The Division Street Riots

65GRAND is pleased to present The Division Street Riots, a new exhibition by Chicago-based artist Carlos Rolón. The exhibition features new graphite and charcoal drawings, works on aluminum, a DIY bicycle sculpture with audio, and a hand-embroidered textile inspired by the 1966 Division Street uprising in Humboldt Park and West Town. On June 12, 1966, one day after Chicago's first Puerto Rican Day Parade, police shot 20-year-old Arcelis Cruz near Damen and Division. The incident ignited three days of protest, marking the first major U.S. riot attributed to Puerto Ricans. The unrest exposed systemic police brutality, displacement through urban renewal, substandard housing, and educational inequities. It became a turning point in Puerto Rican civic life in Chicago, catalyzing grassroots political organizing and the transformation with the likes of the Young Lords into a civil rights movement. Nearly sixty years later, Rolón revisits this history through a restrained, material language that foregrounds memory, dignity, and collective witness. Drawing from archival photographs and community narratives, the works consider how histories of migration, protest, and belonging continue to shape American cities. At a time of renewed national debate around immigration, civil rights, and ICE enforcement, the exhibition reflects on how communities mobilize in the face of injustice and how solidarity becomes a form of cultural survival.