The Detroit Riots, 1968

[@mindspring57]

We lived in Warren. My parents saw it coming too. My father had to wait until he was eligible for the 30-and-out retirement plan with General Motors, which took effect in 1971, which was the year we left. As for Obama, Detroit was dead or dying long before he came on the scene.

[@kevinreynoldsdetroit]

Thanks for putting this up Jesse. I grew up here and seeing Detroit what it was like before I was born is to say the least fascinating. Much appreciated.

[@esolizh]

I lived in Detroits west side, but worked in the area where the riot started. They sent us home that morning around 10:oo am. It was so scary in a way, The city was under a curfew, don`t remember what time the curfew was. But one night we were siting on our front and the helicopters were flying and they had bull horns. Telling us to go inside. Thanks for posting this.Every where you went the National Guard was there. And they weren`t rioting in my neighborhood.

[@frankholstein4499]

Same thing happened to us on the east side. I couldn't go outside for 5 days.

[@califdad4]

About 20 years ago, a retired Greek Orthodox Priest told me he was working in the Detroit Diocese in 67-69 and the riot came down the blvd and as they reached Greek town they were met with a large group of well armed Greeks at the entrance to the area and the riot went around Greek town

[@danieldecker2526]

God bless the 2A!

[@MichaelLovely-mr6oh]

Kinda like how when the riots erupted in Los Angeles, CA after the officers responsible for the beating of Rodney King were acquitted; business owners in the city's Koreatown neighborhood took up arms and defended their businesses after the police threw them to the wolves and protected Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

[@Grandeblrm]

I lived at 8 mile and Livernois........one block from Bakers Keyboard Lounge. The national guard set up camp at a Top Hat restaurant with tanks and jeeps. It looked like a scene from another country. We went riding around after curfew and my buddy ended up in jail for one week for Curfew Violation. Very strange time to grow up in but glad I did.

[@er1ksm1th]

I guess the people who lost their homes to those first fires were actually the lucky ones since property values never recovered after then.

[@0163J]

Amazing footage, I was 4 years old and still can see the visual of the National Guard on my street corner! Later that night, the sky was bright orange, embers were everywhere and earlier that day, I saw a toranado car on flames...WoW!

[@memel2853]

I too remember this day. I saw the helicopter land on the school's playground. Lawton Street in Detroit northwest side.

[@arthursmith1560]

I was 8 years old at the time of 1968 riots. I remembered seeing the National Guards out on the street. We lived on Saint Jean street near Mack Ave. Yes, it was a very scary time.

[@1954murphy]

I lived there in 67 and we left after the riots. We were on 14th street near where the riots started. In the neighborhood around us it was more about getting what you can from the shops and not about race. It was the gangs and the black panthers shooting from rooftops at police and firemen. Most of the people were just taking out their frustration on the government.

[@frankholstein4499]

So that's OK? I don't think so. No pity whatsoever for looters and snipers.

[@philliesphan312]

So similar to what happened in the last few weeks!

[@SteveSkn]

@1912fld Southeastern HS on the left, and Foch JR HS on the right. I lived 2 streets over on Beniteau at the time.

[@1912fld]

What is the school's name that is in around 9:00 into the film?

[@Strawberryfan123]

hey, i was wondering if i could use this footage? i'm thinking of doing a Detroit Empowerment video (i'm still working out the kinks in brain) but basically it's really shots of Detroit old and new and how much we have changed and basically continued to survive so well. I wanna use some of the footage from your video but im the kind of person who ask permission before i use others work. Is it alright with you if i do that?

[@pablotupone4190]

many of these houses are abandoned now...

[@BillyT531]

This was 1967 not 1968 as your title shows.

[@quirozhomemovies9746]

I'd like to use this footage in a project i'm working on. How do I get approval?

[@detroitone3118]

i live just a block from where the riot started on clairmount....historic.... its sad though, we destroyed our own city and expect to be rescued smh

[@mindspring57]

Stating the facts is not racist.

[@Salvus967]

Whereis the sound?????

[@510oaklandca]

Is that Wayne State University they're flying over?

[@johnhintz4760]

Yes that is WSU..It was so Effing Scarry that Summer. I Stopped Bad Mouthing Detroit a long time a go..I had to...It Shall Rise from the Ashes.Right?..We are all Dust..

[@510oaklandca]

John Hintz Detroit looked so clean and brand new back in 1967.

[@vintagefancollector1436]

John Hintz If you're implying that GOD made us, then it's sand.

