Where were you during the 1967 Detroit Riot?

[AUSSIE]

So is this the revisionist history garbage that there’re teaching kids in school today? Every single thing mentioned on that list still exists now or has gotten worse since the riots. Any clear thinking person old enough like me to remember that period knows that compared to today in Detroit, 1968 has to be considered as “The good old days”!

Prezactly, thats what i am pointing out, same conditions today

BUT Detroit was not 85% black, so who knows

Keep the peace and show love brothers!

Cheers

[TygardTails]

I would like to hear from those who suffered through the horrible riot in Detroit's Virginia Park neighborhood, July 23, 1967. What were your experiences? Mother and I were there when the police arrived; she sold Bibles in the area. We had no idea what happened and like most of us in Detroit, learned that the City was burning from the newsman who told us about it in the Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and while we sat in front of the Black and White TVs of that era. Many people died; more were jailed. All of it started over the rousting by police of Vietnam Vets celebrating their safe arrival home in a local after-hours club. I'd like to hear from those who lived through that day, that week, that time, and what truly happened to the folks who had to endure those times.

[carlscomputers]

Anniversary coming up again in a couple of days...

[river rat]

Being part of the action at Detroit General Hospital treating gunshot wounds, burns, lacerations from "looters arm", auto injuries & trauma from falls, knife wounds, blunt trauma from beatings. Actually not a lot different than other days except in scale and volume. Heart attacks and strokes as well.

Someone else mentioned the death toll being higher than the reported 45. It was about twice that because only GSW and stabbings counted as "riot related".

[mtburb]

Today is the 47th anniversary of the very event discussed here, the very event that caused the city to enter a steep four-decade-long decline. Just reminding you...

[Honky Tonk]

Anniversary coming up again in a couple of days...

My family and I get together every year, loot a store, then burn it down. It won't be the same without one of grandma's cocktails this year.

[carlscomputers]

[FormerDetroiter]

I spent the day praying that the riot stayed on the west side. Unfortunately my prayers were not answered. By the time it was over the National Guard was going up and down our street, and when smoke cleared there was no place left to shop in the neighborhood.

[Jimaz]

I was waiting for the papers for my Detroit News paper route. They never arrived.

It was pretty eerie to know the importance of the news yet not have any newspapers about it.

[garyalex]

Second day I was at the corner of Grand River and Joy road. There was a Woolworth's on the corner which had been looted and burned. My friends and I saw a group of children enter the store. We thought it might be dangerous for them and wanted to get them out. There were cops all around the area. Being young, stupid and bulletproof I decided to try to get the kids out. Didn't work, couldn't even find them. Cops saw me coming out of the store and told me to stop. I didn't, at least until one of them hit me in the face with the butt of his shotgun. A few other cops joined in on the fun.

Broke some teeth and opened a gushing wound on my chin. Lots of blood. They put me in a cop car and pounded on me some more, just for good measure I guess. Arrested, locked up, wearing a white t-shirt covered in blood. The charge was looting and assaulting a police office. They eventually just dropped the charges and let me go.

What I realize now, looking back at it, is how scared and and angry those cops were. Also, how incredibly stupid I was.

[bc_n_dtown]

Oh wow! Beginning at 15:44 mark there's a short clip of the Grand River-Oakman intersection, the way I remember it growing up in the '60s.....minus the broken windows of course. Sadly it looks nothing close to that today.

[Dan Wesson]

The night it started Joey decided to quarter carwash the engine of his car at Mack and St. Jean while waiting for his brother to help close the A&P that was on Mack and Conner. Then it wouldn't start of course. It took a while but it finally started and hour or so later. Kind of spooky being we're not on our turf.

The next morning I wake up and go sit on my front porch on Phelps and notice two station wagons drive by stuffed full of groceries right to the ceiling of the car. No grocery bags mind you just groceries. Strange, I thought.

Went through the back yard, down the alley over to the next street,Conger and Vandyke, now all the kids were out and talking about some riot. All the while we are watching Harper and Vandyke burning.

Then we find out Mack avenue was barbed wired what we thought was twenty foot high pile of wire at East Grand Blvd. on the west end and St. Jean on the east end. The firemen attempting to fight fires along Mack were being sniped at. The Cops and Guard ordered them out and sealed Mack off with the barbed wire. How did we see that? Riding our bikes of course.

[unclefrank]

I was ten, and lived on the far east side. The highlight was going to see the tanks at the Eastland shopping center.

