One of the most profound events in Michigan's history is the Detroit riot of 1967. I was 16 years old on that day in July. My brother and I were on our way to visit our cousins three blocks from where the riot began.
Detroit, like many urban areas in the 1960s, was a place of racial tension and social unrest. The African-American community had trouble finding jobs and housing, and faced harassment from Detroit’s police force, which was 95 percent white.
On this edition of In Black America, I speak with Rochelle Riley, a columnist with the Detroit Free Press, about how the Motor City has moved on 50 years after the riot.
