Anger After King's Death Left Lasting Mark On Hartford's North ...

Thomas Parrish's filling station at the corner of Main and Pavilion streets was a North End gathering spot when times were good, so it stood to reason that people would come there when times were bad.

[TyroneJackson]

nice story BUT it just stopped.

[mmmm]

Some of those burned companies employed people in the nortend neighborhood. They left never to return and those jobs and hopes of any future employment in that area left with them.

[TyroneJackson]

personally I think thats dumbest think anyone can do, burn down the place where you work, live and shop.

[Badger]

It bothers me that no one ever mentions the impact these years had on us whites. Yes, I was part of the white flight. My parents, who had brought us up color blind, bolted to West Hartford. This was in 1965, I was 14. Things were heating up then and they feared for out safety. Smart move.

I have fond memories of growning up on Asylum Hill. I had close friends, of every color. I was a happy kid. I loved my neighborhood, my school and my friends. The Civil Rights Movement took that away from me. Had more blacks been guided by people like Clarke Kings father, things could have been different.

The Hartford I/we knew 40 years ago is NEVER coming back. All because a segment of our society got riled up and demonstrated their ability to act like a bunch of animals. It is over everyone, stop blaming others, you did it and now you have to live with it.

[JBC]

Badger wrote:

It bothers me that no one ever mentions the impact these years had on us whites. Yes, I was part of the white flight. My parents, who had brought us up color blind, bolted to West Hartford. This was in 1965, I was 14. Things were heating up then and they feared for out safety. Smart move.
I have fond memories of growning up on Asylum Hill. I had close friends, of every color. I was a happy kid. I loved my neighborhood, my school and my friends. The Civil Rights Movement took that away from me. Had more blacks been guided by people like Clarke Kings father, things could have been different.
The Hartford I/we knew 40 years ago is NEVER coming back. All because a segment of our society got riled up and demonstrated their ability to act like a bunch of animals. It is over everyone, stop blaming others, you did it and now you have to live with it.

I too was brought up in Asylum Hill. I remember the riots clearly and was struck by the realization that many of the youngsters in the attacks were smiling. Celebrating, actually.

It didn't matter too much to them that they were burning down and looting businesses in their own neighborhood.

Soon after we were living in West Hartford and Hartford began to fall apart.

[Badger]

Did you want to move? I didn't, I loved Hartford. I was not happy with West Hartford at all. It wasn't my style.

Asylum Hill, too huh? Have you been back there over the years? If so,did you notice, the one thing that has never changed and will not change are the church bells from St Josephs Cathedral and the Asylum Hill Congregational Church? We used to use them as clocks. Our parents always told us to be home on "an hour", we just stopped and counted the bells as we went about our days.

JBC wrote:

<quoted text>
I too was brought up in Asylum Hill. I remember the riots clearly and was struck by the realization that many of the youngsters in the attacks were smiling. Celebrating, actually.
It didn't matter too much to them that they were burning down and looting businesses in their own neighborhood.
Soon after we were living in West Hartford and Hartford began to fall apart.

[EG in Hartford]

"I believe King did the right thing," said Clarke King who, in 1968, was an angry 21-year-old and today heads the city's municipal employees' union and the African-American Alliance. "But what moved America to say something was wrong were the riots and kids saying,'We're not taking it anymore.'... It changed the way that we, as black people, were respected."
Burning the north end of Hartford did not bring you respect Clarke. It divided the city and the races. Look at your children and grandchildren, your actions and attitude (violence and hate) have made them into lost souls.

[AngryCracker]

Well at least we know who to blame now for the condition of the North End. Blame the white man. If he didn't leave all would be rosy.

Can't wait for the bussing to start up, which will bring the thugs to suburb high school near you. You'll have little North Ends all over Hartford County.

And you can start right now to blame the white man for that impending situation, too, because when it happens, we'll be packing up our stuff all over again.

You have seen what has happened over forty years. Not much. It is one of the armpits of Connecticut. What will it be like 40 years from now? I predict not much different. In fact, if the politicians pass their mindless legislation, all of Hartford County will be a ghetto by 2048.

[PVT RYAN]

ALRIGHT, ENUFFS,ENUFF PAVE IT OVER PICK ANOTHER CITY FOR YOUR CAPITAL.

