The McDuffie Riots

The McDuffie Riots of 1980 occurred due to the police killing an African-American called Arthur McDuffie following a high speed chase whilst having a suspended licence on 17th December 1979. The police caught McDuffie and as a result of this beat him to death, yet they claimed that he had lost control of the motorcycle and crashed, in reality the police ran over his motorcycle as a precautionary measure to save themselves so that it looked like he had had an accident on his bike. However the hospital reports stated that he had suffered multiple skull fractures after being hit with a blunt object, therefore suggesting that it was a police weapon that had ultimately killed him. Following his death the police were put on trial, even with the clear evidence from the hospital report the police officers were cleared of all charges. This is clearly an example of racist attitudes in the US as the officers had all the evidence needed to be charged but because all of the jurors were white they got away with killing a man.

The African American community in Miami were shocked by this outcome which led to rioting on 17th May 1980, which involved throwing rocks, setting cars on fire and attacking whites. Furthermore crimes involving burglaries, looting and fires increased. The riot lasted for three days with 400 people injured, 18 people dead and over 1000 arrests with most of the people who were arrested had no previous record. Economically 71 businesses were destroyed, 238 businesses were damaged, 3000 job losses and over $100 million is property damage.

According to a Miami-Dade police report perceived treatment under the law remained the same and the incarceration of black youth worsened. This shows that even to this day in Miami there are still very serious underlying issues regarding race and the treatment of minority groups in the police force. The report also goes on to suggest that black people are underrepresented within the system and they still experience unequal treatment by the police force, this is apparent across the whole of the United States not just in Miami therefore highlights that race is a major issue that needs to be improved. The report exemplifies this as black youth accounts for 42% of all arrests and 62% of all incarcerations in 1983 but presently they account for 51.7% of all arrests.

Cartoon by Don Wright, from the Miami News, May 19, 1980

This cartoon depicts the issue of race in America by showing a group of armed white men attacking one individual. The scales symbolise justice but are being thrown to the ground which suggests that in the case of Arthur McDuffie there is no justice for his death. All of the jury are beating the person to the floor which offers a light-hearted piece of satire which is historically important that can easily be related to the America of today. Therefore the issue of race has always been a prominent issue in the police force and still is in 2017 yet every year we have new names of African American victims of all ages, backgrounds an gender. Consequently this issue is an important aspect of the 1980s yet not much progress has been made almost 40 years later.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article77769522.html
http://the305.com/2013/11/03/documentary-about-the-history-of-black-people-in-miami-the-riots-of-1980/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/29/mcduffie-riots-miami_n_3353719.html
https://www.miamidade.gov/economicadvocacytrust/library/final-report-disparity-study.pdf