Livernois–Fenkell riot
Map of the riot location | |
Date | Friday, August 1, 1975 |
---|---|
Location | Livernois Avenue at Chalfonte Avenue, just south of Fenkell Avenue, in Detroit, Michigan |
Deaths |
|
Non-fatal injuries | 10 injuries |
The Livernois–Fenkell riot was a racially motivated riot in the summer of 1975 on Livernois Avenue at Chalfonte Avenue, just south of Fenkell Avenue, in Detroit, Michigan.
Riot
The trouble began when Andrew Chinarian, the 39-year-old owner of Bolton's Bar, observed three black youths tampering with his car in the parking lot. He fired a pistol or rifle, fatally wounding 18 year old Obie Wynn.[2] According to some accounts, Wynn was fleeing; according to others, he was approaching Chinarian with what the latter thought was a weapon, it later emerged that Wynn was holding a screwdriver. He died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.[3] Crowds gathered and random acts of vandalism, assault, looting and racial fighting along Livernois and Fenkell avenues ensued. Bottles and rocks were thrown at passing cars.[3]
The second fatality was Marian Pyszko, a 54-year-old dishwasher and a Nazi concentration-camp survivor who had emigrated from Poland in 1958.[4] As he drove home from the bakery/candy-factory where he worked, he was pulled from his car by a group of black youths and beaten to death with a piece of concrete.[5][page needed] Ronald Bell Jordan, Raymond Peoples, and Dennis Lindsay were all charged with first-degree murder.[6]
Police were ordered to avoid the use of deadly force, and indeed, not a shot was fired.[5] The crowd of 700 was dispersed by morning. However, angry crowds and violence reappeared the following night – using a car as a battering ram, the crowd stormed and ransacked Bolton's Bar.[3]
Detroit mayor Coleman Young then worked to defuse the situation by appearing in person, along with numerous clergy, at the scene of the disturbance.[7][incomplete short citation] Another key factor was Mayor Young getting every black policeman in the city to police the riot, further defusing the situation.[7]
The damage to property in the Livernois-Fenkell area amounted to tens of thousands of dollars. Fifty-three people were arrested, and ten injuries were recorded (including one firefighter and one police officer). [3]
CBS News reported an unverified claim that the bar served white patrons only, and noted the 25% unemployment rate as an aggravating factor.[8]
See also
- List of riots in Detroit
- List of homicides in Michigan
- List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States
Bibliography
Notes
- ^ Streissguth 2009, p. 115.
- ^ Time 1975.
- ^ a b c d Jet Magazine 1975, p. 7.
- ^ Salpukas 1975a, p. 12.
- ^ a b Darden & Thomas 2013.
- ^ Buchanan, Stanford & Kimble 2007, p. 19.
- ^ a b Salpukas 1975b, p. 37.
- ^ CBS News 1975.
References
- Buchanan, Heather; Stanford, Sharon; Kimble, Teresa (2007). Eyes on Fire: Witnesses to the Detroit Riot of 1967. Aquarius Press. ISBN 9780971821453. - Total pages: 80
- CBS News (July 29, 1975). "CBS Evening News for Tuesday, July 29, 1975". Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- Darden, Joe T.; Thomas, Richard W. (2013). Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide. Michigan State University Press. ISBN 9781609173524. - Total pages: 325
- Jet Magazine (August 14, 1975). "Violence erupts in Detroit". Jet Magazine. XLVIII (21). Johnson Publishing Company: 6–7. OCLC 20729894. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- Salpukas, Agis (July 31, 1975a). "Detroit Authorities Move To Keep Unrest in Check". The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
- Salpukas, Agis (August 1, 1975b). "Symbols of Black Power". The New York Times. New York City. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- Streissguth, Thomas (2009). Hate Crimes. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438119045. - Total pages: 337
- "The Nation: Close to the Brink". Time. August 11, 1975. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- v
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- Watts riots (1965)
- Compton's Cafeteria riot (1966)
- Hunters Point social uprising (1966)
- Sunset Strip curfew riots (1966)
- Chicano Moratorium (1970)
- 1973 San Quentin State Prison riot
- White Night riots (1979)
- 1966 Detroit riot
- 1966 Benton Harbor riots
- 1967 Detroit riot
- 1967 Saginaw riot
- 1968 Detroit riot
- 1970 Memorial Park riot
- Livernois–Fenkell riot (1975)
- 1967 Buffalo riot
- 1967 New York City riot
- 1968 New York City riot
- Stonewall riots (1969)
- Hard Hat Riot (1970)
- Attica Prison riot (1971)
- Clifford Glover shooting riots (1973)
- August Rebellion (1974)
- Ghetto riots (1964–1969)
- Long, hot summer of 1967
- 1967 Milwaukee riot
- Orangeburg massacre (1968)
- King assassination riots (1968)
- 1968 Kansas City, Missouri riot
- 1968 Louisville riots
- 1968 Washington, D.C. riots
- Wilmington riot of 1968
- Zip to Zap (1969)
- 1970 Augusta riot
- New Haven Black Panther trials (1970)
- Student strike of 1970
- USS Kitty Hawk riot (1972)
- Wounded Knee incident (1973)
- 1973 Oklahoma State Penitentiary riot
- Baltimore police strike (1974)
- Boston busing desegregation (1974–1988)
- Herman Hill riot (1979)
- New Mexico State Penitentiary riot (1980)