How to Use race riot in a Sentence

race riot

noun
  • As the race riots burned out, the worst campus riot of the decade erupted.
    — Patrick J. Buchanan, WSJ, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Johnson’s win sparked race riots across the nation and footage of the bout was banned from being shown.
    — Panama Jackson, The Root, 22 Apr. 2018
  • In the days that followed, violent protests erupted and race riots ripped that city apart.
    — Fox News, 9 Aug. 2018
  • As a teenager, a race riot broke out at her high school in Troy, Alabama.
    — Brianna Keilar and Ryan Bergeron, CNN, 8 Oct. 2021
  • In the blink of an eye, this protest becomes a full-scale race riot from out of the Civil Rights era.
    — Hilary Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Apr. 2022
  • He was even blamed for the race riots in 1919, in which more than three dozen people — black and white — were killed.
    — Patrick T. Reardon, chicagotribune.com, 14 Nov. 2019
  • Sadly, some of the issues that led to the race riot are still being confronted today.
    — Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune, 4 Sep. 2022
  • One is about prostitutes, and one is about a race riot, and both low-down subjects get the big, salon-type treatment.
    — Brian T. Allen, National Review, 16 Sep. 2020
  • Others have done so to break strikes, tamp down election or race riots, and enforce court orders or tax collection.
    — Kori Schake, The Atlantic, 30 Nov. 2024
  • Two girls with very different lives and backgrounds must rely on each other to survive the race riot that takes over their town.
    — NBC News, 20 Feb. 2020
  • Meanwhile, a race riot is brewing over the new family that has moved into the neighborhood.
    — Michael Heaton, cleveland.com, 27 Oct. 2017
  • When a race riot in the 1930s forced other black families from Ste.
    — National Geographic, 5 Oct. 2016
  • The doc comes after a series of race riots that took place in cities across the UK this summer and lasted just under a week.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 19 Oct. 2024
  • Hundreds have died since in terror attacks, reprisals and race riots, both Uighurs and Han Chinese.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 25 Nov. 2019
  • The debut episode began with the very real Tulsa race riot of 1921.
    — David Betancourt, Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2019
  • Thousands of black Londoners gathered in protest, the beginning of race riots that rippled through the city.
    — Ellen Barry, The Seattle Times, 14 May 2018
  • Shortly thereafter, Richardson led a crew to New Bedford to cover a race riot there.
    — James Sullivan, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Apr. 2018
  • The government has been wary of ethnic tensions ever since deadly race riots in the 1960s.
    — The Economist, 8 Aug. 2019
  • America, riven by race riots and the Vietnam War for years, had found a reason to come together.
    — oregonlive, 22 Apr. 2020
  • Hundreds of ethnic Chinese were killed in race riots in Kuala Lumpur in 1969.
    — James Hookway, WSJ, 17 May 2018
  • Black smoke billows from fires during the race riot of 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
    — Tiffany Crutcher, Time, 19 June 2020
  • When it was discovered that this courthouse had been the site of a lynching and a race riot, this promise took on a particularly sinister character.
    — Mitch Therieau, New Yorker, 7 Feb. 2026
  • The amusement park on the edge of Louisville's Shawnee Park, which closed in the 1960s after race riots, was Joe's obsession.
    — Savannah Eadens, The Courier-Journal, 22 Oct. 2019
  • The riots took place over several days and were a part of what became known as the long, hot summer of 1967, which saw more than 150 race riots across the United States.
    — USA Today, 29 June 2026
  • The Sopranos’ story will be set against the backdrop of the 1967 Newark race riots, which were triggered when police beat a black cabdriver named John Smith.
    — Matthew Gilbert, BostonGlobe.com, 9 Mar. 2018
  • Anti-Chinese sentiments led to a race riot on October 1, 1880 in which 28-year-old Look Young was lynched.
    — Esther Tseng, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Nov. 2025
  • In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, protests, looting, and anger were boiling up in the streets of Boston, a city that has played host to both abolitionists and vicious race riots.
    — Stephanie Saul, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2023
  • When America entered the Second World War, states and cities moved to enact additional hate speech laws, in part to prevent race riots that threatened to disrupt industrial production and the war effort.
    — Time, 29 Sep. 2025
  • The local public housing project, Trumbull Park Homes, was the site of White violence against Black tenants, resulting in a horrific race riot in 1953.
    — Essence, 26 Nov. 2025
  • The city experienced significant civil unrest, including the deadly 1968 Parkland race riots.
    — Ray Padilla, Louisville Courier Journal, 7 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'race riot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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