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| A race riot forever changed my city. Hollywood only told half the story | A race riot forever changed my city. Hollywood only told half the story |
| (25 days later) | |
| Detroit’s unrest in the summer of 1967 forever shaped the identity of the city. It all began with a 23 July early morning police raid of a “blind pig” – an illegal after-hours drinking club. It was this raid that set the city on fire. The resulting clashes between police and the black community lasted five long days and claimed 43 lives – of which 33 were black and 10 white. More than 7,000 arrests were made. | Detroit’s unrest in the summer of 1967 forever shaped the identity of the city. It all began with a 23 July early morning police raid of a “blind pig” – an illegal after-hours drinking club. It was this raid that set the city on fire. The resulting clashes between police and the black community lasted five long days and claimed 43 lives – of which 33 were black and 10 white. More than 7,000 arrests were made. |
| To those watching from a far, the unrest was a symbol of the tension between black and white people, which had already played out in similar race riots in New York, Newark, New Jersey, and Los Angeles from 1964 to 1967. To Detroiters, it was a reminder of what the writer James Baldwin once said: “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” | To those watching from a far, the unrest was a symbol of the tension between black and white people, which had already played out in similar race riots in New York, Newark, New Jersey, and Los Angeles from 1964 to 1967. To Detroiters, it was a reminder of what the writer James Baldwin once said: “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” |
| Long before the unrest, the Detroit police department (DPD) was notorious for violating the rights of African Americans by conducting unlawful stops, arrests and illegal detentions. | Long before the unrest, the Detroit police department (DPD) was notorious for violating the rights of African Americans by conducting unlawful stops, arrests and illegal detentions. |
| With such targeted abuse by an overwhelmingly white police force coupled with concentrated poverty among black residents and systemic public housing discrimination at the time, the city was already sitting on a racial powder keg waiting to explode. | With such targeted abuse by an overwhelmingly white police force coupled with concentrated poverty among black residents and systemic public housing discrimination at the time, the city was already sitting on a racial powder keg waiting to explode. |
| Given the weight of such history, one would expect that a movie named Detroit – released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of 1967 – would provide needed context to help people understand fully what led to the uprising. But that is not what Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit film offers. | Given the weight of such history, one would expect that a movie named Detroit – released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of 1967 – would provide needed context to help people understand fully what led to the uprising. But that is not what Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit film offers. |
| Instead, the movie Detroit takes us on an excursion into police savagery and criminality inside the Algiers motel, which was raided on the fourth day of the unrest by officers of the DPD, who went crazy after discovering two young white women in a room with black men. | Instead, the movie Detroit takes us on an excursion into police savagery and criminality inside the Algiers motel, which was raided on the fourth day of the unrest by officers of the DPD, who went crazy after discovering two young white women in a room with black men. |
| The film is exhibit A of police terror visited upon black people, a constant reminder of one of the debilitating factors in the long-running theme of the black experience in America. | The film is exhibit A of police terror visited upon black people, a constant reminder of one of the debilitating factors in the long-running theme of the black experience in America. |
| It did not show what black life was before and during the unrest and made no attempt to affirm the full humanity of African Americans, who simply wanted to be treated the same way as their white counterparts. | It did not show what black life was before and during the unrest and made no attempt to affirm the full humanity of African Americans, who simply wanted to be treated the same way as their white counterparts. |
| It also did not introduce us to the background of most of the characters in the film, including some of the victims of the police brutality in terms of their living conditions. | It also did not introduce us to the background of most of the characters in the film, including some of the victims of the police brutality in terms of their living conditions. |
| Watching the movie, I kept thinking about Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American teenager from Chicago who was viciously murdered by two white men in Mississippi on 23 August 1955 after been falsely accused of flirting with a white woman. | Watching the movie, I kept thinking about Emmett Till, the 14-year-old African American teenager from Chicago who was viciously murdered by two white men in Mississippi on 23 August 1955 after been falsely accused of flirting with a white woman. |
