1968 12th Street Riots

**mtburb** · April-28-15, 02:01 PM

With all the news coming in from the ongoing unrest in Baltimore-and the fact that riots may probably spur up again here soon, I have decided to bring up this little-known topic.

What few know is that less than a year after the unrest of 1967, 12th Street again erupted in mayhem [[simultaneously with similar riots in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC, along with many other cities) following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968.

It may not have been as large as the 1967 unrest, but store windows were still smashed and cars were still damaged.

What are your memories of the 1968 MLK 12th Street Riots?

Here are a couple of news articles that prove that there were indeed disturbances here in 1968.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...rontpage&hl=en
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...rontpage&hl=en

**401don** · April-28-15, 02:31 PM

"riots may probably spur up again here soon"

Bit of leap there. Let's avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy.

**mtburb** · April-28-15, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by 401don

"riots may probably spur up again here soon"

Bit of leap there. Let's avoid a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Yeah...and that's a bit off-topic for this thread anyway.

**Ray1936** · April-28-15, 10:04 PM

I purposely forgot it, as well as 1967.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · April-29-15, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

I purposely forgot it, as well as 1967.

Good call Ray. Bad memories.

**Dan Wesson** · April-29-15, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by mtburb

With all the news coming in from the ongoing unrest in Baltimore-and the fact that riots may probably spur up again here soon, I have decided to bring up this little-known topic.

What few know is that less than a year after the unrest of 1967, 12th Street again erupted in mayhem [[simultaneously with similar riots in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC, along with many other cities) following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968.

It may not have been as large as the 1967 unrest, but store windows were still smashed and cars were still damaged.

What are your memories of the 1968 MLK 12th Street Riots?

Here are a couple of news articles that prove that there were indeed disturbances here in 1968.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...rontpage&hl=en
https://news.google.com/newspapers?n...rontpage&hl=en

Walking home from school that day I was more than my usual wary and anxious self only to find relief in that there were no riots.
I made it home again... safely.
I did see smoke rising skyward in that direction, that didn't help with the anxiety.

It is a recollection I have brought forward many times over the years.

**Kathleen** · April-29-15, 11:39 AM

Such unrest always brings back the memories!!

In the past, I've shared my memories on this forum. Now we can share them so that others may learn from the past and maybe avoid such situations in the future.

The Detroit Historical Museum, along several partners, has established the Detroit 1967 Project for the purpose of collecting and sharing stories from those who experienced it so that others may learn from that history.

Press release: http://detroithistorical.org/sites/d...rch%202015.pdf

Website: http://www.detroit1967.org/

While the above project pertains to 1967, the 1968 events may be relevant to the project despite a different type of event triggering them.

**Danny** · April-29-15, 01:38 PM

You mean 1967 12th and Clairmount riots. There were small civil unrest during the 68 MLK riots. Detroit Police, Michigan National Guard, the other suburban police forces were ready this time. Shoot to kill anyone who pass their barriers!

**mtburb** · May-01-15, 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by Danny

You mean 1967 12th and Clairmount riots.

That was an entirely separate incident.

**EastsideAl** · May-02-15, 12:59 AM

"The fact that riots may probably spur up again here soon" Well, that's some needlessly doomsaying BS. You trying to start them?

The thing that was remarkable in the wake of the assassination of Dr. King in 1968 is how little unrest there was in Detroit, especially in comparison to other cities like Washington. After the big riot in '67, and with the city definitely on edge, the city acted pretty quickly to stem any unrest as much as possible.

I remember the day following the slaying pretty well. We were sent home from school in the morning [[lots of kids didn't show up anyway). All schools were closed quickly on that day, which was a Friday, a curfew was declared, and lots of police were called in. I remember nearly constant patrols going down the street, and the streets being mostly empty. There was some smashing of windows in spots, and a couple of places were torched, but nothing at all like the massive looting and burning of the previous summer.

The unrest was held down in part by the cold early April weather. And the whole thing dissipated in a couple of days. By the next week MLK's funeral had been held on national TV, the Tigers were opening a season with very high expectations, and a fun, less tense, summer was beginning.

**royce** · May-02-15, 07:01 PM

This is slightly off topic but I'm curious, "When does a riot become riots?" People often say the '67 riots. However, it happened in just Detroit and lasted less than a week. It's not like there was rioting in July and then in September and then in November. And again, it's not like rioting occurred in Detroit, Warren, and Farmington. Is it because incidents happened in other places besides 12th Street? I'm focusing on the use of the word riot over riots and vice versa. I''m not debating whether a riot took place or a civil disturbance occurred. Who can shed some light? Thanks in advance.

