Shreveport/Bossier History Threatened

[LateNight]

Yeah, good post.. see what old stories the 'old folks' can remember.

[joepole]

I was a student at Middle Magnet during the riots and my mom made me go to school the next day because the idiot school board didn't close it. I remember sitting on the floor of the bus and sleeping through two group classes (about 3 teachers and maybe 40 students showed up so we all sat in the cafeteria) before my friend's mom checked me out.

[Jvanv]

So you are referring to the 1988 riots in Cedar Grove?

Was there any rioting near the school? Did you see or hear any of the rioters? Did you or your parents participate in any way? What was the mood in the school? Were teachers afraid? Did you have any worries about your safety?

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I was at Byrd High School in the 70s when it was integrated and while there weren't riots students staged a walk-out, not exactly sure why. I use to have a photo of the students gathered around the entrance of the building and what looked like the entire Shreveport Police Dept. across the street waiting to see if there was going to be any violence. Eventually everyone went back to class and the police left, but the tensions in the school remained high. There were many incidents where a group of students (black or white) would corner someone of the other race alone in a bathroom and either harass them or beat them up. Eventually that all subsided also.

[joepole]

>Was there any rioting near the school?

Yes, right next to the school. Most took place a few block away, though, right next to Eden Gardens Elementary

>Did you see or hear any of the rioters?

No, they didn't occur during school hours

>Did you or your parents participate in any way?

I personally shot and killed four people. My mom was one of the crack dealers that was present at the start of the riot

>What was the mood in the school?

"Why the hell is the school open today?"

>Were teachers afraid?

The few that showed up were.

>Did you have any worries about your safety?

Yes, I rode on the floor of the bus.

[rhertz]

Originally Posted by joepole

>Did you or your parents participate in any way?

I personally shot and killed four people. My mom was one of the crack dealers that was present at the start of the riot

LMAO, that was funny. We need a :sarcasm: tag on this site, not that joe would ever use one.

[Isaac-Saxxon]

Originally Posted by rhertz

LMAO, that was funny. We need a :sarcasm: tag on this site, not that joe would ever use one.

No sarcasm joe is the man

[Jvanv]

Originally Posted by joepole

>
I personally shot and killed four people. My mom was one of the crack dealers that was present at the start of the riot

I would laugh, but considering so of the stuff I've done in my life I think I'll pass

[vixweb]

I was a Junior @ Parkway during the riots, and 2 friends and I tried to go "check it out" during the night- but all we could see were cop cars everywhere.
The whole thing was BS anyway, very small in scale....I think the word of the day was: " HOT BISCUIT"

[j.nc]

I graduated Byrd in 1975. I’m trying to remember if this was at Byrd or Broadmoor (or both) but does anyone recall how each course was "phased"? "Phases" was the term used - it was school or parish policy/dictate of some kind. So English - for example- had a phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, and phase 4. I don't recall the order of the phases but phase 4 would denote accelerated and phase 1 remedial (or the other way around). Phase 1 =below par, less educated for example. So there would be a phase 1-2 English class and then there would be a phase 3-4 English class. There may have been a class for each of the four phases, I don’t recall. The justification was that the lower phase would not drag down the learning of the higher phases since they would be in separate classes. The de facto result was sub integration more or less. The lower phases were usually black and lower class white. The upper phases were mostly white and some better educated black kids. I somehow took some elective that put me in a phase 1-2 class and it was a real eye-opener. I never felt unsafe or anything but welcome but the folks there made me realize what different worlds we occupied. Greasers like a throwback to the 50s, Black kids that didn’t seem to care or knew there was nothing for them in school; or some that were trying anyway and talked to me like I was Einstein. I never had the feeling of any kind of racial tension overall – maybe just oblivious.

[I hate talking in terms of Black/White but using it to try to define the experience] My first experience with a black teacher was 7th grade at Broadmoor for English. But we started getting graded tests back where the corrections were obviously wrong –basic correct grammar or correct words were labeled as wrong. There were other issues like that sometimes happening in class where it was obvious she was not qualified to be there and if we tried to appeal some obvious point she would get hostile. She would state something that we as 7th graders could not reconcile as correct usage. I can’t imagine the pressures on this young teacher – think about it. Something happened soon enough (parent intervention involved) and she was replaced (she was no longer at the school after that. No explanation, we just came to school one day and had a new teacher).

[rhertz]

Originally Posted by Jvanv

So you are referring to the 1988 riots in Cedar Grove?

Was there any rioting near the school? Did you see or hear any of the rioters? Did you or your parents participate in any way? What was the mood in the school? Were teachers afraid? Did you have any worries about your safety?

My sister and her husband live in Spring Lake. One rumor was that random drive-by shootings were to occur during those "riots" which made national news if I recall.. So their children slept in the back rooms on the floor far from windows in the front of the house. I didn't have any kids until later and lived across town so I didn't pay much attention to the Cedar Grove riots.