— 19 CBS News. “Miami Race Riots. This Week in History.” 5-11-2007.[1]

— 18 Levinson, David (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Vol. 3. “Riots, 2002, 1405

— 18 Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, IN. “1980 in Review.” 12-26-1980, p. 20.

— 18 Porter and Dunn. The Miami Riot of 1980: Crossing the Bounds. 1984, p. xiii.[2]

–8 whites, May 17 –9 blacks, May 18-19

— 18 Veitenhans, Coley. “Miami (Liberty City) Riot, 1980.” BlackPast.org.[3]

— 17 Knight, Gladys L. “Miami (Florida) Riot of 1980,” p. 414 in Rucker and Upton, 2007.

— 17 PBS. “Riots in Florida 1980.” Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement.

— 15 Wikipedia. “Arthur McDuffie.” 10-7-2012 modification.

Deaths and Fatal Injuries (in chronological order)[4]

May 17

Jeffrey Kulp, 22, white. Pulled from car, beaten, struck with various objects, shot, run over.[5]
Benny Higgins, 21, white. Pulled from car, stoned and beaten. (Porter and Dunn, p. 52.)
Robert Owens, 14, white. Pulled from car, stoned and beaten. (Porter and Dunn, p. 52.)
Charles Barreca, 15, white. Pulled from car, stoned and beaten. (Porter and Dunn, p. 52.)
Bertha Rogers, 55, white. Car stopped on street, gasoline poured on her and lit. (P&D, 53)
Emilio Munoz, 63 (Cuban-born). Car stoned and overturned, beaten, burned. (P&D, p. 53.)
Chabillal Janarnauth, 22 (light-skinned immigrant from Guyana). Beaten and mutilated.[6]
Mildred Penton, 65, white. Hit by brick thrown through car windshield. (P&D, 53.)

May 18

Elijah Aaron, 43, black. Shot by police, allegedly for looting and pointing gun at officer.[7]
Abram Phillips, 21, black. Shot by policeman who said Phillips had shot at him with pistol.[8]
Michael Scott, 17, black. Shot by security guard at Jet Food Market. Porter and Dunn, 71.
Kenneth China, 22, black. Police report stated he was killed by a stray bullet. (P&D, p. 71.)
Andre Dawson, 14, black. Shot by whites from speeding pickup truck or van. (P&D, p. 71.)
Eugene Brown, 44, black. Shot in his car by whites driving through black neighborhood.[9]
Thomas Reese, 35, black. Shot by white in truck that had been stoned; shot into crowd.[10]
LaFontant Bien-Aimé, black Haitian minister, 39. Shot by police while driving with son.[11]
Allen Mills, 33, black. Shot by police, who said he was threatening, seven times. P&D, 72.
Edward Francis McDermott, white. Heart attack while escorting National Guardsmen.[12]

Narrative Information

Knight: “The Miami (Florida) Riot of 1980 was a major three-day disturbance. Violence broke out on May 17, 1980, and quickly permeated the predominantly black communities of Liberty City, Overton, and Coconut Grove. Of the many riots that took place in Miami in the 1970s and 1980s, this was the largest and most destructive, resulting in 17 deaths, 400 injuries, 1,100 arrests, and over $100 million in property damage. The disturbance was especially significant not only because of its magnitude but because of the fact that it occurred in the South, more than a decade after the epidemic of black rioting that hit the ghettos of the North during the 1960s. However, the Miami riot of 1980 was no different from other race riots, regardless of the period and location, in that its causes were attributed to the cumulative effects of black oppression, repeated incidences of police brutality against blacks, the unresponsiveness of the formal justice system, and the shifting attitudes of blacks who saw aggression as an acceptable reaction to injustice….” (Knight, Gladys L. “Miami (Florida) Riot of 1980,” pp. 414-418 in: Rucker, Walter C. and James N. Upton (Eds.). Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (Vol. 1 of 2). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.)

PBS: Introduction: “Racial problems in Miami simmer for decades and finally explode. A historically black neighborhood, Overtown, has been a vibrant center of African American life and culture. Its close-knit residents are devastated, in the late 1960s, when Miami’s urban renewal plan places Overtown in the path of an interstate highway. Residents lack the political muscle to fight the plan. Ultimately, the construction displaces half the neighborhood, a total of 20,000 people, and destroys a community.

