Posted on 04/05/2008 6:13:21 AM PDT by Nextrush
"go home and get your guns"-Stokely Carmichael April 4,1968 in Washington D.C.
I had a habit of sitting in the kitchen and eating my breakfast while the radio was turned on to the morning news.
The morning of Friday April 5th, 1968 I heard the account of a radio reporter (from UPI) who hid under a car while mobs rioted in the street around him.
He sounded scared and he had reason to as rioting broke out in the nation's captial following the assassination of Martin Luther King late on the evening or April 4th and early on the morning of April 5th.
Police allowed looting and only made felony arrests.
The violence picked up again on April 5th in mid-morning with Black Power leader Stokely Carmichael declaring "white America has declared war on black America. Carmichael called for blacks to get guns again.
When asked if he feared for his life, Carmichael declared: "The hell with my life. You should fear for yours..."
Police kept falling back in the face of the mobs with orders not to shoot. Stores were wrecked and merchandise hauled away. Black smoke rose over parts of the city. Downtown stores within two blocks of the White House were targeted.
Late on the afternoon of April 5th Mayor Walter Washington called President Johnson for federal troops.
Four thousand regular Army and National Guard troops were deployed in the city. Some took up positions at the White House with others setting up machine gun emplacements at the Capitol.
Six were reported dead by late on the evening of April 5tb with over 700 arrested.
Just wait until Nobama either fails to win the nomination or loses the general. We ain’t seen nothing yet.
He very likely will be proven correct.
“we ain’t seen nothing yet.”
it’s amazing how the democrats will turn this election into a racial referendum with the attendant, further, criminalization of “white people”. they have a tendency to leave these propaganda booby traps everywhere.....including the “credit crisis” and heaven knows what else.
Prince George’s County (MD) police deployed sharpshooters at the MD/DC line and put out the word that any rioters who crossed over would...cross over.
Amazing how two groups think that rioting and violence is the answer to everything. Amazing that both groups are now preferred minorities, and can do anything they want and get away with it.
“”go home and get your guns”-Stokely Carmichael April 4,1968 in Washington D.C.
I took Stokely’s advise without hearing him or knowing he said this for weeks.
On April 4, 1968, I was a health care salesman and was calling on my customers at Walter Reed.
This was before cell phones, ipods and other instant communication. I had heard nothing about the riots even thought they were happening close to Walter Reed. Early in the afternoon, a NCO, who was a friend as well as a customer said that I needed to get home to Centreville, Va asap or I might not get home.
He told me about the riots and how they had closed the grounds to entry and had armed guards at the gate to keep rioters out if they tried to come into the grounds. He rode with me to the front gate and talked to the MPs.
A MP sarge came to me and told me that they would stop traffic so I and others could get on Georgia Ave to go north to the Beltway and then drive home to Virginia. He told me not to stop unless the cops told me to until I got home. He wanted to know if I had enough gas to get home and I did.
Then, he and some of his MPs stopped traffic both ways on Georgia Ave so several of us could drive out. They did not allow any turns into the city. We were out and headed away in seconds. I saw the MPs hurrying back into the grounds at WR in my mirror.
When, I headed out on Georgia Ave, I could see smoke in my mirror. There was some rioting and looting going on Georgia and the side streets.
The Beltway was loaded like it would be during commute time instead of early afternoon. The normal less than an hour drive was over an hour. I stopped at a hardware store in Va and bought the last two packs of 12 gauge double oughts. I couldn’t call my wife as the circuits were busy.
When I got home to her and our 8 month old baby, she was in a state of near panic.
I took the plug out and loaded up my 12 Rem pump with the new shells. My wife had the Ruger 22 mag, I had bought her. It was loaded and ready. I had a scoped Ruger 22 semi auto with a brick of shells, and I loaded it and put boxes of shells on various window sills.
Shortly after my Mother called. She and my Dad had moved out to Fairfax to be close to us and the new Grandson. I told her that we were okay and for them to stay home after my Dad did an errand. I told him to walk a couple of blocks to a gun store and to buy a 12 riot gun, 30 cal Carbine and a 45 auto matic with ammo for them and some more 00’s for me and more 22 mag hollowpoints for me. He got a neighbor to drive him to the store, and they both bought guns and ammo and shared watches that night.
A few of my hunting neighbors and I set up a quick neighbor hood watch program and divided up the night into 3 hour watches.
Nothing happened in our area that night except for some looting in stores in a few of the nearby larger cities. DC looked like a war zone on tv, and it was a scary night.
The next day my parents drove to our home with clothes, food, their medicine and Dad’s new guns to stay until was safe to go back.
After the riots stopped, my parents decided to go back to Oklahoma. My Dad sold the carbine and riot gun to neighbors and made a good profit. He kept the 45 for the drive back to Oklahoma.
After that DC became an unsafe place. The anti war groups caused many problems. We left the area in 1970.
If the “Hack” steals the election from “Dem Day Bama” then we will have nation wide riots. If the rioters come close to my house I’ll kill them.
I lived through that, and remember seeing DC burn.
Funny, there is absolutely no mention of any of this when talking about history at that time by the MSM. Only ho “great” the “leaders” were at the time.
At first you would see a fire break out and the flashing lights converging on the fire which would rapidly fade out, only to be replaced by another some distance away.
Gradually, however, more fires erupted than could be responded to and they began to accumulate in some numbers. Eventually, the flashing lights disappeared altogether and the fires continued to burn without interference.
We found out later that the fires, for the most part, were the small businesses the inner city residents themselves depended on that were owned by brave immigrants, mostly Koreans.
Not surprisingly, those business owners never returned and the groceries, laundries and other neighborhood businesses never reopened.
I think you might have your dates confused since MLK wasn’t assasinated until 6 pm on April 4th. Rioting started around 10 pm in Memphis and didn’t spread to D.C. until Friday morning, the 5th of April.
I was stationed at WRGH at the time and when we reported for work on Friday morning in our hospital whites, we were told to go back and put on our fatigues. Unfortunately I had both pairs of my boots out being reheeled for an upcoming inspection at a civilian repair shop just a block off post. The walk thru gate next to our barracks was closed and locked for the first time in the 7 months I was stationed there because of the raised level of security. Consequently I was forced to dress combat fatigues and my dress shoes, which meant I was out of uniform. One of the MPs sent me to my company comander to get a dispensation and the CO “borrowed” a pair of boots from somebody and gave them to me. Even though they were 3 sizes to big, I didn’t complain!!
A good friend of mine that I worked with at WRGH had the day off and put on his civies and walked as far downtown as he could snapping 35mm pics all the way down and back. He did have trouble back into the compound in his civies, but eventually talked the MPs at the gate into letting him back in. I still have copies of the 36 pictures he took of the burning and looting in D.C.
Anyway, it’s hard to believe that was 40 years ago.
Even more likely if Hitlery steals the nomination by bribing or threatening the Super Delegates and/or getting the bogus Florida and Michigan delegations seated.
You are correct about the dates.
Nothing like a good neighborhood watch program to cut down on crime and looters!
Therein lies the problem. A whiff of the grape applied early, would probably have fixed the problem. These are not trained troops, and as rioters go, not even high motivated rioters. Looters in particular are not interested in getting shredded for a case of beer.
Rioters do not fear the police. They will only fear homeowners who will fire to protect their homes and families
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