Chapter 30 Great dreams and broken dreams-2

On Wednesday, August 11, 1965, that new urban mood emerged in Los Angeles in a seedy black neighborhood of squat, stucco houses just south of the entrance to LAX. Peeled, reminiscent of some of the favelas of Puerto Rico.The trash never seemed to be left unattended, and there were piles of junk everywhere—broken glass, rusty cans, rotting chicken bones, empty wine bottles, etc. The representation of white police officers who can just grab a black citizen and say, "I'm going to check your ID," makes life there even more unbearable. That August evening, Li Minicus, a California Highway Patrol officer, was checking the ID card of a young black man named Markett Frye, whom he planned to detain for DUI.A crowd surrounded them, booing Minicus and his suspects.This seems to be of little concern, unimportant, but unexpectedly there is tension brewing under the surface calm.Los Angeles is in for a fourth straight day in a scorching heat wave.People are enjoying the shade outdoors, and it is easy to gather to watch the excitement.Frye was arrested at the corner of Avalon Avenue and the Super Highway, a busy Los Angeles thoroughfare through which white drivers drive luxury cars like a stream.Most ominous of all was the condition of the inhabitants of this neighbourhood. 98% are black, with a population density of 27.3 people per acre (compared to 7.4 for Los Angeles County as a whole).Since the early 1940s, a large number of black immigrants have come here. At that time, an average of 2,000 people per month were put into work in the war industry.Blacks now make up 420,000 of the city's 2.731 million residents.But among the 205 police officers in this black ghetto, there are only 5 blacks. In 1965, 1,000 blacks a month were still flocking to this densely populated area in search of jobs that no longer existed.The lure of drugs and alcohol awaits their children, and if their children stumble, "the guy" will come and snatch them.In this district, known locally as the Vaz, the real criminals are not the inhabitants but the traps one falls into.

At 7:45 p.m. that Wednesday, California Highway Police Officer Minikus apprehended the young man, Fry.He ran into trouble almost immediately.The flashing red lights of his police car attracted many people, including the arrestee's mother.First she reprimanded her son, then she blamed the officer.As her emotions grew agitated, the onlookers chirped and expressed displeasure, and Minikus, in a moment of nervous tension, radioed for reinforcements.Then he made two more mistakes.He attempted to force Fry into his police car and turned away from Fry's mother.She threw herself on his back.It was only when other officers arrived that they pulled her away, as the crowd grew more aggrieved, with their pistols keeping them from doing it.At last Minicus departed with his captives, but the price was too high.Because of the use of force, everyone will inevitably distort the story when they narrate what happened, and the result of embellishment will become more and more out of shape.There are two theories that are widely spread.One said a policeman hit a pregnant woman in the stomach with a baton.In another, a police officer shoved a woman toward a patrol car and tried to strangle her.As a result, the crowd was furious, and they threw stones and glass bottles at the police.By 10 p.m., the onlookers had turned into a mob, attacking passers-by, overturning cars and smashing shop windows.The familiar stages of the escalation of violence are now emerging.Police cordoned off eight nearby blocks at 11 p.m.Two hours later, about two thousand rioters broke through the blockade and rampaged through the Oise, attacking outsiders, smashing everything that could be broken, and looting shops.

At 3 o'clock in the morning, the level of rioting subsided slightly, and those who caused disturbances should go to bed; police patrols restored order to the appearance of this black residential area.In the morning, the store owners called in the insurance company, and the men cleaned up, and those who had no experience of rioting thought the incident was over.At 7:45 p.m. that Thursday, 24 hours after young Frye was arrested, the men were disillusioned.At first it was just a repetition of everything that happened on Wednesday night: youths attacking passing cars, throwing bricks at police officers, breaking windows.By 4am the situation had changed.At 4 o'clock in the first day, because everyone was too tired, the residential area was quiet, but now another group of troublemakers flooded the streets.These men were older and more vicious, and they all had weapons.Dick Gregory went into Watts with a microphone and yelled for order, and got shot in the leg.The violence had approached the level of an insurrection, but before the authorities realized it, a team of police officers acting as a quick blitz cleared the crowd from the dark streets of Oise before they declared they had the situation under control.

It wasn't until 10 a.m. that the first incident of daylight rampage occurred, when two white salesmen were attacked, and that's when they realized what was going on.At 11 a.m., a police officer wounded a black looter.Governor Edmund Brown had been on vacation in Greece, and had hurried back after reading reports of growing disorder.His lieutenant governor has granted the Los Angeles Police Chief's request to deploy the National Guard.The first National Guard troops arrived in Oise on Friday afternoon.Things were moving fast in that neighborhood, and when they gathered at an elementary school for a briefing, what they heard was old-fashioned.In an area including 150 blocks, more than 5,000 rioters rushed back and forth, set fire to houses with homemade Molotov cocktails, and ambushed the fire brigade who heard the police and came to put out the fire.The first casualty occurred in Watts at 9:40 p.m., when a county sheriff's deputy succumbed to abdominal injuries.Three more died soon after.National Guard soldiers entered the residential area armed with bayonet-tipped rifles, and they could clearly see looters coming out of stores with guns, various household utensils, wine, jewelry, and everything of value among the fires everywhere.Some of the stores were scrawled in bold letters: "Negro Brothers," "Brothers," "Owned by Negroes," "Owned by a Brother," and some of them were still looted.One group planned to burn Oak Park Public Hospital, which was actually full of black people injured in the riots. Robert Richardson, a black reporter for the Los Angeles Times, wrote: "Those rioters are now burning their own cities, as madmen sometimes amputate themselves."

On Saturday, snipers on rooftops began targeting soldiers and police.Firefighters were given bulletproof vests.The National Guard was first increased to 10,000, and then to 14,000.Martial law was imposed over an area of ​​40 square miles on Saturday and expanded to 46 square miles on Sunday.There were intermittent attacks until the early hours of Wednesday, August 18, when 35 blacks were captured after a shootout at a black Muslim mosque, bringing the incident to a close.In a crazy operation that lasted six days, 34 people were killed, 898 were injured, more than 4,000 people were arrested, and the loss amounted to 45 million yuan.

The vandalism of Watts is considered the worst race riot since Detroit in 1943, but in fact this incident should be said to be in a class of its own.The death toll was the same, but the Detroit incident cost less than $1 million, and everything went wrong this time.At the same time as Watts, on August 12, a black woman was killed when a firetruck drove to West Garfield Park to fight the fire in Lake West District of Chicago.Blacks fought the police and 2,000 National Guardsmen for two nights, looting and beating whites with bottles.As a result, 100 people were arrested and 67 were injured.In Springfield, Massachusetts (which is not a black neighborhood in a big city), a mob accused seven police officers of brutality after arresting 18 blacks outside a nightclub; white stores were attacked with Molotov cocktails made by blacks , leading to mass arrests and the re-calling of the National Guard.Four thousand Negroes in Springfield staged a protest march that ended in front of City Hall, where George Wiley, the vice-president of the National Convention for Racial Equality, told them that "the civil rights struggle in the North" would be worse than in the The struggle fought in the South was "longer, bloodier, and fiercer."

