A Memory For Monday

MY FIRST-HAND INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL

RIGHTS: THE 1967 RIOTS IN DETROIT

If you've been following my blog for a while, you probably know that when I was growing up, my parents took the five of us kids all over the United States during summer vacations. Our mode of transportation was a station wagon and it pulled an Apache pop-up camper behind it. The list of places we went and things we saw was endless, entertaining and educational, but nothing impacted the 10-year old me more than the 1967 Detroit Riots.

In the early to mid-1960's if you were brought up in my white, middle-class hamlet, where there was one black family, civil rights wasn't discussed and the riots and unrest went largely ignored because, guess what? The adults felt safe, untouched by it all. Current events were not part of the early elementary school curriculum and children didn't watch the news, or much television at all, so I was totally clueless as to what was happening in major cities throughout the country.

Apparently my father wasn't deterred by the news of the riots; his planned vacation route, through Detroit, went unchanged, although we did travel in the morning, after sunrise. I'm guessing that night travel through the city was prohibited and a curfew was in place because there were armed soldiers EVERYWHERE, not just at street corners, EVERYWHERE!

My three younger siblings were sleeping because it was early in the morning and a car ride will do that to a kid, but my older brother, Randy, and I were awake. My mother, wanting to shelter us from seeing anything bad and keep us quiet as dad was navigating his way through the city, told us to put our heads down. (Remember, we didn't use seat belts in the 1960's, so we could lay down in the car.) Well, geez - we were 10 and 12 years old! We weren't putting our heads down, we just stayed very quiet so we didn't get caught! It wasn't too difficult really. My parents were both nervous and their attention was on what was going on in the streets.

Traffic was directed by soldiers because traffic lights were out. So, while the city was traversable (that should be a real word) for the most part, there were plenty of detours and it was slow going. This made it even better for me because it gave me more opportunity to take in my surroundings.

And all I could think during that ride was, "There was war here. Was there a war here? Do we still fight wars against ourselves in this country? Yeah. This was definitely a war! I'm in a war!" And because my head was supposed to be down, who could I ask without getting in trouble? No one. It wasn't as if my brother could shed any real light on it. He told me later it looked like fighting and a riot had taken place. But that made no sense to me because it had obviously been a war.

"1967 was a year of widespread urban violence, sanctioned by some Black militant leaders while abhorred by moderates who saw the uprising as ultimately counterproductive to Black interests. It appeared to some that the phase of the Black protest movement characterized by nonviolent demonstrations led by Dr. King was coming to an end. Many civil rights leaders thought violent upheaval inevitable. In an April 16, 1967, news conference, Dr. King warned that at least 10 cities "could explode in racial violence this summer."
"Urban racial violence did plague over 100 cities in 1967. During the Spring, minor disturbances had occurred in Omaha, Louisville, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Wichita, Nashville, and Houston. Then in June, Boston and Tampa experienced serious disorders. The most devastating riot since Watts in 1965 occurred, however, in Newark, from June 12 to 17, 1967, an outburst that resulted in 25 deaths, 1,200 persons injured, and over 1,300 arrested. The following month Detroit was the site of the worst urban race riot of the decade, one that left 43 dead, over 2,000 injured and more than 3,800 arrested. Rioting continued around the country, with outbreaks in Phoenix, Washington, D.C. and New Haven, among other cities. According to a report of the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations released in November 1967, 75 major riots occurred in that year, compared with 21 in 1966; 83 were killed in 1967, compared with 11 in 1966 and 36 in 1965."

"The Detroit Riot of 1967 began when police vice squad officers executed a raid in the early morning hours of July 23, 1967 on an after hours drinking club or "blind pig" in a predominantly black neighborhoods located at Twelfth Street and Clairmount Avenue. They were expecting to round up a few patrons, but instead found 82 people inside holding a party for two returning Vietnam veterans. Yet, the officers attempted to arrest everyone who was on the scene. While the police awaited a "clean-up crew" to transport the arrestees, a crowd gathered around the establishment in protest. After the last police car left, a small group of men who were "confused and upset because they were kicked out of the only place they had to go" lifted up the bars of an adjacent clothing store and broke the windows. From this point of origin, further reports of vandalism diffused. Looting and fires spread through the Northwest side of Detroit, then crossed over to the East Side."

"The protests became so violent that neither the Detroit or Michigan State Police could contain them. Mayor Jerome Cavanaugh appealed to the Governor. Governor Romney called out the Guard on July 24th by ordering the 2nd Brigade, 46th Infantry Division to state actual duty. The other two brigades of the 46th were at Camp Grayling conducting annual training. Their training was cancelled and the troops quickly moved to Detroit. The situation worsened and by July 26th, twelve square miles of Detroit were burning. As police and military troops sought to regain control of the city, violence escalated."

"Mayor Cavanaugh and Governor Romney consulted with U.S. Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey; they decided to commit more troops to Detroit. At the same time, the Michigan National Guard was federalized and placed under command of the U.S. Army's XVIII Airborne Corps from Fort Bragg, N.C. One brigade each from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were flown to Selfridge Air National Guard Base and joined Task Force Detroit under the command of Lt. Gen. John Throckmorton. A total of 10,253 Michigan ARNG federally mobilized from 23 July - 2 August 1967; authorized by EO 11364 of 24 July 1967."

"The task force cracked down on the rioters. By July 29th, the situation was calm enough to pull regular army troops out and leave the city in the hands of the federalized Michigan National Guard. The Guard returned to state control and demobilized on August 2nd. At the conclusion of 5 days of rioting, 43 people lay dead, 1189 injured and over 7000 people had been arrested. There was over 22 million dollars in damage done, not including much of what was lost by people to charred and water-logged conditions, and that's 1967 dollars, not 2012 dollars. During the Detroit rioting, fatalities included one Guardsman -- Corp. Larry L. Post of the 182nd Field Artillery. In all, 8,500 Michigan National Guardsmen were involved in quelling the rioting."

The origins of urban unrest in Detroit were rooted in a multitude of political, economic, and social factors including police abuse, lack of affordable housing, urban renewal projects, economic inequality, black militancy, and rapid demographic change

On July 27, 1967, President Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, chaired by Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner, to investigate the origins of the disturbances and to make recommendations to prevent or contain such outbursts. On July 26, Dr. King, with Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and A. Philip Randolph, issued a statement from NAACP headquarters calling on blacks to refrain from rioting and urging them to work toward improving their situation through peaceful means. "

By the time 1968 rolled around, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated and we'd started to discuss civil rights in school. It was then that I put the pieces together and realized that violent riots are, in fact, war and I had, indeed, been through my first war zone.

Today we remember Dr. King and his work for civil rights, but I am also reminded of his preaching about peaceful resolutions to our differences.

Do you share his dream?

(Today's photos and some of the historical details are from google.com)