Anonymous
ID: r3O/I0Rl
6/19/2025, 4:08:28 AM No.507932228
During an era when racial violence was exploding across the United States, Chicago, or really the Chicago suburb of Dixmoor, hosted two days of rioting in August 1964. Dixmoor was a heavily black neighborhood and many of its residents had recently migrated there from the South. Housing was in short supply and unemployment and poverty were widespread. On August 15, a black woman named Blondella Woods was caught shoplifting from Foremost Liquor Store on West 147th Street. Ms. Woods attempted to abscond with a bottle of gin and was promptly tackled by store owner Michael "Big Mike" LaPota and his employees. Witnesses claimed the staff beat Woods before she was arrested; she ended up being treated at a hospital for her injuries.
Woods was charged with larcency but no charges were filed against the Foremost Liquor Store staff for assault and battery. The black community called for a boycott of the store--many blacks, having come from the segregated South, were not expecting to receive this kind of rough treatment in the "free" Northern states. An initially peaceful demonstration turned to rioting and Chicago PD officers were deployed with orders to shoot at anyone caught engaged in violence or refusing to obey police orders. This amounted to just dumping gasoline into the fire and the rioters started throwing debris and rocks at passing motorists. Illinois state troopers fired over the heads of the rioters. A total of 225 police from different jurisdictions were called. The riot lasted about seven hours and ended at 2:00 AM on August 17. Around 1,000 persons were involved in the riot, which left 37 injured and 25 arrested.
Woods was charged with larcency but no charges were filed against the Foremost Liquor Store staff for assault and battery. The black community called for a boycott of the store--many blacks, having come from the segregated South, were not expecting to receive this kind of rough treatment in the "free" Northern states. An initially peaceful demonstration turned to rioting and Chicago PD officers were deployed with orders to shoot at anyone caught engaged in violence or refusing to obey police orders. This amounted to just dumping gasoline into the fire and the rioters started throwing debris and rocks at passing motorists. Illinois state troopers fired over the heads of the rioters. A total of 225 police from different jurisdictions were called. The riot lasted about seven hours and ended at 2:00 AM on August 17. Around 1,000 persons were involved in the riot, which left 37 injured and 25 arrested.
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