Feb. 17, 1965 - Four hundred boycotting Negro students broke through police barricades outside Board of Education headquarters in Brooklyn today in a brick-throwing, window-breaking riot. Three policemen were struck, one youth was injured, and nine were arrested.
The disturbances spread over a two-mile area and onto subway trains and stations. A hundred policemen were called out to restore order.
The boycotters skirmished with groups of white students from nearby St. John’s University and the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception Preparatory Seminary.
The youths were among 5,500 who stayed away from Boys High School, 21 junior high schools, and five schools for disturbed children in a citywide boycott against alleged segregation. The boycott, organized by the Rev. Milton A. Galamison, began Jan. 19. In all, 26 schools have been affected.
The rioters hurled bricks through the windows of St. John’s University and several Fulton Street shops, including a dry-cleaning store and a hardware store.
They stole a bottle of wine from a liquor store, soda bottles from a delivery truck and walked out on a $7 food bill at the Dagwood Sandwich Shop at 90 Court St.
“Before I had a chance to get to the door, they were a block away,” Pauline Jacobs, the manager, said later.
A group of 60 youths attacked a group of six white high school students on the Clinton INDI’s GG line. A group of 50 youths cursed, spat upon, and chased a group of 10 students from St. John’s University.
A 16-year-old who was arrested for throwing a brick through a dry-cleaning establishment at 955 Fulton St. told the Negro policeman: “You’re acting just like a white man.”
Meanwhile, 60 Negro youths entered the Clinton-Washington Avenue IND station at 1:50 p.m., on their way to join the riot, which by then was over.
They started one of their own, attacking six white boys on their way home from the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception Preparatory Seminary, 555 Washington Ave.
Some of the white students were punched. Others were pushed to the platform and stairs. The Negro students then assaulted passengers on a train headed for downtown Brooklyn. They were apprehended at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station by 15 transit policemen, who had been summoned by the clerk in the change booth at the Clinton-Washington Avenue station.
All 60, including 20 girls, were taken into custody, but only four were arrested. The names of 15 boys and girls were referred to the police for charges as juvenile delinquents.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
Comentários