Hough riots

Hough in 1966 During the 1950s, middle-class whites largely left the neighborhood of Hough in Cleveland, Ohio, and working-class African Americans moved in. By 1966, more than 66,000 people, nearly 90 percent of them African American, lived in Hough. Most businesses in the area remained white-owned, however. Residents of the Hough neighborhood complained extensively of inferior and racially segregated public schools, poor delivery of welfare benefits, a lack of routine garbage collection, no street cleaning, and too few housing inspections. was a Jewish-owned bar located on the southeast corner of E. 79th Street and Hough Avenue, and popular with African American residents of the community. Seventy-Niner's suffered from a number of problems, including drug dealing, the sale of stolen goods, and prostitution, and the owners had begun barring certain individuals from the establishment. Allegedly, the Seventy-Niner's Café was robbed about an hour after the water incident. A crowd of angry African Americans, some bar patrons and some residents, gathered around the bar. The Feigenbaums said they received a report that their establishment had been robbed at about 8 PM, and arrived at the Seventy-Niner at 8:20 PM. They claimed that a crowd of about 300 people had already gathered outside the bar, and began throwing rocks at the windows once the owners had gone inside. Abe Feigenbaum then said he went outside with a .44 caliber Ruger Model 44 rifle in his hands, followed by his brother Dave armed with a pistol. The rock-throwing stopped, they said, but resumed when they went back inside. After four calls to the police for help went unanswered, the Feigenbaums called the fire department in desperation and fled the café. The crowd now attempted to burn down the bar, but the attempt failed. At 9:11 PM, the Cleveland Division of Fire arrived at the Seventy-Niner's Café. Worried fire officials notified the Cleveland police of the large crowd, and the police arrived at 9:30 PM. ==The riots==

July 18 About 8:30 PM, the crowd—which included youth, adults, and even senior citizens—began to move down Hough Avenue, looting stores and setting fires as it went. the crowd began throwing rocks at them. Initially, about 200 rioters roamed over a 30-square block area centered on Hough Avenue. Police sealed off eight blocks around Hough Avenue in an attempt to contain the violence, and a police helicopter was used to direct the police toward suspected gunmen on top of buildings African American man Alton Burks was shot in the hip and African American man Wallace Kelly was shot in the jaw by unidentified gunmen as well. A White man and wife, the Nopwaskis, were hit by rocks while riding a public bus and also suffered minor injuries. while 12 policemen were injured (although only slightly). July 19 During the day on July 19, Cleveland Mayor Locher and Police Chief Richard Wagner assured the public that they had the situation under control. Very early in the morning, Locher toured the area and then later conferred with white and black city leaders. At 3:30 PM, At 5 PM, Locher announced the arrival of the National Guard was imminent, Only 275 Guardsmen made it to Cleveland on the evening of July 19, and 75 of these were stationed at the main point of violence at E. 79th and Hough Avenue, where a Cleveland Police mobile command post was once more established. Another death occurred on July 19 when 36-year-old African American Percy Giles was shot in the back of head by a Cleveland police officer according to witnesses at E. 86th Street and Hough Avenue at about 8:30 PM. A white male, Joseph Brozich, was assaulted by a small group of African American youth at E. 105th and Superior Avenue and suffered minor cuts and abrasions. A group of local businessmen in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland, citing a few scattered incidents of vandalism, urgently pressed Mayor Locher to expand the National Guard's patrol area to include their neighborhood. Locher agreed, and expanded the patrol zone to (centered on Hough). although only about 1,000 were actually on patrol duty. Rioting had continued during the day, A police helicopter (which occasionally drew gunfire) was used to help identify where mobs formed and where extensive looting was occurring. Police later said that most reports of gunfire were inaccurate, the result of people lighting firecrackers to distract police. Nine people arrested during the previous three days of rioting were charged with felonies, the first felony charges to be made during the event. Many Cleveland-area officials and reporters spent much of July 21 blaming black nationalists and outsiders for fomenting and sustaining the riots. Doris O'Donnell, a reporter with The Plain Dealer, wrote that "A 'hate whitey' revolution, plotted and predicted for many months" by "a small band of extremists" was the real cause of the riots, and said the riots were implemented "as if by a diversionary enemy". She reported that the police, city hall, and unnamed federal agencies had extensive evidence that "points to certain groups and certain individuals as the suspected plotters" behind the riots. and Bertram E. Gardner, executive director of the Cleveland Community Relations Board, claimed, "There's a fringe element in the streets, and they're fighting for control of the streets. They've got to be removed." As dusk approached on July 21, police and Guardsmen maintained the expanded patrol zone. About 400 Cleveland police officers patrolled with the