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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
A RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING CHICAGO'S 1966 AND 1977 DIVISION STREET "RIOTS" - THE DIVISION STREET PUERTO RICAN REBELLION
WHEREAS, Chicago's vibrant Puerto Rican community, comprised of 120,000 people, has grown as a stronghold for community organizing after two major events of civil unrest dubbed as the Division Street "riots" of 1966 and 1977, which were the result of its historical socio-economic political marginalization; and
WHEREAS, the Division Street riots were multiple days of civil urban rebellion between June 12-14, 1966 and June 4-5, 1977 in the "Greater Humboldt Park" communities of Humboldt Park, West Town, Hermosa and Logan Square; and
WHEREAS, tensions have been high within the Puerto Rican community during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s as they faced spatial de-concentration in the form gentrification in Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, and Bucktown, housing discrimination based on the color of their skin and their ethnicity (as well as arson on properties for profit and red-lining), health inequity, high unemployment, police brutality, poor educational resources, and a sense of neglect, abandonment, and marginalization by the City of Chicago and local institutions; and
WHEREAS, on June 11, 1966, the inaugural Puerto Rican Parade took place in Chicago's downtown Loop, and that same day, a community member named Cruz Arcelis was shot by a white Chicago Police patrolman on Damen and Division Street. Community members gathered to help Mr. Arcelis with his injury while others came in immediate defense against the police officers involved; and on June 4, 1977, Rafael Cruz and Julio Osorio were assassinated by the Chicago police in Humboldt Park following the 11th Puerto Rican Parade downtown, and the Puerto Rican community once again rose up against this injustice and the overwhelming presence in the area of 500 policemen with canine dogs; and
WHEREAS, following both "riots," the community organized itself to address the plight of t...
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