The 1967 Newark Riots were an extreme and terrible time in Newark, New Jersey, one of the worst in United States history. The clashes were between African Americans and white residents, police officers and the National Guard. The riots were not unexpected. Tension between the cities grew enormously during the 1960s, due to lack of jobs for blacks, inadequate housing, police brutality, and the political exclusion of blacks from the government. In 1967, the Newark police force had 1,500 members, of whom only 10 percent were black. The police would stop and question African Americans for the sole reason of racial profiling. The number of incidents of police brutality and Black people dying in police custody has increased dramatically. For example, in the summer of 1965, Lester Long, 22 (shot after a traffic stop), Bernard Rich, 26 (died in a prison cell, under unexplained circumstances). That same year, 17-year-old Walter Rich ("accidentally shot" while being searched for illegal substances). No police officer, however, was ever prosecuted and very few charges even reached the grand jury. The mayor at the time was Hugh Addonizo. He professed compassion for African Americans, but failed to appoint any black leadership in his administration. For example, he appointed an Irish graduate, James Callaghan, to the school board, replacing Wilbur Parker, the first black certified accountant in New Jersey. Newark began to deteriorate, and white residents blamed the growing African-American population for Newark's crisis. fall. However, one of the real culprits for this decline in Newark has been caused by poor housing, lack of jobs, and discrimination. 25% of the city's housing was substandard under Model C... half of the document... series of meetings organized by U.S. Attorney David M. Satz. According to the police, the clashes caused the death of 26 people, 24 of whom were African Americans. The two white victims were a police detective, who was reportedly shot by a sniper, and a firefighter, who was shot and killed while responding to an alarm on Central Avenue. Eighteen of the 26 people killed during the riot were killed by police or National Guard troops. Several people, such as Eloise Spellman and Elizabeth Artis, were fatally wounded in their own homes by a combination of National Guard and Police bullets aimed at suspected snipers. According to the New Jersey State Police, 725 injuries were reported (over 1,000 according to Newark City Hospital), 1,500 arrests and $10 million in property damage. After the riots, Newark sought to encourage racial equality. However, today, housing, employment and education remain huge problems.