[@johnhintz4760]

Coolcat97 Now that was a Bolt from the Blue.There is a lot of Broken Glass...We Can Pave our way to Toledo!.Good God that's a lot sand!.oh. I forgot. They shut Down the LOF factory Down!..Castles made of Sand..Oh well..Mabye Mr Guyton might have a plan.;-)

[@Ranger-ib7xw]

No magazines in the rifles. I'll bet you they have no ammo at all.

[@darrenkastl8160]

Willey's Jeep with a 50 caliber tripod mounted rolling through Dearborn Heights enforcing curfew. Ya, we bolted for northern Michigan, may of 69

[@wildbillhdmax02]

What his saying is kinda true. There is much more to the story. I even talked about this so of my buddies about this. Even the black ones agreed. That fucked up. You know something is wrong when you get a black man to agree.

[@jerryg1964]

Fascninating aerial shots of the city!

[@lilahdog568]

Why can't u treat us whites with some respect!? Not "obey your master respect!" Just plain respect! I don't care if a black guy is my neighbor! One is!! This isn't a race thing....it's a good/bad thing! Do you want good race relations or reverse racism where blacks hate whites?!? I do not hate black people because I'm white! That's racist! What I do hate is black men who have the same racism toward whites as 1960s southern whites!!

[@frankholstein4499]

Nope, can't be done. Caucasians are blamed for everything, whether born yet or not, and now discriminated against legally through Affirmative Action. Did you know EVERYONE is a "protected class" except WHITE MALES? Isn't THAT racism? It's sure not "equal protection under the law".

[@jamiepopsvaneffen]

Holy moly! some of these comments are unbelievable. What year is it?

[@Rattlesnake742]

The Pangea thing was actually just a joke. I mostly agree with your statement.

[@chrisbarr1359]

Detroit looked really nice back then vs 10s of 1000s of abandoned homes today and ramped crime and fires.

[@sweetcgardner]

just type in panic in detroit by david bowie its a great sound track while watching this

[@1954murphy]

@hardstyle905 Maybe. I am not taking sides just stating an observation. The devastation occured and was limited to the black areas. Perhaps it is about frustration and civility, there is no doubt this is the action of the uncivilized. It's why we left.

[@Uaarkson]

What a waste. When you dehumanize and disrespect generations of human beings. Then throw your hands up and walk away, and blame it all on them.

[@joedimaggio3687]

Poor little victims

[@sparx180]

I know there is racism on both sides. All I was saying was that blacks did help whites during the riots. I mentioned one instance. There may have been more but that one stood out in my mind. U will never have a colour blind society bcz racism is taught. Taught when a child is young. Put young kids together of different colours, races, etc., and they will play together. It is only when it is pointed out that others are different is when racism begins.

[@Salvus967]

i believe you...but where is it now?

[@jostd48]

The city filed for bankruptcy today.

[@davidmaslow7473]

When you have viewers using sentence construction like 'them jobs', you must ask yourself-how much would this person know when they FAIL to master basic English. There's an example below.

[@local1114]

2:19 the dude to the left looks like boba blue from the movie forrest gump...

[@BADBOY9831]

WOW I'M SHOCKED

[@docdre312]

They are not locked and loaded..lol,the funny thing is they never fixed this area and it's still the same way in 2012

[@Rickyrab]

um, OP, you're obviously a year off. That riot occurred in 1967...

[@MichaelLovely-mr6oh]

If you check the description box; the OP explains that while the footage is of the 1967 riots in Detroit it was released in 1968. I too was a bit baffled by the title, but I understood after checking the description box of the video. So many people tend to blame the 1967 riots in Detroit as the catalyst for the city's decline; but the decline of Detroit can actually be traced back to 1944 as that year the city's mayor Edward Jeffries lobbied Congress for federal funds to build expressways leading out of Detroit to the suburbs. By 1950; the population had started to decline and the riots of 1967 as well as the ones that occurred in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr in Memphis, TN further accelerated the decline.

[@ARealWiseGuys]

I guess when you buy a $1,000 HDTV a $400 sound system is worth it; if the video has sound.

[@TheZigzach]

That was a lot of getting in and out of jeeps there in the beginning of this film.

[@mindspring57]

It is up to 11 now. Someone must have gotten back from Detroit and now knows what black people have done to it in the last 40 years they have been in control.

[@TheBizziniss]

The jobs left and the people left. The black folks stayed in a city designed for like 1.5 million people with half that many by 1990. November one could have saved Detroit. People came there to work. The work left.

[@extremereclusefallows5779]

Fixed Bayonets. Are you kidding me? One little slip and 50 stitches later. I was 9 at the time. A late night party celebrating a soldiers homecoming started it all.

