Detroit Riots 1967
Resurget Cineribus: The Detroit Riots of 1943 and 1967 One can pick many instances in Detroit's last hundred years and conclude that the two riots of 1943 and 1967 were the presiding factor for this once great city's fatal turn. Detroit has come to be known as the Motor City due to its insurgence of the automotive industry, has been dubbed Detroit Rock City for its groundbreaking revolutionary music throughout the 20th century, and has even been hailed as Hockeytown for its euphoric love of the city's hockey king known as the Red Wings. While the city continues to be the automotive juggernaut of this nation, what with the Big Three GM, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler all located in and around suburban Detroit; its music industry still a hotbed among
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Our country was at war, and so to was Detroit. What transpired after each is what is indelibly important. Nothing was done to change the effects and outcome of the 43' riot, so that by the 1960's with the Civil Rights movement affecting the country, it was already a major force in Detroit. What happened after the 67' riot too has not been attempted at restoring, more or less it has become a decaying instead. "The white population of Detroit dropped by nearly a million and a half between 1950 and 1990." (Clemens 13) Overall, the population has decreased drastically. "In 1950, the city's population peaked at just below 2 million residents; in 1960, it dipped to 1.67 million; in 1970, the number slipped to 1.5 million; in 1980 and 1990, the number fell to just over a million people." (Clemens 12) Today, it is estimated at 862,195. What happened to Detroit? A once great economic metropolis is now considered by some to have transformed into the view of a Third World city. Unemployment continues to soar. Crime as well, with Detroit holding the unfortunate distinction of the second most dangerous city according to Morgan Quitno Corps Statistics. Seventy-two percent of all Detroit children are born to single mothers. Forty-seven percent of Detroiters are functionally illiterate. With this it can be said that Detroit is a shell of what it once was. The riots are one of the events that led to this. Will Detroit ever be great
Our country was at war, and so to was Detroit. What transpired after each is what is indelibly important. Nothing was done to change the effects and outcome of the 43' riot, so that by the 1960's with the Civil Rights movement affecting the country, it was already a major force in Detroit. What happened after the 67' riot too has not been attempted at restoring, more or less it has become a decaying instead. "The white population of Detroit dropped by nearly a million and a half between 1950 and 1990." (Clemens 13) Overall, the population has decreased drastically. "In 1950, the city's population peaked at just below 2 million residents; in 1960, it dipped to 1.67 million; in 1970, the number slipped to 1.5 million; in 1980 and 1990, the number fell to just over a million people." (Clemens 12) Today, it is estimated at 862,195. What happened to Detroit? A once great economic metropolis is now considered by some to have transformed into the view of a Third World city. Unemployment continues to soar. Crime as well, with Detroit holding the unfortunate distinction of the second most dangerous city according to Morgan Quitno Corps Statistics. Seventy-two percent of all Detroit children are born to single mothers. Forty-seven percent of Detroiters are functionally illiterate. With this it can be said that Detroit is a shell of what it once was. The riots are one of the events that led to this. Will Detroit ever be great