Do people regret the 1967 riot?

[48009]

Growing up in Chicago, I know very little about Detroit history, and was only a toddler when this event occurred. But from what I hear, Detroit was the most socially progressive city in the nation [Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home-ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent. It was not despair that fueled the riot.], but for some reason the most devastating racial riot occurred here. The people with means fled the city for the suburbs and Detroit entered a downward spiral, and has never recovered.

But there was also a small racial riot in 1943. Did this event already put people in motion to flee the city for the suburbs or did the majority start fleeing in the late 60s?

[TexasT]

Detroit was progressive in the 60s? I'd never stepped foot in Michigan until '09, so I may be way off base but Detroit sounded racist as hell during that time frame.

[48009]

Detroit was progressive in the 60s? I'd never stepped foot in Michigan until '09, so I may be way off base but Detroit sounded racist as hell during that time frame.

For African Americans, apparently the home ownership, pay and education rates were the highest in the country. But somehow, Detroit was the worst riot. Doesn't seem very justified.

[TexasT]

For African Americans, apparently the home ownership, pay and education rates were the highest in the country. But somehow, Detroit was the worst riot. Doesn't seem very justified.

African-Americans were disproportionately in the South. So to say that something is better than pre-civil rights southern Alabama doesn't mean much because that standard is pretty damn low.

On a side note, I have my own theory as to why you didn't see similar riots in the South but it's purely speculative. I think the portion of the Southern black population that would get sick of it and react did just that...and they left for other areas, got the eff out. The black population's mentality towards inequality back home [[my family included) is way more...docile/subservient than up here. It's just bred into the culture down there from the days of slavery I guess. I mean, you had Southerners siccing dogs, blowing up churches and killing children and what do you get...a damn sit in? Meanwhile, in Detroit, bust up a party, oh hell no, burn the city! Anyways, that's just my anecdotal guess. Up here, blacks worked alongside whites in factories and made good money, owned houses - I'm sure that actually made it harder to take second class citizenship in other facets of life compared to back down South, where you never even got a chance to get that thought that you were "as good as white folk."

[Bagley]

For African Americans, apparently the home ownership, pay and education rates were the highest in the country. But somehow, Detroit was the worst riot. Doesn't seem very justified.

Right, great pay and education only served to burst the illusion that the American Dream was open to minorities. There were tons of restrictive covenants and unwritten rules keeping gainfully employed, educated people in slums. Their inability to demonstrate upward mobility due to racism made them work that much harder but gave excuse seekers ammunition as well.

[Wesley Mouch]

For African Americans, apparently the home ownership, pay and education rates were the highest in the country. But somehow, Detroit was the worst riot. Doesn't seem very justified.

Two thoughts:

1) Reactions to injustice aren't rational.

2) Radicals often act when progress doesn't go their way, or fast enough.

60s were a time when 'bringing down the system' was thought to be a noble cause. The results weren't always good.

One might wonder about the world where MLK drove change more than Malcolm X.

[hew]

For African Americans, apparently the home ownership, pay and education rates were the highest in the country. But somehow, Detroit was the worst riot. Doesn't seem very justified.

it seems important to note that those figures are always in proportion to the profits of business owners. at some point knowing you are doing alright only because others are doing terrific gets a little noxious. the rift between rich and poor is exacerbated by the 'urban' reality of shared space. not to mention the constant racial tension in factories- pitting one group against another was a method of driving down labor costs, and managing a calculated insecurity.

[rb336]

Progressive? no, unless compared to, say, Mississippi. Housing discrimination was the rule. It was, however, a place where African Americans could earn a decent living and own a house

[rb336]

just to add a little cognitive dissonance....

[Lowell]

A large part of why the riots occurred was that Detroit was NOT progressive. There may have been the right things being said by a few at the top which lent to an illusion that things were changing, but in law enforcement, employment, housing, attitudes and many other areas it was same old, same old.

[gazhekwe]

Yes, by 1967, Detroit was in full white flight. By 1967, "they" had reached Schaefer, and the neighborhoods east were in full changeover, while those west were in panic sale mode, mile by mile. The insurrection merely solidified attitudes that were already fully active.

[48009]

Yes, by 1967, Detroit was in full white flight. By 1967, "they" had reached Schaefer, and the neighborhoods east were in full changeover, while those west were in panic sale mode, mile by mile. The insurrection merely solidified attitudes that were already fully active.

So the riots exacerbated the flight, if nothing else? Well, and destroyed much of the city.

[Lowell]

So the riots exacerbated the flight, if nothing else? Well, and destroyed much of the city.

'67 was the ton of bricks that broke the camel's back when a straw could have done it. Folks did not suddenly pick up and move out en masse in the immediate aftermath. Instead movement away continued at its already steady pace.

Much of city was not destroyed. At most 10-20 square miles of Detroit's 140 were affected and only a handful of those affected severely. Downtown was almost untouched.

The expressway system had matured. Combined with federal and local subsidization of new housing and development, a newly instituted city income tax, block-busting real estate agents and the simple yearning for bigger, newer houses with big yards a perfect storm for the suburban movement was in place.