“Though Miami enjoys an economic boom in the late 1970s, black citizens are not among the fortunate; they are twice as likely to be unemployed. New immigrants from Cuba and Haiti swell the city’s population seeking opportunities — often taking them from African Americans.

“In December 1979, police kill an African American Marine Corps veteran and successful salesman, Arthur McDuffie, after a high-speed chase. Though the officers claim McDuffie died from injuries he sustained crashing his motorcycle, a cover-up is soon revealed: in reality, McDuffie was beaten to death. Despite the evidence against the police officers, the trial, which has been moved to a more sympathetic venue in Tampa, clears the officers of all charges. All the jurors are white.

“African Americans in Miami, shocked and infuriated by the outcome, begin rioting on May 17, 1980, burning cars and attacking whites. When the dust settles three days later, 17 people are dead and over 1000 have been arrested. President Jimmy Carter visits Miami soon afterward, and asks the community to take action first before the federal government supplies funds to rebuild. It is an election year, and Carter faces a foe, Ronald Reagan, who seeks to shrink the role of the federal government. The frustrated black residents of Miami and McDuffie’s family never obtain justice, and their neighborhoods sustain nearly $100 million in riot damage.” (PBS, American Experience. “Riots in Florida 1980.” Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985. 1987.)

Porter and Dunn: “The Miami or ‘McDuffie’ riot in May 1980 was a dark urban episode that captured the momentary attention of U.S. public already surfeited by war, terrorism and other social traumas and catastrophes. With the flickering television images of fires, looting and people lying dead in the street, Miami took its turn on the billboard, then faded from recollection as new horrors competed for people’s attention.

“The bare statistics of the riot — 18 dead, $80 million in property damage, 1,100 arrested — do not in themselves set Miami apart from similar disturbances in Watts, Newark and Detroit a decade earlier. What was shocking about Miami was the intensity of the rage directed by blacks against white people: men, woman and children dragged from their cars and beaten to death, stoned to death, stabbed with screwdrivers, run over with automobiles; hundreds more attacked in the street and seriously injured. In contrast, the disturbances of the 1960s could be regarded as ‘property riots,’ wherein blacks directed their anger largely against buildings. The deaths that did occur during those disorders were overwhelmingly those of blacks killed by white policemen and National Guardsmen. The few white deaths — of the 101 victims in Watts, Newark and Detroit, only two or three were white people killed intentionally by black rioters — occurred as a byproduct of the disorder. In Miami, attacking and killing white people was the main object of the riot….

“…if one accepts the proposition that the deep roots of rioting lie in poverty and social despair — the well-off, after all, do not riot, no matter how sorely provoked — the Miami disturbance illustrates the pervasiveness of poverty, even in that part of the country that is relatively prosperous. This should give pause to those who think that generalized economic growth will be sufficient to pull poor black people into the mainstream of the social and economic system.

“But poverty, though of course a necessary cause for rioting, is certainly not a sufficient one. Something else must provoke people to take to the streets. In Miami this something was clearly the failure of the Florida criminal justice system to obtain criminal sanctions against the police officers whose beating of Arthur McDuffie resulted in his death. This was only the most recent of several police transgressions against blacks — instances that had resulted in little or no punishment of the offenders….” [pp. xiii-xiv]

“Although some rioting occurred in all black sections of Dade County, the bulk of the violence — some 75 percent of the destruction and nearly all the attacks on whites — happened in the large square area in the north central part of the county known as Liberty City. The population of Liberty City is about evenly divided between poor and working-class blacks….” [p. 75]

“What claim the Miami riot has to a significant place in the history of racial unrest in the United States does not…spring from its having been the most costly riot in terms of property loss. Nor did it result in the most deaths; seventeen people lost their lives in Miami — eighteen, counting a police officer who suffered a fatal heart attack — whereas thirty-five died in the Watts riot, twenty-three in Newark and forty-three in Detroit. Rather, Miami surpassed th previous disorders in two other ways. The first was the manner in which the disorder erupted, which varied considerably from the pattern of the 1960s and which was something the police did not seem to appreciate until it was too late. The second, and more important, difference concerned anti-white violence. Whereas the violence in Miami was not as broadly destructive as it was during the biggest riots of the 1960s, it surpassed Watts, Newark and Detroit in its intensity. Indeed, to find a precedent for the random killing of whites, one would have to reach back before the twentieth century, to the Nat Turner-style slave rebellions before the Civil War, when blacks rose and killed the whites at hand.” [p. 173.]

