Quiet Riot: An American Story

If one would have asked the question do urban riots improve the lives of a
citys residents to the white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, they would likely
respond with a resounding yes. Fresh off burning down so called Black Wall
Street, the towns thriving Black business district, in retaliation for alleged Black
criminality, residents would have affirmed the event as necessary for the safety and
stability of their communities and their way of life. As might draft rioters in 1860s
New York (who attacked over 200 black men in anger over being drafted to fight for
the union), or the Pro-Confederacy rioter in 1860s Baltimore (the first and most
important Baltimore riot).

Its these Quite Riots, which are the context for the recent Black urban
uprisings, that show a historical continuity between Americans past and present.
While white Baltimoreans cowered in their homes upon seeing the threat of rock
throwing youth, why is the constant reality of drug raids, pat downs and jump
outs not central to these conversations, violations of bodies often excused as they
are (often) not violations of law.

It is presumptuous to assume those who have not experienced the historical

reality of 400 years of anti-black violence have a right to moralizes on the Black
communitys expressions of grief and rage. As such, to the extent which urban
rebellions help expand the range of askable questions and speakable thoughts on
race in America, then these actions have value. To debate whether riots help Blacks
win the proverbial game of politics ignores that the existence of such conditions
should be proof enough that the game itself is not just rigged, but broken.

Those who question this should ask if they themselves have ever been the
victim of a jump out, or if they even know what a jump out is, and thus wonder
if they are sufficiently qualified to speak on the said issues.

Lawrence Grandpre is Director of Research of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a

Baltimore based social justice think tank. He is co-author of The Black Book:
Reflections from the Baltimore Grassroots.