In Chicago, in 1968, it was a crime to be young. In early 1968, the National Mobilization Committee opened a Chicago office directed by Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden, who were leading political organizers at the time and former leaders of Students for a Democratic Society. Decades later, the area is still dotted with vacant lots. The police pushed a crowd of Democrats through the plate-glass windows of the Hilton Bar. The 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention Riots, 50 Years Later – by Kaye Northcott September 6, 1968. On its May 11 opening, over fifty individuals trickled in, filling the small, exposed brick … F ifty years after the Kerner Report, are we going backwards? Photo: Terrence Antonio James/Chicago … Editor’s Note: A deeply divided country, a polarizing president, a … Most of the Chicago rioting occurred on the West Side and was the second deadliest (11 fatalities, versus 13 in the Washington D.C. riots ) of the riots … : 1–2. How the 1968 Chicago 'police riot' shocked America and divided the nation. Soon riots began, primarily in black urban areas. David Taylor and Sam Morris. 1968 Chicago riots - One of the over 100 riots that erupted nationwide after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. This is the underlying question of “April 1968 and Today: Police and Military Occupation of Chicago” at the Uri-Eichen Gallery in Pilsen, part of the gallery’s five-month series “Unfinished Business: 1968-2018.”. The 1968 Chicago Riots, which lasted from April 5 to April 7 were caused by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who was fatally shot on April 4 of that year in Memphis, Tennessee. MOBE was an umbrella organization that included groups who were opposed to American participation in the Vietnam War. An aerial view on April 6, 1968, of the 3300 block of Madison Street in the heart of Chicago's riot-torn West Side after the looting and burning rampage that occurred in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Chicago Tribune historical photo) Chicago had not escaped unscathed; riots in the Humboldt Park neighborhood in 1966 had seemed major when they happened. [1] Over 100 major U.S. cities experienced disturbances, resulting in roughly $50 million in damage. Rioting and looting followed, with people flooding out onto the streets of major cities. West Madison Street in Chicago was the flashpoint of the April 1968 riots. The 1968 Chicago riots, in the United States, were sparked in part by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Chicago protests, riots, looting, and clashes with police have been hallmarks of both the last week and the uprisings after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. The streets literally ran with blood. 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