Detroit '67: race riot redux

 I know Detroit doesn't want a pity party.They need all kinds of economic uplift and reinvention, but not pity. Don't hang the crepe. The patient is injured but, she can recover and thrive. Playwright, Dominique Morisseau may be the city’s best hope. Her play, Detroit ’67  closing today at The Public, but reopening at The National Black Theater on March 23 through April 14, is a good dose of what could cure Detroit or any town: reality, understanding, compassion and hope. Morisseau writes about her beleaguered, yet beloved hometown without pity, rather with a deep, complex understanding of its history, love of its people and staunch defense of its unique identity. 

Dominique Morisseau is a good daughter of Detroit. Part of what I like most about Detroit '67 is the good–natured evocation of the Motown moment – the combo of adolescent feel–good energy and revolutionary awakening reflected in 1960’s popular music. I was there. I remember leaning over the back seat of my parents’ car when my father drove, cranking up Martha and The Vandellas and The Supremes. And I recall in myriad personal details what happened following the death of Martin Luther King in my hometown, Washington, DC in 1968. 

     My aunt lived in Detroit at the time of the conflict there. I remember very clearly and with much fondness and many repetitions that we three sisters would yell through the phone when we called long distance to speak to our beloved aunt in Detroit. So, I have always cared about what happens/happened in Detroit.

     Detroit ’67 takes you into the decorated basement of a house in the Twelfth Street neighborhood where the events  of the riot, a.k.a. "The Great Rebellion” took place. The very best part of the set is that it is so accurate and cozy and that the events of the conflict stay outside. Though events loom and threaten and eventually involve, consume and subsume the people inside, the distance serves to establish that the so–called riots were a response to oppression by individuals struggling for meaningful inclusion in the governance of their community. People died. And the people who died belonged to other people.

I was asked to participate in a panel following Thursday night’s performance to discuss Detroit ’67 in light of past riots – sort of posing the question of “what do we mean when we characterize riots” and what are some of the big, historical riots we should be aware of. The lively discussion was moderated by the playwright, Dominique Morisseau and I was on it with Dr. Karen Miller, who teaches US history at LaGuardia College and long time political activist and writer, Mr. Kevin Powell.

In preparation I pulled out some quotes from texts that I had read in research for my recently completed novel that is set in 19th century New York and New Jersey. Because this work climaxes at the events of the New York Draft Riots of July, 1863, I did quite a bit of reading on the subject. I didn’t get the chance to hog the whole discussion with my quotes. I am appending them here:

“When Federal officials began choosing the first draftees in mid–July, New Yorkers responded with the bloodiest week in their entire history. The predominately Irish–American mobs lynched a dozen or more African Americans and terrorized thousands. Hundreds of fires were set*. Rioters fought pitched battles with the police and the militia for control of uptown avenues.”

           From Five Points by Tyler Anbinder

* The Colored Orphans Home, a refuge for destitute, African American children on Fifth Avenue, was looted of its furniture and fixtures and was burned. The children were evacuated by law enforcement and taken to Rikers Island for their safety.  

"Nowadays when Americans use the term "race riot" many immediately conjure up images of Los Angeles in 1992 (following the famous acquittals of the police officers who assaulted Rodney King) or the disturbances in Detroit, Newark, and elsewhere during the long, hot summers of the late 1960s. In those riots, people of color comprised the bulk of the looters and arsonists, targeting the businesses of "whiteys" and others perceived to be exploitative outsiders. "Reconstructing the Dreamland" recalls an older tradition of race rioting in which whites targeted blacks and their property for destruction, a tradition in which police, national guards, and other ostensible guardians of law and order invariably sided with perpetrators of mayhem against vulnerable racial minorities."

                   -- Randall Kennedy, from the preface to Reconstructing the Dream by Alfred L. Brophy. This book revisits and enlarges upon research into events of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 which destroyed the community of Greenwood.

"Vicious race riots plagued Philadelphia in the years before the Civil War. From 1834 - 1849, white mobs rampaged through black neighborhoods, terrorizing residents, destroying property, or seeking to drive the entire black population from the city. Inflamed by the annual August First celebration held in 1842 to commemorate the end of West Indian slavery, mobs ran riot through the streets, hunting blacks as if they were "noxious animals". They burned a black owned hall and church to obliterate signs of black achievement. Hundreds of blacks fled the city for the woods and swamps of New Jersey."

  from chapter one of Voice of Thunder" The Civil War Letters of George E. Stephens, from Violence in Philadelphia by Geffin. Stephens was an African American who fought in the Civil War.

Well, of course, we could have talked all night. Detroit ’67 was evocative of the time and place, as well as, stimulating to the discussion of responses to injustice and inequality. Perhaps it was the playwright’s father who nailed it when he commented that the role of the playwright and other creative artists can be of singular and useful service in redressing reductionist images of certain cities. Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit ’67, a play I’ve seen through several readings and workshops, has very deftly and entertainingly proved that the last word has not been said or written about Detroit, Michigan. 

It was exciting also to see the beautiful development of the performances of Michelle Wilson as Chelle and Francois Battiste as Lank. They each, in their exquisite performances, brought the audience to the place of understanding and empathy that is the quintessential reason we sit there in the dark and watch and listen. We want Chelle and Lank to survive because we've pinned our hopes to them. The characters of Bunny and Sly were pitch perfect and ably played by De’Adre Aziza and Brandon J. Dirden. Samantha Soule as Caroline was solid, on key, under control and firmly attached to the central theme of the play. It is my opinion that Ms. Morisseau has achieved a dramatic style that avails itself of the individuality of characters while gathering them into a thematic ensemble that furthers her play’s objectives. Kwame Kwei–Armah’s skillful, knowledgeable direction must come in for praise. Here again, choices made serve the moment, the characters and the players. Thumbs up to the sound designer as well. 
Don't wait any longer. Get your tickets for Detroit '67 at The National Black Theater at  2013 5th Avenue.