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They tapped Ed Bell, a young Oakland-based lawyer who planned to catch a military cargo flight to meet his clients in Okinawa. This came in the wake of a number of incidents between servicemen and Okinawan civilians over the years, including a hit-and-run accident in September 1970, only a few months prior to the riot, which resulted in the death of an Okinawan housewife from Itoman. A $350,000 fire led to arrest of 46 under Florida's tough new antiriot law. jumped out of his car and pulled the couple into the vehicle. Along with the lawyers Bill Schaap and Doug Sorensen, the legal assistants Ellen Ray and Lubow helped Jenkins, Barnwell and Blackwell mount a defense during the militarys equivalent of a grand jury hearing. While he was frightened at the time, Lieber thought of the riot Flint, Kalamazoo, Mount Clemens, Muskegon, Benton Harbor, Saginaw and AlbionIn the week of Detroit riots, all these Michigan cities had outbreaks of Negro violence. Poland and proud to come to this country and be Americans.. exciting.. Black men are getting written up for the length of our hair, and harassed about our uniforms., Jenkins says that all the Marines on the ship wanted to go ashore and fight the Viet Cong, but now, without any other outlets, they were fighting each other. especially in our own world Jewish community.. They arrested at least 50 Okinawans during the fourhour outburst. Marin City, Calif., July 26 and 27Negroes set fires, shot at firemen. Montgomery, Ala., June 12-National Guardsmen turned back Negroes marching on State Capitol in a protest against the jailing of Stokely Carmichael in nearby Prattville. the U.S. to keep its base because they fear the Chinese. If you dont have a God complex, then this doesnt apply to you, now does it? Jenkins told them. Cairo, Ill., July 19National Guardsmen went in after repeated vandalism, arson and looting. Police, moving in quickly but quietly, restored order before dawn. "You get tired of trying behind that action," he said. [citation needed]. avoid the crowd and instead rammed into the back of an Okinawans This article originally appeared in the Aug. 14, 1967, edition of U.S. News & World Report. Japan Times. In May 1971, a fight between hundreds of Black and white airmen at Travis Air Force Base in California resulted in the officers club being burned to the ground. Four wounded. National Guardsmen were called up, but not used. CincinnatiThree separate outbreaksJune 12 through 19, July 3, 4 and 5, and July 27caused one death,many injuries, upward of 3 million dollars in damages and 400 arrests. Prattville, Ala., June 11national guard sent in after Negro gunman battled police following the arrest of Stokely Carmichael. Despite Jenkinss attempt to keep tensions from escalating, relations between white and Black Marines aboard the Sumter were about to get much worse. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Lieber says. The rioters pulled American servicemen from their cars and beat them, then burned their cars. With Schaap and Sorensen pushing for exoneration and the Marine Corps not eager for more bad publicity, the prosecutor eventually felt pressured to resolve the case. Los Angeles, June 13 and July 6Negroes pelted firemen rocks and bottles in and near the Watts area, scene of a massive riot in 1965. [12], Warning shots were fired, attracting a larger crowd, which soon numbered around five thousand; the number of MPs on the scene was now around 700. The Marine spinning records that day was Pfc. In 1972, a Department of Defense task force found that Black service members received a higher proportion of general and undesirable discharges than whites of similar aptitude and education. That same year, the rate of service members being discharged with general or other-than-honorable discharges from the Marine Corps was 13 percent the highest percentage of all of the services. There, in the town of Olongapo, sailors and Marines availed themselves of every kind of vice in the de facto racially segregated entertainment district. On the night of July 20th, 1969, several units of the 2nd Marine Division were celebrating at an NCO Club prior to their deployment to the Sixth Fleet in Spain. In Koza, I didnt want to be On days when his mind goes back to the Sumter, his wife can tell, because he falls quiet for hours at a time. Racial strife aboard a Navy ship left three men facing the threat of the death penalty. to a less-populated area in the north. Waukegan, Ill., July 24 and 25Police rushed in from neighboring cities to help quell two days of vandalism. Please note that it contains language that was widely used at the time, but may be considered offensive by today's standards. Lieber Bricks and bottles hit Lieber on the head and the arm. The Marines leadership, however, zeroed in on Jenkins, along with Pfc. The three Marines became little more than statistics in the Corpss dismal record of race relations in the Vietnam era. In addition to Detroit, more than 100 other U.S. cities were hit by race-related violence, as this 1967 U.S. News & World Report article details. Im sorry, sir. He felt that if things on the Sumter quieted down completely, the Marine leadership would think that those three were the only problem. Atlanta, Ga., June 17 through 20Four days of disorder