9,487
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
A '''race riot''' took place on [[February 24]], [[19761975]] on the grounds of the [[Escambia County Sheriff's Office]] after nearly 500 African-Americans gathered to protest [[Escambia County Sheriff|Sheriff]] [[Royal Untreiner]]'s refusal to discipline Deputy [[Doug Raines]], who had shot and killed a young black motorist, [[Wendel Blackwell]], on [[December 22]], [[19751974]]. Untreiner said the shooting was justifiable because Blackwell possessed a handgun, but some eyewitnesses claimed Raines had planted the gun after the fact.
Several local [[civil rights]] leaders, including [[B. J. Brooks]] of the [[NAACP]] and [[H. K. Matthews]] of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]], organized demonstrations in [[downtown Pensacola]], boycotted local stores, and met with Governor [[Reubin Askew]] to discuss the situation.
On February 24, just a few weeks after the [[February 5]] [[Escambia High School riots|riot]] at [[Escambia High School]] in which four people were shot, a crowd of nearly 500 gathered outside the Sheriff's headquarters and began repeating protest chants. Rev. [[Jimmie Lee Savage]] reportedly led demonstrators in the chant, "Two, four, six, eight, who shall we incarcerate? Untreiner, Raines, the whole damn bunch!"
Sheriff Untreiner, apparently hearing the word "assassinate" instead of "incarcerate," ordered the crowd to disband. When they did not leave the premises immediately, he sent seventy deputies with nightclubs into their midst.
{{blackhistory-stub}}
==See also==
*[[Escambia High School riots]]
==References==
