It all started when Matthew Johnson, a 16-year-old youth of Hunters Point, was fatally shot by a San Francisco policeman while fleeing from a suspected stolen car. It was stated that the car had not been reported stolen until some four hours after the incident occurred.

Blaming a rumor that a sniper had been shooting from the Bayview Opera House, then known as the Bayview Community Center, police lined up on Third Street and fired, hitting at least eight youth. The Spokesman’s caption reads: “Ready, aim, fire.”

The general feelings felt by the witnesses of the incident and people of the community as a whole was that this should not have ever happened.
Outbreak

Shortly after the incident occurred, the news spread throughout the Hunters Point Bayview area and the entire city. Throughout the area, small groups could be seen congregating on every corner discussing the tragedy that had happened only hours before.

About 6 p.m., the streets around the Hunters Point area EOC office and the Bayview Community Center were filled with angry youth and adults alike. The group, led by James Richards and other youth workers in the community, planned to have Mayor Shelley come out and discuss many of the problems that had been plaguing Hunters Point youth for quite some while. The youth had also planned to discuss with the mayor the release of Patrolman Johnson, the policeman who shot Matthew Johnson.

Shelley's office had been contacted earlier in the afternoon concerning the meeting but made no effort to comply with the youth. Youth leaders stated that they would not talk with anybody but Mayor Shelley and no representative from his office. The group waited for Shelley for several hours but to no avail.
Tension in the area was high, but after Shelley never showed up, there was nothing anybody could do or say to stop what resulted in one of the worst tragedies in San Francisco's history.

Roving bands of youth marched down Third Street, breaking out windows, attacking white passengers in cars, screaming and looting, all because of the death of a 16-year-old youth that was totally uncalled for.
As the evening proceeded, the outbreak heightened in intensity and size. Finally, after practically every window of businesses owned by white merchants in the riot area had been broken, Mayor Shelley came down to try to talk to the crowd. But by this time things had gotten so bad, nothing Shelley could do or say could appease the crowd.

By this time, the San Francisco police were all over the area trying to bring things back to normal. On several occasions, policemen were stoned by bricks and some were hit by rock-throwing rioters. About 1 a.m., things began to quiet down somewhat. Police began ordering people off the streets and everything was quiet, at least until the next day.

The following day, several meetings were held with the possible hope of finding a solution to the situation. A committee of youth went to the mayor's office for this purpose, but nothing concrete was solved.

Gov. Pat Brown, father of Jerry Brown, called in the National Guard, who patrolled with fixed bayonets as their tanks rumbled up and down Third Street to terrorize the people. The Spokesman’s caption reads: “Fixed bayonets for Bayview Hunters Point occupation.”

Gov. Brown did not show up and the disturbance started all over again. Since it seemed that the situation was not getting any better as was proven by the flare-up of violence again, the mayor then announced that the National Guard had been alerted and was standing by and waiting for the word to take action.

By 6:30 p.m., the National Guard marched in and stationed themselves around the entire area. At the same time, the rioting and looting had spread to the Fillmore section of the City and Guardsmen were sent there also.

Certain areas, including Bayview Hunters Point and Fillmore areas, were put under curfew. Everyone in these areas was to be off the streets by 8 p.m. By 8 p.m., the streets in the areas affected by the riot were completely vacant except for a few persons coming to and from their night jobs and other routine matters.

Signs of calm

On Thursday, Sept. 29, things began to calm down somewhat except for a few minor incidents here and there. After meeting with City officials and potential employers, the curfew was lifted by Friday. About 85 Negro youth joined with the police in trying to bring the situation back to normal. By the following Saturday, the National Guard had been cut to one half, which was a good sign that things were back to normal.

Probably the worst point of the outburst was when some eight youth were shot while trying to pull other youth out of the line of fire when police fired on the Bayview Community Center after it was thought that a sniper was shooting at them from the Center.

Effects of the outburst

There are many who felt that the disturbance was not necessary, but there were equally as many who felt that it was. Practically everyone in the riot torn areas and other similar areas throughout the nation will agree the problem is a huge one, one that will have to be solved right away.

The death of young Matthew Johnson was not the basic reason for the rioting but a catalyst to what has been plaguing the Negro youth in poverty areas for years. No jobs, previous records of arrest, unfair hiring practices, inferior education and many others have been the underlying causes of the riot, probably since before Matthew Johnson was born.

The sociologists have been saying this for years: Angry, frustrated, hopeless young people will vent despair in violence when they are eliminated from the world that makes the rules. And when the despair is influenced by a shooting that seems to many inexplicable - a white policeman killing a Negro boy - then the violence rips a city and its complacency departs.

The mayor's office, officials of the state, federal agencies and private agencies have begun their effort to solve problems that remain even after the restoration of order.

A number of attacks have been planned to solve the problems brought explosively to attention last week. The mayor has also been meeting with the Hunters Point Young Men for Action Council which came about as a result of the riot.

As a short-range goal, the mayor, the chamber of commerce, some unions and a number of government agencies will seek to provide immediate employment. As a long-range goal, programs will be undertaken to provide current unemployables with meaningful new skills.
The most urgent need which everyone will unanimously agree is jobs. Unions and employers must realize this urgency.

This is an editorial from the Oct. 8, 1966, edition of The Spokesman, a Bayview Hunters Point community newspaper. The original headline was "The Outbreak: Moment to Moment

SFPD shoot youth who are rescuing others

The Spokesman

Hunters Point, Oct. 8, 1966 - It is an undeniable fact that but for the efforts and desire of the young people in the Hunters Point community, there would have been much more bloodshed and much more property damage than we have witnessed in this area. These young adults, often downgraded and seldom praised, are the ones who have laid their lives on the line in defense of justice and equality. ...

Organizational SOS, which stands for Save Our Selves, was created by 80 young men to try and restore order in the Hunters Point community, where the local police had provoked rioting by first shooting a 16-year-old boy in the back and killing him, then by shooting into crowds of Negro youngsters who were defenseless against a firing squad of 30 white policemen firing indiscriminately into the group.

The SOS Organization made specific requests to the police department to be allowed to get other youngsters off the street during tense moments of the rioting, but out of sheer fear, white policemen turned down what was probably the only way of ebbing the riot without more bloodshed. Beat back to the walls by gun butts and billy clubs, the efforts of the youth to prevent more bloodshed were rejected. And hundreds of white police marched in blue helmets spraying bullets and spattering blood of young innocent Negroes who were merely trying to get their brothers off the street.

These are excerpts from another editorial in the Spokesman of Oct. 8, 1966. The original headline is "Young Leadership in Crisis."

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