It was characteristic of the 1960s that a committee was appointed to investigate and study the incident after each atrocity.Governor Brown selected a panel of eminent personalities headed by John McCone to investigate the Watts affair.They published an investigative report entitled "Urban Riots: End or Beginning".Since then everyone has known that the Watts incident was just the beginning, but the ways to find a solution are various.The McCone report talked a lot about the need to establish law and order.Black militants protested that laws against black oppression were the cause of the Watts incident.Bayard Rustin called the Watts incident "the first major act of black rebellion against their own submissive habits." Whiteshaw held some responsibility for the television and radio coverage.Bai Xiude accused it of "going beyond the scope of reporting and becoming a factor in itself." He asked, "Is it possible to limit this kind of reporting using electronic transmission in the best interest of domestic tranquility?" Martin. Luther King was not all welcome when he toured the aftermath of Watts.He gradually got used to this situation.The torch of struggle has passed to a new generation of black leaders, and it has become a veritable torch.

The race riots of the summer of 1965 were intense but brief.There had been hope that the year would have been free of major riots before the outbreak of the Watts incident in the second week of August.But the second year is not the case.Alarm bells were sounding again in Los Angeles, this time in March when a group of black students threw rocks at a white faculty member's car and attacked other whites in what turned into a robbery.Police in Los Angeles, having learned a lot from last year's events, crushed this new threat overnight with only two fatalities.But while Los Angeles was spared catastrophe at the cost of minor traumas, the rest of the country was not so lucky, and it seemed that every black neighborhood in America was rebelling against society.In Washington, D.C., blacks went into action in April.By May, three cities in California had entered a state of war.Riots began in Cleveland in late June, followed by Omaha, Des Moines and Chicago two weeks later.Cleveland is next, followed by Brooklyn, Baltimore, Perth Amboy, Providence, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Dayton, Atlanta, San Francisco, St. Louis, Pompano, Florida Cordele, Georgia; Cicero, Illinois; and Lansing, Muskoun, Benton Harbor, and Jackson, Michigan.By late summer, seven people had been killed, more than 400 injured, approximately 3,000 arrested, and damages from vandalism, looting, and arson amounted to more than $5 million.By the end of 1966, the United States had been traumatized by 43 race riots during the year.

In Cicero, a black march for housing without discrimination was met by a countermarch by hostile whites who repeatedly attempted to run past the police to harm blacks. Twelve were injured; six police officers were hit by projectiles, and 32 whites were arrested.The Cicero incident is of particular interest because it shows that, far from causing trouble, the police often try to maintain a fragile peace.Blacks are always targeted because the police represent the authorities and are often the only whites in sight.In working-class areas, white grievances often equal or exceed black grievances.Interracial tensions are being felt on both sides.In 1966, this conflicting mood was on full display.

The initial demonstration calling for the opening of housing was led by Martin Luther King Jr. in Cicero's Market Park.When he was hit by a rock, knocking him to his knees, he called off the rally.Robert Lucas, president of the Chicago chapter of the Congress for Racial Equality, challenged the new march on the grounds that "the Congress for Racial Equality needs to keep the pressure on."Lucas was part of a new militant group, and 1966 was the year that these men came into their own.Floyd McKissick replaced the more moderate James Farmer as head of the Congress for Racial Equality, and Stockley Carmichael succeeded John Lewis as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.The development of the movement did not go as smoothly as they expected.A month into Carmichael's tenure, an event that civil rights leaders took for granted revealed a deep division in the leadership.

