Nichols protests seek change, not violence
History of riots lingers, but Memphis didn’t burn
“Memphis won’t burn” was my answer to calls and emails received from friends, especially from out of town who know me as a longtime researcher and student in both the history and the politics of Memphis, with queries as to how badly would the riots be. It’s not surprising that they would fear this as my review of the national news sources had headlines like “Memphis will burn because of Tyre Nichols.”
My response was based upon Memphis’ history of mild at best reactions in past times of national upheaval. But as a realist I also understood that things can change.
I knew that I had made the right call at about 9 on Friday night. I live several blocks from where I was raised in Midnight and when something major happens, the sirens heading into downtown or the Medical center can be deafening. But since 7:00 that night, there had been nothing but silence, and Friday nights always heard a few emergency vehicles but on this night, all was quiet.
Confirmation was complete the next day as I searched the internet for the screaming headlines of riot and destruction and found none, except for a few references to a temporary blockage of I-40 with little follow up.
History of Memphis protests
During the worst of the urban riots since the early 60’s, Memphis usually held peaceful demonstrations with occasional blockage of I-40 which always was good for a national story as it is the nations most vital interstate. It is far enough north that it is almost never blocked by the hurricanes that shut down I-20 and 30, and is far enough south that it is seldom blocked by the blizzard that shut down I-70 or 80, so any blockage of 40 is big news, but not the same as the burning of downtown Memphis.
Even the King assassination, while provoking wholesale riots nationally, triggered mostly symbolic actions in Memphis. I was a college sophomore at Vanderbilt and came home after the assassination to be closer to my elderly parents. But curious, I went out into the neighborhoods to see what was going on. And indeed, it look like all of South Memphis was in flames, but the reality is that as I rolled through projects visiting friends, it appeared that every demister dumpster in the projects were on fire, but very few homes actually saw flames. Unlike other cities which looked like wild forest fires were roaring through the hearts of those towns.
Some of this difference in Memphis is a result of the history and character of the city. It was known as early as 1900 as a city with the highest percentage of home owning blacks in the nation. In the south, a many blacks were sharecroppers or tenant farmers. While up north, many lived in apartments or rooming houses. But in Memphis, many owned their own little homes in well-established neighborhoods.
The rise and fall of the Black neighborhood
My parents, living in a Chicago apartment, bought our little cottage in Washington bottom in 1947. And the city, as I was growing up was filled with well-established, well love neighborhoods, and even the names today bring back memories of a time when most blacks felt like they owned their little part of the city, with names like Washington Bottom,
New Chicago, Orange Mound, Greeter Sub, Smoky City, Scuttlefield, Binghamton, or Hollywood. Even blacks living in projects like Lemoyne Gardens or Dixie Homes had a love and respect for their neighborhood. These areas reached their height during the late 50s and early 60s as the civil rights movement opened doors outside the community, but at the same time the parents kept yards that were immaculate with flowers and gardens. There was no trash in the street and little crime because that was not allowed.
The destruction of those neighborhoods came in the early 70s with drugs in a younger black population that no longer referred to these once beloved areas as neighborhoods. A tv show called “Good Times,” one of the worst ever for Black American culture taught a new generation of blacks that they lived in a ghetto, a term that had never been used before the 70s until black separatist and this tv show used the term to describe black neighborhoods.
The pride that the older black residents had when they bought their houses was almost gone by the mid 80s. Younger people were now ashamed and could not wait to move out. Still, there was enough residual affection for these neighborhoods to not burn them down in a riot. But the areas saw a wasting away as parents died, and their children moved. Abandoned, the old houses fell into disrepute, disrepair, and finally demolition. All that was left of these old neighborhoods were vacant, lots, empty fields with maybe a few quaint homes, housing elderly people who once enjoyed and loved being there.
That history still hangs over the city. There may be riots around the nation, but Memphians are still reluctant to burn their city. They will have a peaceful demonstration and possibly block the expressway.
Dr. Larry Moore is a professor of legal, social and political environment of business at the University of Memphis.