followed arrest of Stokely Carmichael. Rochester, N.Y., July 23 and 24Violence spread outside Negro areas as white and Negro gangs raided each other's neighborhoods. An around-the-clock curfew was imposed, shutting up the city tight. fired warning shots, and the crowd retreated long enough for the The resulting report found that from July 10 to Nov. 5, 1972, a total of 318 race-related incidents were documented at major Marine Corps installations and that nearly half of those took place on two of the services bases in Okinawa, where Jenkins, Blackwell, Barnwell and the rest of the Marines aboard the Sumter had come from. [5][6] This incident fueled the growing discontent of Okinawans with the standard status of forces that exempted US servicemen from Okinawan justice. [1][2] It left a total of 15 Marines injured, and one, Corporal Edward E. Blankston, dead. The five days of violence left 34 dead, 1,032 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested and $40 million worth of property destroyed. Springfield, Ohio, July 27Five persons were arrested after rock-throwing and fire-bombing. Jenkins only just learned of their deaths. I really dont understand, Jenkins countered. And Im not going to fight the enemy with him if he doesnt like Black people.. About 800 United States troops and military policemen fired warning shots and scores of tear gas shells to disperse the rioters. Despite these findings, there would be little accountability among leaders for the racial injustices that were festering within the ranks. After getting approval from their commanding officer, the MPs as an adventure, he admits. Lakeland, Fla., July 20Negro youths hurled fire bombs into white-owned grocery stores. Some members of the crew were not ready for what they heard. Sherwood notes that Hbert was part of a broad coalition of Southern segregationists in Congress two of whom, Representative Carl Vinson of Georgia and Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi, the Navy later named aircraft carriers for that had a great deal of influence on the Navy, and by extension, the Marine Corps, in the pre-Zumwalt era. Milwaukee, July 30 into early AugustNational Guardsmen went in to halt Negro rioting that left four persons dead, scores injured. (first) wife to the island. Rarely was an American given prison time. Congress. since the end of World War II. Liebers tour in Okinawa wasnt all about civil unrest. anything.. Kitty Hawk, a tense sit-down strike on the carrier U.S.S. The five days of rioting left 26 people dead and lasting scars that still mark the city to this day. In one case, after excelling as a computer programmer for a bank and earning promotions, Jenkins was called in one day and terminated, with no explanation other than an ominous hint that they had found out something about his past. Okinawa was a beautiful place, My parents were Holocaust survivors from Holmes passed out butter knives to other Black Marines while on the mess deck at mealtime, just so the white Marines would know that things had not smoothed over. Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of At War delivered to your inbox every week. Pasadena, Long Beach, San BernardinoIn late July, violence hit suburbs of Los Angeles. Clearwater, Fla., June 3Negroes attacked police; 10 persons arrested. But several thousand angry Okinawans continued to rampage, Some of the rioters danced traditional folk dances as the riot continued around them; others passed through the gate into the Air Force Base, overturning and torching cars, breaking windows, and destroying property. I said, Sir, this is whats going on: Were being treated unfairly. American troops going to Vietnam. Lieber and his fellow MPs attempted to help the American, but The riot resulted in the deaths of 43 people, including 33 African Americans and 10 whites. While the Summer of Love swept through San Francisco 50 years ago this summer, scores of inner-city neighborhoods across the country burned with rage. cars toward the guards and setting three buildings on fire, In the summer of 1967, simmering tensions between the police and the black community in Detroit, Michigan exploded into five chaotic days of . They were also charged with various counts of assault, riot and resisting arrest. Nashville, Tenn., April 8-10Negro college students rioted three successive nights after a speech by "black power" leader Stokely Carmichael. About 500 rioters then broke the fence of Kadena Air Base, and razed the military employment building and the offices of the Stars and Stripes newspaper. The Untold Story of the Black Marines Charged With Mutiny at Sea Racial strife aboard a Navy ship left three men facing the threat of the death penalty. Tight quarters left little room for the men to blow off steam, and small routine squabbles soon escalated. San Diego, Calif., May 21 Police arrested 38 in breaking up riot at a rock-and-roll concert. Boston, June 2 through 5In four days of violence, 100 were injured, 73 arrested. It is said to have erupted spontaneously without any planning from tensions which had reached a breaking point. Roy L. Barnwell (far right) with other Black Marines on the U.S.S. Sumter steamed off the coast of Vietnam with more than 150 Marines from a hodgepodge of different units. After his brief hospitalization in 1991, Jenkins stopped