Guard, The National Guard did, however, close Hough Avenue between E. 79th and E. 93rd Streets. During the attack on the mother's car, a National Guardsman was hit in the leg by a ricocheting police bullet. By dawn on July 22, the Cleveland Fire Department had responded to 115 fires (52 started by firebombs), One firefighter was allegedly shot at. Mayor Locher also decided not to ask the governor for additional National Guard troops, saying that the riot situation had improved over the past two nights. During the afternoon of July 22, Major General Erwin C. Hostetler, Adjutant General of the Ohio Army National Guard, issued an order authorizing his troops to shoot looters and arsonists. Initially, the night was quieter than previous nights. The police and National Guard largely deployed toward the edge of the expanded patrol zone. Cleveland police made 72 arrests for public intoxication, which they said was about usual for a Friday night. There were far fewer fires set the night of July 22–23 (only 14), and only a few false alarms. Cleveland fire investigators determined that none of the fires had been caused by a firebomb, and no firefighters were harassed as they put out blazes. The first trouble during the night began at 7:20 PM, when a jeering crowd of about 30 individuals gathered at E. 79th and Hough Avenue as the National Guard, bayonets fixed, told an African American man to move his car from the intersection. Another incident occurred at 10:30 PM, when Cleveland police arrested 15 juveniles and three adults in Glenville (on the border with the city of East Cleveland) for harassing a National Guard unit. Cleveland police, however, said they were unsure if Winchester's death was riot-related. The total number of those killed in the riots was four, On July 26, the first 528 National Guard troops left Hough. The remainder withdrew to camps around the city. Withdrawals continued until the last 800 troops left on July 31. ==Disputes over riot's causes==

Purported cause: Black nationalism and communism During the event as well as immediately after, some individuals asserted (in what one scholar has called the "official narrative") that the Hough Riots had been caused by black nationalists or communists. During the riots, Mayor Richard Locher, The jury foreman was Louis B. Seltzer, an editor of the Cleveland Press who had retired early in 1966. On August 9, 1966, the grand jury issued its 17-page report, blaming the riots on black nationalists and communist organizations. The grand jury reported that "This jury finds that the outbreak of lawlessness and disorder was both organized, precipitated, and exploited by a relatively small group of trained and disciplined professionals of this business. They were aided and abetted willingly or otherwise by misguided people of all ages and colors, many of whom are avowed believers in violence and extremism, and some of whom are either members of, or officers in the Communist Party." At a press conference on July 26, Seltzer stated, "The grand jury saw enough to realize the violence was organized and planned because of specific targets singled out for burning and looting." The grand jury report pointedly declined to discuss allegations of police brutality. The grand jury report also called for new laws defining and providing for harsh penalties for incitement to riot, arson or attempted arson during a riot, and assault against a police officer or firefighter while engaged in official duties. The report also called for the state to redefine "riot" under the law, to make it easier for law enforcement to arrest rioters. The "official narrative" also received support in other quarters. On June 22, during the riot, five members of a local W.E.B. Du Bois Club—including staff members Steve Shreefter and Mike Bayer—were riding in a car. Stopped by a National Guardsmen, posters were found in their vehicle which The Plain Dealer characterized as inflammatory. The United States Department of Justice had attempted to have the group declared a Communist front organization in March 1966 under the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950. In 1967, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a report characterizing the literature as "communist" In 1967, Phillip Abbott Luce, a former member of the Communist Party USA, asserted in his book Road to Revolution that the Communist Party played a significant role in causing and sustaining the Hough and other riots in the United States in the 1960s. Purported cause: Racism and poverty Arguments against the "official narrative" fell into two categories. The first was that there was no evidence for any black nationalist or communist involvement in the Hough Riots. For example, Maj. Gen. Erwin C. Hostetler, Ohio National Guard Adjutant General, criticized Seltzer's conclusions, saying, "There is absolutely nothing to substantiate his statement". After holding several public hearings, during which extensive testimony about police brutality during the riot was heard, the panel released its own report on October 5, 1966. The citizens' committee report condemned the grand jury report as specious, and concluded that despair, police brutality, poverty, racism, and a city government heedless of the plight of African Americans caused the riots. The citizens' panel requested that the grand jury report be legally quashed; that fair housing legislation be adopted by the city; that the city immediately implement a 16-point urban renewal agreement previously negotiated with the federal