Читать книгу Freedom Facts and Firsts - Jessie Carney Smith - Страница 72

This violent event was attributed to factors including economic hardships during the Great Depression, police brutality in the black community, and job discrimination faced by African Americans. Ironically, the incident that triggered the riot involved a confrontation between a Latino boy and a white store owner in Harlem on March 13, 1935. Ten-year-old Lino Rivera was accused of shoplifting and arrested after a fight with the store owner. Rumors circulated through Harlem that Rivera had been beaten or killed by the police after his arrest, and people in the community retaliated by destroying the storefront where the incident took place. The riot expanded to other white-owned property in Harlem, resulting in damage totaling over $2 million. Three lives were lost and over 200 people were wounded before order was restored.

Tension between white business owners and black residents already existed at the time because blacks were not being hired to work at the same stores they kept in business as customers. In 1933 African Americans started picketing and boycotting these establishments. By early 1935, however, the merchants secured an injunction from the city of New York to stop the protests. Efforts were made after the riot to investigate problems in Harlem and develop solutions, including the work of a biracial commission appointed by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. African American intellectuals E. Franklin Frazier and Alain Locke were involved in these initiatives, which recommended ending discrimination in public services and hiring practices.

Fletcher F. Moon