Fifty years ago, the city of Newark, New Jersey experienced a string of violent riots after two white police officers stopped and beat up a black taxi driver on July 12 in a community that had suffered decades of social frustration caused by poverty and racial profiling.

While more than half a century has passed, many of the issues at the heart of the protests continue to divide the country today.

Here’s how the riots started, how the police responded, and how it set the stage for the future police brutality protests.


In the late 1960s, Newark was suffering from high poverty rates, lack of good job opportunities, and chronically underfunded schools. The largely African American population was also dealing with police profiling and lack of political representation.

Foto: Women rest on the curb outside a food distribution center in Newark’s Clinton Hill area, July 17, 1967. source Harry Harris (Associated Press)

Source: Seton Hall University


While problems such as these festered for many years, frustration came to a head when two white police officers pulled over and beat up black taxi driver John William Smith.

Foto: New Jersey State Police use cars for protection as they battle with sniper on Springfield Avenue in Newark, July 14, 1967. source Associated Press

Source: The Guardian


After a false rumor spread that Smith had died in police custody, people gathered around the station and started throwing rocks and bottles.

Foto: A National Guardsman moves a man towards the wall as police search others in riot-torn Newark, N.J., in this July 15, 1967, file photo. source Associated Press

Source: NBC News


While many picketed peacefully, others smashed windows and threw firebombs. Looters also tried to take advantage of the unrest by breaking into supermarkets and liquor stores.

Foto: Newark police take cover from sniper fire in a drenching downpour in Newark, New Jersey, July 15, 1967. source Associated Press

Source: The Guardian


A few hours into the riot, state troopers and the army stepped in. Some accounts said that the law enforcement officers (who were given instructions to "fire if necessary") abused the rioters.

Foto: National Guardsmen arrive near Newark’s Branch Brook Park where a volley of sniper fire brought hundreds of police, state police and military converging on the scene in Newark, N.J. source Marty Lederhandler (Associated Press)

Source: The Guardian and Associated Press


“It was like a war scene," recalled Fred Means, an activist who witnessed the riots unfold. "There was that fear, there was that possibility, that the police would shoot you and nothing would happen — much the same as what happens today.”

Foto: Blacks are searched at a bayonet point by National Guardsmen in Newark, New Jersey, July 17, 1967. source Eddie Adams (Associated Press)

Source: The Washington Post


The fighting would continue over the next five days. In total, more than 26 died while more than 700 were injured.

Foto: Police stand by as a body is removed from a home in an area where police and National Guardsmen were battling snipers in Newark, July 15, 1967. source Associated Press

Source: The New York Times


Newark was not alone — that year, protests over policing broke out in many major cities across the US.

Foto: A pedestrian along blighted Springfield Ave., in Newark, N.J., May 1, 1974, focal point of bitter rioting in 1967. source Jerry Mosey (Associated Press)

Source: LA Riots


Many felt that, rather than protecting residents, state troopers instead created an atmosphere of fear.

Foto: A little girl in her Sunday dress passes a National Guard roadblock on her way to church on the edge of Newark’s riot area, July 16, 1967. source John Duricka (Associated Press)

Source: New York Times


While the riots eventually subsided, frustration with law enforcement persisted — and, in many ways, set the tone for many police brutality protests to come.

Foto: Pickets calling for the removal of National Guard troops from riot-ridden Newark march near Newark City Hall, July 16, 1967. source Associated Press

Though different administrations took a range of steps toward combatting chronic underfunding of city services, many of the same problems with poverty and racial inequities continue into the present day.

Foto: In a July 14, 1967 file photo, left, firefighters battle a blaze on Broad Street near Branford Place in Newark, N.J., where four days of deadly violence and looting came to be known as the Newark riots. source Associated Press

Source: USA Today


In the coming days, various New Jersey politicians will be commemorating the site of the original riots. "We need to have a discussion about why these things happen and why they keep happening," Newark mayor Ras Baraka told NPR.

Foto: In this June 28, 2017 photo, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka talks to a reporter about the Newark riots fifty years ago, in Newark, N.J. source Seth Wenig (Associated Press)

Source: NPR