1967 Remembered

[Cincinnati_Kid]

#45 isn't helping matters much either.

[timinasia]

#45 isn't helping matters much either.

I had just turned 21 when the '67 riots hit. All Detroit liquor stores were closed, so I had to drive to Ann Arbor to buy beer. I agree that you have to study & learn from history or you wind up like our current President & his administration. I lived in a lovely neighborhood at Evergreen & 6 Mile completely unaffected by the riots. I received a good education in Michigan, at Redford high school [['64), Albion College, Economics, B.A [['68), & University of Detroit, M.B.A. [['72) in a time before Betsy DeVos emasculated the education system. I left in '71 because of the "doughnut hole" effect: beautiful suburbs surrounding an inner city nobody cared about.
I left Detroit for Emory University Law School in Atlanta, a city beloved by residents. This was before Detroit's devastating loss of population & business.
I lived in LA when the '92 riots hit. I may be one of the few to experience 2 major riots first-hand. The Detroit riots were much worse.
I've since become an expat for many years, teaching for the University of Maryland in Tokyo for 15 years before retiring to Thailand several years ago. I left the States because I felt it was too conservative, too religious, too violent, too anti-science, too anti-intellectual & too expensive. Obama almost tempted me to return, but now we elected Trump. How is this possible?
In retrospect, after traveling the world, I still have pleasant memories of Detroit. I lived in a time before reality diminished its dreams & hollowed out its future.

[Meddle]

before retiring to Thailand several years ago. I left the States because I felt it was too conservative, too religious,

So, you're in Thailand where you can be jailed simply for calling the King an idiot?

[canuck]

So, you're in Thailand where you can be jailed simply for calling the King an idiot?

Good one. Can't argue about that.

[Lowell]

The Free Press published an outstanding account by MarshMusic. She tells the story of her father's legendary music shop and recording studio that was forced off Hastings Street by the Chrysler I75 Freeway construction, then moving to 12th Street where it became a victim of 1967. I found this passage to be pure poetry as well as a eulogy to Afro-American entrepreneurialism of that era.

"I trailed Daddy silently as we trudged through charred rubble and melted vinyl records. Some of the most significant voices in recorded history were in those fire-hose-soaked reel-to-reel tapes, unwound and slithering like water snakes. Thousands of songs, sounds and voices of an era — most never pressed onto records — were gone forever. I believe Daddy died that day."

http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/c...iot/439448001/

[jiminnm]

The man who would years later become my father in law had a small hardware store on Grand River that was cleaned out and partly destroyed in the riot. Within a few months, their house on Wyoming was sold and they had moved home and business to Southfield. I suppose this could also be a 'white flight' story.

[MicrosoftFan]

One of my favorite accounts of the riot is from Theresa Welsh, who lived on West Chicago in 1967 when the riots hit. Her wedding party was July 23, 1967- the day the riots began. She hasn't been active in a few years but her photo essays are also very interesting. Do check her website and riots account out.

www.theseekerbooks.com

[SyGolden48236]

I was a child when the riot broke out in '67. Our family did not live in Detroit, we were in a close-in suburb. I distinctly remember my father hired armed guards to stand watch in front of our house and also along the sea wall out back for about a week. It was the only time that I can ever recall the gates at the ends of the driveway being closed and locked. There was fear that the criminals would come into the suburban neighborhoods to loot and burn. It was a nervous and somewhat exciting thing for a child to experience.

[3WC]

I initially viewed the riots from the air. My wife and kids and I were on an American Airlines flight from NYC flying lazily over northwest Detroit on that Sunday afternoon, including our neighborhood. We saw fires burning out of control all over town, including a large new hardware store on Livernois, just south of 8 Mile. The flight crew made no announcement about the riot.

We were driving home on 8 Mile and saw about 25 State Police cars gassing up at a station on 8 Mile. It's then we heard the first report on the radio about the riots.

My office at the time was in the Livernois/Fenkell area. There was much "rioting," actually, just wanton fires and destruction but no one-on-one violence except where the police clashed with vandals, or vice versa. I ventured out a few times, once to the original Honey Baked Ham storefront on Fenkell, east of Livernois. Frankly, I never saw any evidence of racial animosity or violence between the races. There was a party atmosphere among the viewers of the fires, black and white. I dispute those who say it was a race riot, at least based on my personal observations.

What is amazing to me today is that still, in Baltimore and other places, so many local residents burn down their own and neighbor's businesses and property to evidence displeasure at some grievance or other, usually not caused by the owner's of the property being vandalized, looted and burned. Not much progress, for sure.