government; that the mayor begin meeting regularly with representatives of the Hough neighborhood; that the city study the constitutionality of a law giving police immunity from false arrest; that the city call for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the Cleveland police and their practice of holding people without charge; that the state pass a law giving citizens a mechanism to file grievances against government workers; that a grand jury investigate the shootings of Arnett, Giles, and the Townes family; and that the state of Ohio increase the level of welfare payments. Contemporary historical analyses of the Hough Riots do not find evidence for claims of communist influence. As early as 1972, historians Estelle Zannes and Mary Jean Thomas pointed out that no evidence existed to implicate either black nationalists or communist organizations in the Hough Riots. Cleveland historian Leonard N. Moore notes that two undercover Cleveland police officers spent more than a year investigating the JFK House and black nationalist and communist groups in Hough, but found no evidence that these groups or individuals had planned or sustained the riots. In 2003, noted Ohio historian George W. Knepper called the grand jury report a "simplistic and comfortable conclusion" the nearly all-white city administration was more than willing to accept. Kyle Swenson, writing in Cleveland Scene in July 2016, called the grand jury report "almost laughable. Instead of scratching at the deep economic and political grievances that led to a mass group of people to express their frustrations through violence, the official Cuyahoga County explanation was that the commies did it. Seriously." The report, he said, helped reinforce racial tension in Cleveland for decades. In the 21st century, all scholars reject the "official narrative" and its assertion that the riots were fomented and sustained by radical groups, and instead point to social problems like racism and poverty as the riot's cause. ==Effects of the riots==

Devastation and redevelopment of Hough "Hough cast a pall of fear and resentment that took years to dissipate, if it ever truly passed", said Michael D. Roberts, who covered the Hough Riots as a reporter in 1966. Both black and white residents fled the area, causing population loss that lasted into 1990s before stabilizing. The attempts of residents who remained to redevelop their neighborhood were stymied by public and economic policies that led to further disinvestment. Although Cleveland needed financial assistance from the federal government to both rebuild and address its extensive problems, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) cut off federal urban renewal funding to the city in the wake of the Hough Riots because the administrations of Mayor Locher and his predecessors had been so dilatory and incompetent in completing projects. HUD also cancelled an existing $10 million grant, and rejected Cleveland's Model Cities Program application for fear the city would misspend the funds. The Hough Area Development Corporation was formed in 1967 to stimulate investment in the neighborhood, but it proved ineffective and was disbanded in 1983 when federal funding ran out. Not until the late 1990s did the Community Development Corporations (CDCs) begin to play an important role in redevelopment of the neighborhood. Hough changed radically between 1966 and 2000. Whereas the neighborhood had nearly 23,000 housing units in 1966, by the turn of the century it had just 8,409. The population had dropped to just 16,409 in 2000, while median income in the area had slumped to just 45 percent of the median of whites in Cleveland. Toney murder prosecutions Warren LaRiche was tried for the murder of Benoris Toney. LaRiche claimed self-defense, saying that Toney had pointed a gun at the car in which he was riding. An all-white jury deadlocked over his conviction in February 1967. LaRiche was acquitted of murder charges by a second all-white jury in December 1967. Court of Common Pleas Judge John J. McMahon dismissed second-degree murder charges against Patsy C. Sabetta, driver of the car in which LaRiche rode, for lack of evidence. Election of Carl Stokes Mayor Locher came under near-constant media attack in 1966 and 1967 for his failure to revitalize Cleveland and address the worsening racial tension in the city in the wake of the Hough Riots. He was perceived as an unsophisticated political populist whose administration lacked the modern bureaucratic and professional skills to effectively deal with the city's problems. The city's (mostly white) business establishment also withdrew its support for Locher. Cleveland's African American community reacted very negatively to the "official narrative" of the Hough Riots. The city's black community was divided on how to solve issues like racism and poverty, and African American members of the Cleveland City Council focused more on patronage than meeting the needs of the communities they represented. Cleveland's African Americans were unified in condemning the "official narrative", however. Mayor Locher's refusal to acknowledge racism, poverty, and police brutality as causes of the Hough Riots united the black community so strongly that it propelled Carl Stokes to the mayor's office in 1967. Cleveland's business community rallied around Stokes largely because it had lost faith in Locher's analysis of the race problem in the city, and believed Stokes would implement policies which would prevent additional riots. ==See also==