James Meredith announced on June 5 that he was leaving Memphis to walk the 225 miles to the Mississippi state capitol in Jackson.His motivation was to prove that black people in America were fearless.But the likes of McKissick and Carmichael dismissed his idea as impractical and fanciful—“It’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” said one movement leader— They decided to ignore Meredith.Meredith wasn't discouraged.Still governed by ideas of "sacred duty" (as he calls them in Three Years at Mississippi, which recounts his ordeals on the University of Mississippi campus), he believed in destiny Awaiting him in the state of his birth, and his thinking was right, was a middle-aged unemployed white man from Mississippi named Aubrey James Nowell.At 4:15 p.m. on the second day of the trip, Meredith, escorted by an FBI agent, was walking along U.S. Route 51 just south of Hernando, Mississippi. At that moment, Norville stood up from the bushes on the side of the road. "James Meredith!" he yelled. "James Meredith! All I want is Meredith!" He shot him three times in a row.At a hospital in Memphis, doctors found Meredith covered in shotgun sand. None of the injuries were serious.What Norville did was to overturn the notion that Meredith's hike should not be taken seriously.The shooting immediately became a movement, and everyone who was fighting for civil rights joined in.Dick Gregory flew to Memphis and marched in the opposite direction from Meredith, and McKissick, Carmichael, and Martin Luther King Jr. walked south from where Meredith was struck down.Dr. King borrowed $2,000 to invest in what he called the "Meredith March for Freedom," and ordered his Southern Christian Leadership Conference to mobilize for another Selma movement. This was impossible at the time.Selma's achievement was to unite black leaders on nonviolent issues.Now, some of King's critics, particularly those on the College Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, have come forward publicly.The day after the Norville sniper, Carmichael told a Memphis rally: "Now the blacks are going to take from the whites what they have." Roy Whitney of the AAAP and Whitney Young Jr. of the Urban League agreed.And the rhetoric of these young militants has grown more aggressive.In Philadelphia, Mississippi, during Freedom Summer in 1964, three members of the movement were killed—two of them white—a white Mississippi was shotgun and wounded in the dark of night, while college nonviolent coordinators The committee's Ralph Featherstone expressed no regrets about the incident, instead cheering that blacks were no longer so easy to bully, saying "they responded with guns to guns".Carmichael spoke exactly the language of the Black Panther Party.In Yazo, young blacks sang, "Hey hey! Hey hey! You know! White people gotta go — gotta go!" Willie Rick, a 23-year-old member of the coordinating committee (dubbed "The Preacher" for his evangelical style), boarded a flatbed truck to deliver a hate-preaching sermon that made an older generation of black leaders tremble .He spoke of white bloodshed, and repeatedly used two explosive words: "Black power!" to illustrate his goals. In Greenwood, 45 miles from Yazo, Carmichael was released from custody after seven hours.In part, his predicament is due to his combative attitude.Liberal whites, discouraged by this attitude, are far less generous with their donations than they were in Selma.Food and housing were a problem, and Carmichael was originally arrested while setting up a tent on the playground of a black school.As he climbed into another flatbed truck to address the Greenwood crowd, he heard about Rick's speech.Carmichael reminded his audience that he had been arrested by the police on the campus of a black school, using the repetition and question-and-answer method that civil rights leaders had so effectively learned from black preachers. "Everyone but ourselves can do whatever they want in our neighborhood... Now, we're going to take something, we're going to take something representative. Whether it's white or not — maybe It's black. Don't belittle yourself. We - demand - black - power!" People shouted, "That's right!" And he seized on the theme: "We—demand—black power! We—demand—black—power! We demand black power! We demand black power! Yes—that's what we want... Now, henceforth, when they ask you what you want, you'll know how to answer them. What do you want..." "Black Power!" "What do you want?" "Black Power!" "What are you asking for? Say it again!" "Black Power!" What did that mean? Roy Wilkins had no doubts. "'Black power' means opposition to white power . . . and that must mean going it alone. It must mean separatism. And that's totally incompatible with what we at the NAACP stand for." Wilkins put it It's called: "Father of Hate, Mother of Violence." Martin Luther King Jr. initially said something similar about the matter, though he later saw coalitions among civil rights groups go to war over the issue. split, he took an ambiguous approach, interpreting it as "an appeal to racial self-respect, to the Negro not to be ashamed of being Negro, to transform the powerlessness of the