Detroit Forty Years After: Refelctions on the Rebellions of 1967

By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire

Detroit, July 23-30, 1967, represented the high point of urban
rebellions which swept the United States between 1963 and the year in
question. Forty years later, the African people of America still face
enormous obstacles to their total liberation from institutional racism,
national oppression and economic exploitation.

Urban rebellion in the modern period is still a social oppositional
phenomena but they have greatly decreased in their frequency and
magnitude in comparison to the historical developments unfolding during
the years of 1963-1968.

Since Detroit had experienced the largest outbreak of civil unrest up
until that time period, it was not surprising that the containment
policies enacted by the federal government in conjunction with the
corporate community would have the degree of impact that they have in
efforts designed to suppress the political aspirations of the oppressed
peoples of the United States.

This essay is constructed to assess the historical impact of the
rebellions of 1967 and the efficacy of civil unrest as a tactical
consideration in the ongoing struggle to bring about the realization of
complete socio-economic and political freedom for the African-American
people.

It is the view of this writer that the plight of Africans and other
oppressed peoples in the United States cannot be adequately addressed
under the prevailing political and economic conditions in the country.
Institutional resistance to the social advancement of Africans is
manifested within various forms of the political culture of present day
America.

The escalation of church bombings during the 1990s, the constant reports
of police violence directed against Africans as well as the legal
reversals of gains made in the areas of education, housing and
employment, reflects the pervasive governmental position that the
elimination of people's civil and human rights is essential for the
maintenance of the status-quo.

What is, and what possibly could be, the most effective response to the
present situation? Is there a potential for the re-emergence of a
concentrated series of urban rebellions led by Africans and Latinos
whose thrust would be directed towards the propertied interests in the
nation's major metropolitan centers? Could such a program of action,
whether planned or spontaneous, be effective absent of a broader and
well organized mass movement that is prepared to resist the system's
retaliation against a genuine peoples' rebellion in the United States?

Lessons of the Detroit Rebellion of 1967

When police raided an after hours party and drinking establishment in
the early morning hours of July 23, 1967, they were totally unaware of
the degree of outrage that would be sparked by this law-enforcement
action. As the last group of African-American patrons of the United
Community and Civic League were carried out of the locality and loaded
in to paddy wagons, bottles and rocks began to shower police vehicles in
the 12th and Clairmount Street area where the raid had taken place. By
7:50 a.m. that Sunday morning, over three thousand people, mainly youth
and young adults, were out in the streets in the vicinity of 12th Street
and Clairmount.

As the initial fire alarms sounded in response to arson attacks against
local businesses that were largely owned by whites living outside the
ghetto areas, the stage was set for a rapid expansion of widespread
looting and firebombing, which continued for the next five days.
Thousands more would participate in the rebellion before it subsided and
the military occupation of Detroit was lifted. After the National
Guard, the US Airborne Divisions and the State Police, in conjunction
with local law-enforcement officers, restored order by the week's end,
43 people were left dead, 33 of whom were Africans, and a total of 7,200
had been arrested, 4,000 of which were incarcerated in make-shift jail
cells.

Many of the arrested spent as long as 30 hours detained on city buses.
Countless others were held in an underground garage absent of any toilet
facilities. A large number of those arrested were innocent of any
crimes other than being in an unrest area. Included among the detainees
were members of the press, who despite efforts to show their credentials
to the police and national guard troops, were still held by the
authorities because they were African-Americans.

Property damage estimates from the rebellion were initially cited as
high as $1 billion dollars. A later figure of $500 million was soon
scaled down to an official total of $22 million. However, the State
Insurance Bureau at the time estimated that 65% to 75% of paid losses
would total approximately $32 million. Political consideration played
an important role in the lowering of the estimated property damages
incurred during the 1967 rebellion.

Yet the effects of the Detroit rebellion and other outbreaks of unrest
throughout the United States, proved costly to the Johnson
Administration, which was perceived as incapable of containing the
so-called riots in the cities of America. Political activists from the
militant organizations within the African-American community were
subjected to a heightened degree of law-enforcement repression.

Scores of militant cadres such as H. Rap Brown of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Max Stanford of the Revolutionary
Action Movement (RAM) were indicted on spurious charges that were
clearly based on the political considerations of the then governmental
administration.

President Johnson in the midst of the widespread rebellions of the
summer of 1967, appointed an investigative commission to research and
report on the causes of the disturbances. On July 27, 1967, Johnson
addressed the country on nationwide television in response to the
rebellions initiated in the cities of America. During this address he
stated that:

"First--let there be no mistake about it--the looting, arson, plunder
and pillage which have occured are not part of a civil rights protest.
There is no American right to loot stores, or to burn buildings, or to
fire rifles from the rooftops. That is crime--and crime must be dealt
with forcefully, and swiftly, and certainly--under the law....