working outside his home and devoted himself to helping his wife, Jerry, advance in her career, and shepherding his daughter, Tanzania, through school to a successful life as a systems engineer. One of Blackwells cousins in Chicago got the attention of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, who promised to send a defense attorney. Kadena Air Force Base. A National Guardsman stands at the ready at a Detroit intersection during the summer riots of 1967. ", An investigation conducted by Col. Louis S. Holler for the military after the incident indicated that the source of the incident stemmed from "a general lack of compliance on the part of officers and noncommissioned officers with the existing policies, either by intent, in spirit, or through ignorance",[3] that "many white officers and noncommissioned officers retain prejudices and deliberately practice them"[3] and that "the Marine Corps, are returning Marines, both black and white, to civilian society with more deeply seated prejudices than were individually possessed upon entrance to service. In the years that followed, his successor continued his efforts on racial equity, but over time the attention to reform petered out. Chicago, May 21Ten persons, including three policemen, injured in melee at "Black Nationalist" ceremony. July 26Negroes smashed windows and looted shops on Fifth Avenue. Tampa, Fla., June 11 through 14national guard was used to quell rioting in which one Negro and a white policeman died. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. By 6 a.m., Lieber and his fellow MPs reached an area near army The services have made progress in adding Black and female officers, but have largely failed to place people of color into leadership roles at the very top, which in 2020 are still almost entirely filled by white men. About 15 years ago, he joined a local V.F.W. [4][13], A song on the eponymous debut album of the Okinawa-based electronic duo Ryukyu Underground is entitled "Koza Riot".[14]. The Koza Riot/Uprising took place in the early morning hours of December 20, 1970. marking the riot at a local museum. "_____ comments on the affect of food shortages, bombing raids and the American race riots on North Vietnamese morale." 1967. Barnwell seems to have fared even worse. As recently as 2015, Black service members were substantially more likely than white service members to face military justice or disciplinary action, according to the legal justice group Protect Our Defenders.). In an interview, he recalled Black Marines testing the limits of discipline in a number of ways, including humming the tune of White Mans Got a God Complex as a form of protest. The incidents on the Sumter led the Marine Corps to charge Jenkins, Barnwell and Blackwell with mutiny, for which they could have faced the death penalty if found guilty. Massillon, Ohio, April 17A battle between Negro and white teen-agers caused 17 arrests. The experience so shook Jenkins that he sold the rifle for almost half of what he paid, just to get it out of his house. An American speeding down the road swerved to He then ordered all of the men under his command back to their bunks. says. The same officer returned to the brig to further harass and physically beat the man, according to the legal teams account. I dont think I hit him, but Im the one they arrested for it, Jenkins says. combat-fatigued GIs arrived straight from the jungles of Vietnam. Prices start at $65 per year. Thats why I feel so alone, you know. Detroit, a city with a reputation for being almost a model in race relations, erupted in mid-1967 with the nearest thing to civil war in a century. [1] Most of the Black Marines came from poor, rural communities from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. As Jenkins slowly rebuilt his life, he lost track of the only two people who truly understood what happened to him: Barnwell and Blackwell. resentment erupted into a riot on Dec. 20, 1970. I was playing Whats Going On by Marvin Gaye, and I was playing Bring the Boys Home by Freda Payne, Jenkins recalls. (AP). the crowd kept pushing the MPs back. With dependents, there were 60,000 Americans on the island. Anyone can read what you share. he stumbled upon a Japanese camera crew filming a segment on the A Marine officer assured the ships leaders that the troublemakers, the oldest of whom was 22 years old, would face discipline elsewhere. At one point, the club manager called the regimental commander to warn of the increasing tensions but no action was taken. Mr. Sato. After Jenkins was told he couldnt play the Last Poets, 64 of the 65 Black Marines on the ship submitted an informal complaint to the highest-ranking Marine officer on board, Capt. Cause the white mans got a God complex.. Providence, R.I., July 31 and Aug. 1Riot squads battled snipers and routed rival gangs of whites and Negroes in two days of violence; 23 hurt, 14 arrested. You think youre so smart, dont you? the Marine screamed in Jenkinss face. Lieber recalls, where he liked to go to the beach and snorkel. Jenkins kept playing the newest records and tapes he could find by Black artists, many of which reflected the antiwar and Black-liberation movements happening at home, alongside country and western albums and hits by the Beatles. Their oldest daughter was born on the A twin-rotor CH-46 helicopter landed on the Sumter, loaded at least six Marines Jenkins, Barnwell and Blackwell among them and flew off. officer housing, where Marines and over 200 MPs had established a 10 arrested. After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who had opposed the Vietnam War and the use of Black people in the conflict, a series of race riots swept dozens of American cities and racial tensions were heightened throughout American society. Here, in chronological order, are cities that have been hit by violence so far in 1967, as reported by United Press International and the Associated Press: Omaha, Nebr., April 1About 200 Negro youths smashed windows, looted stores, damaged police cars; 21 arrested. 