1968 Miami riot

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A group of black organizations in Miami called for “a mass rally of concerned Black people,” to take place on August 7, 1968, at the Vote Power building in Liberty City, a black neighborhood. Sponsors were the Vote Power League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and numerous smaller organizations. The protest was not provoked by a specific incident, but was intended “to show their frustration with the nation’s unfair political, social, and economic systems.”^[1] Another scholar described the root causes as “discrimination, proscription, and segregation.”^[2] A more extensive statement from the same scholar says the “major grievances... included deplorable housing conditions, economic exploitation, bleak employment prospects, racial discrimination, poor police-community relations, and economic competition with Cuban refugees.”^[3]: iv The date was chosen to coincide (because of the publicity opportunity) with the Republican National Convention being held in Miami Beach.^[3]: 202