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To: Helicondelta

Mid-morning on Sunday July 23, 1967, in Detroit, Michigan I was driving down Grand River Boulevard from my home to my office in Detroit to prepare for a management review the following day. About half way there I noticed huge clouds of smoke on my left, and numerous fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars headed that way. I was then alone in my office and getting radio reports of what was happening. I looked outside and saw a group of people carrying loot out of a closed store across the street and contacted police, who advised me to NOT try to get back home until the situation was resolved, and to make sure my office on the third floor of a building (deserted except for me) was secure.

Long story short: I spent the next two nights sleeping on the floor in my office, eating from vending machines in the building, and watching (from carefully darkened windows) vandals (white and black) smashing windows and looting stores in the street below, with NO police response. I finally got back home on Tuesday by joining a National Guard convoy back up Grand River Boulevard toward my home.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_Detroit_riot
is informative as to how the “riot” started and progressed, reactions of the politicians as well as the people, and a summary of the deaths and damage.

It also includes a fair analysis of the root problems in Detroit leading up to this event and its aftermath.
I find the concluding paragraphs very helpful in understanding what is happening in Minneapolis and St. Paul today. I copy them here:

Start of copy from Wikipedia article:
Was it a “Rebellion”

Forty years later, the event remained a source of reflection for the community. The Detroit newspapers covered the 40th anniversary of the uprising in 2007. Coverage often labeled the event in terms of a “riot”; however, the focus of the coverage opened the door to a transition of framing. Several articles referred to the event as a rebellion and others specifically questioned the implications of thinking about the event in terms other than a riot.

Now, ten years later, the word is changing again. The word “rebellion,” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as “an instance of open and armed defiance or resistance to an established government”.
The word “riot” is “a tumultuous disturbance of the public peace; unrestrained revelry.”

In light of that analysis, a new word that has become more popular and widely used is “uprising.” As defined by Miriam-Webster Dictionary, an uprising is “a usually localized act of popular violence in defiance of an established government.” As there was no formal leadership in ‘67, it could not have been a rebellion, and yet, this was far more than simply a riot. Calling these events an uprising hints at the depth and complexity of this time.
End of copy from Wikipedia article:

My conclusion:

The “riot” in Detroit started with a raid by white police on a black nightclub and the reaction by bystanders to that raid. It then quickly evolved into a full-fledged “rebellion” in defiance of an established government.

The “riot” in Minneapolis started with an apparent murder of a black man by a white police officer, with 3 other white police officers standing by.

It then quickly evolved into a full-fledged “rebellion” in defiance of an established government.

I hope Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer understands this and takes careful note.


54 posted on 05/28/2020 9:41:33 PM PDT by Grandpa Drudge (Just an old man, desperate to preserve our great country for my grandchildren.)
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To: Grandpa Drudge

1 other white police officer, there was a Cambodian or Hmong and another man whose ethnicity I’m not sure of.


77 posted on 05/28/2020 10:25:31 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: Grandpa Drudge

Welcome aboard; Old Man!


111 posted on 05/29/2020 4:34:33 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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