5 September 2014. flipping American cars upside down and setting vehicles on fire. Four arrested. NAHA, Okinawa, Sunday, Dec. 20 (AP)Some 2,000 Oki nawans hurled gasoline bombs, empty bottles and stones at United States military person nel and Okinawan policemen and damaged 60 American vehicles today at Koza outside Kadena Air Force Base. Bill to fund his education, he started in the pre-med program at Wayne State University but soon found himself interested in the new up-and-coming technology of computer programming. Central Intelligence Agency. Des Moines, Ia., July 2Negro gangs threw rocks and bottles. On duty as the officer of the day on Sept. 7, he heard a verbal disagreement outside the mess decks that quickly escalated into the smacking sounds of fists. Houston, Tex., May 17One policeman killed, four persons were rounded in rioting on Negro-college campus. Recently the service chiefs announced a new round of task forces devoted to stamping out structural racism. Barnwell (right) and a fellow Marine on the Sumters flight deck in September 1972. Absolutely, I told them, Lieber recalls. Were not He had real bad PTSD.. Sometimes soldiers were sent off the island, and if there was a DOCUMENT. May 30Police arrested 37 in racial battle. As the rioters widened their uprising, one group headed to the For self-defense, he bought an AR-15 for $500, similar to the M16 he carried in the Marines. [1] [2] In the riot, approximately 60 Americans and 27 Okinawans were injured, 80 cars were burned, and several buildings on Kadena Air Base were destroyed or heavily damaged. the American couple to safety. Bombs caused 23 fires. For Jenkins, Barnwell and Blackwell, the days and weeks that followed would have lasting repercussions on the rest of their lives. okinawa race riot 1967aiken county sc register of deeds okinawa race riot 1967 . Married to Sherry in 2002, Lieber lives in Mayfield Heights. National Guard and State police helped local police quell the rioting. Its got a nice beat. Jenkins was incensed, but he decided against pushing things much further. Cambridge, Md., July 24National Guardsmen were sent in after night of rioting and shooting in which a Negro section was gutted by fire. House Committee on Armed Forces. But it was a lie. They were part of a quick-reaction force that could be put ashore anywhere along the coast to fight the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army should the need arise. The racial tensions that led to violent demonstrations around the country in the summer of 1967 spread to the city's. an injustice. Newark, N.J., July 12 through 16Five days of fire-bombing, looting and sniping left 27 dead, more than 1,100 injured, more than 1,300 under arrest, with damage estimated above 15 million dollars. understand their issues.. From then on until 11 p.m., fights broke out around the area which left 15 Marines injured and one, Corporal Edward E. Blankston, a three time wounded Vietnam veteran, dead of massive head injuries. Upon being released from Okinawa, Jenkins briefly returned to live with his mother and father in Virginia, but feeling that he had outgrown his hometown, he moved to Detroit, where he stayed with his sister and enrolled in college. The 1972 task force, which even then called for greater protections of service members fundamental rights, argued that the issuance of bad paper to a veteran will haunt him forever: affecting the respect of his family, his standing in the community, impeding his effort to regain a productive and meaningful role in society. Mount Vernon, N.Y., July 26Rock-throwing, looting. More than 4,000 were arrested, U.S. Army troops and National Guardsmen went in to aid local police. Nearly 500 students arrested. Koza was a bustling entertainment and shopping district just outside Gate 2 of Kadena Air Base, . One killed, three injured. Ironically, it was the same night that Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. "One day Chuck [white people] gets down wrong and you try to take that beast's head off. Achievement for his initiative and devotion to duty during the We held classes on Black history on the ship, and I would talk to the other Black Marines about nonviolent resistance. That didnt matter. Albany, Poughkeepsie and Peekskill, July 27Vandalism spread in upstate New York. Sun, up down. People climbed onto Sarah Pruitt. the riot was justified. It became difficult for him to keep going back, because so many appeared to be drinking themselves to death. On Jul. prosecuted and found not guilty; the injustice rankled the local the troops, says Lieber, patrolling entertainment districts and