July 16, 1961 - Two hundred policemen arrested nine white men today at Rainbow Beach in Chicago. The arrests were made for refusing to obey police orders. Surly groups of white men milled around an area where about 200 Negroes were staging "wade-in" demonstrations. There were 10,000 white persons at the beach when the police began making arrests. Except for the demonstrators, there were no Negroes at the beach. The Negro demonstrators dispersed quietly while the police were busy with the unruly whites. Late in the afternoon order was restored, with an all-white crowd using the beach. Racial feeling has been high in Chicago since mid-week, when Matthew Tolber, 16, a Negro high school student, was shot and killed on his way home from school. The killing remains unsolved, but has been ascribed by Negroes to a gang of white youths called the Latin Counts. Several instances of attacks on white people by roving Negro groups were reported over the weekend.
Comments