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It was 50 years ago Thursday, on the day after Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated, that rioting broke out in Chicago.
Before it was over, the National Guard and federal troops were deployed to quell the disturbance, and large parts of the south and west sides were reduced to smoldering ashes.
The rioting in Chicago began with fires on the west side, eventually covering 28 blocks on West Madison. Overnight, the flames and looting spread through Lawndale and Austin, and then into Woodlawn on the south side.
“Richard J. Daley would look out of the window of his fifth floor office, Mayor Richard J. Daley, and see the entire retail district on 12th Avenue, Roosevelt Road, aflame,” said Rev. Leon Finney Junior.
A committee appointed by the mayor later found that the initial rioters were mostly high school students targeting white-owned businesses. But thousands of adults joined in. Motive by the committee found "the spontaneous overflow of pent-up aggressions."
“The causes were multiple, primarily focused on the absence of opportunity for jobs, a continuation of a segregated society,” Finney said.
6,700 National Guard troops were called up, and some were met by rioters shooting from Cabrini Green.
Reverend Finney believes the riots sparked a lasting exodus of black families from Chicago.
“After the riots, I believed that Chicago was viewed less as a city of opportunity and more a city of minimal opportunity,” Finney said.
When the disturbances ended after about 48 hours, the casualty count was 11 people dead and 48 injured by police gunfire. Eighty police officers were also injured.