Diálogo Volume 2 Number 1 Article 6 1997 Recollections: 1966 Division Street Riot Mervin Méndez Center for Latino Research Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo Part of the Latin American Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Méndez, Mervin (1997) "Recollections: 1966 Division Street Riot," Diálogo: Vol. 2 : No. 1 , Article 6. Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/dialogo/vol2/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for Latino Research at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in Diálogo by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DIALOGANDO Recollections The 1966 Division Street Riots by Mervin Méndez destruction of property and the mis­ Center for Latino Research treatment of community residents by DePaul University the Chicago Police, this event also led to the formation of groups and Violence is initiated by those who organizations to address the con­ oppress, who exploit, who fail to rec­ cerns of the community in areas such ognize others as persons-not by as health, education, housing and those who are oppressed, exploited employment. and unrecognized. It is not the To commemorate the 31st anni­ unloved who initiate disaffection, versary of this important event in the but those who cannot love because history of Chicago’s Puerto Rican they love themselves. It is not the and Latino community, Diálogo set helpless, subject to terror, who initi­ out to interview members of the ate terror, but the violent, who with Puerto Rican community who were their power create the concrete situ­ eyewitnesses to the events of those ation which begets the “rejects of days and who also were active in the life”... community before and after the riots. —Paulo Freire The community members we inter­ Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970 viewed include Mirta Ramirez, who Business as usual, after rioting. at the time of the riots was a house­ June, 1966 On June 12, 1966 the first riot wife active in the issue of bilingual education and whose accomplish­ attributed to Puerto Ricans in United Angry crowds burned 3 squad cars, ments include establishing Aspira in States history occurred along the damaged 16 others, and smashed strip of Chicago’s Division Street. Chicago; Obed López, a Mexican more than 200 windows as they fought immigrant who has worked in the During the 1960’s a number of simi­ police with bricks, rocks, bottles, lar civil disturbances occurred in Puerto Rican community for over Molotov cocktails, and sporadic sniper thirty years; Fr. Donald Headly a communities of color throughout the gunfire. United States in response to the con­ non-Latino priest who headed the ditions of poverty, neglect and The disturbance started before Cardinal’s Committee for the Spanish Speaking; Professor José Acevedo, racism—most notably the Watts nightfall yesterday and fanned out who in 1966 was a seminarian and Riots of 1965 in Los Angeles and the from Damen Avenue and Division who has for the past twenty-five years riots along Chicago’s Madison Street. It was not snuffed out until just headed El Centro Para Recursos Avenue in 1967. According to an arti­ before daybreak. It was sparked by the shooting of Cruz Arcelis, 20, an ex-con­ Educativos at Northeastern Illinois cle entitled “16 Injured in Night- University; and Roberto Medina who vict, of 1265 N. Winchester Ave., by Long Street Fighting” which was in his teens at the time and later appeared in the June 13, 1966 issue Patrolman Thomas Munyon who was was among the first Latinos to of the now defunct Chicago trying to arrest him after breaking up become active in Chicago’s labor American: a fight. movement. More than 100 policemen were To many in the Puerto Rican com­ The story of the 1966 riots may be keeping a tight watch on the near munity, the 1966 Division Street Riot told in many ways, by many individu­ northwest side today after night-long represents a milestone in the history als, each bringing their perspective street fighting resulted in at least 16 of Puerto Ricans in Chicago. While and understanding of the community injuries and 36 arrests. initially the riot resulted in the into the discussion. Diálogo/ 29 n keeping with our commitment They chased two people up an alley the conditions for people in the to present our readers with diverse and shot at them. That is what start­ Puerto Rican community to feel that forms of expression, we have ed the riot on Damen and Division, there was no other way to vent their I where police cars were turned over frustrations than by doing what they included on page 28 a transcript of the lyrics to a song written by Simón and burned. The police used exces­ did. Gómez inspired by the riot entitled sive force and people pushed back. “Los Motines de Chicago”. Like the Even worse, in the days that fol­ Donald Headly: ... One very visible Mexican corrido and African lowed, it was not just excessive force thing was police abuse, and a lack of American blues, Puerto Rican jíbaro but treating people like dirt, like we Latinos on the police force. The music often is an expression of real were not human beings, with total Cardinal’s Committee for the Spanish life stories and historical events. disrespect. The police didn’t know Speaking had several programs to Simón Gómez’s composition not only anything about the Puerto Rican get people ready for police exams. serves to document this event but community. At that time there were Latinos were just beginning to come also to express the sentiments of the only about, eight or ten Puerto Rican on to the force. Since there were no Puerto Rican community. Further, officers in the entire force. Latinos there, the abuse on the since Gómez lived in Puerto Rico at streets was awful. If you were a the time of the riot, this song pro­ Obed Lopez: In retrospect, Latino you would get stopped and vides evidence that the repercus­ I believe that the main cause of the searched. Some people had weird sions of the riots where also felt in riot was the invisibility of the Puerto looking cars because they just didn’t Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, as a Rican community within the city of have the money to buy something result of the Cold War mentality of Chicago. That is to say, the political that is much more decent, but I know the times, the FBI banned the song power structure at the city level and that people around here still get and purged it from record stores and then at the most local level totally stopped just because they drive a radio stations that dared to stock it. ignored the presence of the Puerto boat. Thanks to our good friends, Omar Rican community and their urgent and Obed López who had reprinted needs, and to me this was the main José Acevedo: Police brutality. the lyrics to the song in a 1971 issue cause. There was no interest on the There had been two instances before of the LADO newspaper, we now can part of the local alderman as was doc­ that, in the late 1950s—one on the exercise our first amendment right umented by, of all persons, Mike south side around 1956 or ’57 and to freedom of speech and include it Royko. Mike Royko was able to, in another near Chicago and Noble as part our telling of this historical some of his articles that he wrote around 1958 or ’59. The other factor event. after the riots, show how the alder­ would have been the high prices that men of the area would not even Unfortunately, our pages are too Puerto Ricans were paying mer­ attend some of the most important few to include more stories. It is our chants in the area. They were being activities of the Puerto Rican commu­ hope that the following will provide charged double for goods and maybe nity at that time. I believe that was our readers with a better under­ even more. the main problem. The Puerto Rican standing of this historical event and community was not being recognized stimulate discussions among our Roberto Medina: The riots hap­ at all by the local power structure. In readers about the history of pened because of some incident that my opinion, this was what created Chicago’s Puerto Rican community happened between the police and and how the events of June 1966 shaped this community. "... the main cause of the M ervin: What do you feel con­ tributed to the riot on Division street riot was the invisibility* of in 1966? Mirta Ramirez: ...Our community the Puerto Rican community* had too many problems at that time, however the catalyst of the riot was within the city of Chicago.” the way the cops behaved during the parade downtown... and during the Puerto Rican Parade celebration... - Obed López Diálogo/ 30 some individuals around the Humboldt Park area, but they were a reflection of the frustrations of the community in general. Housing dis­ crimination and police brutality were rampant at that time. If the police saw you in a car (I have my own personal experiences about this) they would pull you out and ask if you were a “wet back” because at that time everybody was a “wet back” ... They would just pull you out of your cars, totally violate your civil rights, search your car, hit you with their sticks, and just harass you.