[Dan Wesson]

I was ten, and lived on the far east side. The highlight was going to see the tanks at the Eastland shopping center.

The National Guard had made a base camp behind Burroughs Junior High on St. Cyril. That field was called the Lodge Playfield. It too was full of vehicles, tanks and tents. I went to that school.

[Lily]

I was a jr in highschool. we loaded up our VW bus and went to head into the city to hang out. a bus full of suburban teens at the "indestructible age". we were stopped on the NW side by police who made it very clear we should turn around and go home. our parents were outraged we had even attempted the trip, we were grounded for a week. for me, the reality of the 67 riots didn't really hit home until I met my husband a few years later. my mother.in.law brought out some pictures to go through. burned out buildings, sad faced people, guys in various uniforms. so I asked her how these pictures were part of her life......my in.laws owned a bait and tackle shop, called the yellow front store on 14th & Seldon. key word was "owned". it was burned out and looted. nothing left, no way to support the family. Too much for father.in.law to deal with, a few months later he died of a massive heart attack. it's just empty corner now, with fading memories from my husband and brother.in.law.....and a profound sense of shame on me for being a kid who wanted to be cool and see what was happening. a kid who hadn't a clue about the properties, lives, families who were devastated by the those riots that us kids thought we should go to the city and hang out around. lily

[carlscomputers]

Thank you all for sharing your stories!!! I just wish I was a Hollywood Movie Producer, I would love to see a "real" movie done about the '67 riots. There are so many different perspectives to view it from; The Police, The Fire Department, The Business Owners, The Looters, etc. I'm sure there are those who hate this thread because it dredges up a dark time in Detroit's History, but I like to think we can learn from the mistakes of the past to help build a better future? It's been 47 years & it seems like we're even worse off now than then?

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

I was a jr in highschool. we loaded up our VW bus and went to head into the city to hang out. a bus full of suburban teens at the "indestructible age". we were stopped on the NW side by police who made it very clear we should turn around and go home. our parents were outraged we had even attempted the trip, we were grounded for a week. for me, the reality of the 67 riots didn't really hit home until I met my husband a few years later. my mother.in.law brought out some pictures to go through. burned out buildings, sad faced people, guys in various uniforms. so I asked her how these pictures were part of her life......my in.laws owned a bait and tackle shop, called the yellow front store on 14th & Seldon. key word was "owned". it was burned out and looted. nothing left, no way to support the family. Too much for father.in.law to deal with, a few months later he died of a massive heart attack. it's just empty corner now, with fading memories from my husband and brother.in.law.....and a profound sense of shame on me for being a kid who wanted to be cool and see what was happening. a kid who hadn't a clue about the properties, lives, families who were devastated by the those riots that us kids thought we should go to the city and hang out around. lily

What a great post Lily, it really gives the reader a feel for the times. From the initial contact with the DPD to the ass chewing you all got from the parents to the sad ending of the Yellow Front store....Thanks

[Honky Tonk]

I was a jr in highschool. we loaded up our VW bus and went to head into the city to hang out. a bus full of suburban teens at the "indestructible age". we were stopped on the NW side by police who made it very clear we should turn around and go home. our parents were outraged we had even attempted the trip, we were grounded for a week. for me, the reality of the 67 riots didn't really hit home until I met my husband a few years later. my mother.in.law brought out some pictures to go through. burned out buildings, sad faced people, guys in various uniforms. so I asked her how these pictures were part of her life......my in.laws owned a bait and tackle shop, called the yellow front store on 14th & Seldon. key word was "owned". it was burned out and looted. nothing left, no way to support the family. Too much for father.in.law to deal with, a few months later he died of a massive heart attack. it's just empty corner now, with fading memories from my husband and brother.in.law.....and a profound sense of shame on me for being a kid who wanted to be cool and see what was happening. a kid who hadn't a clue about the properties, lives, families who were devastated by the those riots that us kids thought we should go to the city and hang out around. lily

Great post, Lily. It's a good perspective from a different point of view.

