Civil unrest......
Civil unrest was all over the states. Civil rights activists like Diane Nash and Martin Luther King taught and acted in peaceful protest for their rights. Citizens like Rosa Parks, who was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man, sparked a fire that led to the boycott of the Montgomery bus system. These peaceful and logical cries for equality were not the only sparks that began to fly in those times of injustice. Segregation made tense and unequal cities and towns made the sweltering summers uproar of violence. It was 1967, and police brutality was on the rise. Numberous mysterious police shootings were swept under the rug. And then there was a breaking point in the community. The raid of a black bar, the blind pig was the catalyst to the riots that ensued.
This was the only place for them to go. Why was it being raided? Why were they being arrested, and beaten? A crowd gathered as the police brought in the clean up crew to arrest over 80 patrons who were there celebrating with two vets who had just returned home from Vietnam. On lookers in outrage began to break out windows of stores, and burn buildings in protest. With in 48 hours the national guard moved in. By the end of the 5 day riot 43 were dead, 1189 injured and over 7000 were arrested.
Recalling the day.....
My grandmother remembers the day of the riots vividly. She was 6 months pregnant with my mother and her and my grandfather both were enjoying a day if americas favorite pass time...baseball. The tigers game continued to the end, the patrons including my grandparents did not know what was happening just blocks away. They had parked some blocks away from ford field at the wonderbread plant where my grandfather worked. " I saw smoke rising in the distance, i knew it was fire but until i turned on the car radio, id did not know that it was the riots." she said. They arrived home to Mount Clemens with worried family waiting on the porch in fear of what was being reported on the news and the radio.
" I never grew up thinking i was better than anyother person, no matter there color, my mama did not raise me to see those things" she strongly stated. I went on to ask about things that she had seen or remember before the riot that would have been a build up leading to the outburst in the black community that year. Surprisingly she had few first hand experiences of injustice. She can recall, while working at Henry Ford hospital in Detroit the differences in treatment between the white and Black doctors, but still seemed to be surprised that the riots happened. " It wasnt like the south with the racism" she said. Then I started to get the idea that yes, northerns faught for the freeing of slaves, but also turned a blind eye to the current results of years of discrimination. " I remember things on the Tv about the bombing of the church that those three little girls died and, i remember thinking who could harm anyone over something so silly, especially a child and be okay with it?" The knowledge of the hate was everywhere, but it was not noticed under her nose, in her own town. I can see this as the orginal "dont ask dont tell" policy.
In our time.....
I asked her what she thought about racism ,and discrimination today and what changes have taken place. " I see that its worse that" I did not follow her on this thought, I knew, yes there are still injustices, but not on a mass population basis like the 60's and before. She continued to give examples of what she noticed in todays society on the subject.I then realized that the perspective was reversed and all her instances were where she thought that african americans were applying the rights to others that they fought so hard for. It was where i grew up too so i could somewhat see her perspective but it was interesting to know see that even not being racist can be just as ignorant. The heat of the summer in 67 lead to a fire that left many dead, but she had no clue what was happening in her community. Its something to look into in your family and you neighborhoods too. This may not be a copy of something straight out the book, repeating something you just read. But i strongly beleive the essence of where this country was and where its going is in the personal experiences!!!
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