July 23, 2004

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  37 YEARS AGO TODAY

  
  

  

  
  

  Jul 23 1967

  
  

  After 73 negroes are arrested at a nightclub in Detriot, a race riot breaks out and continues for seven days.

  
  

  On the morning of July 23, 1967, Detroit police raided an illegal black drinking establishment on 12th Street, handcuffed its patrons and forced them outside.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  A crowd of black observers gathered at the scene, and the police retreated, fearing for their safety. Initially, the crowd looted and burned white-owned stores, but as the riot moved into its second day, African American stores were destroyed as well. Before the National Guard ended the rioting, 43 African Americans were killed, 1,189 were injured, and 7,231 were arrested.

  
  

  It took 17,000 army forces, the Michigan National Guard, and Detroit police two days to subdue the riots. The effects of the rioting were enormous: 1,700 stores were looted, 1,383 buildings were burned, and property valued at about $50 million was damaged. President Lyndon Johnson set up the Kerner Commission to investigate the causes of civil disorder in American cities.

  
  

  

  
  

   The Detroit riot of 1967 became a notion of African American despair and had lasting consequences. Detroit's liberal political coalition was destroyed, significant numbers of whites moved to the suburbs, and Detroit's African American majority faced economic stagnation.

  
  

  Significant problems continued to plague the city, including police brutality, inadequate housing, and economic inequality. Detroit has fought back to reclaim its major city status just as it did after the race riots of 1943 that left 34 dead.

  
  

  http://www.africanaonline.com/reports_detroit.htm

  
  

   

  • 11:05 am
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