DETROIT, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – The city of Detroit is looking back to fifty years ago this week to 1967 when the Detroit riots broke out that changed the city forever.
On Sunday, July 23. the city unveiled a plaque at the location where the riots started at an after hours club where Gordon Park now sits.
Governor George Romney deployed the National Guard to one part of Detroit while President Johnson sent the U.S. Army into another section of the city to calm things down. After five days of riots, 43 people were killed, over 14-hundred buildings were burned, and more than 72-hundred people had been arrested.
Tonight a movie about the 1967 Detroit riots premieres tonight at the Fox Theatre. The director of “Detroit” is Katheryn Bigelow. Bigelow is the academy award winning director of The Hurt Locker, and Zero Dark Thirty and will be on hand for the world premiere tonight.
The film will open nationwide on August 4. Stars of the movie, including “Star Wars” actor John Boyega.
