Where were you during the 1967 Detroit Riot?

[gazhekwe]

Susan Messer: Even rumors that a school may be dangerous or substandard can scare parents away.

In my experience in different neighborhoods in two different cities, that is the biggest catalyst. One person leaves for whatever reason, and gives the excuse that the school is "going down" so they won't look like a racist. The rumor takes hold and flies, and all the parents start packing to move. Last to go are the elders who have seen their community dissolve.

[English]

I don't understand why there were such fears about school desegregation in the North, especially in metro Detroit. My grandfather attended integrated Detroit schools in the 1920s and early 1930s, and graduated from Cass Tech at age 16. [[Of course, the guidance counselors discouraged him from attending a four year college, but he enrolled in U of D anyway.) I figured from my relatives and their friends' stories that there were always black kids in majority white city schools.

Seriously, what do people think that we're going to do to them? Do folks think that their K-12 education or their university degree is devalued just by the very presence of black folks? I am being serious -- one of my qualifying exams was about school segregation in the South and how it influenced curriculum development, so I have read a ton about this topic. Few things about our nation confuse me more. I understand the economic incentive behind slavery, and the resentment that fueled Jim Crow and de jure segregation, but the Greatest Gen's behavior post-Brown was inexcusable.

On a raw and visceral human level, I don't get it. Maybe I never will. From my perspective, there is no other explanation for decisions like Milliken v. Bradley, which declawed Brown.

Anyway. Back to the riots.

[Hermod]

I figured from my relatives and their friends' stories that there were always black kids in majority white city schools.

No, I went to three schools in Detroit from 1944 to 1954 and never went to school with a black kid. The only "non-whites" in the schools were a handful of Maronite Christian Lebanese. I never went to school with a black kid till we moved to Rochester and I went to Rochester High School 1954-1957.

The janitors and lunch room staffs in the schools I went to were all white.

It was called de facto segregation.

[Stosh]

No, I went to three schools in Detroit from 1944 to 1954 and never went to school with a black kid. The only "non-whites" in the schools were a handful of Maronite Christian Lebanese. I never went to school with a black kid till we moved to Rochester and I went to Rochester High School 1954-1957.

The janitors and lunch room staffs in the schools I went to were all white.

It was called de facto segregation.

Christ. No wonder you never encountered any kind of racism. 1954? Really? Sheesh.

That's like comparing Detroit today to the 1920's for what it's worth.

Here's an interesting site:
http://faculty.washington.edu/gregor...ora/photos.htm

Also this one:
http://www.bentley.umich.edu/researc...ration/ch1.php

[English]

Interesting hearing your experiences, Hermod. My grandfather was a generation older than you, and his folks were on the leading edge of the northern migration. He was a founding member of the Brewster Old Timers. The legendary Brewster Rec Center opened when he was 13 years old:

http://detroit1701.org/Brewster-Wheeler%20Center.htm

Reading that page makes me really miss my granddad. He was truly one of the best people I knew.

[kryptonite]

Bigotry is something that builds up over a lifetime. Small children don't seem to notice color, ethnicity, religion, etc. Those biases develop as a person ages.

Some people develop the same attitudes toward anyone different from them that their parents displayed. Others seem to make a conscious break from their environmental background and determine instead to be as open as possible.

Prejudice to me seems almost like a choice, not a matter of what state you come from, what religion you follow, what ethnic background you are composed of, etc.

The 1967 riots in my opinion were the result of a few violent individuals that initiated an act of violence followed by the phenomenon of group psychology. You as an individual might not be inclined to protest something, but if a substantial protest occurs in proximity to you, you may just join along. Riots are not rare, historically they have been common. run of the mill protests frequently turn violent, despite the fact that the organizers had no intention of violence. In Detroit's case the blind pig party break-up by the police, combined with a national trend toward violent protests at the time. Few large cities escaped some amount of racial unrest from 1965-1968.

[Hermod]

Interesting hearing your experiences, Hermod. My grandfather was a generation older than you, and his folks were on the leading edge of the northern migration. He was a founding member of the Brewster Old Timers. The legendary Brewster Rec Center opened when he was 13 years old:

http://detroit1701.org/Brewster-Wheeler%20Center.htm


Reading that page makes me really miss my granddad. He was truly one of the best people I knew.

Your granddad would have been about my father's age or a tad older [[Central High School 1931).