Black militants and police clashed in Glenville. Gun fights on July 23, 1968 left ten dead and dozens injured. By the next day many blacks were arrested for looting, sniping, and arson by the Ohio National Guard. A major difference of Mayor Stokes handling of the situation was that he thought further violence could be avoided if black officers patrolled Glenville and kept the National Guard and white officers on the perimeter. The rational was that this would keep racial tensions in check. The killing had stopped but vandalism and looting did continue. The Glenville Riots did not help the mayor’s image. Stokes and his administration thought banning whites from the neighborhood was a wise decision. However, white officers had a contrasting perspective as they saw it as a sellout to the black militants terrorizing the area. This only rooted a deep resentment and distrust of Mayor Stokes and his …show more content…
The riots pinpointed a hidden dilemma of racial discrimination within poor, black communities that could no longer go unnoticed. When the troops were leaving Hough, they mentioned the “evils” of poverty that caused the “lack of opportunity and initiative” that plagued the community (Plain Dealer, 1966). Sadly, the city’s Mayor’s Locher and Stokes could not gain a satisfactory perception of the change needed, and therefore could not solve the real problem afflicting the community. While the plain conclusion of the riots did not produce much progress, with the support of the new mayor, Carl Stokes, a shift in attitude was made in black and white residents. The neighborhood made some improvement in the years to