tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7162035574024434959.post4509913674768036314..comments2012-03-16T16:38:38.221-07:00Comments on Motor City Burning Press: HOW I SPENT THE FIVE DAYS LEADING TO MY 13TH BIRTHDAY JULY 28TH 1967Motor City Burning Presshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05028282472902937078noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7162035574024434959.post-21489456605145583342009-06-22T11:22:03.164-07:002009-06-22T11:22:03.164-07:00http://www.last.fm/music/John+Lee+Hooker/_/The+Mot...http://www.last.fm/music/John+Lee+Hooker/_/The+Motor+City+Is+Burning/+lyricsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7162035574024434959.post-79097353126319241792009-06-22T05:55:24.584-07:002009-06-22T05:55:24.584-07:00MW...Although some Wikipedia entries characterize ...MW...Although some Wikipedia entries characterize those days as a race riot it was not. 1943 WAS definitely a race riot but that is another story for another time.<br /><br />One statistic I read was that in the area of the '67 revolt the population density was almost twice that of other areas of the city. People were packed in tight and the powers that be, the banks, the realtor, the police, had all worked to keep it that way. There was a big to do in the years after about Red Lining, the practice where realtors would only show blacks houses in certain areas and police would intensify efforts in minority communities.<br /><br />July 23 the police thought they would go into the blind pig and find maybe as many as thirty people, they would ticket most arrest a couple and then it could be called business as usual.<br /><br />What they found was closer to a hundred people because there was a welcome home party going on for two men who had just returned from Viet Nam.<br /><br />The cops arrested everyone in the house and in the ensuing hours the neighborhood crowd gathered and got angrier with each pair of handcuffs that came out of the door. The breaking point had arrived.<br /><br />This was not a race riot, that Black radicalism was just beginning at the time. The King Agenda had not yet been supplanted by the X philosophy.<br /><br />This was a revolt against all of the economics of the area, of the city, the state and the nation.<br /><br />Unfortunately it became the singular defining moment of Detroit of the last half of the 20th century. What had been a constant steady migration of Whites from the city because of the desire for more room became a flood to get away from the radicalizing Black Power Movement. <br /><br />The spreading and building of a larger metropolitan area had been inevitable, the density of the population had been forcing it for years, but the riots turned a page on the orderly transition to a unified metro area to the new chapter of what today is a bitterly divided area along racial and socioeconomic lines. <br /><br />Thank you so much for your first hand account, all information only deepens my understanding of why.<br /><br /><br />TWMthe walking manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10058913927297370740noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7162035574024434959.post-9890229248044176922009-06-21T08:29:25.873-07:002009-06-21T08:29:25.873-07:00I witnessed the riots. The snipers on the roof top...I witnessed the riots. The snipers on the roof tops were dangerous and shot at fire fighters and police. Then themselves picked off by helicopters. Though it was described as a race riot, I saw white have nots looting as well. I lived outside of Michigan for five years and met people who left Detroit because of the riots<br />supposedly. Saying things like, "they need to be tougher on those people." I would often ask, "What people are you refering to?" I saw people die both black and white have nots. The most scary thing...shots ringing out at night, street lights shot out... darkness and sirens, and the thumping whirlybird helicopters with their spotlights illuminating nearby rooftops.<br />More shots fired... Whoa the memory. Thanks for the read and letting me express it. MWAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com