It was 50 years ago this week that Rochester was rocked by three-days of rioting that erupted in two predominantly African American neighborhoods. A number of factors contributed to the violence, including a lack of job opportunities for African Americans, overcrowding and allegations of police brutality.
All this week, WXXI News is broadcasting a special series called “Lessons from July ’64” - not only to look back at the issues that led to the riots 50 years ago, but to also look forward at the issues still impacting that same community and whether we could ever see something like that happen again.
In Part Two of the series, Carlet Cleare examines the housing crisis in Rochester as a possible root cause to the riots – particularly on the city’s Northeast side.