Detroit's 1943 "Race Riot" - Anniversary.

[Zozo]

So much of what we know about these historical events is filtered through zeitgeist and doesn't really hold under scrutiny. The Metro Times article doesn't really cite any primary sources, other than unreliable witnesses who were eleven and five years old in '43, and the Life article doesn't even have photos of any of the black rioters. There certainly were black rioters, were there not? Why no photographs? Of course the white Life photographer couldn't photograph the black rioters because he would have been attacked by blacks. Also, it's not farfetched to think that Life editorialized the events, as the Left does now, to create the narrative they want. There's no question that a riot happened and sadly many good, innocent people were hurt and killed, but we can't just blame white people because it's convenient. Today you can't be white and walk down the street in most of Detroit without being harassed and threatened, and you are flat out taking your life in your hands if you do so and are a white woman. There's no reason to think that this also wasn't the case in '43 or '67.

[Detroitnerd]

So much of what we know about these historical events is filtered through zeitgeist and doesn't really hold under scrutiny. The Metro Times article doesn't really cite any primary sources, other than unreliable witnesses who were eleven and five years old in '43, and the Life article doesn't even have photos of any of the black rioters. There certainly were black rioters, were there not? Why no photographs? Of course the white Life photographer couldn't photograph the black rioters because he would have been attacked by blacks. Also, it's not farfetched to think that Life editorialized the events, as the Left does now, to create the narrative they want. There's no question that a riot happened and sadly many good, innocent people were hurt and killed, but we can't just blame white people because it's convenient. Today you can't be white and walk down the street in most of Detroit without being harassed and threatened, and you are flat out taking your life in your hands if you do so and are a white woman. There's no reason to think that this also wasn't the case in '43 or '67.

Zozo, take your apologist ass and go jump in a lake.

[Detroitnerd]

"OK, so I realize that the facts run counter to everything I believe, but, I'm going to disbelieve these 'facts' and choose instead to believe the bullshit I already did. It makes me too uncomfortable to change my mind about things."

[Zozo]

Zozo, take your apologist ass and go jump in a lake.

Your response is typical of the Left. Death for those who disagree. Interesting that dialectically your death wish upon a complete stranger is only a breath away from the white guy marching down Woodward in '43 saying to himself, 'Imma beat me up a random darkie.'

[mwilbert]

So much of what we know about these historical events is filtered through zeitgeist and doesn't really hold under scrutiny. The Metro Times article doesn't really cite any primary sources, other than unreliable witnesses who were eleven and five years old in '43, and the Life article doesn't even have photos of any of the black rioters. There certainly were black rioters, were there not? Why no photographs? Of course the white Life photographer couldn't photograph the black rioters because he would have been attacked by blacks. Also, it's not farfetched to think that Life editorialized the events, as the Left does now, to create the narrative they want. There's no question that a riot happened and sadly many good, innocent people were hurt and killed, but we can't just blame white people because it's convenient. Today you can't be white and walk down the street in most of Detroit without being harassed and threatened, and you are flat out taking your life in your hands if you do so and are a white woman. There's no reason to think that this also wasn't the case in '43 or '67.

No one claims that there were no black rioters. It is pretty clear that the earliest incidents were started by blacks. On the other hand, it is also clear that there were a lot of white rioters, and that blacks were the victims of most of the violence, both official and unofficial.

I don't understand what your point about the danger of walking down the street has to do with anything, but, no, Detroit was not nearly as dangerous [[excluding riots) in 1943 or 1967 as it is today, and presumably that included people who were walking. I don't find that people threaten and harass me when I walk down the street--for the most part people are quite friendly--but perhaps I'm not walking in those parts of the city that you are thinking of.

[Detroitnerd]

Your response is typical of the Left. Death for those who disagree. Interesting that dialectically your death wish upon a complete stranger is only a breath away from the white guy marching down Woodward in '43 saying to himself, 'Imma beat me up a random darkie.'

Dude, "jump in a lake" is about as close to a death threat as a housefly to a Harrier jet.

Then again, looking over your idiotic post, I can see you might be brain-dead enough to believe those things are the same.