**Jimaz** · May-02-15, 08:12 PM

Originally Posted by royce

This is slightly off topic but I'm curious, "When does a riot become riots?"...

I'm just guessing it's because of sloppy linguistics. I can think of other unrelated examples where the plural is used instead of the singular. I don't think there's any dispute that American English is a sloppy language.

Or do you think that pluralizing "riot" is an attempt to make it sound worse than it actually was? That might be true.

**EastsideAl** · May-03-15, 10:19 PM

Originally Posted by royce

This is slightly off topic but I'm curious, "When does a riot become riots?" People often say the '67 riots. However, it happened in just Detroit and lasted less than a week. It's not like there was rioting in July and then in September and then in November. And again, it's not like rioting occurred in Detroit, Warren, and Farmington. Is it because incidents happened in other places besides 12th Street? I'm focusing on the use of the word riot over riots and vice versa. I''m not debating whether a riot took place or a civil disturbance occurred. Who can shed some light? Thanks in advance.

Well, there were discrete nodes in 1967 of rioting in different places in the city other than that part of 12th St. where it all started. Particularly on Kercheval and Grand River, but in other parts of the city as well.

But also there is just that old Detroit bad linguistic habit of pluralizing things all the time.

**Dan Wesson** · May-04-15, 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Well, there were discrete nodes in 1967 of rioting in different places in the city other than that part of 12th St. where it all started. Particularly on Kercheval and Grand River, but in other parts of the city as well.

But also there is just that old Detroit bad linguistic habit of pluralizing things all the time.

Yep. Mack Ave. was closed off between E. Grand Blvd. and St. Jean. There was some serious sniper fire going on there.

**shovelhead** · May-10-15, 07:44 AM

Earlier in the week I bought my BSA motorcycle from a dealer in Hazel Park. Supposed to pick it up on Saturday but with news reports of incidents breaking out things got moved forward. I had to pick it up by five on Friday and they were going to be closed on Saturday.

My mother left work at four as she had to sign the papers and a friend followed us on his bike. Got there just before closing. They were scavenging gasoline as stations in the area were either closed or massive lines at the pumps. And to add to it, a eight o'clock curfew was in effect.

So she signed everything and took off back to Farmington Township where we lived. She made her way to Maple and took that back home, not much traffic problems. Wished I had.....

Dealer told me not to idle it too long or hold the clutch in for long periods of time. So off we went, took Nine Mile across as the bike had maybe a gallon of gas and I wanted to find a station quick.

About I-75 area it was bumper to bumper and little movement. My friend said we gotta get out of this traffic. I agreed and pointed to the sidewalk. Quizical look on his face until I yelled "Sidewalk Commandos" and over the curb we went.........there were a lot of pissed people stuck in traffic but we got some distance......horns, yells and fingers flying from motorists and us back.

Further west we got the better traffic was flowing, seemed like everyone wanted to get away from a potential repeat of 1967. Got into the city of Farmington between six and seven. Only outward sign of unrest were two Farmington cops on the rooftop of the Public Safety building with rifles in hand. I had to be at work that night at a gas station on the west side of the Township.

We had a contract to service Michigan Bell trucks and a large backload that night. In preparation of potential long hours for the phone men we were working most of the night, well after the curfew to get the trucks all ready. In fact the Township Police stopped into the station and when they saw what we were doing they kind of looked the other way at the curfew violation.

**Dbest** · May-10-15, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I'm just guessing it's because of sloppy linguistics. I can think of other unrelated examples where the plural is used instead of the singular. I don't think there's any dispute that American English is a sloppy language.

Or do you think that pluralizing "riot" is an attempt to make it sound worse than it actually was? That might be true.

Modern English is pretty interesting. There's a theory that Middle English, Modern's direct descendent, is a mixed language. It's called the Middle English creole hypothesis.

**Wesley Mouch** · May-11-15, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I'm just guessing it's because of sloppy linguistics. I can think of other unrelated examples where the plural is used instead of the singular. I don't think there's any dispute that American English is a sloppy language.

Or do you think that pluralizing "riot" is an attempt to make it sound worse than it actually was? That might be true.

I'm sure it could be pluraled to make it sound worse, but its more likely just one of those words and ideas where the plural and singular aren't much different.

The '67 riot in Detroit was a number of outbreaks in different places. So calling it 'riots' seems reasonable.

I prefer not to be thought police and make assumptions about the motives of others. Let's judge on actions, not thoughts -- or your opinion of the thoughts of others. That leads to mistrust. Better to ignore minor slights than make them into mountains.