Their Legacy: Race Riots Doomed Detroit Forever

By Debbie Schlussel

Black Panthers and their radical allies, supported by a thousands of Black Detroiters, rioted for days, starting fires and destroying the city. They wanted more power in the city. They wanted a Black Mayor, a Black police chief, a Black city council.

Today, they have all those things. And they have nothing. They won the riots, they lost the war. And 43 people died--no, were murdered--in vain (along with countless others since). Continued

In 1984 I was a real estate agent at Veteran Real Estate.
We specialized in locating affordable housing for Military Veterans.
I received a call from a well-qualified veteran who had moved from Detroit. When I met with he and his family I asked why he left Detroit.

He told me, I was a Detroit police officer.
I had to get out. It was too dangerous for my family.

"An elderly lady would receive her social security.
Every month someone would break into her kitchen take a knife and steal her money."
"I was assigned to stake out her house at the time she received her check.
I sat in her living room and waited.
I heard glass break in the kitchen. I saw him pick up a knife.
I opened the door the rest of the way. I identified myself.
I told him to drop the knife. He came toward me waving the knife.
I shot him dead."
"It was deemed a righteous shoot only because he still had the knife in his hand and the elderly lady witnessed the shooting.
Had it not been for the witness I might be in jail myself."
"A white cop can't kill a black in Detroit without proving it was justified."
That was 1984. According to the above Schlussel Post nothing has changed. Except, maybe, there are no white cops.