“The Whole World is Watching.” DNC 1968 Political Ed.

All eyes are on the DNC in Chicago right now. Here’s what happened at the 1968 Chicago DNC as anti-Vietnam War activists faced down police and a political party that refused to hear their demands…

What is the 1968 DNC?

The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, Illinois where over 15,000 activists took the streets to protest policies that impacted their communities at home and abroad, with the main demand calling for an end to the Vietnam War. These protests highlighted the growing disconnect between the political establishment and the public and played a role in shaping American activism, inspiring new movements and reinforcing the importance of demanding justice and accountability from those in power.

Events Leading Up to the DNC

The DNC of 1968 took place during a transformative political moment marked by police killings, racial injustice, a lack of political representation, and a brutal war.

• During the “Long Hot Summer of 67” more than 100 Black communities rose up against urban poverty, disinvestment, and police violence.
• In January 1968, the Tet Offensive became a pivotal point in the Vietnam War that turned popular sentiment against the war and left many Americans disillusioned with US military and political leadership. 
• Just four months before the DNC, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis, TN sparking nearly 200 mass uprisings across the nation.
  • Poor People’s Campaign, launched by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and led by Dr. King before his assassination, aimed to address economic justice and poverty in the U.S.

1968 Demands 

The protests, fueled by opposition to the Vietnam War, also amplified demands for social justice—civil rights, economic justice, gender equality and more. Activists pushed the Democratic Party to adopt an anti-war platform, take stronger stances on civil rights, and address poverty, inequality, and freedom of expression.

Organizations protesting at the 1968 DNC included:

• National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE)
• Students for a Democratic Society
• Yippies Youth International Party,
• Women’s Strike for Peace (WSP) 
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference

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“I went because we were for human rights and against this damn war. We, the black people, shouldn’t have to be fighting this war, dying in Vietnam, if this country isn’t recognizing our civil, democratic, human rights.”

– Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party and co-defendant in the Chicago 8 trial where he was charged with conspiring to incite a riot at the DNC

Just months after the city was rocked by MLK assassination protests, Chicago’s Mayor Daley hammered down on a “law and order” approach to the DNC. Daley villainized protesters, denied them permits to demonstrate, and mobilized thousands of police officers, National Guard members, and Army soldiers. [link, link]. 

Police indiscriminately attacked peaceful protesters and the press, many of whom were there with video cameras that enabled them to document the police brutality. It was not until footage of police brutality was broadcast on mainstream media that white Americans became more aware of systemic violence [link, link].

Impact on Asian American Movement + Organizing (before and after DNC) 

“It was no accident that Asian America was born at the peak of the Vietnam War,” says author Karen Ishizuka. Source: Densho

The Vietnam War saw spikes in anti-Asian racism and Asian Americans were key supporters of the anti-war movement. The anti-war protests at the DNC resonated deeply within the Asian American community, fostering a sense of solidarity with other marginalized groups opposing U.S. imperialism and militarism.

Asian Americans during this time connected the racist and colonialist implications of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam to the long history of violence perpetrated against Asian peoples throughout U.S. history. 

Alongside Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students, Asian Americans helped form the Third World Liberation Front at SF State University in 1968 (and at UC Berkeley in 1969) to strike for fair representation and the founding of Ethnic Studies. 

This period saw the emergence of the Asian American identity as a political and cultural force, with activists drawing parallels and inspiration from other communities of color, particularly Black liberation movements. 

• In 1968, Yuji Ichioka and Emma Gee coined the term ‘Asian American’ and founded the Asian American Political Alliance in Berkeley
  
• The AAPA develops close ties with the Black Panther Party and the Red Guard, an Asian-American organization modeled after the Panthers 
  
• Milton Meyer & Co, owner of the International Hotel in San Francisco’s Manilatown, applied to demolish the building in 1968, mobilizing Asian Americans to prevent the eviction of its elderly Asian residents.

