Division Street Riots
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It was during the first downtown, Puerto Rican Parade on June 12, 1966, that one of the first Puerto Rican riots in the U.S. began on Division Street. The riot, one of many urban disturbances across the nation in the 1960s, was a response to the shooting of a young Puerto Rican man by Chicago Police. There was rioting until June 14. Community leaders rallied in the park to devise strategies to calm the crowds.
Deteriorating economic conditions facing Puerto Ricans and incoming African Americans embodied many aspects of the national urban crisis while ethnic conflicts, especially those between young Puerto Ricans and Polish Americans, prevailed during the transition period.
A key moment in the history of Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois, the Division Street riot drew attention to poverty and to strained relations between Puerto Ricans and Chicago's police department. At the same time it inspired and created many Puerto Rican community organizations such as the Spanish Action Committee of Chicago (SACC), the Latin American Defense Organization (LADO), and, in the late 1960's and early 1970s, ASPIRA Association,the Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, and the Young Lords.
A month after the riot, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations held open hearings which provided a forum for Puerto Rican and other Spanish-speaking residents of Chicago to discuss problems facing these communities such as displacement and discrimination in housing, foul practices by the police and fire departments, and poor educational opportunities. As a result of these meetings, specific policy recommendations were proposed and implemented in the Puerto Rican community. The Puerto Rican community organizations which emerged from the riots also ensured that community concerns such as education, housing, health, and employment would be actively addressed and that Puerto Ricans would maintain a presence in city politics