| His mother’s insistence on an open-casket funeral showing his mutilated body, published in Jet magazine, exposed the insidiousness, cruelty and barbarism of racism. To the world, it was the definition of Jim Crow segregation. | His mother’s insistence on an open-casket funeral showing his mutilated body, published in Jet magazine, exposed the insidiousness, cruelty and barbarism of racism. To the world, it was the definition of Jim Crow segregation. |
| Perhaps the young black men inside the Algiers motel who were assaulted and traumatized, including the three who were killed – Carl Cooper, 17; Aubrey Pollard, 19; and Fred Temple, 18 – by the white officers did not know about the Till story. Perhaps they did not contemplate that it was a crime and an abomination during that time to be with or even make suggestive remarks to white women. | Perhaps the young black men inside the Algiers motel who were assaulted and traumatized, including the three who were killed – Carl Cooper, 17; Aubrey Pollard, 19; and Fred Temple, 18 – by the white officers did not know about the Till story. Perhaps they did not contemplate that it was a crime and an abomination during that time to be with or even make suggestive remarks to white women. |
| Just as the defendants in Till’s murder trial were acquitted by an all-white jury, the three officers – Ronald August, Robert Paille and David Sendak – and the black security guard, Melvin Dismukes, who were involved in the murder inside the Algiers motel were also let go by a jury. | Just as the defendants in Till’s murder trial were acquitted by an all-white jury, the three officers – Ronald August, Robert Paille and David Sendak – and the black security guard, Melvin Dismukes, who were involved in the murder inside the Algiers motel were also let go by a jury. |
| Yet the movie failed to provide a narrative about unfairness in the criminal justice system and how black people often don’t get the benefit of the doubt. The accused officers only came out looking as bad apples as opposed to products of a system of injustice. | Yet the movie failed to provide a narrative about unfairness in the criminal justice system and how black people often don’t get the benefit of the doubt. The accused officers only came out looking as bad apples as opposed to products of a system of injustice. |
| The view for the most part in Detroit is that the movie did a disservice to the memory of 1967. It failed to present a compelling and more encompassing narrative as other movies that depicted race at the center of the American experience, such as 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen; The Birth of a Nation and Red Tails, by Nate Parker; or Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, by Spike Lee. | The view for the most part in Detroit is that the movie did a disservice to the memory of 1967. It failed to present a compelling and more encompassing narrative as other movies that depicted race at the center of the American experience, such as 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen; The Birth of a Nation and Red Tails, by Nate Parker; or Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, by Spike Lee. |
| “It was the obligatory 50th anniversary Hollywood movie that tries to put a story line into a larger sequence of events that was not developed at all. That leaves the audience with the factual content of a happy meal,” said Detroit businessman Brian Cartwright, who watched the film. | “It was the obligatory 50th anniversary Hollywood movie that tries to put a story line into a larger sequence of events that was not developed at all. That leaves the audience with the factual content of a happy meal,” said Detroit businessman Brian Cartwright, who watched the film. |
| Cartwright, who was eight years old during the uprising, said: “If you want to make a movie in a historical setting, then do it justice at least enough to make people want to learn more after it is over. This movie does not inspire deeper inquiry.” | Cartwright, who was eight years old during the uprising, said: “If you want to make a movie in a historical setting, then do it justice at least enough to make people want to learn more after it is over. This movie does not inspire deeper inquiry.” |
| While Bigelow is entitled to her own creative expression and should be commended for the effort, the wider audience including people of conscience and critical thrust deserve a fuller picture about America’s most misunderstood city’s seminal moment. | While Bigelow is entitled to her own creative expression and should be commended for the effort, the wider audience including people of conscience and critical thrust deserve a fuller picture about America’s most misunderstood city’s seminal moment. |
| Because in telling such a crucial story, we owe a deep obligation to transfer the substance of that era to succeeding generations – including young Detroiters. | Because in telling such a crucial story, we owe a deep obligation to transfer the substance of that era to succeeding generations – including young Detroiters. |
| Bankole Thompson is the author of two books on Barack Obama and writes about the challenges of urban America. He is an opinion columnist at the Detroit News, where he writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture. He tweets at @BankoleDetNews | Bankole Thompson is the author of two books on Barack Obama and writes about the challenges of urban America. He is an opinion columnist at the Detroit News, where he writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture. He tweets at @BankoleDetNews |
| Detroit | Detroit |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Detroit | Detroit |
| (Film) | (Film) |
| Race issues | Race issues |
| US policing | US policing |
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