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Student protestors and construction workers violently clash in NYC in “Hard Hat Riot” on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE – Sept. 30 at 9 pm


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AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

“Hard Hat Riot”

Tuesday, September 30 at 9:00 pm

 

A group of Hardhats storm the steps of a building. Many holding American Flags.
Hardhats take the steps on May 8, 1970

On May 8, 1970, “the Hard Hat Riot” erupted in lower Manhattan. At midday, construction workers, including those building the World Trade Center, violently clashed with students demonstrating against the Vietnam War. It was soon clear that something larger was happening — the workmen, who came to be known as “hardhats,” were at the cutting edge of a new kind of class war. With the war in Vietnam raging on, it was the sons of the working class who were doing most of the fighting. Workmen saw the protesting students as privileged “draft dodgers” disparaging the country and those who fought for it. On the other side, many student activists saw the workers as pawns, unwilling to see the changes that America needed.

David Friedman, a student protester is pictured in a group of people with blood on his nose. He was attacked during the riots.
David Friedman, a student protester interviewed in the film, is helped up after being attacked on May 8, 1970.

Hard Hat Riot tells the story of a struggling metropolis, a flailing president, a divided people, and a bloody juncture when the nation violently diverged ― culminating in a new political and cultural landscape that radically redefined American politics and foreshadowed the future.