[Danny]

Well the 1967 riot was NOT about race. It about how crooked the Detroit Police force [[which was 90% white at the time) was keeping hoodlums from loitering corner bars, liquor stores, joining gangs and doing drugs in the once middle class neighborhoods. Blacks and white folks all over Metro-Detroit area definitely REGRET the mess we make and here we are today talking about the problems on the local and national media and taking the word out in the streets like it some part of a diluted gospel. The 1967 12th Street riot came with a Nain Rouge Curse! White folks left Detroit in droves. Black folks stayed and occupy its once middle class neighborhoods. Nain Rouge itself apply the curse to make black Detroiters suffer mentally and physically. Detroit today is Mad Max, Steel Dawn, World War Z, Damnation Alley, 1984, I'm Legend, Oblivion, and Elysium ect... All rolled up in One. It's ghettos are like Beirut, Rome, Babylon, Nineveh, Athens and Baghdad. crunched up. It's going to take a LONG, LONG TIME. to clean up the mess we make.

[IrishSpartan]

Really? What the hell was the almost 200k people that moved between 1967-1970 called? I'm not saying people were not moving in significant numbers before the riots, but they weren't leaving in the late 60's and early 70's for bigger back yards.

'67 was the ton of bricks that broke the camel's back when a straw could have done it. Folks did not suddenly pick up and move out en masse in the immediate aftermath. Instead movement away continued at its already steady pace.

Much of city was not destroyed. At most 10-20 square miles of Detroit's 140 were affected and only a handful of those affected severely. Downtown was almost untouched.

The expressway system had matured. Combined with federal and local subsidization of new housing and development, a newly instituted city income tax, block-busting real estate agents and the simple yearning for bigger, newer houses with big yards a perfect storm for the suburban movement was in place.

The freeway excuse is overused at times. Warren was the fastest growing suburb in the 1960's. What freeway went through Warren before 1976? People were going to leave anyway regardless of the freeways, and were not willing to live in integrated neighborhoods.

[Hermod]

Back in the 1950s, Wayne, Genessee, and Iron counties were the only
t blue counties in the state. The other eighty counties were solid red. That being said, the white Democratic vote in Michigan was economically progressive, but not socially progressive.

[48009]

Back in the 1950s, Wayne, Genessee, and Iron counties were the only
t blue counties in the state. The other eighty counties were solid red. That being said, the white Democratic vote in Michigan was economically progressive, but not socially progressive.

According to economist Thomas Sowell:^[71]

Before the ghetto riot of 1967, Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home-ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent. It was not despair that fueled the riot. It was the riot which marked the beginning of the decline of Detroit to its current state of despair. Detroit's population today is only half of what it once was, and its most productive people have been the ones who fled.

[antongast]

According to economist Thomas Sowell:^[71]

Before the ghetto riot of 1967, Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home-ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent. It was not despair that fueled the riot. It was the riot which marked the beginning of the decline of Detroit to its current state of despair. Detroit's population today is only half of what it once was, and its most productive people have been the ones who fled.

You're reading the wrong damn Thomas.

[firstandten]

You're reading the wrong damn Thomas.

You are correct ! While Thomas Sowell is a fine economist, he has a right wing agenda and his interpretation of events reflects that.

[TexasT]

You are correct ! While Thomas Sowell is a fine economist, he has a right wing agenda and his interpretation of events reflects that.

Agreed. I actually enjoy reading him but I take it all with a huge grain of salt.

[Wesley Mouch]

You're reading the wrong damn Thomas.

I've read both. Nothing wrong with Sowell's broad view. Nothing wrong with Sugrue's either. Sugrue's a very important read for any Detroiter. Doesn't diminish Sowell's insight. Both good Thomases.

[sumas]

The police force back then was pretty evil.Our next door neighbor was a cop and a very nasty man. I grew up on the far east-side which was lily white. His son Billy was my best friend until we were about 6 when his Dad told him he could only play with the boys in the area cause he didn't want a sissy for a son.

I digress, one day in summer when I was about 5 was the first time I saw a black person while I was with Billy playing. He gasped told me to run cause his dad told him "all N...s will knife you in the back". All I saw was a tired looking older black lady in a uniform. I think I remember that incident because Billy was really terrified. By age 5, he was a trained racist. I grew up in a house that was free of racial slurs but that changed with the 67 riots. My Dad became quite racist.

Side note: Billy is gay.

[Detroitnerd]

You're right. You do know very little about Detroit history.

[Toka313]

According to economist Thomas Sowell:^[71]

Before the ghetto riot of 1967, Detroit's black population had the highest rate of home-ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent. It was not despair that fueled the riot. It was the riot which marked the beginning of the decline of Detroit to its current state of despair. Detroit's population today is only half of what it once was, and its most productive people have been the ones who fled.

lol, Sowell is a chump though, really. The unemployment rate was low, yes, but the job discrimination was incredibly high. Union seniority rules screwed over the black population in the 60s. They ended up in the most dangerous jobs in the factories. Remember the James Johnson case.

[DarkestbeforedawnDetroit]

Detroit used to have the highest median income in the country. Where people could get paid good money for very unskilled work. With that being said, Detroit was very progressive. IMO EVERYBODY is to blame for what happened to Detroit. Bkack white rich poor suburban urban media politics on all levels. The 67' riots were just the catalyst to the inevitable. History shows cities that rely purely on manufacturing during a societies industrial era ALWAYS FALL if the do not adapt and diversify their economy. Detroit was akways and still is racist frankly. Realistically it doesnt matter it happened lets get over it. In Detroit we tend to look back too much and we need to stop.