(Porter, Bruce, and Marvin Dunn. The Miami Riot of 1980: Crossing The Bounds. 1984.)

Veitenhans: “The Miami Riot of 1980 was the first major race riot since the late 1960s. In December 1979, a number of white Miami-Dade police officers were involved in a high speed chase involving black motorist Arthur McDuffie. Police reports said that the chase ended when McDuffie crashed his motorcycle, ultimately leading to his death. However, coroner reports suggested that the cause of death was not consistent with a motorcycle crash. Later, a responding officer following the chase testified that there was no crash, and that the police officers had beaten McDuffie to death with their flashlights.

“Even with the coroner report and the testimony from police and witnesses, an all-white jury concluded the trial on May 17, 1980 with the acquittal of all officers involved in the McDuffie police brutality case. News spread to the surrounding areas and residents of mostly African American Liberty City, home to half of the city’s black and Afro-West Indian residents, took to the streets in protests which soon turned violent as some protesters began throwing objects at passing white motorists who drove through the area. By nightfall on May 17, the violence escalated into a full blown riot as angry blacks attacked motorists fleeing their vehicles. The riot moved into neighboring white business districts and the headquarters of the Dade County Department of Public Safety.

“When black leaders from the Miami-Dade County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and national leaders such as Jesse Jackson were unsuccessful in halting the violence the Florida National Guard was then called in to aid the Miami-Dade police force. The Guard and local police blocked off Liberty City and from that point confined the riot to Liberty City. By May 20th order was restored. Ten blacks and eight whites died in the Miami Riot. More than 800 people had been arrested in the four day period and the property damage to the area was in excess of $80 million dollars.

“Some have also argued that the riots were a clear example of the dissatisfaction and alienation of a younger post-Civil Rights\Black Power generation of African American youth with both the tactics and strategies of an older generation of black leadership as well as with continuing racial discrimination. Their blatant disregard of the efforts of leaders like Jessie Jackson to end the conflict showed the growing gap between the views of the two generations. Coming twelve years after the Martin Luther King Riots in April 1968, the Miami conflict served as a reminder of the possibility of urban insurrection in underprivileged neighborhoods.” (Veitenhans, Coley. “Miami (Liberty City) Riot, 1980.” BlackPast.org.)

Wikipedia: “The federal government declared Miami a disaster area, and authorized the release of funds to allow the city to rebuild…

“…the five officers who had been acquitted were reinstated in their jobs. The Miami Fraternal Order of Police had threatened a walkout unless the officers were reinstated.” (Wikipedia. “Arthur McDuffie.” 10-7-2012 modification.)

Contemporary Newspapers

May 17: “May 17: The costliest racial disorder in the nation’s history broke out in Miami after the acquittal of four white police officers charged with the fatal beating of a black businessman. The rioting left 18 persons dead, more than 300 injured and $100 million in property damage.” (Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, IN. “1980 in Review.” 12-26-1980, p. 20.)

May 17: “Tampa, Fla. (AP) – Closing arguments Friday in the trial of four expolicemen charged in the death of a motorcyclist focused on the credibility of three former fellow officers who testified in exchange for immunity. The charges against the four were scheduled to go to the six-man jury later Friday if the defense completed its rebuttal in time for a charge to the jury by Circuit Judge Lenore Nesbitt.

“The jurors in the case are white, as are the four defendants. The motorcyclist, Arthur McDuffie, was a black insurance agent, and the case prompted racial unrest in Miami. It was moved to Tampa because of pre-trial publicity. On trial are: Alex Marrero, 26, charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and tampering with evidence; Ira Diggs, 31, an ex-sergeant charged with manslaughter, aggravated battery, tampering and as an accessory; Michael Watts, 30, charged with manslaughter and aggravated battery, Herbert Evans, also a former sergeant, charged with tampering and as an accessory.

“The three key prosecution witnesses were among the Dade County officers who chased McDuffie in Miami last Dec. 17 after he fled from policemen who saw him run a red light on his motorcycle.[13]

“Prosecutors said McDuffie then was fatally beaten by club-swinging police, and efforts were made to try to make it look as if he had been injured in a motorcycle wreck. ‘Somebody beat this man’s brains in,’ chief prosecutor Hank Adorno told the jury in closing arguments. ‘Somebody beat McDuffie in the head with nightsticks or batons, Hard, real hard.’ Adorno said his chief witnesses — who, like the defendants, either resigned or were fired after the incident -told who did it. “It’s quite obvious that this case turns on the credibility of these witnesses,’ he said. ‘You’re the ones who are going to have to make up your minds.’

