On July 18, 1964, Police Officer Thomas Gilligan shoots and
kills fifteen year-old James Powell. Due
to the racial tensions that existed within Harlem, it was irrelevant whether it
was self-defense or not. Tempered by the
misery of living in the ghetto, the inspiration of the Civil Rights Movement,
and the hatred of police, Harlem’s citizens were outraged and spread
accusations of police brutality. On the
day of mourning, a wave of hatred spread throughout Harlem’s streets. Hate-preaching demagogues emerged on street
corners. People gathered in a rally, and
Reverend Nelson Dukes gave a twenty minute speech of fury and frustration that
ended with everybody marching on the West 123rd Police
Precinct. As police tried to hold off
rioters on the ground, people on rooftops lobbed bricks and bottles into the
precinct. Police drove them back, and
the rioters retreated, vandalizing and looting as they went. The battle for Harlem had begun. The fighting lasted for a day, and resulted
in one death, over a hundred injuries, more than 450 arrests, and over a
million dollars’ worth in damages. As
the rioting in Harlem came to a close, another race riot broke out it
Rochester, New York. It was clear that
Harlem was only the first of many to come.
Demonstrators marching down 125th Street with photos of Thomas Gilligan
Police officers beating a rioter
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/45/Harlem_riots_-_1964.jpg/509px-Harlem_riots_-_1964.jpg
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