"I have directed the Secretary of Defense to issue new training
standards for riot control procedures immediately to National Guard
units across the country. Through the Continental Army Command, this
expanded training will begin immediately. The National Guard must have
the ability to respond effectively, quickly, and appropriately, in
conditions of disorder and violence."

Although there were brief references to the need for expanded economic
opportunities for African-Americans, the principal emphasis of the
President's speech was to outline a program of containment designed to
prevent the recurrence of these rebellions.

International Implications of the 1967 Rebellion

With the US at the height of its involvement in the Vietnam War, which
was officially being conducted to halt the spread of communism in Asia,
the disturbances among the African-American people in the urban areas
were proving to be an embarrassment to the United States
internationally.

In addition, leaders from the radical wing of the African movement in
the US began to draw analogies between the liberation struggles in Asia,
Africa and Latin America and the struggle among oppressed peoples of
color in the United States, intimating that the next phase of activity
would be centered around guerrilla warfare tactics. This rhetoric on
the part of elements within the community, coupled with the rash of
rebellions in approximately 160 cities during 1967, prompted a highly
strained relationship between the federal government and the
African-American people.

Repression and Domestic Neo-Colonialism

In the same above-mentioned presidential address on July 27, 1967,
Johnson declared that:
"To those who are tempted by violence, I would say this: Think again.
Who is really the loser when violence comes? Whose neighborhood is made
a shambles? Whose life is threatened most? If you choose to tear down
what others have built,
-you will not succeed;
-you will suffer most from your own crimes;
-you will learn that there are no victors in the aftermath of
violence....
Let us resolve that this violence is going to stop and there will be no
bonus to flow from it. We can stop it. We must stop it. We will stop
it."

Despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting
Rights legislation of 1965 guaranteeing universal suffrage, the
fundamental social conditions of Africans in the United States had not
been altered by 1967. Attempts by revolutionary organizations during
the latter years of the 1960s and the early 1970s to build a movement to
liberate African-Americans met fierce and determined resistance by the
federal government and the corporate community.

Detroit's image is still largely shaped by the rebellions of 1967 and
subsequent social conditions that developed during its aftermath. The
acceleration of de-industrialization in Detroit, the flight of finance
capital from the central cities, as well as the influx of narcotics, has
consistently undermined this urban area's sense of stability and
purpose.

Can the tactic of mass urban rebellion prove effective in the present
period of intensified institutional exclusion of Africans in America?
Should youth take to the streets and violently attacks symbols of white
racism and economic exploitation in the African-American community?
What, if any, were the positive outcomes of the rebellions initiated
during the 1960s?

First it is important to point out that the de-commercialization of
Detroit has left the city largely abandoned by both heavy and light
industries. Symbols of white economic and political hegemony are not as
clearly definable in 2007 as they were in 1967. Recent development
projects being undertaken in the city are largely centered outside the
densely populated residential sections of the Detroit area. The very
character of these so-called development projects are largely
prestigious and they are not designed to create a small to medium sized
commercial revitalization of neighborhoods where working and poor people
reside.

Consequently, the outbreak of civil unrest in Detroit in the 21st
Century would be a totally different than what occured forty years ago.
Present conditions, which are ripe for widespread discontent and anger,
would appear to be more conducive to the organization of a mass movement
encompassing broad political objectives for restructuring the American
social landscape.

Today, Africans suffer from a domestic neo-colonial system, where
indigenous elements have gained leadership roles through the acquisition
of elected positions as well as endorsements of support from the
corporate community. Unemployment among African people remains
disproportionately high, and the contemporary rhetoric which views small
business creation as the solution to the conditions of national
oppression, has gained scant concrete results. All so-called
development projects currently underway in the city are not geared
towards the empowerment of the African working class and poor masses.

This dilemma can only be resolved with the formation of a national
political movement that is both independent from, and in contradiction
with, the present two-party system. Any successful revolutionary
process must also be international in scope and direction. It is
necessary for African-Americans to learn from the advances made in the
last 25 years in Southern Africa, South-east Asia, Latin America and
other geo-political regions where US imperialism has been effectively
challenged.

The creation and continuation of revolutionary governments in Venezuela,
Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador in addition to the development of a radical
land redistribution program in Zimbabwe, illustrates the necessity of
embarking upon and maintaining a protracted struggle for genuine
national liberation and social transformation. It is only through a
constant program of action and agitation against the system of national
oppression in the United States that Africans and other neo-colonial
peoples will gain the strength to overcome their present situation.

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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire, an
electronic press agency dedicated to providing information, research and
analyses of the historical and contemporary conditions throughout the
world. Azikiwe has worked also as a broadcast journalist with radio
programs on five different stations over the last eight years. His
articles and reports have been published in dozens of journals,
newspapers, web sites and listserves throught the international
community.