“Defense attorneys depicted the three — Charles Ververka Jr., Mark Meir and William Hanlon — as liars who bargained to save themselves.

“A medical examiner said McDuffie’s head was battered so badly that the injuries resembled what would have been inflicted had he fallen from a four-story building and landed face first.

“Defense attorneys claimed the officers used only the force necessary to subdue a violently resisting McDuffie and never tried to cover up the incident.” (Daily Herald, Chicago. “Jury gets cyclist death case.” 5-17-1980, p. 9.)

May 18: “Miami (AP) — Three persons were killed as violence broke out in several predominantly black areas of the city Saturday night [May 17] following the acquittal earlier in the day of four white former police officers in the beating death of a black insurance executive, police said.

“Twenty-three other persons were taken to a hospital — victims of shootings, stabbings and beatings. Several were in ‘very critical condition,’ said Mike Marquez, spokesman at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He added that the victims included blacks, whites and Hispanics. Two of the dead were believed to have been killed in the ‘Liberty City’ section of northwest Miami, police said. Other details of the killings were not immediately available.

“Shortly before 11 p.m. CST, Gov. Bob Graham ordered 500 National Guard troops into the area. Also, 70 Highway Patrol officers were sent to Miami to help local police. Elsewhere in Miami, groups of blacks set cars on fire and shot out windows of a downtown municipal building. And there were reports of looting.

“Saturday evening, less than four hours after the verdicts were announced in Tampa, up to 5,000 blacks gathered outside the downtown Metro Justice Building, where black leaders had organized a protest against the verdicts. A large group of blacks broke into the locked building, and police on the scene called for help, said Miami police Lt. Perry Anderson. At about 11 p.m., police regained control of the building with the help of reinforcements.

“The disturbances across the city were ‘most definitely’ sparked by the acquittal a few hours earlier of four Dade County officers charged in the death of Arthur McDuffie, said police spokesman Calvin Ross. That trial was held in Tampa.

“Two other persons were seriously beaten by black youths in a section of Miami where police also reported sporadic gunfire and rock-throwing.

“The violence broke out with rock-throwing about 6 p.m. in ‘Liberty City.’ It spread to downtown, about 3 miles away, as blacks gathered at the Justice Center to protest the acquittals in McDuffie’s death.

“McDuffie was fatally beaten the week before Christmas by several police officers after a high speed chase that began with a traffic violation.

“The all-male jury in Tampa deliberated two hours and 40 minutes earlier Saturday before announcing its verdicts.

“‘In God’s eyes, they’re guilty. God will take care of them,’ Yula Bell McDuffie, mother of the dead man, wailed as she was led from the courtroom.

“‘I knew God’s justice would take care of my boy,’ cried Julia Marrero, the mother of defendant Alex Marrero, who faced the stiffest charge of second-degree murder. ‘He is innocent,’ she sobbed, clutching rosary beads. Marrero, 26, who like his co-defendants was fired from the Dade County sheriff’s office as a result of its investigation of the incident, wept when the clerk read the verdict. He emerged from the court a few minutes later and hugged and kissed relatives and friends.

“McDuffie, 33, was fatally injured late last year after he led police on a high-speed chase that began when he allegedly ran a red light on his motorcycle. Prosecutors claimed he was surrounded by officers who savagely beat him and then tried to cover up the attack by making it appear he had been injured in a motorcycle accident.

“The case sparked racial unrest in Miami, where black leaders claimed it followed a pattern of police brutality against blacks. Dade County Circuit Judge Lenore Nesbitt moved the trial to Tampa after declaring it a racial ‘time bomb’ in Miami.

“Ray Fauntroy, president of the Miami chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said the trial was unfair. ‘This is a racist state. This is a racist system. There is no justice here for black people,’ he said.

“Defendant Ira Diggs, 31, his head hung, listened without any movement as he was pronounced innocent on charges of manslaughter, aggravated battery and evidence tampering. His eyes filled with tears.

“Michael Watts, 30, charged with manslaughter and aggravated battery sat biting his fingers. He closed his eyes when he heard the verdict.

“Herbert Evans, 33, charged with evidence tampering and covering up the incident, rested his chin in his hands. He showed no emotion.