[@chanctonbury63]

17.38. Looks the same today. Nothings changed.

[@Strawberryfan123]

cool thanks

[@PearComputingDevices]

I guess you've just forgotten who's ran Detroit for 60 years, it wasn't Reagan. Nobody said a word about him. It's my guess you just don't like talking about the truth and would rather throw a wise tale or two without a burden of proof, unlike Detroit's. Let's think about the logic, if you can. I know, it's tough for scatter brains. But just try. You might be amazed.

[@PearComputingDevices]

No sir with all due respect we are seeing the results of everybody deserves a home, aka the Clinton era. You see how well that worked out. The banks won pal. Short memory if you ask me.

[@themainproblem]

How come no one has their weapon locked and loaded? This is a bs video/

[@sparx180]

Did you see that young man driving that tractor trailer, stopped at the intersection, dragged out by 3 blacks, smashed over the head with a brick. Who came to his rescue a young black man. Picked him up and put him in his car onto the hospital. Why didn't the Chinese and Irish go back home after their slave labour was over and done with?

[@TheBizziniss]

There was famine is Ireland.

[@kazer353]

why cant look at each for humans

[@Rickyrab]

Detroit population, 1960 - 1,670,144... 1970 - 1,511,482... 1980 - 1,203,339... 1990 - 1,027,974.... 2000 - 951,270... 2010 - 713,777... and by now even the blacks have had enough and are leaving themselves. You're going to ask 700,000 poor taxpayers to take care of infrastructure intended for 2,000,000 people? Meh. Not happening.

[@m.a.vincent8077]

It was in 1967!

[@mindspring57]

I will let the facts speak for themselves.

[@akanishta99]

Interesting that all the guns are unloaded.

[@margaretsilsby2585]

tragic

[@mindspring57]

Because people recognize the truth when they see it?

[@joseph4756]

Life must be really challenging for you...

[@margaretsilsby2585]

1968 of67

[@l.a.crenshaw5952]

+Margaret Silsby its 67

[@711DAS]

uhhhh.. no.The richest country in Africa is Egypt.South Africa acquired it's wealth through exploitation and blood.As for the Chinese, you obviously don't know the difference between investment and "help". And of course it takes outside involvement, we live in a global economy.And as I said before, African countries are very young.....50 years. What I don't understand is the mindset of you people. Reading these comments....it's almost like a game. A sport. Are people really that insecure?

[@roslyn772]

commulism is real in america especially in them days this when nickson and kenny was in office

[@detroitdiggler]

This would make a great call of duty

[@pNi4lyfee]

its just an odd coinsedence than there governor was george romney

[@MrVapourtrail71]

Hmmmmn...That's Ok......Make my own Commentary.

[@stuartsoll3254]

If you want this cleaned up, vote for Yang in 2020.

[@darrenkastl8160]

Lol! Seriously? There has been many who had good hearts and good intentions, but between mayor Coleman young upto kwame Fitzpatrick who we're nothing but crooks and thieves. But yet they blamed the white man for detriots failures, detriot was once a beautiful place and a good place to be from, but bad city government (Dem)was it's biggest downfall. Mayor Coleman Young( Dem), said that all white folks should hit 8 mile, city border. And that stigma still exist today. So what makes you think Ying Yang ( Dem)will do anything to help detriot? We moved out of Detroit in 69 not much has changed.

[@dakruise1]

Obama voters

[@lutrix86]

Lmao @ you ppl saying the word NEGRO. Its not the 1920's ppl.

[@jamielinda1]

JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT WHEN IT INVOLVES DETROIT IT DONT WORK !!

[@Rickyrab]

Mass transit? So people can travel to the suburbs? in b4 3 people aboard every 40-person bus. LOL

[@fredpine696]

What - Romney is white?

[@mindspring57]

Mass transit? So the blacks can travel to the suburbs? Surely you jest.

[@frankholstein4499]

Blacks LIVE in the suburbs, pal. Check the current demographics on Warren, for example

[@bigtrukn59]

ImExposingYou1960, u have no idea in life what u r talking about,it's as if u appeared in a tree and just fell out of it and landed on your head....smh

[@ikegee7420]

sad is you, stop hiding your face, now that's sad

[@Rattlesnake742]

Why did this obviously racist comment get so many likes!?!?

[@frankholstein4499]

That "racist" door swings both ways.

[@kinguniversallaw]

by the way, the police started the riot.(look it up) you cant kill, plunder and destroy a people and not be held accountable. and that gos for everyone!

[@joedimaggio3687]

The police went out lit buildings on fire and looted?