Negro into a positive and constructive power ".McKissick sees this as a call for united action: "Unless we can manage to unite black power, we're in a state of failure." But Charles, brother of the martyred Medgar Evers, Evers, the leader of the NAACP in Mississippi, warned: "If we pursue the goal of black supremacy along these roads, we are doomed to fail." Philip Randolph lamented this This belligerent cry is a "threat to the peace and prosperity of the race"."Every black person who fought for civil rights couldn't have embraced black power because it was the antithesis of civil rights and desegregation," he said. Discord among civil rights leaders in Mississippi has eroded public support for the movement, The New York Times said in a national investigative report.One poll found that 77 percent of whites felt the tenets of black power were hurting black causes.James Meredith agrees.He was recuperating in New York at the time, and “there seemed to be some grandstanding going on there,” he said. After fully recovering, he rejoined the march and was embraced by Kim and others.Still, his misgivings persisted, saying: "I think something is wrong." He also said that "some of the nonsense is going on, and I don't like it." A public rupture between the old and new generations of leaders is inevitable.It happened on June 23 at Canton, near the end of Meredith's march.Here, police disagree with them setting up a tent on a school playground. 2,500 blacks refused to disperse and held their ground."We're not running around anymore," Carmichael yelled. But that wasn't really the case, and people fled as police attacked with batons and tear gas.But when King rejected their offer to pitch the tent anyway, the leader of the SNCC deserted him."We'll do our own thing from now on," said one of them. They then suggested that, since the NAACP was not actively supporting the march, it should be excluded from the grand mass meeting in Jackson.King and a volunteer group of paramedics who provided care on the march opposed the resolution, but the College Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress for Racial Equality and two other groups representing young black men formed a majority and the resolution passed.Charles Evers said: "That's fine. When they're all gone, I'm still here."He said wryly that the march hadn't paid any attention to the work of registering black voters.As the procession reached the statehouse courtyard in Jackson, the band played "When the Saints Go Marching," and veterans of other civil rights demonstrations noted that they had spent years with King. Many of the whites who marched are not here now. This certainly does not mean that liberals no longer care about the just cause of black people.Nor could it put an end to the projects already in progress for the advancement of the Negro.In that same month, a six-month boycott of white businesses in Fayette, Mississippi ended triumphantly with the hiring of black workers at Fayette stores and the closure of gas stations for people of color. Stand toilets, and hire a group of black police officers and deputy sheriffs.Julian Bond, who was elected to the Georgia state legislature three times in 12 months, finally took office by order of the US Supreme Court.In Selma, Jim Clark County Sheriff quietly put away his little round "Never" badge because his office was electable.It didn't help that he lost the election when black voters registered under electoral laws he had opposed turned out to cast ballots. In the past, when a few Negroes succeeded, all Negroes were satisfied.An entire race would be proud of the achievements of this few.This is not the case now, and Carmichael quotes a black woman's statement that September, which is quite representative: "Ralph Bunche's food can't fill my stomach." Elevator workers and cotton pickers who earn three yuan a day are also demanding their fair share.This is human nature, and it is taken for granted.However, the methods used by these radicals to fight are absolutely unrealistic.Blacks make up only 11% of the US population.Talking about the Black Revolution—and there was already a lot of talking about it in 1966—is silly, and the SNCC's call for black resistance to desegregation is even more absurd. Philip Randolph, appalled by the violent confrontations between blacks in the ghettos and the police, went so far as to say in September: "The marches and demonstrations in the streets are at the end of their strength and should be over now." He proposed a new approach: "From the Turn the streets to the table.” In October, he, Wiggins, Young, Rustin, and three other older leaders in the civil rights struggle signed a statement criticizing violence, rioting, and grandstanding , and concluded: "We not only welcome, but