Date April 9, 1968 | ||
Location Kansas City, Missouri, United States Causes Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. | ||
The 1968 Kansas City riot was a riot that occurred in Kansas City, Missouri in April 1968. Kansas City became one of thirty-seven cities in the United States to be the subject of rioting after the assassination Martin Luther King, Jr.. The rioting in Kansas City did not erupt on April 4, like other cities of the United States affected directly by the assassination of King, but rather on April 9 after local events within the city.
Riot
The first signs of disorder in the streets of Kansas City was a stable student march, in response to the government failing to close schools across the city on April 9, the day of King's funeral. This was seen as a lack of respect for King by the students. The riot was sparked when Kansas City Police Department deployed tear gas to the student protesters when they staged their performance outside City Hall.
The deployment of tear gas dispersed the protesters from the area, but other citizens of the city began to riot as a result of the Police action on the student protesters during a meeting with Mayor Ilus W. Davis. The resulting effects of the riot resulted in the arrest of over one hundred adults, and left five dead and at least twenty admitted to hospitals.