The Peekskill Riots; In Darkest India

Abstract

On August 27th Paul Robeson was scheduled to give a concert at Peekskill, New York. Demonstrations and rioting by local veterans' organizations prevented the concert from being held. The following week-end, on September 4th, the story was different. Protected by a strong guard of union workers from New York City and surrounded by hundreds of state and local police, the concert was held virtually without incident. But when the crowd left the concert grounds in automobiles and buses it was set upon in as vicious a manner as it is possible to imagine. For a distance of several miles a bloodthirsty mob, screaming such epithets as "Jew bastard," "dirty nigger," and "Moscow-lover," hurled rocks at passing vehicles, overturned stalled cars, and heat up hapless stragglers. More than 150 people required medical treatment. The police did nothing to prevent this orgy of hate and violence.

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