we demand the full cooperation of white Americans." The impression, as if he believed that the spokesmen for black power, were "certainly and irrevocably erroneous." At one point, Carmichael took a conciliatory line, reinterpreting black power as: "Negroes unite as a political force to elect their own representatives, or to compel their representatives to say what they want . . . to say to them: 'Look , man, we won't vote for you unless you give us how many schools and hospitals and playgrounds and careers.'" But he didn't hold out.Before long, he was telling his audience, "If we don't get our fair share, we're going to tear this country apart." He also called on blacks to "fight for liberation with any weapon necessary." Prattville, Alabama, said: "We're here to fuck this town up, we're gonna fuck it up." He called President Johnson a "barbarian," a "clown," " liar".He made it more and more emphatic that he and the Black Panthers, whose catchphrase "Power to the people" meant power to black people and no one else.Then, just as Danton was replaced by Robespierre, Carmichael was replaced as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee by an even more racist Rapp Brown.As much of Cincinnati's downtown area was ablaze with homemade Molotov cocktails for five days and nights of horror, Brown told reporters there would never be peace "until these savage white dog cops get the hell out of here." situation.Then he said: "The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee has declared war." In the 1966 election, the backlash vote was a reaction to demands for black power.Another reaction has been the shifting of positions by sensitive politicians such as Senator Everett Dirksen.Derkerson, who had supported civil rights legislation in 1964 and 1965 as a "timely proposition," derided the 1966 bill for its inclusion of Title IV (a "housing without discrimination" clause) is "a scourge of a pack", thus failing it.Oddly enough, it was a British journal, The Economist of London, who was most critical of these new militants. "Most of these 'leaders' are hideously fascist figures," said The Economist. The journal mocked "liberal intellectuals" who "revealed insultingly, The anti-white sentiment that prevails among black Americans is similar to the sentiment that the French felt against the Germans in 1943." And said: "The robbing and insulting of white women has been viewed by some activists in the past as a form of 'black revolution' The almost noble behavior of the American people'." The magazine also predicted: "The temporary and very unusual tolerance of the American people for this wanton brutality is almost necessarily transformed into a severe intolerance of the white man." At the same time, black racists are increasingly assertive.The Panthers, who had increasingly acquired a reputation among wealthy urban liberals as what Tom Wolfe tartly called "radical hipsters," were notorious criminals who used to be found only in police files. Yet it is seriously studied as an observer with new insights into the human plight.All of them were products of the ghetto, and some traced their origins to recent riots.Ron Kalunga, who came from lower society in the Oise region, denied that his black nationalist organization had engaged in rioting, of which four members had been charged.Kalunga's fame was also caused by the riots in Vaz.The toll of that commotion, it is now becoming clear, was incalculable.Certain major losses will not be seen for several years.One of the legacies of the riot was the snub-nosed 55-SA eight-shot 22-caliber Ivor Johnson revolver.The pistol was originally purchased by a terrified Angeleno for self-defense in late August 1965 for $31.95 after the riots broke out.He later gave the gun to his daughter, who in turn gave it to a neighbor in Pasadena, who in turn sold it to Munir "Joe" Sirhan of Nash's employees.In the end, Joe passed it on to his little brother Sherehan - Bishara "Saul" Sherehan.It was the same pistol that Shere Khan used to kill Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles three years after the Watts riots. In the 12-year cycle of the Vietnamese calendar, the Year of the Snake (1965) gave way to the Year of the Horse (1966), which then entered the Year of the Goat (1967).The Year of the Horse is considered a year of happiness, second only to the auspicious Year of the Dragon, but nearly half of the American deaths in Vietnam—2559—came in the first ten weeks of 1966, They died under Communist fire and bombs within those ten weeks, and it turned out that this was only the beginning.The total number of American soldiers killed that year was 4,800.By May of the following year, the total number of deaths in the United States exceeded 10,000, and as the war