Mass racial violence in the United States

[12] Guenter Lewy, famous for the phrase "In the end, the sad fate of America's Indians represents not a crime but a tragedy, involving an irreconcilable collision of cultures and values" wrote that what happened in California may constitute genocide: "some of the massacres in California, where both the perpetrators and their supporters openly acknowledged a desire to destroy the Indians as an ethnic entity, might indeed be regarded under the terms of the convention as exhibiting genocidal intent.

[11] In a speech before representatives of Native American peoples in June, 2019, California governor Gavin Newsom apologized for the genocide.

During the early-to-mid- 19th centuries, violent rioting occurred between Protestant "Nativists" and recently arrived Irish Catholic immigrants.

[19] During the early 20th century, whites committed acts of racial or ethnic violence against Filipinos, Japanese, and Armenians, all of whom had arrived in California during waves of immigration.

Although the federal government originally stationed troops in the South in order to protect these new freedoms, this time of progress was cut short.

[23][24] By 1877, the North had lost its political will in the South and while slavery was gone, Jim Crow laws erased most of the freedoms which were guaranteed by the 14th and 15th amendments.

The Chicago race riot of 1919 grew out of tensions which existed on the Southside, where Irish Americans and Black residents were crowded into substandard housing and competed with each other for jobs at the stockyards.

[28] The race riot was precipitated by 19-year-old Dick Rowland, a shoeshine accused of attacking 17-year-old White elevator operator Sarah Page at a department store, being arrested on May 31, 1921.

In March 1956, United States Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina created the Southern Manifesto,[31] which promised to fight to keep Jim Crow alive by all legal means.

[32] This continuation of support for Jim Crow and segregation laws led to protests in which many African-Americans were violently injured out in the open at lunchroom counters, buses, polling places and local public areas.

The long and short term causes of the Newark riots are explored in depth in the documentary film Revolution '67 and many news reports of the times.

Similarly, the six-day 1992 Los Angeles riots erupted after the acquittal of four white LAPD officers who had been filmed beating Rodney King, an African-American motorist.

[36] The Cincinnati riots of 2001 were caused by the killing of 19-year-old African-American Timothy Thomas by white police officer Stephen Roach, who was subsequently acquitted on charges of negligent homicide.

Riots during the summer resulted in destruction of property, mass looting, monument removals, and incidences of violence by counter-protesters and police across the United States.

[43] Federal law enforcement agencies were eventually deployed to assist local authorities and protect public property in Washington, D.C.[44]