Saturday marks 45 years since the outbreak of the McDuffie riots, when rage and racial tension overwhelmed the streets of Liberty City and Overtown.
The unrest was sparked by the trial against four white Miami-Dade police officers who were charged in the beating death of black insurance agent Arthur McDuffie.
McDuffie was badly beaten after he was involved in a police chase in December 1979 while riding a motorcycle. The 33-year-old, who’d been in the U.S. Marine Corp, was in a coma for several days until he died from his injuries.
The officers were acquitted on May 17, 1980 and that verdict fueled the fire that erupted in Liberty City and Overtown…