REFLECTIONS

The 1968 DNC protests were driven by a coalition of anti-war activists, civil rights groups, and other social justice movements, all united by a deep dissatisfaction with the status quo and a desire for meaningful change. This week, the DNC is back in Chicago. Almost 60 years later, thousands of protesters are again flooding the city to demand an end to bombing and brutality, to call for racial justice, jobs, and education. 

Fighting for the world we want to live in is not a momentary effort but a continuous struggle throughout time. See you in the streets!

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 Sources

• Engebretson, Jess, and Matthew Green. “The Summer of Rage: Lessons from the Race Riots in Detroit and Newark 50 Years Ago.” KQED, PBS, 24 July 2017, www.kqed.org/lowdown/22779/uprising-lessons-from-the-race-riots-of-1967.  
• Bowman, Tom. “Military Victory but Political Defeat: The Tet Offensive 50 Years Later.” NPR, NPR, 29 Jan. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/01/29/580811124/military-victory-but-political-defeat-the-tet-offensive-50-years-later.   
• Boissoneault, Lorraine. “Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination Sparked Uprisings in Cities across America.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, 4 Apr. 2018, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/martin-luther-king-jrs-assassination-sparked-uprisings-cities-across-america-180968665/.  
• “Holy Week: The Story of a Revolution Undone.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/holy-week/. 
• “Brief History Of Chicago’s 1968 Democratic Convention.” CNN All Politics, Cable News Network (CNN), 22 Aug. 1996, www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/chicago/facts/chicago68/index.shtml.   
• “S.C.L.C. to Demand Delegate Changes.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 17 Aug. 1968, www.nytimes.com/1968/08/17/archives/sclc-to-demand-delegate-changes.html.  
• Waxman, Olivia B. “‘Violence Was Inevitable’: How 7 Key Players Remember the Chaos of 1968’s Democratic National Convention Protests.” Time, 28 Aug. 2018, time.com/5377386/1968-democratic-national-convention-protesters/. 
• Grigsby, Susan. “The 1968 Chicago Riot That Everyone Seems to Forget.” Daily Kos, 2 Sept. 2018, www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/2/1791885/-The-1968-Chicago-riot-that-everyone-seems-to-forget.   
• Chavis, Lakeidra. “How the 1968 DNC in Chicago Devolved into ‘Unrestrained and Indiscriminate Police Violence.’” The Marshall Project, The Marshall Project, 14 Aug. 2024, www.themarshallproject.org/2024/08/14/chicago-dnc-protests-police-reforms.  
• Chase, Brett, and Mitchell Armentrout. Views from the Front Lines of Chicago’s 1968 DNC Protests; Grant Park “Free-for-All,” Chicago Sun-Times, 9 Aug. 2024, chicago.suntimes.com/2024-democratic-national-convention/2024/08/09/democratic-national-convention-chicago-1968-protests-vietnam-grant-park-chicago-police-department.  
• Wallace, Nina. “In the Belly of the Monster: Asian American Opposition to the Vietnam War – Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment.” Densho, Densho, 15 Nov. 2017, densho.org/catalyst/asian-american-opposition-vietnam-war/.  
• Howard, Annie. Journalism Still Carries the Mark of 1968, Columbia Journalism Review, 13 Sept. 2018, www.cjr.org/analysis/chicago-dnc-1968.php.  
• “San Francisco State Strike 1968 Student Brochure.” Asian American Movement 1968, Asian Community Center History Group, 16 Jan. 2008, aam1968.blogspot.com/2007/12/blog-post_3620.html.  
• Kambhampaty, Anna Purna. “In 1968, These Activists Coined the Term ‘Asian American’—And Helped Shape Decades of Advocacy.” Time, Time, 22 May 2020, time.com/5837805/asian-american-history/.  
• “History.” The I-Hotel – San Francisco, The I-Hotel San Francisco, www.ihotel-sf.org/history/. 
• Ogbar, Jeffrey. Yellow Power: The Formation of Asian American Nationalism in the Age of Black Power: 1966-1975, Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, summer 2001, www.columbia.edu/cu/ccbh/souls/vol3no3/vol3num3art3.pdf.