[Lowell]

I just read that the Kathryn Bigelow film Detroit, which as mentioned above mainly focuses on the Algiers Motel incident, is doing a Hollywood style world premier at the Fox Theater on July 25. It opens August 4 in theaters.

It is being done in partnership with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

http://www.freep.com/story/entertain...tre/445885001/

It will be interesting to see the impact of this film, should it become an international block buster. Or, if it sucks as film, simply fades away. If the former, expect a round of going under the microscope of international media hand-wringing asking if anything has changed.

[timinasia]

So, you're in Thailand where you can be jailed simply for calling the King an idiot?

Yes, you're correct. You can be thrown in jail for 20-30 years for disparaging the royal family & we had a military coup d'etat in 2014 & still have a military-dominated government without elections. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy like England & has lese majeste laws like England. The late King was a very good influence on the development of Thailand. The King was born in the States, was a graduate of Princeton & played sax in a jazz band. His Queen was educated in England & Switzerland & trained as a nurse which explains her passion for healthcare & the high level of healthcare in Thailand [[at 1950s prices). Excellent healthcare is one of the reasons I retired in Thailand.
I am one of about a dozen colleagues from the University of Maryland who retired here. Another half dozen colleagues regularly visit. We meet at a good restaurant in Bangkok about 4 times per year. We regularly converse about Thai politics & more than occasionally talk about the royal family without repercussions.
I think you & others who haven't traveled much have an image of Thailand that is 50 years out-of-date & straight out of "The King and I". Thailand is a thoroughly middle-class country, except in certain rural areas. There is a lot of money here. It has a modern mass transit system that is being expanded. Bangkok's downtown is more interesting than Detroit's, though we have a traffic problem.
I'm 70 recovering from a stroke. Stroke is considered a "pre-existing condition" so I have no health insurance here. I'm enrolled in medicare but never use it [[It can't be used in Thailand). I can walk with the aid of a cane. Good affordable physical therapy is one of the reasons I retired here. My one hour therapy sessions here cost approximately $7.
In my opinion, healthcare here is as good as or better than Japan which is very good. I spent the initial 1 & 1/2 months in hospital in Japan before medivacking to Thailand. My Japanese doctor said that I would never walk again. My Thai doctors were more optimistic.
Another reason that I retired here is I'm married to a lovely Thai girl 20 years my junior. The U.S. dollar goes far here. Another reason to retire here. In the U.S., I would be struggling. Here, I own 2 houses, one in Bangkok & the other in Chiang Mai [[cooler & in the mountains). We regularly fly between the 2 cities.
I guess you can't argue with that.

[canuck]

Your wife is the last item on the grocery list.

[Lowell]

I'm 70 recovering from a stroke. Stroke is considered a "pre-existing condition" so I have no health insurance here. I'm enrolled in medicare but never use it [[It can't be used in Thailand). I can walk with the aid of a cane. Good affordable physical therapy is one of the reasons I retired here. My one hour therapy sessions here cost approximately $7.

Good luck and I hope the therapy works well for you and you recover fully.

[stasu1213]

I had just turned 21 when the '67 riots hit. All Detroit liquor stores were closed, so I had to drive to Ann Arbor to buy beer. I agree that you have to study & learn from history or you wind up like our current President & his administration. I lived in a lovely neighborhood at Evergreen & 6 Mile completely unaffected by the riots. I received a good education in Michigan, at Redford high school [['64), Albion College, Economics, B.A [['68), & University of Detroit, M.B.A. [['72) in a time before Betsy DeVos emasculated the education system. I left in '71 because of the "doughnut hole" effect: beautiful suburbs surrounding an inner city nobody cared about.
I left Detroit for Emory University Law School in Atlanta, a city beloved by residents. This was before Detroit's devastating loss of population & business.
I lived in LA when the '92 riots hit. I may be one of the few to experience 2 major riots first-hand. The Detroit riots were much worse.
I've since become an expat for many years, teaching for the University of Maryland in Tokyo for 15 years before retiring to Thailand several years ago. I left the States because I felt it was too conservative, too religious, too violent, too anti-science, too anti-intellectual & too expensive. Obama almost tempted me to return, but now we elected Trump. How is this possible?
In retrospect, after traveling the world, I still have pleasant memories of Detroit. I lived in a time before reality diminished its dreams & hollowed out its future.