prolongs, the number of casualties is also increasing.In the year of the sheep, the average number of casualties per week is 33% higher than in the year of the horse. More people died in 1967 than in any other year since the war began.During this same period, 53,000 civilians died, a matter of growing concern to critics of the civil war. The heavy casualties haven't stopped the Pentagon from coming up with more aggressive policies.The Joint Chiefs of Staff had been pressuring McNamara to urge the president to order the bombing of North Vietnamese fuel and lubricant supply facilities (known as oil source attacks).Admiral Grant Sharp, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, predicted that the move would "bring the enemy to the negotiating table, or quell the rebellion."McNamara finally agreed in March 1966, despite the CIA's forewarning that an oil strike would not stop the infiltration of men and supplies.The CIA was right that, despite heavy casualties in the fighting, the number of North Vietnamese soldiers traveling south along the 1,000-mile Ho Chi Minh Trail rose from 1,500 a month to 3,500, then to 4 000 people.By the end of the year, Vo Nguyen Giap had sent an average of 8,800 people to the south every month.Soon, the annual replenishment rate reached 100,000. Defense research groups reported to McNamara that, despite the bombing, the guerrilla inflow to the south "has continued unabated" and that the various raids were critical to Hanoi's ability to operate south of the seventeenth parallel " No significant direct impact".The Minister of Defense personally flew to the front line to inspect, this is his eighth visit to the site.On his return, he told the president: “The prospects for reconciliation, if anything, are slimmer than in the past.” He added: “The airstrikes have neither significantly affected infiltration nor shattered morale in Hanoi.” He advised the president to reevaluate the bombing campaign.The Joint Chiefs of Staff strenuously opposed any proposal to reduce air strikes.In a memo to the president, they argued that the military situation "has improved substantially over the past year" and called the bombing "a trump card."When General Westmoreland flew back to the United States to address a joint session of Congress, he said: "In the four years I have been in Vietnam, I have never been more encouraged than I am now... We have reached the point where we are about to see the end. It's time." McNamara was not encouraged.By then, the fleeting optimism reckons he's seen too much.In Saigon, he had spent a depressing period with a subordinate stationed there, who told him that the official cheerful tone was a lie, that the future was an endless dark alley, There is no light to speak of.The person who provided this information was Daniel Ellsberg.In fact, Westmoreland came to Washington not to report victory but to demand more troops. By the end of 1966 he had 375,000 people.By April 1967, he had 480,000 people, more than the peak of the Korean War.He called for an increase to 680,000 by June 1968, or at least 565,000.With 680,000 men, he told Johnson, he could end the war in two years; with only the latter smaller number, it would take three years.The president noted with displeasure that Communist forces in the South were at their highest strength on record.他质问这位将军说：“我们增兵，难道敌人就不能增兵吗·这样下去，到哪儿才算尽头呢·”威斯特摩兰说，如果武元甲的渗透率再提高，他的供应将发生困难。无论如何，美国在南越的怨气兵杀死北越人的速度总比他们能补充的速度快。约翰逊问他，如果武元甲要求中国派遣志愿军，情况会怎么样。这位将军回答说：“那倒是一个大问题。” 美国人卷入越南战争的时间已经大大超过了第二次世界大战和朝鲜战争。这场冲突看来已完全成了一场白人与亚洲人之间的斗争。驻越南军事援助司令部给这里的大小战役取了许多有声有色的名字，它们使人想起丛林中的苦难生活和美国国内日益分裂的人民中的与日俱增的痛苦。其中有阿托巴罗行动、陆战队广场行动，以及马希尔行动、双鹰行动和白翼行动。然后还有达多行动、881高地北坡行动、禄宁行动、疯马行动、霍索恩行动和从德浪河战役之后代价最高的一次行动——黑斯廷斯行动。接着是881高地南坡行动、溪山行动、昆天的三个红色高地行动，以及阿速坡行动。在西贡河和西贡以北20英里的13号公路之间，由已放弃的橡胶种植园和热带多雨森林组成的一个三角形地区——铁三角，作为共产党人的据点已达20年之久。1967年1月以3万名怨气兵对铁三角发动的攻击，即所谓的雪松瀑布行动，是美国参加越南战争以来发动的最大的一次攻击。但是，在一个月之后发动的江克欣城行动规模就更大了。参加这一行动的4.5万名美国军队挺进到接近柬埔寨边境的C区内，扫荡越共的一处根据地。他们如愿以偿，但以后又不得不让敌人重新收复它，因为越南共和国的军队甚至连充当守备部队来守住它的能力都没有。 在此同时，国会已开始使得不同意约翰逊战争政策这种事情成为一桩体面的事了。按后来的标准来看，这种反对态度是低调的。16名反对政府战争行动的参议员警告河内说，他们对政府的不满是有限度的，他们“坚决反对任何单方面的撤退美军”。但是，美国国会越来越不易控制了。应总统的要求，以迈克·曼斯菲尔德为首的五名参议员，在越南度过了35天。他们发表的报告使约翰逊大为沮丧，他们发现美国在越南一年的军事行动并没有改变这场战争的进程，他们还发现，美国正在越来越深地陷入一场“无止境”的冲突：“其无止境的程度完全取决于北越及其支持者将以增兵对增兵的意愿和能力。”参议员罗伯特·肯尼迪指责说，现政府已“转变了”他哥哥制定的政策，以致现在“我们正在屠杀无辜的人民……而这只是因为离我们1.2万英里的［共产党人］，而现在他们可能离我们只有1.1万英里了。” 这是最高阶层的反对意见。参议院中的鸽派也许反对约翰逊在印度支那的方针，但是他们投票同意拨款以便继续进行这场战争，而且他们的语言也是彬彬有礼的。鸽派中最直言不讳的富布赖特，是从来不失礼的。威斯特摩兰对纽约的听众说，他“为近来在国内的一些非爱国的行为，搞得十分伤心”，并指责了那种犯有助长敌人威风的罪行的人。富布赖特仅仅回答说：威斯特摩兰之行是政府有意安排，为“逐步升级铺平道路”，这自然是千真万确的。下一层的抗议者是马丁·路德·金，他把美国称之为“当今世界上最大的暴行承包商”，他还把美国在越南屠杀农民的种种新武器试验，比之为纳粹分子“在欧洲的集中营搞的新药和新刑”试验。埃尔莎·基特在约翰逊夫人于白宫举行的午餐会上抨击这场战争时也使用了差不多的语言。斯波克医生在对和平示威者说，“林登·约翰逊是敌人”时，也是如此。民歌演唱家皮特·西格也是这样，他的一支歌《泥深及腰》曾受到哥伦比亚广播公司的抵制，而这支歌把总统的战争政策完全说得一钱不值(“那个老糊涂虫还在说：'干下去'”)。