You really sound like a moron, man. Have a nice life.

[Zozo]

Detroitnerd, since you are so preoccupied with intelligence, someone should remind you that no one confuses forum snark with intelligence. Maybe it raises your low self-esteem a bit? Your high post count indicates you are likely unemployed and maybe unemployable. Maybe because you are a moron? Your writing certainly doesn't indicate that you have any original thoughts.

I think I raised some fair questions, which for some reason hurt your feelings because you became defensive and starting name-calling.

[Detroitnerd]

I think I raised some fair questions, which for some reason hurt your feelings because you became defensive and starting name-calling.

Aww ... did I hurt your poor little feelings?

[Zozo]

Aww ... did I hurt your poor little feelings?

This is the sort of condescending internet forum behavior of people with low self-esteem.

[Detroitnerd]

This is the sort of condescending internet forum behavior of people with low self-esteem.

No way, Zozo. You're as wrong about me as you are about the past. You're as wrong as they, come, frankly. But that's only because you're a moron. And I bet you're a racist too. [[One of those weaselly racists who won't admit it but starts racist jokes with a little, "I know this isn't politically correct, but ...")

Have a nice weekend, troll.

[Zozo]

No way, Zozo. You're as wrong about me as you are about the past. You're as wrong as they, come, frankly. But that's only because you're a moron. And I bet you're a racist too. [[One of those weaselly racists who won't admit it but starts racist jokes with a little, "I know this isn't politically correct, but ...")

Have a nice weekend, troll.

Finally the predictable ad hominem slander. Surprised it took you so long to pull the race card. Of course you think I'm racist because I don't agree with you... you're a moron!

Have a nice weekend petting your cats and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, loser.

[compn]

"people of color make up about 30 percent of the United States’ population, they account for 60 percent of those imprisoned."

"In 2010, the Black arrest rate for marijuana possession was 716 per 100,000, while the white arrest rate was 192 per 100,000," the ACLU says. ... And that disparity ... has actually gotten worse over the years.

Marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and whites, yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession.

http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-ref...d-white-report

NAACP's Colorado-Wyoming-Montana local branch is expected to announce its support of Amendment 64, not because the group necessarily favors marijuana use, but because members say current marijuana laws lead to a disproportionately high number of people of color being incarcerated or otherwise negatively affected.

"REEFER makes DARKIES think they're as good as white men." - Harry J. Anslinger 1929

end the racist drug war. save your tax dollars for feeding the poor and fixing the roads.

[canuck]

Finally the predictable ad hominem slander. Surprised it took you so long to pull the race card. Of course you think I'm racist because I don't agree with you... you're a moron!

Have a nice weekend petting your cats and drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, loser.

Keep on denying. Keep reinforcing the typical bullshit image of black people as dangerous, violent and incapable to prop your own sense of self. Everything you project on Detroitnerd is characteristic of your selfish comfy narrow view of history.

I think black folks had a lot more reason to be fearful of white society than the opposite at whatever point in history you choose to pick. Deny that, and your racism and stupidity shine through.

[marshamusic]

I remain hopeful for a good discussion about this subject.

An earlier poster remarked about my use of the word "anniversary" in the title. I thought hard about how what word to use; memorial? septennial? It seemed that all these words implied a celebration, which was not my intent. I assure you, this violence and terror that people in my own family and so many others experienced - black and white - is no cause for revelry. So the use of the word "anniversary" was only to connote the passage of a marker of time.

Thank you Detroitnerd for those "stages" of the riot; I'm sure that others here may know more. One thing for sure, even before the actual spark, the city had been smoldering for some time. Of great import was the extreme housing shortage at the time, that resulted in acute competition for what housing that was available.

I think of many of our posts and photos here of entire sections of the city - at the outskirts especially - that had not yet been developed in the post-depression years. Like one of my DetroitYes brothers here [[can't remember who posted this, Eastside Al maybe?) who's grandmother could see straight through to Jefferson from [[I think) the Vernor Highway area, there were so few houses, long years ago. That image stuck with me.

