so clearly
thrust forward.

Untainted by war, dissension,

lawlessness,

or the threat of
fiscal and moral chaos.

The honorable
Richard M. Nixon.

It is my judgment

that he will have them
all over the nation,

because the number one
issue in this campaign

is going to be law and order.

I think the
American people today

want to do away
with this lawlessness

and they want to put down
all this criminality

and they want to preserve
law and order.

We can have no civilized
society without law and order.

And everyone is,
of course,

free to interpret the
true meaning of that phrase

however he likes.

I want you to know that
all isn't well in this city.

That an awful lot of people
better get about to business.

You know, you promise
and you promise and you promise-

I promise my son, too.

And there are times
when he tells me,

"Daddy, you either put it
in the bucket or get off."

And that's what
they're saying now.

And I am not a violent man.

I'm a peace-loving man.

I preach love.

But I want to tell you this:

You can't lie to people
forever and get away with it.

And this isn't to say you've
lied, but I'll tell you this:

You played with the truth.

I'm going to bring
ourselves up to date

on the disturbance that
broke out last night, David,

in a section of
Northwest Miami.

Two Negroes have been
killed and four wounded

as a result of the violence
in the troubled neighborhood.

The Dade County Police said

two men were killed
in the mid-afternoon

when police were shot at
by a sniper.

They said they returned
the sniper's fire and killed him

and a second man
was killed

when he was caught
in the crossfire.

Two other Negroes were
wounded in the same incident.

There are some later
casualty figures here.

Here are some more casualty
figures in this disturbance.

Two Negro men
have been killed by police,

four Negro men
wounded by police,

one white man
wounded by Negroes,

two Negro women
wounded by Negroes,

32 have been arrested.

Yesterday, the first day
of the disturbances

one man was wounded and
ten injured, and 86 were arrested

While there is,
as we say, nothing of

transcendent importance

happening in the Convention,

we are going to hear again
from the Gulf Oil Company.

When Frantz Fanon
traveled to Algeria,

in the midst
of their revolution,

he went as a psychiatrist.

He found that the colonized
dreamed of strength.

"I dream I am jumping,

"swimming,

"running,

"climbing.

"I dream that
I burst out laughing,

"but I span a river
in one stride

"or that I am followed
by a flood of motorcars

"which never catch up with me."

Thus far, we've shown you
what reaction looks like,

what it says and how it moves.

A whole universe in which
it's possible to stop the world.

Flip a switch,
and end the problem.

Enforce contentment from above.

If only.

Just beyond this fiction

lies the real world
with real people,

a place where things still

happen.

Just about an hour ago,
it would have been totally unsafe

to come in where I'm
standing now, on 62nd Street,

just west of 12th Avenue.

It's not really safe right now,

there have been sporadic
sniper shots in this area.

.22 rifles, there was
several shotgun blasts heard.

And the firemen
are still mopping up.

Heavy ash,
there's a smell in the air

of a fire
that's just been put out.

This is Channel 4
newsman Bob Reed,

who has just come down
62nd Street.

He's walking by-

as you can see, some of
the litter here on 62nd.

We'll find out what's going on
back down the street.

Bob, what's happening
back down there?

Well, there's a sniper
down there

and someone has been shot.

I don't know
if it was a sniper

or just a bystander
or policeman.

I haven't been able
to get close enough

to see at this point.

Is it heavy fire,
would you say, or?

There has been fairly
heavy fire sporadically

throughout the
last couple of hours.

At times,
it gets pretty heavy.

Most of the shots are
being fired by the police

and then they'll slack off
for a couple of seconds,

then it'll get heavy again.

Of course, you are
in a peculiar position.

You're covering
this story, but

you seem to have a good rapport
with the people here, obviously.

What do they tell you
about why this is happening?

Well, it's
an interesting thing.

Nobody can really say
why it's happening.

It's just the pent-up
anger and the frustration

and the idea of being
trapped in society.

It's a bursting out.

It's a breaking free.

It's-

It's just a way of

saying, "I will accept
the abuse no longer."

Whatever the reasons,

and there are many
different answers here,

the fact remains
that 62nd Street

looks more like a battleground

than a once relatively quiet
street in Miami.

They've aged strangely,
these images.

They draw us in and freeze us.

What to make of them now,

embedded as we are in the future
they were meant to ensure?

In 1964,
before our story began,

before Watts,

before Newark and Detroit,

a police officer
killed a black boy.

300 of his
high school classmates

came bursting into the street.

The next week would
be known as the Harlem Riot.

It wasn't the first one.

The poet June Jordan
was there.

Later, she would write
of lunging

through the blasted streets,

throwing herself
to the pavement

every time she heard a siren

to miss the flying bullets.

It gave her an idea

for a new Harlem,

a new city,

a place devised for the
possibility of human flourishing.

The rectilinear cross streets
had been a prison.

She called them a
"psychological crucifixion."

This new city would be built
on the bones of the old.

Great communal towers
would rise up over

over vast green space below.

She wrote to the architect
Buckminster Fuller,

and they drew up plans

and had them
published in Esquire Magazine.

Jordan wanted to call it
"Skyrise for Harlem."

Esquire called it,

"Instant Slum Clearance."

She wanted it
to be constructed

exactly as she planned.

Esquire called it "Utopian."

Between "Skyrise for Harlem"
and Riotsville,

between futurist towers
and plywood diorama,

between possibility
and repression,

closure and rupture,

parody and dream.

That's where all of this
has taken place,

between two competing pictures

of an impossible city.

"Utopia," that is, "nowhere."

Riotsville,

Anywhere, U.S.A.

In the book of Genesis,

Lot's wife turns into
a pillar of salt

because she can't help herself.

She must look back

at the burning city.