还有霍华德·布雷特·利维上尉，他是布鲁克林的一个医生，他拒绝训练派去为陆军特种部队——“绿色贝雷帽”——服务的医疗队人员，理由是根据纽伦堡审判原则，他将因此而成为战犯的一名帮凶。1967年6月对利维医生的进行军法审判时提出的罪名之一，是他把这场战争称为“凶暴的罪恶”。他被判有罪，判处三年徒刑，当即给带上了手铐。 各高等院校依然是激烈的反战中心。为美国中央情报局、道氏化学公司——凝固汽油(一种能燃烧的黏液)的制造商——和武装部队招募工作人员的人都受到粗暴的对待，有时被撵出大学校园。代表三百多所大学学生会的全国学生联合会(全国学联)每年接受中央情报局20万元津贴一事，于1967年的圣瓦伦丁节被揭露，使全国学联工作陷于瘫痪。1967年10月，大学生们发动了“停止征兵周”，并组织了五万多名示威者进军到五角大楼的台阶前去示威。他们进行了一些富有创造性的，有时是令人震惊的反征兵活动——把八张征兵卡糊在美国驻伦敦大使馆的门口，与奥克兰的警察持续进行了五天战斗，力图阻止从征兵站运载应征人员前往军事基地的大轿车，占据芝加哥大学的行政大楼达三天之久为了使大家注意反战行动。 这并不完全是无私的理想主义。大学生们正好是在适龄入伍的年岁。1966年每月征召人数几乎提高到1965年平均人数五千人的十倍，大学生缓役的表格发得越来越少了。对于征兵的抵制以标语、小徽章和巨幅招贴等方式公开地表达出来。1967年流行歌曲是阿尔洛·格思里的《艾丽斯饭店》，这首歌曲是歌唱逃避兵役的。几乎每一所大学的宿舍里都有一大套传单，提供如何设法使自己通不过征兵局体格检查的窍门。(“去时先吸足毒品，飘飘然。如果你想真正扮演成一个吸毒老手，你可以在几个星期前用普通针来回刺你的胳膊。”)赫尔希将军对此进行回击，他向全国4088个征兵站发出指令，要他们把抗议者重新列为一等合格。国会议员表示反对，说赫尔希越权；美国公民自由联盟也指控说，利用征兵惩罚持不同意见的人是“蛮横的”。但是赫尔希不肯让步。后果之一是流入加拿大的逃避兵役的人激增，最后在那里年轻的美国逃亡者竟达万人左右，他们在多伦多的大学生和平行动联盟之类团体的协助之下，安居下来。 随着国家两极化的发展，鹰派变得更为好斗了。为了回答俄勒冈州的莫尔斯和阿拉斯加州的格里宁不约而同的反战演说(前者说，“美国正在把人类引入决无胜利可言的第三次世界大战”；后者把新的战争拨款提案叫做“供无限升级使用的空白支票”)，路易斯安那州的拉塞尔·朗扯起国旗来抨击“鼓励共产党人拖长战争”的人。朗说：“每逢我看到美国国旗飘扬在国会大厦上就豪情满怀……我衷心祈祷投降者的白旗永远不要在这里升起来。”埃弗雷特·德克森预言说，如果越南失陷，美国的“整个太平洋沿岸”就将“暴露无遗”。曼哈顿的鹰派在巴特里公园发动了一次为期两天的感恩节守夜行动，同时要求，对这场战争持赞同态度的人开灯行车——霎时间每一条公路都鲜明显示出全国人民陷于何等严重的分裂状态。 林登·约翰逊一如往日，嘴里说的全然不是他心中所想的。1966年6月他戴着他那顶白帽子宣称：“每一个美国人，不论是老年人还是青年人，都必须享有表示不同意见的权利。即便是少数人，也决不应禁止他们说话。提出意见和表示异议都是民主制度维持生命的呼吸，即使气粗一点也不要紧。”他的内心的感觉却是，凡是在这战争问题上与他争吵不休的人都是非美的，因而他有责任使用他所能使用的任何武器与他们斗争。总统发动的宣传是卓著成效的，他还在不同的时间，在关岛、檀香山、马尼拉和墨尔本与各盟国交换意见，他把他出国旅行的时间安排在国内发动反战活动的时候，这样来使那类反战活动不致成为头版新闻。这并不总是成功的。在澳大利亚，他发现并不只是美国的大学生能够召集反战示威游行；在墨尔本跟他为难的人，突然向他的轿车投掷了两个装满颜料的塑料气球，使他的车染上了红绿两种颜色——越共的旗色。 他对于反战分子的真实感情，于1966年5月17日在芝加哥举行的一次民主党筹措基金晚餐会上爆发了出来，他斥责了那些“胆小鬼”，说他们“打算反对他们的领导人，反对他们的国家，反对我们自己的战士”。到那年的夏末，他一直避免使用“伟大社会”这个词。他已经转变，宁可与那伙政治上的保守分子打交道，而不喜欢那伙“抽风似的自由派”，因为他们是一些“制造麻烦的人，迫使政治家们向右转”。在白宫的私人谈话中，他会直截了当地说，参加反战运动的美国人不忠于国家，“俄国人”是“这整个活动的后台”。他还对他的幕僚人员透露，联邦调查局和中央情报局一直在向他汇报“事态的真相”。他说，参议院中的鸽派与苏联代理人是有接触的，他们同苏联人一起吃午饭，参加苏联大使馆的宴会，并鼓励他们的助手的孩子们与驻华盛顿和联合国的苏联外交官员约会。他肯定地说：“俄国人想出许多话来让那些参议员去讲。我常常在他们讲话之前就知道他们要说些什么。”1966年6月，总统奖学金获得者之一，有一名很有天资的17岁的姑娘，她的父母原来是这场战争的批评者。总统为此向有关人员发出一项指示，要收回这位姑娘的奖牌。埃里克·戈德曼表示不同意，这项命令才又撤消了，但是，戈德曼被告知，在将来总统奖学金获得者确定提名之前，他们和他们的家庭都要经过联邦调查局的审查。 鹰派以约翰逊为榜样，到处任意给人贴上不忠于国家的标签。1966年，哥伦比亚广播公司电视台放映了“吉波队”——海军陆战队自己的称呼——中的海军陆战队员放火烧农民的茅舍的情景，五角大楼几乎指责广播员叛国。麦克纳马拉在蒙特利尔发表演说反对轰炸河内，指出每周对北越投掷炸弹的吨数已超过第二次世界大战中在德国投掷的全部炸弹，他也因此而遭到怀疑。他在1967年11月辞去职务，约翰逊的亲信顾问离开华盛顿的还有麦克·邦迪、乔治·鲍尔、杰克·瓦伦蒂、乔治·里迪、理查德·古德温，以及霍勒斯·巴斯比。比尔·莫耶斯的离去，特别刺伤总统的心，而使莫耶斯的新闻秘书工作干不下去的正是约翰逊的模棱两可的态度。赖斯顿写道，莫耶斯已经受到了信用差距的伤害，而莫耶斯本人更说，这种信用差距已坏到这样的地步：“以至我们也不相信我们自己透露出去的东西了。”莫耶斯的辞职使这位总统大为光火，他指责莫耶斯要讨好肯尼迪家族，利用白宫，用牺牲政府声誉为代价来谋求私利。约翰逊大发雷霆说，他读了剪报资料，他并不愚蠢，他看清了在发生的事情，当约翰逊的处境每况愈下的时候，这位新闻秘书却一直在获得报界的好评。 他对他的公众形象的估计是正确的。到1967年，那形象可说是十分糟糕。特工处透露，从达拉斯事件以来，由于威胁总统的生命而被逮捕的人数，已增加了500%。认为林登·约翰逊应对约翰·肯尼迪之死负责的人数一直在增长。据《绅士》杂志估计，到1967年5月，关于达拉斯悲剧有六十来种不同说法的著作在销行。那一年的年初，新奥尔良州的地方检察官吉姆·加里森对报界说：“我的工作人员和我已在数周之前解决了这件刺杀案。”后来发生的事情清楚地表明，加里森实际是疯人院里的人物，不是法院中人，但是5月份的一次哈里斯民意测验却表明，怀疑沃伦报告的美国人，已从44%跃为66%。许多人认为加里森“不无道理”；另外一些人对约翰逊总统的任何事，包括他进入白宫的途径，反正都表示怀疑。 他的威望日益下降，到1968年3月盖洛普民意测验的数字表明：全国只有36%的人支持他行使总统职权所采取的行动。像五年后的理查德·尼克松一样，约翰逊退缩到自我孤立中去。三年前，当他与戈德华特进行竞选角逐时，他兴高采烈地走到人海中去，使特工人员十分担心。现在他公开露面只限于对可靠的听众——会见企业界的负责人或住在军事基地的军人家属，在这些地方，他可以相信他的听众是尊敬他的。白宫已成了壁垒森严的地方。要进白宫的大门更加困难了，证明文件要求非常明确，而且随身公文皮包也要经过严格的检查。总统的幕僚人员敦促他走出去到人民中去。即便人群怀有敌意，全国也会同情和赞赏他的勇气，任何一种举动都比这种闭门索居的情况强。特工处不同意这些意见。他们感到，全国情绪敌对，那么在未经审查过的人群面前露面，将是十分危险的，这一次，约翰逊听从了他们的意见。 他越来越留神地注意他的幕僚和内阁，警惕着进一步的背叛。那些想要继续供职的人，或那些现在需要约翰逊的同意而得到提拔和为了今后的仕途需要他的保证的那些人，感到他们必须对他表示狂热支持和不贰忠贞。休伯特·汉弗莱成了一个超级鹰派。拉里·奥布赖恩抬出一个死人来支持这场战争，他在维吉尼亚州列克星敦对听众们说，如果乔治·马歇尔将军还活着的话，他“无疑”会支持约翰逊越南政策的每一点。被任命为司法部长的尼克·卡曾巴赫，1967年8月17日对参院外交委员会作证时说，三年前通过东京湾决议时，国会实际已授权总统“以任何必要的方式使用美国的武装力量”，并说，这一点便足以使总统可以在印度支那承担任何军事义务，包括轰炸接近中国边境的目标。接下去会上出现了这样一段对话。 参议员富布赖特：你认为宣战一举已经过时了吗· 卡曾巴赫先生：从目前的具体环境来看，我认为，宣战之说在国际舞台上就是已经过时了。 卡曾巴赫说，参议院已批准美国参加区域性防御条约(这指的是东南亚条约组织)，那就够了。他表示，一位总统不必与国会磋商，就可以使用美国的军事力量做他愿意做的任何事情。在他说到这一点时，委员会的一个成员怒不可遏地离席而去，他嘟囔说：“惟一的办法是——诉诸全国舆论。”这位参议员就是明尼苏达州的尤金·麦卡锡。 1967年，是黑人暴乱的第三个年头，也是情况最坏的一年，而正是在这一年的5月，斯托克利·卡迈克尔辞去名不副实的大学生非暴力协调委员会主席的职务，飞赴古巴和北越旅行。他把他的继任人拉普·布朗说成是“一个坏人”，他说：“有一天我再回来，你们会高兴的。”布朗的崛起，是反对黑人白人联合行动和主张排除白人自由派的好斗分子的胜利。7月26日，他说：“如果你们给我一支枪，我可能就用它打死约翰逊夫人。”他还对底特律的黑人说：“白鬼就是你们的敌人。” 7月20～23日的这一周末，白人被排斥在纽瓦克举行的关于黑人权力问题的全国会议之外。会议的代表接过了马尔科姆·艾克斯发出的口号：“非暴力抵抗已一去不复返了”。在他们赞同的一些措施当中，竟有这样一些决议，如号召建立一支“黑人民兵”，“举行全国性的对话，讨论把美国划分为一白一黑两个分立国家是否适宜”，承认“黑人在认为必要和符合他们的利益时造反的权利”等。取消种族隔离的主张已完全过时，几近一千名与会代表宣称：绝对的种族隔离是新的目标。 布朗的大学生非暴力协调委员会的刊物《新闻信札》，在8月14日的一期上载文谴责犹太复国主义，猛烈抨击美籍犹太人，指责以色列“使用恐怖手段、暴力和屠杀”摧残阿拉伯人。这一举动迫使像哈里·戈尔登、西奥多·比克尔这些自由派人士离开了大学生非暴力协调委员会，并引起布内·布里茨反诽谤同盟布内·布里茨(BnaiBrith)原意为忠于誓约的子孙。这一同盟是德国犹太人为提高成员“道德水平”于1843年在美国成立的一个团体。——译者的猛烈批评。这些好斗分子是无所顾忌的。白人同情分子还真的收到了他们不受欢迎的信息，争取种族平等大会在它的会章成员资格一条中取消了“多种族”字样。弗洛伊德·麦基西克代表争取种族平等大会，发表了一份黑人宣言书，明确申明入坐、抵制和和平示威均属于过去的做法。他说：“民权斗争时代的战略和哲学已不可能再使我们在争取全面平等的道路上前进。应当寻找到新的方法，应当开始一个新的时代。”他说，这几个漫长而酷热的暴乱的夏天，将来也许要作为“黑人革命的起点”留在人们的记忆之中。 有些白鬼似乎患有自我虐待狂，善于克制自己。