1967 Philadelphia Student Demonstrations
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November
17, 1967, or the 17th of November Student Strike and Philadelphia
School Board Demonstration, and subsequent Philadelphia Police Riot
at Student Demonstration
The 17th of November, 1967 Demonstration at the Philadelphia Public School Board, then located at 19th and the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway, was an amazing success for the entire youth movement and the civil rights movement as well.
"Rizzo
did't get me" was a real statement made by a number of students after
the demonstration and later in memory of the event (K. Washington,
05-14-11, Philadelphia, PA).
The demonstration, led and planned
by the student run and organized Central Coordinating Committee (CCC),
had a number of student groups long instrumental in movements for
peace, human and civil rights, in the early and middle 1960s.
The
CCC brought to the front the demands made across the country at that
time for better schools for African Americans, especially, and all
students in Philadelphia, in particular, and for an end to the
"tracking" and forced "vocational education system" visited especially
upon African American students at that time.
The CCC was
comprised of the African American Student Societies, Black Student
Leagues and Black Student Unions from each high school in the
Philadelphia area (T. Heard, 05-20-11, Philadelphia, PA). The CCC had
decided to oppose the form and content of education visited upon youth,
thus keeping students within a system of "second class citizenship"
after leaving the Philadelphia Public School system, and in many cases,
the religious school system a well.
A
major component of the student organizing forces behind the
demonstration was the Student Action Committee (SAC) formed by a number
of high school students from various schools across Philadelphia (i.
e., C. Johnson, M. Washington, K. Washington, C. Johnson, W. McMullen,
S. McMullen, L. Staton, T. Heard, and K. Heard). SAC met continuously
for at least three years before the demonstration, and published a
student run newsletter by spirit ditto machine (later printed on a
donated hand-powered mimeograph machine) and distributed the
publication in numerous schools within Philadelphia. SAC had been
active in a number of demonstrations in that period, such as the
Philadelphia Post Office demonstration to demand African Americans to
be hired on an equal basis, the Girard College integration marches,
various civil rights marches as well as a number of anti-war marches.
The base area for SAC was around the Church of the Advocate located at
18th and Diamond Streets, and meet in the
home of Episcopal Rector Reverend Father Paul M. Washington as well as
in the Norris Homes, a public housing project, located at 11th and
Norris Streets, where SAC publications and leaflets were edited and
distributed from the bedroom of W. McMullen.
As an example,
African American Student Society (AASS) at Gratz High School had
members represented on the Central Coordinating Committee for the
planning of the demonstration moving the public school system to a
point of improvement for the instruction and rights of all students
attending.
CCC was in negotiations with public school
superintendent Marc Shedd for at least a year before the demonstration
in which a number of demands had been presented to school
administrators at meetings held on north Broad Street in a building
used for reserve military training of Temple University students. Most
of the students involved in the CCC had past histories of activist
involvement, but the issue of "ending tracking" and other situations
were real class demands from the students and drew supporters from all
areas of the city of Philadelphia and outside.
One
main demand of the demonstration was the removal of uniformed police
officers from public schools as a result of a number of incidents, one
in which a uniformed officer (Meridith) was seen running down the hall
way of Gratz High School (T. Heard, 05-16-11). African American studies
in high schools was near the middle of the list for the students
involved in CCC, and was not a specific the students made as a priority
over fully funding the public school system.
As
an example, the planning group of the Gratz High School African
American Student Society under the leadership of Al Hampton, S. Harvey,
B. Edwards, S. Wilson, and V. Willson et. al., was successful in the
years before the 17th of November demonstration to bring officials of
the Philadelphia Public School Administration to the table in
discussions of student rights and full school funding along with other
high school students in SAC.
Public schools as prestigious as
(Boys) Central High School and Girls High School on Olney Avenue, and
Hallahan Girls Catholic High School near the Philadelphia School Board
had representatives in SAC.
Lack of implementation needed from those discussions by the public school administration led to the demonstration.
The
movement begun as a movement for student rights and blossomed into a a
movement for full funding of and betterment of the Philadelphia Public
School System with the support of a number of Parochial (Catholic)
School System students.
Mark
Shedd as the then School Superintendent "...offended conservatives and
veterans' groups by granting student demands for draft-counseling
services.... he gave students a "bill of rights," granting them a voice
in curriculum and disciplinary procedures. He also authorized them to
invite black militants as guest speakers." [1]
Of course, the 17th of November School Board Demonstration was planned by the students to be a non-violent gathering.
Along
with a number of other youth contingents and groups, religious
(Catholic) high school students joined the public high school students
in this demonstration for student rights and for full funding of public
education.
But, the Philadelphia Police Riot of 1967, which
ensued on that day, at the School Board, mightily challenged student
leaders at the demonstration. Vast numbers of students, teachers,
school administrators, and civil rights advocates were caught up in the
riot and found that they were running, beaten and arrested on the
scene. [2]
One
student had been told by her mother not to attend the demonstration,
but attended. Her mother was "having a stroke because she knew I was
out there" (in the demonstration) (R. Vaughn, 04-24-11, Philadelphia,
PA). Then Commissioner of Police, Frank Rizzo, was heard saying, "Get
their Black asses!!!" by her mother who was standing near F. Rizzo
while looking for her daughter in the demonstration {see photo: Temple
University Urban Archives, P45018I, Philadelphia, PA) (O. Vaughn,
04-24-11, Philadelphia, PA). William Miller, a Columbia Broadcast
Corporation (CBS) video photographer (who was later killed in the
revolution in Nicurauga) caught F. Rizzo on film with the above racist
statement (L. Statom, 05-27-11).
