Montez Parker, 26, speaks during a discussion at Logos Academy in York on April 23, 2019.
Ed Mahon / PA Post
1969 York, Pa. race riots: ‘You have to recognize what happened’
During a Tuesday evening discussion, residents talked about divides between black and white communities.
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Ed Mahon
Ed Mahon / PA Post
Montez Parker, 26, speaks during a discussion at Logos Academy in York on April 23, 2019.
(York) — The city of York is approaching the 50th anniversary of race riots that left two people dead.
A white police officer and a 27-year-old black woman were killed in the summer of 1969. No one was criminally charged for the deaths until 2001.
On Tuesday evening, historian Jeff Kirkland talked about the history that led to the riots — and the divides that still exist between the black and white communities in York.
“There have been incredible periods of cooperation and growth,” Kirkland said. “And there has also has been and continues to be a troubling sense of conflict and strained coexistence.”
More than 100 people gathered at York’s Logos Academy for a discussion, which was organized by the York Daily Record.
Montez Parker, 26, was one of them. He went to high school in York and then joined the U.S. Air Force.
Since coming back to the city, he said he’s learned more about the historic inequality that black people faced there.
He thinks the community needs to embrace that.
“Before you can really start the process of reconciliation, you have to recognize what happened,” Parker said.
York Mayor Michael Helfrich suggested it’s time for a series of community-wide, formal meetings to address problems in York — similar to meetings that happened after the 1969 riots.
Ed Mahon / PA Post
Tom Kelley, a former York County prosecutor, talks about criminal charges related to the 1969 York race riots. He spoke at Logos Academy in York on April 23, 2019.
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