I would suggest the the NY draft riot in 1864 was probably worse, although there is certainly a strong argument that the 1992 LA riot was the worst US riot of the 20th century. LA is a lot bigger than Detroit though, and I think the Detroit riot had a disproportionate impact on the city. Even though there was little disturbance in my neighborhood people were acting kind of nuts.L.A's riot was the wors[t] riot in American history
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