Fact #93081
When:
Short story:
Police in Detroit, Michigan, USA, raid an after hours drinking club in a predominantly black neighborhood around Twelfth Street and Clairmount Avenue. When local people turn up outside the club to protest at the heavy-handed police action, a riot is sparked. Looting and fires spread through the Northwest side of Detroit, then cross over to the East Side, and the city remains under National Guard control well into August. The story of the riots is told in John Lee Hooker's song The Motor City Is Burning, recorded soon after.
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