MSU Red Cedar Message Board

tSearch function was significantly affected by the riots.
Seriously though, these photos are incredible.

whoa

So this all started from raiding an illegal after hours bar? Doesn't seem like much of a spark, why did it blow up so fast?

well, this wouldn't help

In 1967, 93% of the force was still European American, although 30% of the city residents were African American.[31][32] Incidents of police brutality caused African Americans to feel at risk. They resented the practice of many police in talking down to them: addressing men as "boys" and women as "honey" and "baby". Police made street searches of groups of young men and single women complained of being called prostitutes for simply walking on the street.[33] The police frequently arrested people who did not have proper identification. The local press reported several questionable shootings and beatings of blacks by officers in the years before 1967.[34] After the riot, a Detroit Free Press survey showed that residents reported police brutality as the number one problem they faced in the period leading up to the riot.[35]

I was born after the riots, but have always been amazed at the profound effect that those riots had on this city and, especially, on those of the generations that lived through the riots. Most of my family lived in Detroit until the riots and the white flight from the city thereafter is astounding. It is really sad the way it changed the city and hardened the hearts of many who lived through it.

My family was in Real Estate in the Thumb area, there were literally families that left during the riots, bought a house up there and never went back.

A guy at work was an MSU sophomore in summer 1967, lived in GP Park. For years he said everyone was still talking about the tank and supporting infantry on Mack starting on day 2, facing west to downtown right at the Detroit border. Like a static defense line. No idea if that was true or not.

Wow, you could get a carwash for $0.09 in '67. Amazing.

We could easily see the smoke from the burning city from the house. When my dad got home from work he would drive me up the 8 Mile and Ryan Rd. to watch the tanks and troops leaving the Light Guard Armory. I was only about 8 years old but I remember the nervous tension in my father. My parents wouldn't let me play outside alone that week. I remember thinking that there were going to be marauding gangs charging down the street on our quiet little street in Warren.

I found this DetNews summary of the 1967 events a couple of years ago. They took down their picture archive but most of them are accessible here. One thing I wondered in the attached pic was what happened to all those small business on 12th St like "Dr. Lloyd lawson Optometrist" No urban Walmart or a Target can replace those types of storefronts that are essential to urban neighborhoods. When I was last in Detroit in March I drove by this area. There's really nothing left.

Thought the same was going to happen on our quiet little street in Dearborn. And there was no LOL about it as my mom was in the hospital giving birth to our sister and I was in charge of a younger brother and sister; was pretty darn scared.

I work down that way and am in awe of the architecture of the homes that are just outside the city. I always imagine what it looked like pre-riot times. The houses if they had been kept up would have been amazing today.

On the west side (W. Outer Drive) were Mt. Carmel and Sinai. Both of them were very close to the former Detroit Catholic Central High School, presently Renaissance. On the east side (E.Outer Drive) was Holy Cross. Holy Cross was just east of Van Dyke.