1967 Race Riots: The Rise
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The city of Detroit is one of many cities that have had a significant impact on American culture. Moreover, Detroit also is important it was one of the cities that pioneered the civil rights movement. One of the major events that would go down as one of the most influential was the Race Riots of 1967, or more aptly known as the 12th Street Riots.
The circumstances that lead to the riots were quite deep seated and bore historical significance. When, after the civil war slavery was abolished towards the end of the 19th century, many African Americans were left in doubts as to their future prospects. Some opted to stay and work for their former masters turned employers. Whereas, on the other hand a staggering number of African Americans chose to move to northern cities to pursue Industrial jobs. Detroit due to its thriving auto industry seemed as a beacon of hope for many young African Americans. African American migrants hoped to be welcomed by the Northerners because they had fought against the south and had fervently campaigned for the abolishment of slavery. But the treatment they received from their new fellow citizens came as a shock as they were openly discriminated against. In the first half of the 20th century, many African Americans moved to Northern industrial cities during the Great Migration. One of which was Detroit. The city had an increase in population significantly but there was not enough housing to cater to the mass influx of new migrants. African Americans had to endure discriminatory behavior in housing and employment. They had compete with rural white southern migrants as well as immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, for lower class jobs which no one else really wanted. Some of the patterns of racial and ethnic segregation persisted after other social discrimination had eased by the mid-20th century. Segregation was not only on the basis of color but also on the basis of religious beliefs, as different rival sects sought to assert their authority.White mobs enforced the segregation of housing up through the 1960's. When the white residents realized that their new neighbors were African American; they would gather outside their house and start rioting. In 1956, mayor Orville Hubbard of Dearborn, boasted to the Montgomery Advertiser that "Negroes can't get in here...These people are so anti-colored, much more than you in Alabama." While discussing such controversial topics, the autobiography of Malcolm X, which he narrated to Alex Haley, comes to mind. In his biography he talks about segregation , housing, corruption and various other social issues that were afflicting the African American Community. In 1964,Rosa Parks, who'd moved to Detroit in the late fifties, told an interviewer that, "I don't feel a great deal of difference here from Alabama...Housing segregation is just as bad, and it seems more noticeable in the larger cities". At another occasion she is known to have said that: "Northern promised land that wasn’t” |
According to University of Michigan's Sidney Fine, many African-American residents were not happy with social conditions in Detroit before July 23, 1967, and believed that progress was inadequate. After the rioting had ended, the Kerner Commission reported that their survey of African Americans in Detroit found that none were satisfied with the conditions in the city before the start of the rioting. The main areas where African Americans felt they were being discriminated against identified by Fine were: policing, housing, employment, segregation due to Jim Crow laws, discrimination by business owners, lack of recreation, bad education and poor medical services.
The Detroit Police Department is directly commanded by the Mayor. Just before the start of the riot, Mayor Cavanagh's appointees, George Edwards and Ray Girardin, worked to instate new reforms. Edwards tried to recruit African Americans, but he refused to set up a civil police review board, as African Americans had demanded. While attempting to reprimand police officers accused of brutality, he lost favor with the personnel of his department. The Community Relations Division of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission undertook a study in 1965 of the police, published in 1968. It stated that the criminal justice system in Detroit was at fault for racism. Many of the police officers working in the department were racially biased, which made things worse. A survey conducted by President Johnson's Kerner Commission found that prior to the riot, 45 percent of police working in black neighborhoods were extremely anti-Negro and an additional 34 percent were prejudiced. Many African Americans felt that they were not being represented properly. In 1967, 93% of the force was still White, although 30% of the residents were African American. Incidents of police brutality made African Americans feel paranoid. They resented many police officers who they felt talked down to them, addressing men as "boys" and women as "honey" and "baby." Police made mass frisk searches of groups of young men. And many women complained of being called prostitutes for simply walking on the street.The police frequently arrested people who did not have proper identification, often without probable. This is highlighted by the fact that in the past, the local press had reported several shootings and beatings of African Americans by officers in the years before 1967. After the riot, a Detroit Free Press survey showed that residents reported police brutality as the number one problem they faced in the period leading up to the riot.
In the postwar period, the city had lost nearly 150,000 jobs to the suburbs. Factors were a combination of changes in technology, increased automation, consolidation of the auto industry, taxation policies, the need for different kinds of manufacturing space, and the construction of the highway system that eased transportation. Major companies like Pakard, Hudson, and Studebaker, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, went out of business. In the 1950s, the unemployment rate hovered near 10 percent. Between 1946 and 1956, GM spent $3.4 billion on new plants, Ford $2.5 billion, and Chrysler $700 million, opening a total of 25 auto plants, all in Detroit's suburbs. As a result, workers who could do so, left Detroit for jobs in the suburbs. Other middle-class residents left the city for newer housing, in a pattern repeated nationwide. In the 1960s, the city lost about 10,000 residents per year to the suburbs. Detroit's population fell by 179,000 between 1950 and 1960, and by another 156,000 residents by 1970, which affected all its retail businesses and city services.
The Detroit Police Department is directly commanded by the Mayor. Just before the start of the riot, Mayor Cavanagh's appointees, George Edwards and Ray Girardin, worked to instate new reforms. Edwards tried to recruit African Americans, but he refused to set up a civil police review board, as African Americans had demanded. While attempting to reprimand police officers accused of brutality, he lost favor with the personnel of his department. The Community Relations Division of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission undertook a study in 1965 of the police, published in 1968. It stated that the criminal justice system in Detroit was at fault for racism. Many of the police officers working in the department were racially biased, which made things worse. A survey conducted by President Johnson's Kerner Commission found that prior to the riot, 45 percent of police working in black neighborhoods were extremely anti-Negro and an additional 34 percent were prejudiced. Many African Americans felt that they were not being represented properly. In 1967, 93% of the force was still White, although 30% of the residents were African American. Incidents of police brutality made African Americans feel paranoid. They resented many police officers who they felt talked down to them, addressing men as "boys" and women as "honey" and "baby." Police made mass frisk searches of groups of young men. And many women complained of being called prostitutes for simply walking on the street.The police frequently arrested people who did not have proper identification, often without probable. This is highlighted by the fact that in the past, the local press had reported several shootings and beatings of African Americans by officers in the years before 1967. After the riot, a Detroit Free Press survey showed that residents reported police brutality as the number one problem they faced in the period leading up to the riot.
In the postwar period, the city had lost nearly 150,000 jobs to the suburbs. Factors were a combination of changes in technology, increased automation, consolidation of the auto industry, taxation policies, the need for different kinds of manufacturing space, and the construction of the highway system that eased transportation. Major companies like Pakard, Hudson, and Studebaker, as well as hundreds of smaller companies, went out of business. In the 1950s, the unemployment rate hovered near 10 percent. Between 1946 and 1956, GM spent $3.4 billion on new plants, Ford $2.5 billion, and Chrysler $700 million, opening a total of 25 auto plants, all in Detroit's suburbs. As a result, workers who could do so, left Detroit for jobs in the suburbs. Other middle-class residents left the city for newer housing, in a pattern repeated nationwide. In the 1960s, the city lost about 10,000 residents per year to the suburbs. Detroit's population fell by 179,000 between 1950 and 1960, and by another 156,000 residents by 1970, which affected all its retail businesses and city services.