Detroit was worse than LA 1992 riot? How so

[stasu1213]

Are there any books that focuses on the riot itself? Eyewitnesses accounts from Police, residents, National Guard, rioters themselves: Most books written on Detroit's 1967 riot discusses mostly the climates and situation in Detroit leading up to the riots and the aftermath of the riot. I haven't found a book that focuses entirely on the weeklong riot itself

[stasu1213]

I heard that many ore people were killed than the 43 that were officially reported. 43 was the year Detroit had it's race riot

[timinasia]

Detroit was worse than LA 1992 riot? How so

We didn't have Federal troops & tanks in the '92 LA riots, though I remember seeing young California National Guardsmen holding AK-47s guarding the beaches from gangs. That frightened me. In both Detroit & LA I received most of my news from the media. In LA I was closer to the disturbance where in Detroit it was completely 2nd-hand.
When the Detroit riots started on 12th street I was parked there to attend a Tigers game at old Briggs Stadium. I was attending a double-header against the Yankees. I left after the 1st game [[just when the riots were starting) because the Tigers were playing so badly. I didn't hear about the riots until I got home. The defensive shortstop made 3 errors on one play. That was it for me.
As I remember, the level of violence & deaths & injuries were lesser in LA than Detroit. The riots in both cities happened so long ago it's difficult to remember anything except feelings. Both riots were cataclysmic. Comparing them is somewhat meaningless. The LA riots were less violent, because LA's leaders learned a bit from the Detroit riots. Unfortunately, the police forces of both cities were too aggressive.

[timinasia]

Good luck and I hope the therapy works well for you and you recover fully.

Thank you.

[Ray1936]

Detroit was worse than LA 1992 riot? How so

LA recovered. Detroit never did.

[timinasia]

LA recovered. Detroit never did.

I guess you put your finger on why the Detroit riots were worse than LA's.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

I guess you put your finger on why the Detroit riots were worse than LA's.

He's right... The white flight exodus had begun in the early to mid 60's. The riots just expedited it. In LA, the riots didn't lead to white's leaving, because it occurred in primarily black neighborhoods. Where were they going to go? Most blacks couldn't leave for greener pastures, like the whites did here.

[Jimaz]

...I left the States because I felt it was too conservative, too religious, too violent, too anti-science, too anti-intellectual & too expensive. Obama almost tempted me to return, but now we elected Trump. How is this possible?

In retrospect, after traveling the world, I still have pleasant memories of Detroit. I lived in a time before reality diminished its dreams & hollowed out its future.

Thanks for reporting back. Too often people escape without looking back, leaving the rest of us to stumble it out for ourselves without that broader perspective.

You've done us a great service, timinasia.

This reminds me of a scene from My Dinner With Andre.

Escape before it's too late....

The concept of preserves, islands of safety where history can be remembered and the human being can continue to function in order to maintain the species through a dark age. In other words, we're talking about an underground....

[timinasia]

Thanks for reporting back. Too often people leave without looking back, leaving the rest of us to stumble it out for ourselves without that broader perspective. You've done us a great service, timinasia.

This reminds me of a scene from My Dinner With Andre.

Thank you, but my continued interest in Detroit is due to my belief that Detroit was a great place to grow up. Ironically, my interest in this website was sparked by a JAG attorney [[also born & raised in Detroit) who I met several years ago in Tokyo who referred me here.

[joie]

Carl,

I'm not really sure if the riots really caused the closing of landmark stores - we seem to see brick and mortar stores closing all the time lately. and Hudson's remained a wonderful [[and truly viable) store for decades after the riot.

[joie]

I was seven years old. Sunday dinners then were earlier, about 14:00 or 15:00, after church. Dad [[DFD nearly 40 years) laid down for a nap because I think he knew what was coming. He instructed us to NOT answer the phone if it rang. My eldest sister did - guess that she thought it might be some boyfriend calling.

Dad was gone for the duration though he did make it back for one dinner. Mom made "Polish" pork chop suey.

My grandparents who lived on Denton Street [[gone with PoleTown) came to stay with us because their area wasn't very safe. I slept on a crib mattress on my bedroom floor to make room for them.

I remember hearing a lot of helicopters which weren't common in those days. I also remember watching Ken Thomas on Channel 7, TV was on all the time [[though, of course, stations went off the air late at night).

I really missed Dad and worried about him horribly. I can't imagine what it's like for families who miss their loved ones for years due to wars.

Dad's obit in the Freep several years ago included that he: "kept meticulous records of all the companies he served with [etc]... In an entry from July 1967 he wrote: 'Riot duty working 89 hours. In command of fires. Men slept on rocky & bricks and went back to work. Moral of men very good. Had many fires.'" Dad served proudly as a Marine in WWII and as a Detroit Firefighter in '67.