It all started from a minor police incident on July 23rd, 1967. Police went into a “blind pig”, or an after hours bar, and ended up arresting over 80 people at the bar. The bar was on located on Twelfth Street in Detroit. Once other people walking on the streets started to take notice of what was happening, they quickly surrounded the bar and started to yell at the police officers and throw whatever they could find at them. This eventually led to protesters looting stores in the surrounding area, seeing that the police had their hands full with the protesters around the bar. (“Race Rioting Erupts…”). There was more reasons for the riots happening besides this incident, though. …show more content…
Blacks felt racism all throughout Detroit in many ways. The unemployment rate for blacks was 11%, which was much higher than it was for whites. (“Race Rioting Erupts…”). Along with the high unemployment rate, there was police brutality, segregation and the lack of educational opportunities. African Americans were very angry because of these reasons. Since there were so high tensions and such a social divide between the whites and blacks, something like the riot was bound to happen eventually, it was just a matter of when it would. (“Detroit Riot of