The makers of a new documentary argue that there has been a wilful amnesia in America about the late 1960s, an era of widespread and profound racial unrest. Their documentary attempts to set the record straight
THE POP-CULTURE image of the late 1960s in America as a time of hippies and free love has become overshadowed by the tumult that marred the decade, from assassinations to war to popular discontent. Racial unrest was widespread and profound, with violent clashes between citizens and the police and National Guard. More than 150 riots took place in the summer of 1967 alone; scores of people died and thousands were injured.
“The only thing that was implemented from its recommendations…was the funding towards police training,” says Sierra Pettengill, the director of a new documentary, “Riotsville, USA”. Her film looks at one way that money was spent: on the construction of a handful of ersatz towns in which soldiers could practise riot response. These training grounds were built by the army to resemble an average Main Street; soldiers dressed as civilians caused havoc in specially designed “agitator” scenarios.
The director supplements this with rarely seen clips offering insight into the atmosphere in America in the late 1960s, thereby contrasting the vision of control and security represented by the training towns with the possibility of social change in the air.
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