Livernois–Fenkell riot

Livernois–Fenkell riot

Map of the riot location
Date	Friday, August 1, 1975
Location	Livernois Avenue at Chalfonte Avenue, just south of Fenkell Avenue, in Detroit, Michigan
Deaths	Obie Wynn Marian Pyszko
Non-fatal injuries	10 injuries

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

The trouble began when Andrew Chinarian, the 39-year-old owner of Bolton's Bar, observed three black youths tampering with his car in the parking lot. He fired a pistol 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 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.

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.

See also

• List of riots in Detroit
• List of homicides in Michigan
• List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States

Bibliography

Notes

References

• Buchanan, Heather; Stanford, Sharon; Kimble, Teresa (2007). Eyes on Fire: Witnesses to the Detroit Riot of 1967. Aquarius Press. ISBN 9780971821453. - Total pages: 80
• CBS News (July 29, 1975). "CBS Evening News for Tuesday, July 29, 1975". Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
• Darden, Joe T.; Thomas, Richard W. (2013). Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide. Michigan State University Press. ISBN 9781609173524. - Total pages: 325 - Article on book: Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide
• Jet Magazine (August 14, 1975). "Violence erupts in Detroit". Jet Magazine. XLVIII (21). Johnson Publishing Company: 6–7. OCLC 20729894. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
• Salpukas, Agis (July 31, 1975a). "Detroit Authorities Move To Keep Unrest in Check". The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
• Salpukas, Agis (August 1, 1975b). "Symbols of Black Power". The New York Times. New York City. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
• Streissguth, Thomas (2009). Hate Crimes. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438119045. - Total pages: 337
• "The Nation: Close to the Brink". Time. August 11, 1975. Retrieved August 4, 2019.