It is inconceivable now, but much of the '43 Riot had simmered in the weeks and months prior with especially whites, on the North East side, furious that blacks were going to be able to move into public housing - the projects - specifically, the Sojourner Truth homes. When I was a child, I visited cousins who lived in Conant Gardens and we'd often go east on Nevada to the area near the homes, where there was a green clearing with a hill [[don't know if it was actually a park, but maybe it was). I didn't know then the history of those projects, just a generation prior.

Of course, there was a competition of labor, underneath it all - '43 was in the midst of the War; with soldiers going off to service, blacks began to increase in the plants, during the war production years. Contrary to labor solidarity, in many instances, whites fought hard to keep blacks from gaining employment in the plants. So there was a lot going on, prior to an incident on Belle Isle or Woodward, etc.

When I say "lest we forget"; I do not mean just blacks remembering this history, but we all should remember how this city has been decimated by the episodes of competition, hatred and violence against one another. I believe these conversations here can be a repudiation of that divisive, tragic history.

[Drexciya68]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...IAL03/70718001

[prodigal son]

Zozo=epic
detroitnerd=epic fail

It is very saddening to see so much racism towards whites pass as being the normal operating procedure on posts such as this one. But i suppose that since racism against whites has been praised as the way to properly run the city for about 40 years now I shouldnt be suprised.

[Drexciya68]

zozo=epic
detroitnerd=epic fail

it is very saddening to see so much racism towards whites pass as being the normal operating procedure on posts such as this one. But i suppose that since racism against whites has been praised as the way to properly run the city for about 40 years now i shouldnt be suprised.

so true!!!

[EastsideAl]

Racism towards whites? This crap always makes me laugh. I'm trying not to get drawn too far into your troll-discussion, because like Marsha I believe that there is a much more interesting historical discussion to be had here, but ignoring 300+ years of our national history [[to say nothing of world history) just to make your highly dubious point about the last 46 years of local history and the perceived sins of "the left" is pretty laughable. And, ummm... not to make too fine a point of it, but I believe that D-Nerd is, in fact, white.

[canuck]

It's not easy being white EastsideAl.

[marshamusic]

One of the interesting things that I note regards the housing shortage that was such a source of competition and fury. Yet mid-century photos of the city that we see show extreme density, at least in the core. Remember the aerial photos of the 67 riots? How crowded the city was with houses?

So this is how the rapid rise in the city's population manifested - that with all of the housing at the core, it still wasn't enough housing for a city bursting at the seams with folks.

There is some truth to the idea mentioned by a previous poster, regarding [[white) folks moving from the South. Although they could not possibly be the cause of the '43 Riots, the fact that there were whites accustomed to the violent, radical segregation that existed in the South who were now contending with Blacks not only in their workplaces, but trying to move into the neighborhoods too, was surely an issue.

There is also the reality of this being a city with miles of land outside of it, that provided an escape, the wherewithal for "sprawl".

[jaytheory]

Right. lol. From what I understand a lot of the racial tensions in that time [[and the racial problems in Metro Detroit overall) were caused by White Southerners moving to Detroit.

I used to hear that rumor as well,. but it isnt true. if Read T Surgues book you will learn that the white aggression was generally from The middle and upper class 3rd and fourth catholic and protestant White detroiters. The Southerners were happy to have a job, and would "tolerate" blacks in most cases.

They were used to living in a town with large black population,

[jaytheory]

there was density but that housing stock was segregated. blacks relegated to slims while whites were free you use the rest of the stock, For instance, places like brush park had already declined significantly and were flop houses or places were three to 5 families may be found living. also the area east of Lafayette park was like this. they were charging extraordinarily high rents while being slums.

[jaytheory]

Keep on denying. Keep reinforcing the typical bullshit image of black people as dangerous, violent and incapable to prop your own sense of self. Everything you project on Detroitnerd is characteristic of your selfish comfy narrow view of history.

I think black folks had a lot more reason to be fearful of white society than the opposite at whatever point in history you choose to pick. Deny that, and your racism and stupidity shine through.

well said sir