“Both sides agreed the case hinged on the sworn testimony of three state witnesses — ex-policemen on the scene who later were given immunity to take the stand.” (Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Court verdict triggers riot.” 5-18-1980, p. 1.)

May 19: “Miami (AP) – Snipers roamed, fires burned and looters went unchallenged in Miami early today, as two nights of racial rioting left at least 15 dead. Authorities said the violence was abating as the morning wore on but could rekindle at any time.

“The rioting sparked by the acquittal of four ex-policemen in the fatal beating of a black man was the worst in terms of fatalities in a U.S. city since July 1967 when Newark and Detroit exploded during what became known as the “long hot summer” of racial turmoil.

“The dead included eight blacks and six whites killed in the often grisly violence, and a policeman stricken by a heart attack. More than 371 people were injured, 12 critically, in the chaos that began Saturday night [May 17]. Over 450 arrests were made, many for violating the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

“Sheriff Bobby Jones, Dade County’s top law enforcement officer, said Sunday night’s curfew apparently had an effect. ‘I feel slightly optimistic that the worst of the violence is over,’ he said, adding quickly: ‘We’re not out of the woods yet.’ ‘Personal violence is down. The looting and fires are up,’ Miami Police Chief Kenneth Harms said late Sunday. Police spokesman Angelo Bitsis said later, however, ‘It could start up again. We’ll see what happens.’

“All schools were closed today, bus service canceled and workers advised not to report to their jobs unless it was mandatory.

“Gov. Bob Graham begged residents to stay in their homes overnight. There was a report that officials warned incoming air travelers not to go into the center city. The areas of violence are not parts of the city that normally attract tourists. They include a substantial part of the city’s northwest side, about a square mile of the Coconut Grove area and part of suburban Opa-locka.

“Four policemen were shot, none seriously. One lieutenant suffered a fatal heart attack while patrolling the streets.

“Reports of the number of dead varied, with some counts as high as 19. Police disputed that number, saying the county was officially reporting 10 deaths and the city five. The count included the dead officer. Four violent deaths during the weekend were not counted because they were not related to the disturbances, police said.

“The rioting began less than three hours after an all-white jury returned its verdict in Tampa in the fatal beating of Arthur McDuffie, the insurance executive. Nine people died the first night, including three whites who were dragged from their cars and beaten to death, police said.

“The arson and looting continued in parts of Miami the second night despite a curfew and pleas from leaders of blacks and whites. One of the four Sunday-night fatalities .occurred when a policeman shot a black man trying to hit the officer with a car, authorities said.

“Several of the weekend killings were grisly. One body had an ear and tongue cut off. One victim was burned beyond recognition. A motorist deliberately ran over a dead man three times.

“Firefighters said snipers kept them from extinguishing several dozen blazes, which sent columns of smoke above the city skyline.

“Police were told late Sunday not to pursue looters alone and not to risk their lives unnecessarily.

Thieves were reported plundering stores in riot-torn areas without interference, but two policemen were shot and wounded while investigating looting in the Liberty City section in northwest Miami.

“Jones imposed the curfew Sunday in three sections of Miami patrolled by rifle-toting National Guardsmen, city police and Florida Highway Patrol troopers. He said today it would like remain in effect tonight and perhaps longer. The riots, he said, were ‘much worse’ than those in Miami in 1968.

“Harms said the curfew seemed to be reducing physical violence, ‘but the fires have increased considerably as have the property crimes. We’re not able to respond to some fires. They (firefighters) have had to withdraw because of sniper fire and other acts of violence directed to them,’ he said, adding that police escorts were riding with some fire equipment. Ambulances also were delayed on emergency calls because of the violence.

“Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre called prominent blacks to the troubled city to help restore calm. They included former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, the Rev. Jesse Jackson of ‘Operation PUSH’ in Chicago, Urban League Executive Director leader Vernon Jordan and Benjamin Hooks, executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. ‘The violence has to stop, Young said shortly after arriving here Sunday night.

“From the state capital, the governor pleaded for calm after he sent 1,100 National Guardsmen, 300 Florida Highway Patrol troopers, Marine Patrol and riot troops from the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, as well as four helicopters and an armored personnel carrier.

