Cika wannan jumla:
Newark ya ƙone a 1967, inda kwanaki shida na tashin hankali suka bar 26 da suka mutu, 1,500 suka ji rauni, kuma cikin gari ya ƙone. A Detroit a 1967, Gwamna George Romney ya aika da sojoji 7,400 na tsaron kasa don dakile fashewar wuta, fashi, da hare-hare a kan kasuwanni da 'yan sanda. A ƙarshe Johnson ya aika da sojojin tarayya da tankuna da bindigogi. Detroit ta ci gaba da ƙonewa har tsawon kwanaki uku har sai a ƙarshe, 43 sun mutu, 2,250 sun ji rauni, 4,000 aka kama; lalacewar dukiya ta kai daruruwan miliyoyin. Babban tashin hankali ya zo a watan Afrilu na 1968, a cikin birane sama da ɗari bayan kisan Martin Luther King. Johnson ya yi kira da a kashe karin biliyoyin a birane da kuma wata dokar 'yancin farar hula ta tarayya game da gidaje, amma wannan bukatar ba ta da goyon baya a Majalisa. Shahararren Johnson ya ragu yayin da fararen fata suka yi adawa da siyasa, suna karfafa tunanin cewa Johnson ya rasa iko a kan titunan manyan biranen da kuma jam'iyyarsa. Johnson ya kirkiro Hukumar Kerner don nazarin matsalar rikicin birane, wanda Gwamnan Illinois Otto Kerner ya jagoranta. A cewar sakataren manema labarai George Christian, Johnson bai yi mamakin tashin hankalin ba, yana cewa: "Me kuke tsammani? Ban san dalilin da ya sa muke mamaki ba. Idan ka sa kafarka a wuyan mutum ka riƙe shi har shekara ɗari uku, sa'an nan ka bar shi ya tashi, me zai yi? Zai kashe ka".