The Livernois–Fenkell riot was a racially motivated riot that occurred in the summer of 1975 on Livernois Avenue at Chalfonte Avenue, just south of Fenkell Avenue, in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. The trouble began on the evening of July 28, 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 A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

or rifle, fatally wounding 18-year-old Obie Wynn. 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. Crowds gathered and random acts of vandalism, assault,

looting Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

and racial fighting along Livernois and Fenkell avenues ensued. Bottles and rocks were thrown at passing cars. The second man killed 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 black youths and beaten to death with a piece of concrete. Ronald Bell Jordan, Raymond Peoples, and Dennis Lindsay were all charged with first-degree murder, but acquitted. Several years later, Peoples returned to headlines after being arrested for dealing heroin. Police were ordered to not use deadly force, so no shots were fired. A crowd of 700 was dispersed by morning. Angry crowds reappeared and violence resumed the following night – a car became a battering ram and a mob ransacked Bolton's Bar. Detroit mayor Coleman Young defused the disturbance by appearing in person (along with several clergymen) and ordering every black policeman in the city to police the riot. 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 an unverified claim that the bar served white patrons only, and noted the 25% unemployment rate as an aggravating factor.

Bibliography

Notes References * - Total pages: 80 * * - Total pages: 325 - Article on book: '' Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide'' * * * * - Total pages: 337 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Livernois-Fenkell riot 1975 in Michigan 1975 crimes in the United States 1975 riots 1975 in Detroit August 1975 in the United States African-American riots in the United States Racially motivated violence in Michigan Racially motivated violence against white Americans Riots and civil disorder in Detroit Lynching deaths in the United States

See also

Bibliography