[Larry the Cable Guy]

TyroneJackson wrote:

personally I think thats dumbest think anyone can do, burn down the place where you work, live and shop.

How true is that ... even a dog don't poop where he eats ...

[lol]

Riots, looting and acting like savages will drive people away quick. The ones that stay are the ones that caused the problem then stay angry because it's everyone elses fault. That never changes and you now have the war zone that's Hartford. Then they shoot and steal from each other. It's interesting to watch...far away and through the media.

[The ZIt]

If we only give them more free cheese, we'll be just fine. Good job Dems!!!

[INNOCENT IN HTFD]

THERE WERE A FEW BAD APPLES, DOESN'T MAKE THE WHOLE TREE ROTTEN.

[Deborah]

Lets stop the hate! Lets recognize that we are all the same and work together to end the racism in our city and throughout our country.

[hartfordisadisas ter]

EXPLOITATION wrote:

My grandmother would tell me about Jewish merchants who would sell substandard products for higher prices in poor neighborhoods the same way Koreans do currently in poor NYC neighborhoods. Maybe the death of Martin Luther King created an opportunity to lash out against businesses who exploited the poor and powerless instead of just random violence. True this is no excuse to do vandalism but maybe there were more reasons than what we see on the surface.

LOL...and you people complain about racists? Sounds like grandma was one too. OK, you mentioned the Jews and Koreans, will you be back to add Italians, Irish and French? I like the way the Courant described looting and burning as "civil disobedience"...why not call it what it is: criminal behavior. Blacks loot and burn when their basketball team loses. A great example was when Diana Ross canceled her Central Park concert due to extremely bad weather. What happened? Rioting and looting. I guess that really makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

[HC Here]

Who did all the burning, looting, and destroying, white people? Just as whites are supposed to feel remorse for slavery, do we ever hear blacks express remorse for the looting and destruction of white property they did after King was shot. Admittedly King was shot by a white man, but those whites whose businesses were ruined, and were physically harmed in riots by blacks had nothing to do with it. We are so quick to excuse the actions of blacks in this and other times they can't control their emotions (Rodney King, Tawana Brawley). Can we finally put a lid on placing blame for slavery? If not, I want reparations for the damage blacks did to so many cities and the lives which were destroyed by their rioting.

I wasn't born in the 50's and 60's. How many blacks were denied access to water fountains and restaurant counters in Hartford. How many blacks were sprayed with fire hoses in Hartford? How many "whites only" facilities were there in the northeast? I know of several clubs, organizations, and stores that cater strictly to the needs of the African-American community, and proudly announce so. Which clubs, organizations, and stores announce they are committed strictly to the needs of the European-American community. And don't say the KKK, because most European-Americans have disavowed them, unlike the blacks when it comes to the Black Panthers and Malcolm X.

[AngryCracker]

EXPLOITATION wrote:

My grandmother would tell me about Jewish merchants who would sell substandard products for higher prices in poor neighborhoods the same way Koreans do currently in poor NYC neighborhoods. Maybe the death of Martin Luther King created an opportunity to lash out against businesses who exploited the poor and powerless instead of just random violence. True this is no excuse to do vandalism but maybe there were more reasons than what we see on the surface.

An opportunity to lash out?

Yes, I guess. The thugs have demonstrated repeatedly that they will seize upon any inane reason to destroy things, even things that were beneficial to them.

But if they were interested in weeding out unscrupulous merchants, they certainly succeeded, but what kind of merchants have they been left with? They weeded out everybody. The generation that did that had nobody to blame but themselves, and the succeeding generations that have lived in that area have failed to get it together because of underlying resentments and an inability to accomplish basic things, such as graduate high school.

[DMS]

EXPLOITATION wrote:

My grandmother would tell me about Jewish merchants who would sell substandard products for higher prices in poor neighborhoods the same way Koreans do currently in poor NYC neighborhoods. Maybe the death of Martin Luther King created an opportunity to lash out against businesses who exploited the poor and powerless instead of just random violence. True this is no excuse to do vandalism but maybe there were more reasons than what we see on the surface.

Well now you have your Wal Mart on Flatbush. Your welcome.

[Jimmy The Greek]

This is the result wherever Whites are forced to leave: Zimbabwe, South Africa, Haiti, Detroit, Hartford...

[FUDD]

TO DEBORAH............GET REAL