Tuesday will mark 55 years since the city of Newark was forever changed by riots.

On July 12, 1967, a Black cab driver was arrested and beaten by two white police officers

Rioting began in the city’s mostly Black Central Ward after the incident.

Newark resident James Boyd was a young man at the time. He says he recalls the death of his friend’s mother during the riots.

“I heard shots rang out…there was a crowd there on the corner. We all turned to run. I turned back around, and she was laying on the ground in a puddle of blood,” Boyd says.

He says there is still a long way to go with race relations in America, but that he is hopeful and optimistic for the future.