by Kim Remesch

Created on: June 16, 2010

The thing about mob mentality is that there are no rules, no sense of reason. Things that shouldn’t happen, do happen. People who would not behave badly, do. This is the case of the Baltimore Riot of 1968. By the end of it all, Baltimoreans were terrified, horrified and mortified, and a city was left in shambles.

Bibber, as he was known by Baltimore City locals, ran a packaged-good store stocked with liquor, snacks, food, cigarettes, comic books and an odd assortment of things. He’d have no idea that he was about to become part of history in 1968 when racial tensions exploded, and mob rule called the shots.

Locals often came to Bibber, not being able to pay for whatever they were purchasing. The hulk of a man, imposing but kind and approachable, would extend them credit. After all, they were neighbors, and that’s what neighbors do for one another.

Days later, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968, Baltimore became part of a bevy of riots that ravaged more than 130 cities in the United States. Bibber, a white male, ran his store smack in the middle of an urban, largely Black-populated area. Despite the relationship the business owner had forged with his neighbors, chaos reigned. All bets were off.

The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. following myriad Civil Rights protests, coupled with ongoing protests about Vietnam, pushed the racial tensions in Baltimore City one tiny step beyond the breaking point.

The neighbors Bibber had exchanged pleasantries with and shouted out: “How about them O’s” (the Orioles finished second in the American league that season) to, burned his business to the ground. Mob mentality.

Many thought Baltimore would escape the nationwide riots that ensued directly after the King assassination. Baltimore, particularly in 1968, reflected its immigrant roots. Each block reflected a different ethnic group from Polish to Italian to Lumbee Indians. Few people looked alike from an ethnic standpoint. Everyone was an outsider to a neighborhood just a block away.

Two days later, April 5, the first aggressive act in the form of a firebomb thrown through the window of Hoffman’s Liquor Store, officially started what would be known as the Baltimore Riot of 1968.

As a non-violent protest or merely to show respect for a fallen leader, students at Coppin State College and Northwestern High school refused to attend classes. Rather than escalate the situation, Baltimore Mayor Tommy

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