1967 Detroit Riot Memoirs
Day 1
In the summer of 1967 I was living in an apartment at 70 W. Warren, between Woodward and Cass, having come to Detroit from my university in Indiana to work a summer job at the Dearborn Engine Plant. My car had died a couple of weeks before and I was taking the Warren Crosstown bus to my job in the Rouge industrial complex in Dearborn.
The following is my eye witness account of the 1967 Detroit Riot, as excerpted from a diary I kept and am now posting on the 50th anniversary.
Sunday - July 23, 1967
“I got up at 1 PM today today and proceeded to do a great deal of housecleaning until about 5 PM when Dan and his fiancée Vivian came by and took me out to Vivian’s [parent’s house] for swimming and supper.
“In the afternoon I discovered that a riot had exploded in Detroit’s near Westside with the eye of the storm being at 12th Ave. and Euclid Avenue, about one mile from my apartment. Widespread firebombing and looting had been reported.
“Upon returning from Southfield with Dan and Vivian, a black pall of smoke could be seen hovering over the inner-city area. It was ominous and frightening. We were going to leave the expressway at Livernois and go down to Grand River to stop at Vivian's place of work but raging fires, the sight of looters running about with their arms full of thievings and the radio reports of sniper fire changed our minds. Notable was a complete absence of police and firemen.
At the top of the ramp fires could be seen raging untended at a couple of storefronts down Livernois. Numerous looters, Afro and Euro-American, were joyously running about on Livernois hugging arms full of thievings. Other people sat on their porches calmly watching the festive scene while their littles one played on the sidewalk before them. The scene had a party atmosphere, unthreatening, all laughter, no anger. There were too many people on the street for driving so we continued across Livernois and down the down ramp back onto the Lodge.
An evening of uncertainty followed. A symphony sirens continuously wailed in the background. Squad cars were flying in and out of the 13th Precinct police station a block away at Hancock and Woodward. All hands were on deck. They were leaving on patrols in convoys of four cars, each with a rifle barrel sticking out of all windows but the driver’s. Fire trucks were racing and howling by on Warren and Woodward. The distinctive sour woody smell of smoke that comes from burning buildings hung in the muggy summer air. I had no TV, but the radio broadcasts I heard had turned to full time coverage of the exploding events that worsened with each update. From the radio I learned that a 9:00PM to 5 AM curfew had been imposed creating an awkward situation.
“When I got home, to my surprise and delight, Toni came by. [A woman who I had met the previous evening at Johnnie’s Restaurant through a mutual chess-playing friend. The three of us had ended up hanging out at my place and drinking wine to wee hours.] She was just lonely. So we spent the evening together setting the stage for a most interesting episode. We learned from the radio that a 9 PM to 5 AM curfew was in effect so Toni had to stay here for the night. We slept in the same bed together, but did not sleep together, odd and frustrating to have a Playboy bunny in your bed and yet unable to take advantage of it! She is too crazy about some other man at the moment who is apathetic towards her. She's strange and captivating.”
Read: Day 2