January 25, 2009
The Night New York Avoided a Riot

boutofcontext:

mandalay:

jingc: When Martin Luther King was assassinated, there were riots all over the country. People were worried that New York would be the same, or worse. However, the mayor at the time, John Lindsay, headed straight for Harlem:

Jimmy Breslin, the city’s leading columnist, wrote, “He looked straight at the people on the streets and he told them he was sick and he was sorry about Martin Luther King. And the poor he spoke to who are so much more real than the rest of us, understood the truth of John Lindsay. And there was no riot in New York.” Garth later called him “the most courageous man I’ve ever seen.”

This is one of a few great moments in peace-preserving oratory around MLK’s assassination. More commonly mentioned is Robert F. Kennedy’s address in Indianapolis , punctuated by a rare reference to his brother’s assassination - credited with averting riots there:

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    Harlem wasn’t out of the woods yet, so to speak, but everyone agreed that Lindsay had made a huge difference by showing...
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    When Martin Luther King was assassinated, there were riots all over the country. People were worried that New York would...
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  10. boutofcontext reblogged this from mandalay and added:
    a few great moments...peace-preserving oratory around MLK’s assassination. More commonly...
  11. mandalay reblogged this from jingc and added:
    Jimmy Breslin, the city’s leading columnist, wrote, “He looked straight at the people on the streets and he told them he...
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