[FEO]

Box 526
12 Th. & Taylor
8:24 Am
Sunday
July 23
1967

Cities Responding

Birmingham, Clinton
Commerce Twp., Dearborn Heights
Dearborn Twp., Detroit
East Detroit, Ecorse
Eloise, Ferndale
Flint , Grosse Ile
Garden City, Garden City Mutual Aid
Gibralter , Grosse Pte Park
Grosse Pte Woods, Harper Woods
Highland Park, Hazel Park
Harrison Twp., Lansing
Livonia, Milford Twp.
Madison Heights, Newport
Plymouth, Plymouth Twp.
Pontiac, Redford Twp.
River Rouge, Roseville
Royal Oak, Royal Oak Twp.
South Rockwood, Sterling Twp.
St. Clair Shores, Southfield
Southfield Twp., Taylor Twp.
Warren, Wayne
Westland, Wyandotte
Windsor, Canada

[mtburb]

Box 526
12 Th. & Taylor
8:24 Am
Sunday
July 23
1967

Cities Responding

Wyandotte

Up until mostly now, I did not know that Wyandotte was also involved in the riots.

[FEO]

I copied this list in 1967 when the Detroit Fire Department, the City of Detroit, the Firemen’s Fund or the Firefighters Association printed it out. I can’t remember who as that was 47 years ago.
Probably some cities sent an apparatus / apparatuses with manpower , just manpower or some firefighters from these cities came on their own. Then it was noted where they came from and this list was printed.

Here is some additional information.

On some pictures of the 67 riot you will see Firefighters in OCD [[Office of Civil Defense) fire gear rather than their regular Detroit issued fire gear. It is assumed that these were Fire Axillaries, not so, most were us regular Detroit Firefighters.
Here’s what happened. We were called back from home, or just seeing a notification on TV, and told to respond to certain command locations rather than to our regular firehouse. I ran at Engine 31,….. Engine 42 was our command post.
Every engine house had OCD fire gear [[coats, helmets & boots) in their basement .Since we didn’t have our stuff we grabbed those to wear. Then we waited till an X-rig [[ Old extra apparatus ) pulled up and jumped aboard.
As there was more men then rigs we piled as many men on a rig as possible. When we left Engine 42 our X-rig held 37 men. We were jammed in the back, in the cab and the outside holding on to anything and everything. We counted as we wanted to remember the number) This was the number of men on the rig I was on. Every X-rig was jammed with men. If some men ran across their own company during that day they left us & went with them. The ones that didn't were dropped off at their regular company Monday morning.

[Honky Tonk]

I copied this list in 1967 when the Detroit Fire Department, the City of Detroit, the Firemen’s Fund or the Firefighters Association printed it out. I can’t remember who as that was 47 years ago.
Probably some cities sent an apparatus / apparatuses with manpower , just manpower or some firefighters from these cities came on their own. Then it was noted where they came from and this list was printed.

Here is some additional information.

On some pictures of the 67 riot you will see Firefighters in OCD [[Office of Civil Defense) fire gear rather than their regular Detroit issued fire gear. It is assumed that these were Fire Axillaries, not so, most were us regular Firefighters.
Here’s what happened. We were called back from home, or just seeing a notification on TV, and told to respond to certain command locations rather than to our regular firehouse. I ran at Engine 31,….. Engine 42 was our command post.
Every engine house had OCD fire gear [[coats, helmets & boots) in their basement .Since we didn’t have our stuff we grabbed those to wear. Then we waited till an X-rig [[ Old extra apparatus ) pulled up and jumped aboard.
As there was more men then rigs we piled as many men on a rig as possible. When we left Engine 42 our X-rig held 37 men. We were jammed in the back, in the cab and the outside holding on to anything and everything. We counted as we wanted to remember the number) This was the number of men on the rig I was on. Every X-rig was jammed with men. If some men ran across their own company during that day they left us & went with them. The ones that didn't were dropped off at their regular company Monday morning.

Interesting stories, FEO, Thanx.

[Dan Wesson]

Damn after all these years There was a memory that always came to mind about that time in Detroit. Now here it is many years later and because of this thread I'm doing some research on an incident I was a witness to, not up close and personal but as kids being some place we weren't supposed to be that day. But we were always in that area any other day.

Again it involves Joey a fella older than we were. He wanted to go do some looting too, a pair of shoes no less. So we headed up to Harper and Vandyke and things were kinda wild, we were close to the army/ navy surplus store across the street from our elementary school when we saw what I thought was a Cadillac pull up and a white guy get out and end up shooting some guy with a long gun. It freaked us out. But when the crowd started yelling who did it and the response was, some white guy did it. That was when we high tailed it home as fast as we could.

Now Here is that incident it has been archived...http://elibrary.wayne.edu/record=3360028

Damn after all these years.

[FormerDetroiter]

Interesting that the shooting happened in 1967 and the shooter got out of a 1969 red Olds....

[Honky Tonk]

Interesting that the shooting happened in 1967 and the shooter got out of a 1969 red Olds....

It was a prototype.....