也许一个最生动的例子是1967年劳动节的那个周末，在芝加哥举行的全国新政治大会(全新会)。这次大会有三千名代表参加，代表着二百多个具有不同目标的团体，这些目标有结束越南战争、改善贫民待遇、争取美国黑人的平等，等等。每一个代表的表决权的大小决定于其所属的团体在当地拥有的活动分子的多少。例如，妇女争取和平罢工组织代表1000票，坎顿市争取越南和平公民大会31票。黑人各团体共拥有5000票表决权，他们还要求有更多的票数。麦基西克说：“黑人不能作别人的讲台的一块砖石，他们得建立自己的讲台。”黑人代表组织了一个黑人领导核心，联合发表了一个包括13点要求的最后通牒。其中包括，在各委员会中黑人都要求拥有50%的代表权，谴责“犹太复国主义的帝国战争”以及赞成纽瓦克会议通过的一切措施等。他们要求大会在那个星期六下午1点之前一字不改地全部加以接受。《壁垒》的一位编辑建议在文字上做一些修改，黑人领导核心的一个成员却对他吼叫说：“一个白人有什么权力修改黑人的决议·”他只得赶忙收回了他的建议。 一位上了年岁的白人妇女解释说，这件事不过是对全国新政治大会的“社会晴雨表”的一次考验，这个共有13点的纲领终于以三对一的票数获得通过。代表们于是以长时间欢呼表示庆贺。接着，他们又不禁一惊。黑人领导核心仍不满意。黑人集团不肯接受已分派到的5000票的表决权，他们要求拥有28498票——以便绝对控制这次大会。黑人的发言人在讲台上解释说，这完全是一个信任的问题，白人应当采纳这一提议以表明他们信任黑人。一位白人代表后来说：“出现了一件非常的事情，派尔默大楼的四壁都开始浸透了自觉有罪的意识。”这一提议以二对一的多数获得通过。此后，提交这次代表大会的每一项决议的命运都是由一名黑人青年所掌握，他坐在黑人领导核心的前排，举着一块代表28498票表决权的粉红色的大牌子。实际上，这次大会的成就十分有限。相当数量的白人曾经希望提出总统候选人名单：由马丁·路德·金竞选总统，斯波克医生竞选副总统。这个希望也告流产。黑人领导核心认为金博士是黑色的白鬼，而斯波克医生仍按他那过时的方式，使用“尼格罗”这个字眼。 尽管布朗-麦基西克能言善辩，黑人流入中等阶级的情况始终有增无减。后来的人口普查数字表明，在60年代期间，一年收入在1万美元以上的黑人家庭已从11%增为28%。这条道路对有才能的黑人一直畅通无阻。1965年，小本杰明·戴维斯成为陆军中将。住宅和城市发展事务部长罗伯特·韦弗、参议员爱德华·布鲁克、天主教的罗伯特·佩里主教、联邦法院的法官康士坦斯·贝克尔·莫特利，都是在1966年担任显赫公职的。两家私人团体作的一项调查表明，有1469名黑人担任了公职。1967年，瑟古德·马歇尔担任最高法院法官。空军少校罗伯特·劳伦斯于6月30日成为第一个黑人宇宙航行员(在12月进行的一次训练中，机毁身亡)。伊丽莎白·孔茨被选为全国教育协会主席，迪安·腊斯克的女儿嫁给一位名叫盖伊·吉布森·史密斯的黑人。克里夫兰和加里两个城市都由黑人出任市长。此外，华尔特·华盛顿被任命为哥伦比亚特区的专员。黑人好斗分子的十分过火的行为，似乎给某些温和派的黑人带来一定的方便；詹姆斯·梅雷迪思在1967年又重新开始了他的密西西比进军，而再去打扰他的却只有一些请他签名或给他拍照的白人了。 但是，强烈反应在别的地方却继续强烈表现出来。在波士顿，一位44岁的祖母路易丝·戴·希克斯由于坚决反对纠正学校中种族不平等现象变成为一名知名人物，而且后来当上了国会女议员。在底特律的阿尔及尔汽车旅店，一名黑人青年在受警察盘问时被杀害。杀害他的警官发誓说他是为了自卫，于是由一个全是白人组成的陪审团宣告他无罪。这些事表明，此类情况并不仅限于极南部地区。亚当·克莱顿·鲍威尔被剥夺了国会议员的席位。关于他的渎职行为是绝无疑问的，但是有人指出，托马斯·多德则只是受到了参议院的批评。詹姆斯·格罗皮神甫在密尔沃基争取住房“开放”(取消种族隔离)的运动宣告失败。莱斯特·马多克斯宣誓就任佐治亚州州长，而密西西比州州长竞选获胜者是另一个种族主义分子约翰·贝尔·威廉斯。 但是，这些发展都由于在大城市黑人居住区发生的夏季骚乱而显得逊色，这类骚乱使在两年前于瓦兹地区发生的黑人造反达到一个高峰。从其疯狂程度及其破坏所造成的废墟来看，这简直就像是一场战争，确实也有些人认为这就是现在晚饭时刻人们在起居室的电视屏幕上看到的越南暴行的一种反映。在卡迈克尔之前担任大学生非暴力协调委员会主席的约翰·刘易斯说：“政府一方面要受压迫的黑人不要在街头使用暴力，可同时它却在越南进行恐怖的屠杀，而且把本应用于国内使人民受益的钱拿去支持这个战争，这本身便是极大的矛盾。” 那一年，最初的火炬是在4月8日点燃的。这一天的傍晚，纳什维尔的警察把一名黑人赶出费斯克大学附近的一家餐馆。接着发生了两天的骚乱，到了下一个月，克利夫兰、华盛顿、路易斯维尔、蒙哥马利和奥马哈也都爆发了骚乱。5月已来到，接着是6月，自制燃烧瓶、抢劫者的棍棒、狙击者的来复枪出现得越来越多了。波及到的大城市有纽约、明尼阿波利斯、坦帕、亚特兰大、伯明翰、辛辛那提、旧金山、布法罗、代顿和威奇塔。接着进入7月的第一个周末，出现了1967年黑人居住区第一场真正的灾难。 这场灾难也是由和警察发生纠纷开始的，这现在已成为老规矩了。那个星期五下午较晚的时候，警车奉命向波士顿东南的黑人区罗克斯伯里的格罗夫大楼福利事业办事处集中。一个靠救济过活的妇女的组织正在举行反对福利政策的示威游行。她们要求更多的钱，她们要求得到更有礼貌的待遇。已经过了下班时间了，但是这些妇女仍不离开，她们手臂挽着手臂拦在门口，不让工作人员离开。警察从窗户进入办公室。一群黑人聚集起来，瓶子石头一阵乱扔。又来了一批头带防护盔手持警棍的警察，他们快速插进当时已变得极为混乱的人群。群众被冲散了，但这却是一个极大的错误。黑人三五成群，在罗克斯伯里到处乱窜，砸玻璃窗，抢劫东西，放火烧屋，殴打白人。破晓之前，已有一千名警察在与一千名黑人格斗。到星期天的傍晚，暴动暂时平息下来，有70人受伤，波士顿商业区和郊区之间的一条主要交通干线兰山大道的15个街区成了一大片瓦砾场。 罗克斯伯里事件一个星期之后，情况似很平静，但空气十分紧张。过去的两个夏季当中发生的事情，没有一件能使人可以麻痹大意。城市居民一直格外警惕地注视着新泽西州纽瓦克的动向。甚至在平安无事的时候，人们还认为纽瓦克是充满爆炸性危险的地区。为求得模范城市的补贴，这个城市的当局过去曾经坦率地说，这个城市是“对穷人进行基本训练的营地”。该城人口拥挤，贫民窟遍地，空气受到本地许多工厂的有害气体的污染。纽瓦克有着全国最高的性病发病率，最高的犯罪率，不堪居住的房屋的百分比也是全国最高的。在过去的一个世纪里，这个城市曾先后作为新教徒、爱尔兰人、意大利人和犹太人的居住区，现在则是仅次于华盛顿的黑人占多数的大城市。在1960年，纽瓦克的人口62%是白人。现在，黑人占52%，波多黎各人占10%。20.8万名黑人中的绝大多数都住在破旧不堪的中心区。这里的失业数字是全国失业数字的两倍，而黑人的失业率又是这个城市失业率的两倍。在华盛顿，住宅和城市发展事务部里从事研究这类情况的人，长期以来一直为纽瓦克的问题焦虑不安。他们认为，这个城市只要有一次警察事件就能引起爆发性局面。这个局面在7月12日(星期三)来临了。 这一天下午9时45分，一名因违反交通规则而被拘捕的出租汽车黑人司机，被带进中心区的第四警察派出所。他与两名警官激烈地争辩起来，接着又互相殴打起来。有流言传出来说，这个出租汽车司机已被打死。喜欢看热闹的人聚集起来，但也并没有发生什么大事。这些人走开之后，那里的警官向商业区警察局报告说，那些人只不过是“一伙无事到处游荡的小孩子”。第二天薄暮时分，另一伙人举行集会，他们举着标语牌，不过情绪显然都很正常。接着有人扔出第一个酒瓶和第一块砖头。警察用警棍驱散了人群。黑人们三三两两地散开——开始抢劫商店。到夜里11点，抢劫活动开始大规模进行着，狙击手在房顶上不停地射击，多处大火熊熊。纽瓦克的1400名警察无法控制局面。直到破晓，2600名国民警卫队和300名州警察开到了，此时阳光已普照理查德·休斯州长所说的“一座处于公开叛乱的城市”。纽瓦克的24平方英里的土地上，几近一半在暴乱者的手中，一直到7月17日(星期一)，秩序才恢复。到此时为止，已有27人死亡。损失估计达1000万元。这是从瓦兹事件以来最严重的一次骚乱。 底特律在下一个星期天陷于骚动之中，因为一名警察搜查设在第12街的一处黑人夜总会(这家夜总会在法定的停止营业时间，凌晨2时之后还一直在卖酒)。人群到处游荡，关于警察暴行的流言四处传播——这一次是说，有一个被带上手铐的小男孩，被从楼梯上踢了下去——被警察驱散的人群，散开以后开始抢劫。就某些方面来说，这次暴乱的爆发是不寻常的。与纽瓦克不同，底特律在过去并没有被看做是一个有潜在麻烦的地区。由于黑人的支持而当选的市长，曾经采取了许多措施(再加上十分景气的汽车业)帮助形成了一个人数不小的黑人中等阶级。实际上这正是麻烦产生的部分原因。没有能够进入中产阶级的暴乱者对黑人中等阶级也和对白人一样仇恨。另一个不同之处是，在底特律抢劫不分种族，黑人和白人一起洗劫商店。纵火的情况几乎令人无法相信——在11天之内，发生1600起火警。但是，底特律暴乱的最突出的方面，还是它的规模。亨利·福特说它“是南北战争以后最大规模的国内暴乱”。死亡总数达43人，7000多人被捕。第12街的18个街区和大河路的三英里之内，是一片焦土。这座城市的空中摄影照片与1945年的柏林相类似。5000人无家可归。许多人像疯子一样兴高采烈。一位底特律的暴乱者说：“那些建筑物大火冲天，真是好看极了。”他还说：“我就坐在这里看着它们烧掉。那些白鬼除了拼命救火，别无办法。”自然，他是在说被烧的黑人的家。 约翰逊总统任命了一个以伊利诺伊州州长奥托·克纳为首的委员会研究暴乱问题，并寻求防止发生更多暴乱的途径。参议院的调查小组委员会和众议院的非美活动委员会已安排了举行听证会的计划——后者一直认为颠覆分子应对骚动负责。那个夏季黑人居住区的风暴一直未能平息。暴乱者在全国的32个州共袭击了114个城市。总的死亡人数数字可能是永远也无法知道了，但至少有88人死亡，4000多人受伤，1.2万多人被捕。属于最激烈的骚乱区的，有威尔明顿、托莱多、南本德、大瀑布城、庞蒂亚克、密尔沃基、纽黑文、普罗维登斯、萨吉诺、弗林特、波特兰(俄勒冈州)和坎布里奇(马里兰州)。 坎布里奇的暴乱是特别有趣味的。这次暴乱是可以证明非美活动委员会的怀疑有理的为数不多的事件之一，而且这次暴乱对于全国政治产生了意想不到的影响。左右马里兰州1966年州长竞选运动的一个主要因素是这类事件的反作用。在一个种族主义分子候选人赢得民主党预选时，黑人选民却已决心支持共和党提名的候选人，温和派的斯皮洛·阿格纽。但是，阿格纽对于法律和秩序的感情超过了他对于种族问题的观点。当拉普·布朗，一位外来的煽动家(如果真有这样的人的话)，对东岸区黑人的一次集会说，“现在是坎布里奇爆炸的时候了，”阿格纽却感到十分气愤。布朗把一所黑人学校叫做“早应一把火烧掉的”废物。他敦促黑人们“想法为自己弄到些枪支”。他说：“暴动是革命的排演。”他接着又说：“暴乱是美国人的家常便饭。” 于是坎布里奇发生了暴乱，这所学校被焚毁了。阿格纽签发了一份逮捕令，以煽动暴乱和纵火的罪名逮捕了布朗。这位州长说：“像他这样的人，绝不能让他带着破坏意图跑进一个州，然后任他溜之大吉，让那些穷人承受由于他的罪恶活动所造成的后果。”两天后，布朗在弗吉