Chapter 46: Aftermath
The riots in the Deep South (Georgia, Atlanta, and Mississippi) lasted for 5 days gradually petering out. But they would leave a deep scar on the nation.
A total of 358 people died in the riots throughout the South, with most of those deaths being in Macon Georgia (215). Thousands were injured and, in some cases, hospitals turned away the injured not because of any issue with color but because there was simply no more room. The arrival of the National Guard and medical units of the 101st Airborne proved to be literally lifesavers for many victims.
Property damage would later be tallied at 1.2 billion dollars in 1964 terms. Again, the worst damage was in Macon where a good part of the poorer sections of the city was destroyed displacing hundreds of people whose only crime was the color of their skin.
Yet, it was not only black people who suffered. It would later be determined that 53 of the deaths that occurred over those 5 days were white people. Most of these deaths were the result of black heads of families and others defending their homes against white “action councils”. But sadly, there were several instances of white people being in the wrong places at the wrong times. The story of a white family trying to get away from the rioting only to be stopped and the father dragged out of the car and beaten to death in front of his wife and 3 children would make the newspapers throughout the South and beyond and would only add fuel to the fires that were already burning.
The riots would have several aftereffects. The first of these was a mini migration of those left homeless by the violence to the north. For many, left homeless by the riots there wasn’t much left to keep them and the promises by the mayor of Macon, Georgia that homes would be rebuilt quickly fell on deaf ears of people tired of promises that were never kept.
Among black people the riots created a rift. Most still hoped that Dr. King’s non-violent approach to civil rights would eventually run through all the hatred. But there was a growing and vocal minority who felt that the time of talking, and moderation was ended, and it was now time to seek more radical and if necessary violent solutions to the issue of civil rights.
Dr. King wept and fasted for days following his broadcast on national television. He refused any interviews and spent much time at his church in prayer. After the violence ended Dr. King emerged more determined than ever to go ahead with his plans for a second march on Washington come October. He was also equally determined that the peaceful protests would continue.
But there were others such as Malcolm X who saw the riots in the South as the wake-up call for the black minority. In one speech following the riots Malcolm X proclaimed, “There are those who still think we can negotiate with the “white devil”. Those people will probably want to keep talking right up to the time they are shoved into the gas chambers by the very people they are talking to who seek to destroy us!” Malcolm X stopped short of calling for an armed rebellion but not by much.
On the other side many white people were coming to sympathize with the views of the Klan. To be sure the number was not large, but it was significant. Many feared this was the beginning of a race war being incited by communists. After the violence of early February 1964 more militias began to crop up throughout the south mostly but also in other parts of the country.
Although the riots had a polarizing effect on many, they also had the opposite effect of bringing people together. In many of the cities hit by the riots white families opened their homes to homeless black families. In many of the cities hit by the riots groups of churches began to band together – black and white – to help with rebuilding and to try to start building relationships. It would be noted that more sympathetic white clergy and laity started appearing at SCLC meetings and likeminded gatherings.
Over the remainder of that winter the people of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi would bury their dead, care for the living, and try to put the pieces back together in the cities where the violence had flared. While there would be some on both sides that seemed to be gearing up for war others sought to seek a way to end this cycle of violence once and for all.