From Genesis to
Damnation
Christien Anderson
1960’s Detroit
• Many Blacks fled north for work
• Factory jobs provided by car industries
• African Americans and whites worked together
• First African American Middle Class
• Racial tensions still existed in Detroit
• Police brutality targeted inner city blacks
Kindle
Saturday evening July 23, 1967. 12th Street
Police Vice Squad raid “Blind Pig”
Arrested all 82 Blacks in attendance
200 Blacks gathered outside the bar
Riots started on that Sunday morning
The riots spread throughout the city
Riot
• A curfew was set from 9:00pm – 5:00am
• Many deaths from snipers at night
• Looting and arson destroyed Detroit streets
• Businesses and homes were in flames
• Fires spread due to 25m/h winds
• Fire fighters were attacked with rocks
The Crack Down
• Detroit police alone couldn’t stop it
• 800 State Police sent to Detroit
• 8,000 National Guardsmen sent as well
• 4,700 paratroopers from 82nd Airborne Division
• The violence stopped on Thursday, July 27th
• Curfew was lifted on Tuesday, August 1st
Aftermath
• 41 blacks and whites were killed
• 1,189 people were injured in battle
• Over 7,200 people involved were arrested
• Approximately 2,500 local stores were looted
• Property damage estimated about $32 Million
• Majority of damage property exist today
Drugs
• Whites fled because of the riots
• The Big 3 Automakers practiced outsourcing
• Costing the city thousands of Jobs
• Heroin hits Detroit in the 70’s
• The homicide rate spike 300%
• Downtown blight stretched throughout the city
Crack
• 1984: Crack is in every neighborhood
• Riot destroyed property became crack houses
• Many blacks in Detroit needed work
• Crack sales profited $4,000 a day
• Local gangs controlled the crack game
• “The Best Friends” profited the most
Sad Results
• The crack epidemic destroyed half Detroit
• Violence never let up since 1967
• Destroyed property was never rebuild
• The destroyed the culture of today
• Detroiters main goal is to leave
• With everyone leaving, abandoned homes increase
Today
• An influential figure is desperately needed
• Jobs are harder to come by
• Innocents are victims of senseless violence
• People fear to visit the city
• Blacks in Detroit are killing blacks
• There is a scarcity of hope