“McDuffie’s mother, who cried after the jury cleared the officers, claiming her 33-year-old son was murdered, pleaded for peace after throngs of blacks took to the streets with a one-word battle cry: ‘McDuffie!’ ‘Quit this! Quit this!’ implored Eula McDuffie. ‘Look to God. It’s time to stop’.” (Indiana Gazette, Indiana, PA. “Miami Race Riot Leaves 15 Dead.” 5-19-1980, p. 1, 5)

May 20: “Miami — Andre Dawson, 14 and black, was following his sister to the neighborhood store when four white strangers in a pickup truck blew his brains out.

“Robert Owens, 14 and white, was riding in a car with his brother-in-law and a friend when a black mob forced it off the road, dragged the three whites onto the street and bludgeoned them to death with rocks, car parts, boards, sticks and a newspaper stand.

“Death struck both blacks and whites — in nearly equal numbers — as racial violence swept Miami after an all white jury acquitted four white ex-policemen in the beating death of black businessman Arthur McDuffie.

“Of 15 confirmed riot deaths, eight were blacks, six were whites and one was a white policeman who died of a heart attack on riot duty. Police said five of the whites were killed by blacks; three of the blacks died at the hands of whites. Some of-the others were shot by police and security guards.

Owens’ mother, sobbing as she identified the bodies of her son and son-in-law, blamed the four acquitted officers, said Miami homicide Detective Mike Gonzales. ‘The mother was crying and she said, ‘Are those policemen who just got off going to be tried for the murders of my children?’” Gonzales said Monday. Her son was killed Saturday night in the first wave of violence, a victim of the angry black mobs.

“Ellastine Dawson, heartbroken but calm Monday as she called relatives and made funeral arrangements, blamed society in general. Her son was killed Sunday afternoon. His white assailants vanished, unidentified. ‘I think the people are to blame,’ Mrs. Dawson said. ‘Even after what happened, they couldn’t bring the man (McDuffie) back. There’s no sense killing other people, too. ‘They (the four McDuffie defendants) have a conscience — they’ll get their own justice.’

Dawson, Owens and many other riot victims lay dead in the street for hours before ambulance crews or police could reach them.

“Mrs. Dawson said her son, an eighth grader, ‘got up happy and playing…with my grandbabies’ Sunday, then went outside to play in the neighborhood, which is six or eight blocks from where the trouble started. ‘He knew it was trouble out there, but things were quiet over here,’ she said. ‘We never figured anything like that would happen over here.’

“Mrs. Dawson said she warned her son to stay near home because of the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. ‘I had just talked to him not 10 minutes before it happened,’ she said Monday. ‘He was at a friend’s house behind us. I went over there and they were sitting at the dining room table. I said, ‘Andre, I was looking for you and your brother. There’s an 8 o’clock curfew. You stay nearby so you can hear me call you.’ ‘He said, ‘OK, Mama, I’m not going anywhere.’ “I Went back home. I sat down and the phone rang and he was dead.” When her daughter Robin, 17, went to the store for cigarettes, she said, Andre decided to follow. ‘He left a few minutes behind her,’ the mother said. ‘When he got to the corner, this truck went by and just started shooting.’

“Owens spent Saturday fishing with his brother-in-law, Benny Higdon, 21, and a 15-year-old friend, Charles Barreca. Higdon called to say they were taking Barreca home around 7 p.m. Somehow their mustard-colored 1968 Dodge Dart wound up on the corner of Northwest 13th Avenue and 62nd Ave in the Liberty City district. ‘I don’t know whether they were diverted there by traffic, whether they wound up there inadvertently or they were attracted by the riots,’ Gonzales said. ‘We just don’t know the answer to that.’ A black mob stoned and shot at the car, which crashed into a building, Gonzales said. The mob pulled the three whites out, he said, and beat them with anything handy: building blocks, loose pieces of the car, big boards, sticks and pieces of metal.

“The bodies were left in the street. Cars were deliberately driven over them in the hours before two policemen could pick them up, Gonzales said. At the morgue, Barreca’s braces and Owens’ Florida Gators T-shirt helped identify them. The mob left Higdon, the father of three, wearing only brown pants.

“‘We had a lot of unidentified bodies at that point,’ Gonzales said. He said detectives were doing their best to solve the riot murders, but evidence and witnesses in some cases were impossible to find. ‘We’ve got some good leads, incredible as it may seem,’ he said. ‘In these riot situations, it’s really tough. We can’t even get into the area. There’s so many people involved and the offenders aren’t known to each other. It’s just a spontaneous thing’.” (Daily Herald, Chicago, IL. “Death knows no race in Miami violence.” 5-20-1980, p. 30.)