The actions of police officers
was witnessed by another student who was with Al Hampton. The student
group had negotiated before the demonstration with the Philadelphia
Police Department (Officer Fencel, of the uniformed Civil Affairs) not
to have uniformed police at the demonstration. Just as the negotiations
in the school board building came to the point of calling in the
student organizers of the demonstration for their demands and
proposals, uniformed police appeared. The uniformed police were
approached by Al Hampton, a school board member and T. Heard with a
number of other students to inspect the new situation. Al Hampton made
a point to the uniformed officers about their presence and spit on the
ground. Al was grasped by the officers, beaten, (see photo: Temple
University Urban Archives, P495006B, Philadelphia, PA) and was last
seen floating over the crowd of uniformed police. T. Heard turned to
leave the scene, fell over the hood of a police car and was struck in
the
back. He than went to a wall of the School Board building
and watched the officers beating the demonstrators and others, then he
went home to report to his mother about the attack. Another student, N.
Blackwell, related to T. Heard that there were uniformed police
harassing and running students up and down subway train platforms after
the demonstration. Many parents went down to retrieve their children
from arrest, and some fearing the beginnings of the worst, arrived
protected.(T. Heard, 05-22-11, Philadelphia, PA).
The North City
Congress, a social service organization located on north Broad Street,
produced a report on November 29th, 1967, entitled, "A Comparison of
Police Action in Kensington Riots of 1966 and at the School Board
Demonstration, November, 1967" noted the actions of the Philadelphia
Police Department in three pages of single spaced reporting, pointed
out the discrepancies of the decisions to attack the students at the
Philadelphia school board demonstration as opposed to a riot which had
occurred in a white community (Temple University Urban Archives,
Pamphlet, Collection, UAP523-14, Philadelphia, PA)
A
number of photographs were taken at the demonstration by Mahoney of the
Philadelphia Inquirer and Kennedy and Wasko of the Philadelphia Daily
News showing the sheer brutality of the Philadelphia Police Department
in physical contact with students at the Philadelphia School Board
Police Riot (see photos: Temple University Urban Archives, P4506B,
P495007B, P495003, P495001, P495002, P495018I, P495028B, P495013B,
495005B, 495007B, P495008B, P495009B, Philadelphia, PA).
The
Philadelphia Police Riot was challenged in Federal Court by a number of
attorneys advising the students (Earley, Gaskins, Akers and in a
supporting role Coleman et. al.) The affected students who came to the
decision that the Philadelphia police force could not continue to
impose on the rights of justified demonstrators who had nothing to lose
but their health at the hands of the authorities (L. Staton, 04-08-11,
Philadelphia, PA).
At
least two cases were filed against the actions of the Philadelphia
Police Department in the resulting Police Riot which occurred on
November 17th, 1967.
In the case of: HEARD ET AL. v. RIZZO ET
AL. in an appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania, (No. 1530, Misc.) which was decided on June
17, 1968, with Attorney Lois G. Forer for the appellants in (No. 1530,
Misc.), and Attorney William Kunstler for the appellants (No. 1662,
Misc.) Traylor et al. v. Rizzo et al., was also on appeal from the same
court (281 F. Supp. 720,) was affirmed, PER CURIUM as the motion to
affirm [was] granted and the judgments [were] affirmed as documented in
Page 392 U.S. 646, 647. [3], [4]
Frank Rizzo was exposed to direct and intense criticism for the actions
of the police at that demonstration. [5].
By
1970, the move to de-fund the Philadelphia public schools had just
begun to take visible bites in building and curriculum, assisting in
the largest advent of white-flight from Philadelphia in the history of
the city. "Charters and managed schools" were not yet threats to the
structure of public ad religious education at that point (see: Andy
Smarick; "Can Catholic Schools be Saved?"; National Affairs, #7,
Spring, 2011, pp. 113-130,[6]) but were to become the method of
destroying the direction of increasing better public education for all
students in and around Philadelphia and providing further
militarization and stigmatization of the student populations (see:
Galaviz, Brian; Palafox, Jesus; Meiners, Erica R.; & Quinn,
Therese. (2011). The Militarization and the Privatization of Public
Schools. Berkeley Review of Education, 2(1). Retrieved from:
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4969649w [7]) (see: Enzinna, Wes (2005) [History Honors Thesis]. Discipline, Contradiction, and t
he Mis-Education of Philadelphia: The African and African-American
Curriculum in Philadelphia High Schools and the Challenge of Junior
ROTC, 1967-2005. [8])
[edit] References
1. ^ [
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878992-1,00.html 2. ^ [1], "The Notebook" Fall 2002
3. ^
http://supreme.justia.com/us/392/646/case.html 4. ^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kunstler 5. ^
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Rizzo#Relationship_with_African_Americans_and_Police_Riots 6. ^
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/can-catholic-schools-be-saved 7. ^
http://escholarship.org/uc/ucbgse_bre 8. ^
http://www.temple.edu/cenfad/jrotc-enzinna.pdfPoliticts and Race Community Organizing
Retrieved from "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Philadelphia_Student_Demonstrations"
Categories:
History of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | African American organizations
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