Throughout society’s existence, members of the LGBT community have battled oppression, faced intolerance, and dealt with immense prejudice, yet were forced to remain silent. However, a new era was marked by a chain of uprisings commonly known as the ‘Stonewall Riots’. These were a series of violent confrontations between police and gay rights activists in New York City. In response to the second raid in a week by police on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village that had been selling liquor without a license, about 1,000 transvestites, gays, and lesbians fought back against police by shouting, throwing debris, and refusing to exit the premises. The police officers responded mercilessly with violence, and many of the rioters were brutally beaten and injured.
They affected great change in the mentality and approach of the then gay liberation movement. Today the Stonewall Riots are now ingrained in the vocabulary of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people everywhere, and is commonly referred to as the ‘spark’ that started the Gay Liberation Movement. Just as the actions of Rosa Parks during the Montgomery Bus Boycott [1] have become a symbol for the modern civil rights movement for African Americans, so too the Stonewall Riots have had a profound effect on the LGBT liberation movement and its fight for equality. David Carter, author of the popular book, Stonewall Riots: the Riots that Sparked a Gay Revolution explains that the riots could have only have happened in New York. Taking place at a time of great civil unrest in America, as well as a place where the Gay community were particularly despised [2] .
Stonewell Riots and the impact on the Gay Community The Stonewell riot took place in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1969. It was a turning point for homosexual’s equality. Though activism and advocacy did exist before Stonewall, it was limited and rare. It was also often confined to larger cities like New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The homophile organization like the Mattachine society and Daughter of Bilitis was making only small progress before the Stonewall riots.
It was an early morning on June 28, 1969, when police raided a gay bar at Stonewall Inn. Police raids were a commonplace at that time, but during this particular “occasion the gay and lesbian patrons fought back and sparked days of protest” (qtd. in “Should Gay Marriage” 4). These riots and protest lasted on and off for a totally of six days, and marked the beginnings of the gay rights movement (Carter
After the Rosa Parks incident, she and King organised the black boycott of Montgomery bus system in 1955. Once King realised he was achieving more rights for black people he led non-violent protests throughout America. Eight years after the boycott, King led a protest in Birmingham, Alabama. However the white people in Alabama didn’t approve of this and it turned into a violent protest, and King was arrested for his participation in the protest. Along with King, police arrested 1000 other protesters and many were beat with whips and clubs.
The movement quickly spread and on October 2nd over 5,000 protestors had gathered to show their support of the students. Labor unions weren’t getting the proper care in the work place were also showing their dislike in the form of protesting. All the protests were starting to put pressure on the government and something had to be done. On the day of October 2, many students marched throughout the capital, and around nightfall some 5,000 of them gathered at the Plaza de Las Tres Culturas in the district of Tlatelolco for what was scheduled as one more peaceful rally. However the riot did at one point get out of hand when protestors burned a bus.
A club where African American goes to party after the regular bar has closed. By 1967 the black population of Detroit stood at an estimated 40% of the total population. After the 1967 race riot Detroit became predominantly all black. I can remember coming from the Detroit Zoo the evening of the riot, and while we was trying to get home we noticed that people was running around wild and carrying articles in their arms and fire starting all over streets, with my mother asking what is going on and everyone that was in the car saying I don’t know. I guess because it started so early in the morning no one in the other neighborhoods knew what was going on, I am saying that because I know if my mother knew that this riot was going on she would have never left the house.
“The London riots of 2011 were a product of society” – How valid is this view? In August 2011 there began a wave of civil disturbances that spread across Britain’s inner cities following a peaceful demonstration against the death of Mark Duggan, a local who was shot dead by police on August 4th 2011. Thousands of people rioted resulting in chaos generated looting, arson and mass deployment of police - The following days saw similar scenes in other parts of London, with the most rioting taking place in Hackney, Brixton, Peckham and Croydon. From the 8th until the 10th August cities in England including Birmingham, Bristol, and Manchester, along with several towns, saw what was described by the media as "copycat violence", an uprising of violence and crime. Newspapers, TV screens and the internet were flooded with reports and images of crowds rampaging through the streets, setting buildings and vehicles alight, fighting with police and smashing and looting from both local shops as well as big name high street shops.
In more recent years, Pelican Bay State Prison located in Crescent City, California, has received national media attention on more than one occasion. This trend started back in February 24, 2000 when a prison riot between African American and Hispanic inmates erupted on a recreational yard. The result of this riot left an inmate dead, 19 others wounded, and a total of 89 manufactured weapons recovered (Wallace, Podger, & Van Derbeken, 2000). In 2011, Pelican Bay prisoners began a statewide prison hunger strike. This hunger strike was directly related to the 2000 riot followed by recurring violent attacks on inmates.
Protest at first started in Berkeley, California in 1965. These were massive anti-Vietnam war marches, protest, sit-ins and student strikes in major colleges and cities universities cross the country. In fact the Ohio National Guardsmen murdered four peaceful students from Kent state University in Ohio during a noontime campus anti-war rally. Nine other students were shot or injured. Anti-war protests became increasingly violent in tone.