May 20: “Miami – ‘Forget about that white jury at Tampa. They didn’t cause it,’ the black man said. ‘Forget about those white policemen who beat on Arthur McDuffie. They didn’t cause it either. And let’s forget about (convicted former Dade County school Superintendent) Johnny Jones. That didn’t cause it either. Those were incidents. They were part of the whole thing, but only incidents. It’s a lot deeper than that. It’s housing and jobs, and third-class treatment and frustration and a loss of hope that things are ever going to be any better.’

“The speaker, who desired to remain anonymous, was a management consultant — young, successful, eloquent. He was one of the black community leaders attempting to defuse the violence that exploded into two nights of murder, beating, looting and arson in Miami and its suburbs….” (Seibert, Barney (UPI). “Miami: a time bomb that had smoldered long before the trial.” Daily Herald, Chicago, IL. 5-20-1980, p. 30.)

May 21: “Miami (AP) — Miami’s riot-scarred neighborhoods were declared ‘under control’ and downtown merchants reopened shuttered shops Tuesday, but a night curfew remained in effect after three nights of racial violence that claimed 15 lives and damaged $100 million in property.

“Gov. Bob Graham asked President Carter to declare the riot-torn city a disaster area in need of federal help to recover from the ‘tumultuous disturbance of the peace.’

“While Miami police said they had ‘pretty much turned the corner’ in restoring order to shattered neighborhoods, isolated fires still burned in the night.

“And in Tampa, 250 miles north, police reported the second night of sporadic rock throwing by gangs of blacks. Tampa police said a Salvation Army bus carrying 10 to 15 children — most of them white — was pelted with rocks hurled by a band of roaming black youths. Three children received minor injuries. A car also was hit.

“Miami authorities, meanwhile, reported about two dozen arrests Tuesday, bringing Dade County’s four-day total to 1,129.

“A Miami convenience store was engulfed in flames and two vehicles were left to burn in the night. Dade County fire fighters didn’t try to put out the flames ‘because there were some gunshots,’ Dade County fire spokesman Stuart Kaufman said.

“In Miami, U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti announced that a task force would be set up to investigate allegations of official brutality and civil rights violations that are blamed, in part, for discontent in the black community. He said up to 35 officials, including FBI agents, prosecutors and marshals would either be hired or transferred to Miami.

“With the streets quieter, authorities shortened the curfew by two hours, leaving it in effect from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m….

“The official death toll in Miami was dropped from 16 to 15 Tuesday when the county medical examiner’s office determined that one gunshot victim, Vernon Jones, 42, did not die in riot-related violence.” (Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Miami appears under control.” 5-21-1980, p. 4.)

May 22: “Miami (UPI) — Miami schools reopened today and liquor sales resumed for the first time since the outbreak of the nation’s worst rioting in 10 years, but bans on firearms and gasoline sales remained. Meanwhile, the FBI was investigating death threats against the four white ex-cops acquitted in the beating-death of a black man. A federal grand jury began its investigation into the fatal beating and the failed prosecution that many blamed for the three days of rioting that began Saturday.

“The violence left 15 dead and property damage of up to $100 million.

“As the city slowly returned to something approaching normal, the after-dark curfew was lifted, students were told to go back to school today for the first time this week. Liquor was being sold for the first time since Saturday but sales of firearms still were prohibited and gasoline could only be pumped into vehicles.

“About 3,000 National Guardsmen remained in the area, ready to respond to any further outbreak of violence.

“Press secretary Jody Powell said President Carter decided against visiting the riot-ravaged city this week but said he would come to Miami in the near future.

“Police reported Wednesday for the second straight night the city was quiet. ‘We are responding to routine calls. There are almost no problems,’ said Bobby Jones, director of the Dade County Public Safety Department. Jones said, however, he wanted to keep the National Guard in the area because, ‘the community is still rife with tension and we will retain the capability of moving back should the need occur.’

“The FBI revealed Wednesday the lives of the four men acquitted Saturday in Tampa in the death of black insurance executive Arthur McDuffie, 33, had been threatened.

“The federal grand jury opened its investigation into the beating death of the 33-year-old McDuffie by calling his mother, Eula Belle McDuffie, to testify. She spent 30 minutes in the jury room….

