I started collecting photos & ephemera of the Miami Rebellion that happened in May 1980 for research. This is a thread from that research about the rebellion--also known as the McDuffie Riots. Many involved said it wasn't a riot, it was a rebellion against police violence.
The last straw that sparked the Miami rebellion was the acquittal of 4 Miami Dade officers who brutally beat Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman, to death.
Leading up to McDuffie's death, there were a series of other incidents w police that sparked outrage in Black Miami. In 1979, Miami Dade police raided the home of a black school teacher severely beating him & his son. It was the wrong house. They were in search of a drug dealer.
Also in 1979 a white Florida Highway Patrolman molested an 11 year old black girl in Miami-Dade. The officer was given a lenient sentence --probation and psychiatric treatment. No jail time. The black girl ended up in psychiatric care.
Just a few month before McDuffie was killed by Miami-Dade police, a Hialeah officer put his gun to the head of another black man for urinating outside a warehouse. The officer says his gun "accidentally" discharged killing the man. But first he tried to cover it up as a burglary.
And then in December of 1979 Miami-Dade police beat Arthur McDuffie to death. Four months later, his killers were acquitted sparking the Miami rebellion also known as the McDuffie Riots.
At the heart of the Miami rebellion were issues with the justice system--police, courts and prosecutors. Protesters at the time were demanding that then state attorney Janet Reno step down
Miami protesters also weren't too thrilled when outsiders stepped in. When Jesse Jackson visited Miami to try to smooth tensions he was chased out of a rally. "The only time we see y'all so called leaders is when you come here trying to calm someone down."
Some of the demands from protesters in the1980 Miami rebellion included: Investment to establish black businesses, schools, and a hospital Restitution for cars and property damaged by law enforcement during the rebellion A comprehensive job programs for black people over 13
Sources: Photos from my personal archive. Originally press photos from Associated Press that were sold when they digitized. Time Magazine June 2, 1989 "Fury in Miami Behind the Riots" The Black Scholar journal July/August 1980
*correction-it's unclear if Jesse Jackson was at the same rally where outsiders were chased out. But Andrew Young of the NAACP was there.
