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Moving into the 1960’s
Living in Detroit in the 1960’s brings back many memories, as the city was vastly different as juxtaposed to its current status. Population was 1.5 million people and it held the position of the 5th largest city in the nation (U.S. Census). Although white flight to the suburbs resulted in over 500,000 people exiting the city in the 1950’s, there was still a substantial amount of people still residing in the city (U.S. Census). With the election of a new mayor a young democrat Jerome P. Cavanaugh, who upset the incumbent Louis Marini, who was not the most progressive when it came to race relations, Cavanaugh was elected with a platform that promised improved corporation with city government as related to the black …show more content…

I personally witnessed the big four in action when I was about 5 years old as in the execution of their duties of breaking up a disturbance they proceed to almost cause a mini-riot on my street, by beating up the participants of the fight. An infamous incident with the police when a reputed prostitute was killed by police after being shot in the back, supposedly because she was coming after a patrolman with a knife (Elkins qtd. in Stone 113). This incident elicited outrage from the black community which had numerous incidents of police brutality and killings by the police, building up an antagonistic relationship that would be one of the main precipitators of the forthcoming rebellion (Elkins qtd. in Stone 112-116).
The Mini-Riot of 1966
In the summer of 1966 there was a mini-riot on the east side of Detroit on one of the main thoroughfares, Kercheval Avenue at Pennsylvania (Elkins qtd. in Stone 113-114, Fine 135-143, Horner qtd. in Stone 92). Intervention by the police in a violent arrest led to mases of people coming into the street with protest against police brutality, Businesses were vandalized and additional police were called in and eventually the disturbance was quelled (Elkins qtd. in Stone 113-114 Farley, Danziger 43, Fine 135-143). City administration felt proud that the incident did not escalate into a rebellion reminiscent of the 1965 Watts rebellion, at the time the worst in

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