In the D part two: Detroit burns in the 1967 riots

In a previous post I covered the remarkable rise to power and glorious heyday of Detroit, fuelled by the booming motor industry. In this post we’ll take a look at how it all started to go wrong.

Down on the Street

In the early hours of the morning on July the 23rd 1967, the Detroit police force arrived at a small unlicensed downtown venue where a party had been taking place. They were expecting around two dozen revellers to be there and the plan was to arrest them all, but they found the situation was not what they had expected and over 80 people were present. In spite of this, the police dug in their heels and placed 82 peopleunder arrest. The scene attracted a small crowd outside while the officers waited for transports to arrive to take their detainees away.

So how did a raid on an unlicensed bar lead to city-wide rioting? Well, race relations in 1960’s America were still imperfect and black people across the country were campaigning for equal rights, often complaining of police brutality and lack of respect from shopkeepers and employers. Against that backdrop it’s easier to see how the raid provoked tensions because all 82 people arrested were black.

After the police left the scene, a small group of young black men who had watched and been angered by the arrests began looting a nearby shop. This single act ignited a wave of riots across the city that lasted for five days.