Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Race riot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
A race riot or racial riot is a violent civil disorder (i.e. a riot) in which race is a key factor. The term had entered the English language in the United States by the 1890s. Early use of the term in the United States referred to race riots which were often a dominant culture mob action against individuals or groups of people from other races. Much later, the term came to describe violence and property destruction by racial minority groups often directed at neighborhood business, government representatives and law enforcement agencies perceived as unfairly targeting racial groups. Mob rule, religious intolerance, vigilantism, Jim Crow, lynching, racial profiling, economics, police brutality, institutional racism, urban renewal, and racial identity politics are often cited as causes of these riots. However, political decisions, repression and social hate by national or local levels of government and the larger community directed towards a certain race usually contributes to this type of riot.