Detroit police special units could be disbanded [[?)

[bailey]

Sending in a bunch of rural, white, trigger-happy Michigan National Guardsman in 1967 didn't do a whole lot of good.

Well, what would have happened had they not been deployed? the riots were quelled 48 hours after their arrival.

[Detroitnerd]

Well, what would have happened had they not been deployed? the riots were quelled 48 hours after their arrival.

A lot of innocent people wouldn't have died. The east side was guarded by the Army, which had been in worse situations. The west side was "guarded" by the MNG, who were a bunch of jumpy country boys who kept hearing "snipers" -- which were actually other MNG troops firing on "snipers" -- and shooting at innocent Detroiters. Clifton Pryor was trying to keep sparks from a neighboring fire off his building and was shot as a "sniper." Four-year-old Tanya Blanding was shot from a National Guard tank that was, again, responding to "sniper fire." More of this "return fire" killed Albert Robinson, who was a former member of the National Guard himself! Or George Tolbert, who was just walking by a checkpoint and was hit with a bullet that killed him, hitting his friend too. Another National Guardsman took a security guard to be a looter and shot him dead too.

Bear in mind, although many of these victims were unarmed and committed no crime, no one was held criminally responsible for many of their deaths, and even in obvious cases where it was murder and the killers were lying, most of those who went to trail were ultimately exonerated.

Nice pat little stories about "quelling the riot in 48 hours" don't show the whole story, do they? I suggest you read up on 1967, what happened with the National Guard on the west side, and perhaps read John Hersey's "The Algiers Motel Incident."

Because if we understand our past, we understand why it's a piss-poor idea to call the Michigan National Guard into Detroit for any reason.

[bailey]

A lot of innocent people wouldn't have died. The east side was guarded by the Army, which had been in worse situations. The west side was "guarded" by the MNG, who were a bunch of jumpy country boys who kept hearing "snipers" -- which were actually other MNG troops firing on "snipers" -- and shooting at innocent Detroiters. Clifton Pryor was trying to keep sparks from a neighboring fire off his building and was shot as a "sniper." Four-year-old Tanya Blanding was shot from a National Guard tank that was, again, responding to "sniper fire." More of this "return fire" killed Albert Robinson, who was a former member of the National Guard himself! Or George Tolbert, who was just walking by a checkpoint and was hit with a bullet that killed him, hitting his friend too. Another National Guardsman took a security guard to be a looter and shot him dead too.

Bear in mind, although many of these victims were unarmed and committed no crime, no one was held criminally responsible for many of their deaths, and even in obvious cases where it was murder and the killers were lying, most of those who went to trail were ultimately exonerated.

Nice pat little stories about "quelling the riot in 48 hours" don't show the whole story, do they? I suggest you read up on 1967, what happened with the National Guard on the west side, and perhaps read John Hersey's "The Algiers Motel Incident."

Because if we understand our past, we understand why it's a piss-poor idea to call the Michigan National Guard into Detroit for any reason.

I guess someones sarcasm detector isn't functioning.