“The Justice Department announced in Washington it is investigating 13 other cases of alleged brutality in the Miami area, but, only six of them involve Miami police….” (Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria OH. “In riot’s wake, Miami schools reopen…” 5-22-1980, A7.)

Sources

CBS News. “Miami Race Riots. This Week in History.” 5-11-2007. Accessed 12-21-2012 at: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2793695n%3Fsource=search_video

Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria OH. “In riot’s wake, Miami schools reopen, death threats probed.” 5-22-1980, A7. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=30263533

Daily Herald, Chicago, IL. “Death knows no race in Miami violence.” 5-20-1980, p. 30. Accessed 10-13-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=15838858

Indiana Gazette, Indiana, PA. “Miami Race Riot Leaves 15 Dead.” 5-19-1980, p. 1. Accessed 10-13-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=112059814

Knight, Gladys L. “Miami (Florida) Riot of 1980.” Pp. 414-418 in Encyclopedia of American Race Riots, Vol. 2 of 2 (Walter C. Rucker, and James N. Upton (Eds.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.

Levinson, David (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, 3 Vols. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 2002. Vol. 3 Google digitized. Accessed 12-21-2012 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=LJX3Ql7bu2YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Miami Herald (David Smiley). “McDuffie riots: revisiting, retelling story — 35 years later.” 5-16-2015. Accessed 6-14-2017 at: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article21178995.html

PBS. American Experience. Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Movement 1954-1985. “Riots in Florida 1980.” 1987. Accessed 12-21-2012 at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/23_florida.html

Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, IN. “1980 in Review.” 12-26-1980, p. 20 Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=109295337

Porter, Bruce, and Marvin Dunn. The Miami Riot of 1980: Crossing The Bounds. Lexington, MA and Toronto: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath and Co., 1984.

Veitenhans, Coley. “Miami (Liberty City) Riot, 1980.” BlackPast.org. Accessed 12-21-2012 at: http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/miami-liberty-city-riot-1980

Wikipedia. “Arthur McDuffie.” 10-7-2012 modification. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_McDuffie

Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Miami appears under control.” 5-21-1980, p. 4. Accessed 10-13-2012 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=161220185

[1] Eleven Blacks and 8 Whites.

[2] Porter and Dunn note 18 deaths at xiii and identify 17 by race in section on the riot itself. On p. 174 they identify 18^th fatality as a police officer who died of a heart attack on May 18 while escorting National Guardsmen.

[3] Notes that the sources are: Bennett, Eric. Africana. NY: Basic Civitas Books, 1999; and Ploski, Harry A. and James Williams. The Negro Almanac. Detroit: Gale Research Incorporated, 1989.

[4] Chronological in terms of by order of being attacked. Some victims died later in hospitals.

[5] Porter and Dunn, p. 52.

[6] Porter and Dunn, p. 53, who note mutilation was in the form of repeatedly running over him by his own car.

[7] Porter and Dunn, p. 71.

[8] Porter and Dunn, p. 71.

[9] Porter and Dunn, pp. 71-72.

[10] Porter and Dunn, p. 72.

[11] Porter and Dunn at p. 72 write: “The most controversial police shooting of the riot occurred Sunday night on the corner of 2^nd Avenue and 42^nd Street in the Haitian district of the city. There, at about 8 o’clock, a thirty-nine-year-old Haitian minister named LaFontant Bien-Aimé was shot to death by a Miami policeman as he was driving in his van with his thirteen-year-old son, Kensy. The police officer, Karl Robbins, thirty-seven, said he was chasing looters away from a furniture warehouse on the corner when suddenly a van bore down on him as if trying to run over him. As he jumped out of the way, Robbins said later in a police report, he fired his shotgun at the driver. ‘The van continued west on 42^nd Street approximately eight to ten feet, where it struck a parked, unattended vehicle in the street,’ he said. ‘The driver expired on the scene.’ Bien-Aimé’s family maintained that he had not been looting, but was only on his way to his church a block north of the shooting scene for his regular Sunday night services. A subsequent grand jury investigation issued no indictment of the officer after the state attorney’s office said it found evidence that the minister had indeed been inside the furniture warehouse.”

[12] Miami Herald (David Smiley). “McDuffie riots: revisiting, retelling story — 35 years later.” 5-16-2015.

[13] Perhaps because he had a suspended drivers license. (Wikipedia. “Arthur McDuffie.” 10-7-2012 modification.)

1980 — May 17-18, racial riots after jury acquits police, black beating death, Miami FL– 18