Tensions have reached such heights that one conservative TV commentator was recently compelled to say, "Detroit police had better reconcile their differences with the Black community rapidly or be faced with another '67." He was referring to the ghetto uprising that rocked this city in the summer of 1967.
The current situation stems from a predawn shoot-out Dec. 4 between four white STRESS police officers and three Blacks. STRESS (Stop the Robberies-Enjoy Safe Streets) is a group of plainclothes cops who have been involved in 16 known deaths-15 of whom were Blacks - since the group's inception one year ago. When the smoke cleared, the four STRESS officers were wounded and the three Blacks, identified as Mark Bethune, 22, Hayward Brown, 18, and John Boyd, 23, had escaped. On Dec. 27, Bethune, Brown, and Boyd were allegedly involved in the killing of one STRESS officer and the wounding of another. They are now the object of what has been characterized as "the most intensive manhunt in this city's recent history."
The Detroit Common Council, in an attempt to quell the growing antipolice sentiment in the Black community, held a public hearing Jan. 11. The hearing had to be moved to a larger auditorium because of an overflow crowd of 2,000 Blacks. The crowd was visibly angry. Relatives and friends of the suspects and others told of midnight raids on their homes, unexplained searches, physical abuse, and harassment. Police Commissioner Nichols attempted to read a statement defending the action of his officers but was repeatedly interrupted with boos and shouts of "Lies! Lies!" He finally left the meeting without completing his statement.
January 26, 1948
Prodded by hunger, the German working class is returning to
the arena of struggle. Dispatches from Germany report that
90,000 workers in Cologne have tied up the city in a general
strike. 100,000 workers in Nuremberg are scheduled to walk off
their jobs.
These strikes come on the heels of walkouts which occurred in various industrial centers of the Ruhr Last week involving at least 150,000 workers in basic industries. The workers returned to their jobs with the clear warning that they would resume the strike unless drastic measures were taken to improve the food situation.
British and American military occupation forces who rule the area are responsible for a policy of starving the people in their zones. It is now openly admitted that the promise of the Anglo-American bizonal authorities to maintain the daily diet at 1650 calories has never been kept. During the last weeks the daily diet has dropped to the famine level of 1100 calories daily, and little hope is held out that it will rise to even 1400 calories in the next months.