It seems like this is something that would be the subject of at least a couple good documentaries.
It seems like this is something that would be the subject of at least a couple good documentaries.
Try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WybEb13jysk
Although it is a series of radio programs, the content is decent.
Sidney Fine's book, Violence in the Model City, [[Ann Arbor: U of M Press, 1989) is the best discussion of the 1967 racial riot in Detroit. It does not lend itself to a movie very easily.
I don't know what's the best documentary out there on the '67 Detroit Riot, but I've never seen a bad one. Any footage or discussion on the subject is always valuable, even if someone shot home movies.
I've never seen a great one. The perspective from black residents of riot effected areas is adequate, but they seem to fail in regards to the white perspective. I'm not really interested about hearing from whites who lived in Warren or Royal Oak afraid that mobs were going to cross 8 Mile. However, hearing from white residents of that era living in neighborhoods that were experiencing trouble, on the fringes, or even a mile or two away would provide value. Even whites living in neighborhoods undergoing racial transition would provide something more of value than the suburbanites who left the city in the 1950's.
Also, they seem to have trouble finding a 12th street area Jewish merchant or children of that business owner not living in Oak Park/Southfield back in 1967. Granted, it was on a steep decline and would mostly disappear by the mid-70's. However, their was still a Jewish population around Northwest Detroit in 1967.
It was okay....Doug Warren proved he's not on expert on Detroit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pickford-Bentler
Scene 1...
Young fella wakes up and heads out the front door to sit on the porch on a warm summers day.
While sitting on the porch he notices a family station wagon go past his house down the street.
Something about this car is different.
Then another car goes by and the same thing is noticed...
These cars were full of groceries. Groceries to the ceiling liner on both vehicles. Stuffed with groceries. What was strange were these groceries were not in them brown paper bags.
He gets off the front porch and heads between the his house and the neighbors toward the back yard to see his friend across the alley. Now out front on the next street over, looking across the field in front of the school he see's the business section going up in smoke.
After that things got very different for a while and the effects still haven't totally disappeared.
It's not about the riots, per se, but the portion of "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" that deals with it is quite compelling. Great doc overall, I think.
I lived at Cass and Peterboro during the 1967 riots. I was 15 yrs old at the time and remember the military driving half tracks and military vehicles down my street. My neighbor hood was white, American indian and Mexican. The adults protected our own and kept the rioters out. Our neighborhood had some adults on roof tops with rifles. They let the military pass without incident on their way to the troubled spots.