Livernois-Fenkell riot
Encyclopedia
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
. The trouble began when Andrew Chinarian, the 39-year-old, white 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 Obie Wynn (18). According to some accounts, Wynn was fleeing; according to others, he was approaching Chinarian with what the latter thought was a weapon (in fact a screwdriver). 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.
The second fatality was Marian Pyszko, a 54-year old dishwasher and a Nazi concentration-camp survivor who had emigrated from Poland in 1958. As he drove home from the bakery/candy-factory where he worked, he was pulled from his car by a group of young men and beaten to death with a piece of concrete. Among those accused of the crime (and later acquitted) was Raymond Peoples, a co-founder of Young Boys Incorporated.
Police were ordered to avoid the use of deadly force, and indeed, not a shot was fired. The crowd of 700 was dispersed by morning. However, angry crowds and violence reappeared the following night as the newly elected Mayor of Detroit, Coleman Young
, declared Chinarian's $500 bond "ridiculously low" (it was raised to $25,000); using a car as a battering ram, the crowd stormed and ransacked Bolton's Bar.
Young then worked to defuse the situation by appearing in person, along with numerous clergy, at the scene of the disturbance. 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).
CBS News reported a claim that the bar served white patrons only, and noted the 25% unemployment rate as an aggravating factor.
Race riot
A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
in the summer of 1975 on Livernois Avenue at Chalfonte Avenue, just south of Fenkell Avenue, in Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. The trouble began when Andrew Chinarian, the 39-year-old, white 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 Obie Wynn (18). According to some accounts, Wynn was fleeing; according to others, he was approaching Chinarian with what the latter thought was a weapon (in fact a screwdriver). Crowds gathered and random acts of vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
, assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
looting
Looting
Looting —also referred to as sacking, plundering, despoiling, despoliation, and pillaging—is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
and racial fighting along Livernois and Fenkell Avenues ensued. Bottles and rocks were thrown at passing cars.
The second fatality was Marian Pyszko, a 54-year old dishwasher and a Nazi concentration-camp survivor who had emigrated from Poland in 1958. As he drove home from the bakery/candy-factory where he worked, he was pulled from his car by a group of young men and beaten to death with a piece of concrete. Among those accused of the crime (and later acquitted) was Raymond Peoples, a co-founder of Young Boys Incorporated.
Police were ordered to avoid the use of deadly force, and indeed, not a shot was fired. The crowd of 700 was dispersed by morning. However, angry crowds and violence reappeared the following night as the newly elected Mayor of Detroit, Coleman Young
Coleman Young
Coleman Alexander Young served as mayor of Detroit in the U.S. state of Michigan from 1974 to 1993. Young became the first African-American mayor of Detroit in the same week that Maynard Jackson became the first African-American mayor of Atlanta.-Pre-Mayoral career:Young was born in Tuscaloosa,...
, declared Chinarian's $500 bond "ridiculously low" (it was raised to $25,000); using a car as a battering ram, the crowd stormed and ransacked Bolton's Bar.
Young then worked to defuse the situation by appearing in person, along with numerous clergy, at the scene of the disturbance. 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).
CBS News reported a claim that the bar served white patrons only, and noted the 25% unemployment rate as an aggravating factor.
External links
- See Detroit Free Press page: Coleman Young chronology
- Time Magazine coveragehttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,917662,00.html
- Photograph of Marian Pyszkohttp://digital.pk.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?id=S-VMC-X-9780%5D9780