After an advance screening of the film Detroit, a patron asked how much of it was real and how much was just a movie. As a Detroit native, I felt like a lyric from Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly”— “Telling my whole life with his words” — while watching director Kathryn Bigelow’s film, based on […]
Detroit riots
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Up from the ashes — Detroit down, but not out
Conclusion of a two-part story The City of Detroit’s motto translated from the Latin is “We hope for better things; it will arise from the ashes.” That motto is prominently displayed on the city’s flag and has been the impetus for city residents ever since the 1805 fire that destroyed the city. The executive director […]
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Five days of terror: Detroit ’67
Eyewitness accounts of the riot that changed Detroit forever First of a two-part story The “Long Hot Summer of 1967” wasn’t about unusually warm humid weather. It was about the 159 race riots that occurred in the United States 50 years ago. The 1968 Kerner Commission report submitted to President Lyndon Johnson pointed out that […]