Humboldt Park riot
The riot led the community to hold the Division Street Puerto Rican Day Parade,[3] which started in 1978.
[5] Puerto Rican communities in the city were then displaced by highway construction, urban renewal, and public housing projects.
The riot signified the difficult conditions Puerto Ricans faced in Chicago, including high unemployment, low income, racial discrimination, poor housing, and inadequate education.
[13] According to a University of Chicago study, in the years following the 1966 riot, Puerto Ricans ranked police relations as their second biggest problem after unemployment.
[14] Although community members spent a decade working for better conditions, in 1977, Puerto Ricans in Chicago still faced myriad issues.
[17] FALN, a separatist group for Puerto Rican independence, claimed credit via a phone call to radio station WBBM-FM.
[23] According to the Chicago Tribune, on late Saturday afternoon, police arrived to Humboldt Park to break up gang-related fighting.
When police were arresting one of the combatants, the young man resisted, and "picnickers became angry and began hurling objects.
"[24] The New York Times printed that following the shooting of Osorio and Cruz, the police tried to close the park and "were met with a barrage of bricks, bottles, stones, sticks and chairs, but Hispanic witnesses charged that policemen stormed the park with nightsticks and attacked many picnickers, including families with children.
[26] Acting Mayor Bilandic came to Humboldt Park and the riot area for about 15 minutes after the violence died down, late Saturday night.
[15] On Sunday morning, police set up a command post in the park as firefighters and public works crews cleaned the area.
[16] Four days after the riot, the body of Domingo Torres Claudio, 62, was found in the rubble of the grocery store below the apartment where he lived.
[19] As a result, there were no interpreters, the people arrested at the riot were unable to contact their families, get medical attention, or meet with attorneys one-on-one.
[19] The Cook County Special Bail Project Inc., a local group that helped disadvantaged defendants obtain release from jail on bail, prepared a report that charged that the failure of police to call for mass arrest procedures constituted a violation of rights.
[29] The chief of the Chicago Police Department's patrol division, John McInerney, said that he made a judgement to not call for a mass arrest court, because he felt the defendants from the riot could be processed normally.
[10] The city government's only direct response to the riot was a grant of $471,000 to fund community service jobs.
Osborne and Nolan fielded the concerns and demands of Puerto Rican community leaders on behalf of the city.
[33] On July 25, 1979, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Sullivan announced that no police officers would be prosecuted for the shootings of Osorio and Cruz.
The increased media attention and coverage of Puerto Rican community issues following the riot did not result in changes or improvements.
[18] Michael Rodríguez Muñiz, on the other hand, argued years later that the aftermath of the riot created "a radical consciousness" among Puerto Ricans in Chicago.
