On May 11, 1969, racial tensions boil over during a night of violence in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma. This so-called Mother’s Day Disturbance is similar to 1960s civil disturbances in other U.S. cities involving "a black population concentrated by residential discrimination in a deteriorating inner-city neighborhood, the lack of economic opportunity and political representation, and the gulf between the promise of equal rights and the daily reality of black life” ("Mother’s Day Disturbance, 1969"). The incident will mark a turning point in Tacoma’s civil rights movement.
Seeds of Discontent
The winds of social change driven by the U.S. civil rights movement swept through Tacoma in the 1960s as local leaders worked to eliminate discrimination in the city. Civil rights organizations including the NAACP and Tacoma Urban League, religious groups, and liberal-minded white organizations led crusades for social justice. While looking to abolish racial discrimination, they also hoped to rehabilitate Tacoma's decaying Hilltop neighborhood, where decades of housing discrimination and redlining practices had contributed to the blighting of the area. Civil rights leaders, with help from Tacoma City Manager David Rowlands, worked to obtain federal funds through urban renewal and Model Cities programs to rejuvenate the neighborhood. But just as the outlook to revitalize Hilltop looked promising, Tacoma's 1967 mayoral election threatened to undermine the process.
Albert Lawrence "Slim" Rasmussen (1909-1993) was elected mayor in November 1967, signaling the start of a hostile era in Tacoma city politics. Rasmussen played to his blue-collar South Tacoma base by assailing urban renewal and Model Cities programs as wasteful federal spending to fuel his victory ("Tacoma Voters Recall ..."). His hostility toward federal anti-poverty programs resulted in Model Cities funds getting withdrawn from Tacoma. His rebuke of programs designed to address racism and poverty also put him at odds with Black community leaders. Further adding to the disharmony, Rasmussen attacked the city’s multiracial Human Rights Commission, charging that the group was biased against whites ("Mayor Plans Secret Meeting ..."). Rasmussen's term was defined by his attempts to oust Rowlands and to dismantle Tacoma's city-manager form of government and the Human Rights Commission. His attacks and those from conservative allies were broadcast over the radio station KAYE in neighboring Puyallup, further increasing rancor in the city.
Tacoma avoided the kind of violence that wracked more than 100 U.S. cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, but trouble was coming. In a year, it would catch the city by complete surprise.
The Disturbance
Tacoma’s simmering racial tensions boiled over on Mother’s Day 1969. At 8 p.m., Tacoma police stopped a car in the Hilltop neighborhood and arrested a young Black person who attempted to flee. During the ensuing fracas, a woman from a nearby house began to scream "police brutality!" which brought a crowd into the street ("Police Alert ..."). Mayhem ensued around 11 p.m. when officers tried to disperse a crowd of about 150 people. The crowd became enraged when a woman complained of injuries sustained when police attempted to apprehend her. Three gunshots rang out. Officer Herman Knaack fell critically wounded with a bullet in his side. The crowd turned to property vandalism as throngs of people, many of them teenagers, resorted to rock throwing and smashing windows along K Street.
The violence subsided in the early morning hours, thanks in large part to "the moderating influence of several African Americans who would emerge as city leaders, helped contain the rioting to a single night of violence" (Johns). These future leaders included Thomas Dixon, Executive Director of the Tacoma Urban League; Harold Moss (1929-2020), who would become Tacoma’s first Black mayor in 1994; and James L. Walton, who would become Tacoma’s first Black city manager in 2003. Their request – that police remain away while they canvassed the streets to urge calm and send angry youth home – was granted. "They thanked us for cooling the area," recalled Moss ("Pacifier Role Cited ...").
Aftermath
Thirty-five people were arrested on the night of the Mother's Day Disturbance. Roy and Betty Forks, whose arrest touched off the violence, were charged with resisting arrest and breaching the peace. Roy Forks failed to appear for his court date, and in September 1969 he was arrested for murder in Texas, charged with shooting and killing his landlord.
Tacoma remained uneasy in the days following the disturbance. Mayor Rasmussen declared a state of emergency and enacted a controversial civil-disobedience ordinance that had been passed with a housing ordinance in May 1968. Many African American felt the civil-disobedience ordinance unfairly targeted the Black community. A city-wide curfew and ban on liquor sales were put in place for two days. City leaders hosted contentious meetings with Black leaders; one of them was interrupted by a bomb threat ("10 New Policemen ..."). Officials from the U.S. Justice Department visited the city to assess the racial climate, much to the chagrin of Mayor Rasmussen ("We Won’t Surrender ...".)
Tacoma’s Black leadership demanded and successfully negotiated for Black representation in the police department and won improved services to Hilltop. Scattered incidents of racial violence continued throughout the summer of 1969 but were slight compared to the disturbance on Mother’s Day. Rasmussen lost the mayoral election in November 1969, and the next year, a citizens’ recall movement removed his allies from the city council. The upheaval paved the way for Black representation by Tacomans in city and state politics. Harold Moss was appointed to the council after the recall and in 1971 won election to the seat, the first African American elected to public office in Tacoma or Pierce County.
Officer Herman Knaack recovered from his gunshot wounds and returned to duty in November 1969. He retired from the Tacoma Police Department in 1971 after 14 years on the force and died on April 17, 1994.
