American Notes MIAMI

Miami was prepared for the worst as the trial of police officer William Lozano, charged with killing two unarmed black men last January, came to an end last week. Their deaths sparked three days of burning and looting. Twice before in the 1980s, riots followed the acquittals of white or Hispanic police officers charged with killing blacks. As police were suiting up for more trouble, a jury of three whites, two blacks and one Hispanic broke the cycle of violence by convicting Lozano on two counts of manslaughter.

While another flare-up was averted, reaction to the verdict split along Miami's racial fault lines. Hispanics said the officer was being sacrificed to appease blacks. But in the Overtown ghetto, the site of January's worst rioting, some residents marched in celebration. "This is what the black community has been waiting for," said Overtown resident Alice Johnson, 43. "Justice."