Remembering Detroit-Part 2
All I know of the Detroit 1967 Riot is what I have read in history books and he ard in interviews, so this won't be a reflection like the Woodward piece. In writing this I hope to do little more than remind people of the sad events that took place 40 years ago, this past week. The Detroit Riot, which took place July 23, 1967, began after white police tried to break up a party of Black Detroiters celebrating the homecoming of two Vietnam veterans. With dozens of people taken into custody, other left behind felt that they could no longer handle the inequalities of these meausres. Thus began the looting and rioting. Many attribute social inequalities, poverty, and racial tensions as the cause for the riot. "By all accounts, Detroit was NOT a blighted city in 1967. However, the city was dealing with issues of white flight, job loss due to automation, and corresponding tax revenue loss, as well as the social ills of the period. Some key factors are often cited as contributing fact...