The 1967 Riots’ Long Shadow on Detroit and its Chaldean Community
A tank patrols the streets of Detroit in the summer of 1967.
By Cal Abbo
“All I remember is the sound of gunshots. I was swiftly snatched up by my mom,” recalled Carrie Davis, who lived through the Detroit Riots of 1967 as a child. “That was only the beginning of what would be a nightmare. Fire would later fill the skies … and the loud buzz and smell of burning electric wire [was] all around us.”
In many ways, the Detroit Riots of 1967 represent a turning point for the city. At the time, few could see into Detroit’s future. Distorted memories of life before the summer of ‘67 offer a nostalgic glimpse into what the city was and a painful image of what it could have been. Recollections of the riots offer a chance to see the moments that tore Detroit apart, a city pushed to the brink by economic stagnation in a changing world, a hostile police force, and a downtrodden minority population.
The Rise of Detroit: A Brief History
Driven by exponential growth in the automotive industry and the factory hands it required, Detroit doubled its population in the 1910s and served as the fourth most populous city in the United States. By 1930, it nearly cracked the list of the top-10 biggest cities worldwide. At that point, Detroit was home to nearly three times as many residents as it is now. The key innovation in Detroit’s industrial boom was the scalable manufacture of large machines by an unskilled labor force. This attracted many immigrants, including the city’s first Chaldeans.
Its crowning achievement, and one that will last for centuries to come, is Detroit’s miraculous contribution to the Allied victory in World War II. Beginning in 1942, Detroit ceased production of all commercial automobiles and converted its factories to building tanks, jeeps, planes, ammunition, arms, and much more for the war effort. The prime challenge was to apply assembly-line strategies to building war machines, a feat that had yet to be accomplished. The success of Detroit’s grand efforts changed the course of history as we vastly outproduced the opposition.
The Willow Run Bomber Plant built nearly half of the B-24 planes ever made. Ford and Willys-Overland built a combined 660,000 military vehicles originally called “blitz buggies.” These cars were the first jeeps ever created and the quality of the vehicle spawned an entire brand of cars that enjoy extraordinary popularity today.
Chrysler’s Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, located in Warren, produced more tanks than the entire country of Germany during the war years. To do so, Chrysler fused together five six-cylinder engines they had been using in their pre-war cars. Among other things, General Motors produced 120 million artillery shells, 200,000 artillery shells, 13,000 navy planes, 38,000 tanks, 854,000 trucks, 3.8 million electric motors, and 198,000 diesel engines.
The Chaldean Mark
Many of the first Chaldeans came to Detroit to participate in the wave of new labor joining the factory floors of the newfound automobile industry. The original Chaldeans came just after the turn of the century and secured jobs to send money home or eventually bring their families to the States.
While some Chaldeans arrived in Canada and Mexico in 1899 and 1901, the first Chaldean in Detroit is probably Zaia Acho, who arrived around 1912 and started working for Ford. During WWI and the Sayfo, a genocide of Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs in the Middle East, many more Chaldeans made the journey. By 1925, there were about 35 Chaldeans in Detroit, and their families began arriving at an exponential rate.
The Chaldean immigrants were centralized in an area around 7 mile and Woodward that would later become known as “Chaldean Town.” The community began to build around that area, organizing churches, community centers, restaurants, and many other developments. As the older Chaldeans became seasoned Americans, they and their children began down an entrepreneurial path and specialized in the party store business. By 1923, there were already four Chaldean stores in the city. Today, about 60% of Chaldean households own a business.
More and more Chaldeans came to Detroit and sought employment within their own community. It was intimidating to go into the world and seek out a job without knowing the language of the new country. The original Chaldeans were happy to employ newer immigrants in their stores because of the family ties and trust that was present in those from the same villages. This led to a compounding of knowledge on how to run stores, and Chaldean families looked to buy their own stores once they had saved enough money.
Jerry Yono’s store, Imperial Market, was featured in Life Magazine in 1967. Signs with appeals for unity with their customers were the first choice of defense but rifles served as backup. Jerry Yono is wearing a white T-shirt, on the right, with his late brother, Sam, to his left. Customer volunteers hold rifles.
A Great City Falls
In the decades prior to the Riots, the process of decline slowly took root. A combination of mild factors contributed to the slow and steady decline of the once-burgeoning city. Automotive decentralization, which describes the process by which the automotive industry spread itself throughout metro Detroit, was a key factor. Between 1945 and 1957, the “Big Three” auto companies built twenty-five new plants in suburban areas like Plymouth, Madison Heights, Wixom, Livonia, and Warren. Many lower-tier manufacturers that supported the plants with parts and machines relocated as well.
A particularly salient example is that of Ford’s famous River Rouge complex. According to historian Thomas Sugrue, after its workers joined the United Automobile Workers union in 1941, Ford executives realized that such a large and centralized plant left the company increasingly vulnerable to strikes. River Rouge workers were known to be organized and racially diverse. To diffuse union power and reach new labor markets, Ford set up parallel operations in the suburbs. By 1960, only 30,000 people worked at Rouge, down from over 100,000 at its peak in the 1930s. This was the beginning of the end of automotive production in the city of Detroit.
As Detroit’s population exploded during WWII, it fell into a deep housing crisis, especially for the people who worked in its factories. The city’s Black population bore the brunt of the hardship as they were not welcome in many neighborhoods and new housing developments. Racial issues came to the forefront of politics as segregation continued to plague the city, which led to white flight from the city to the suburbs.
In the early 1940s, the issue of segregation became seriously escalated. Frequent fights broke out over the racial makeup of housing projects and attempts to integrate factory work. In June 1943, a fight and subsequent riot broke out on Belle Isle in which 34 people died. This and similar events changed many of the residents’ perspective on the city.
White families relocated to the suburbs because of their perception that the city was becoming dangerous, as well as the promise of a new life offered by the spacious cities just outside of Detroit. This created a self-fulfilling prophecy: businesses followed suit and moved out of the city, which led to a more depressed and dangerous Detroit.
The Black community, which slowly gained a greater share of Detroit’s population, was systematically disadvantaged in housing, employment, services, and infrastructure. Studies show they paid nearly 40% more in rent for the same units as Whites. Businesses moved away from their neighborhoods, and their housing units faced neglect and fell into disrepair. At the same time, the Black community in Detroit gained a sense of pride and purpose as a result of the growing Civil Rights Movement.
The 1967 Detroit riots marked a significant turning point for the Chaldean community and the city as a whole. Following these riots and the decline of the automobile industry, many of Detroit’s wealthier residents and business owners left the city. This exodus had a double effect on the Chaldean community. First, it created a vacuum that Chaldean businesses, especially grocery stores, stepped in to fill. White business owners fled from the city and sold their destroyed businesses to eager Chaldeans. At the same time, Detroit would still never fully recover from the damage accrued during 1967.
After the ‘60s, the Chaldean community remained resilient and continued to play a significant role in the city’s economy and social fabric, albeit under more challenging circumstances. Many Chaldeans who were able moved their families to the suburbs but continued to operate stores within the city.
The Riot and the Chaldean Experience
By the 1960s, race riots in urban areas were infamous for destroying large portions of cities. The Detroit Police Department was largely seen by the Black community as an abusive force that singled out their community. On the morning of July 23, 1967, cops raided an after-hours club and arrested 85 people on 12th Street. A crowd began to form, and someone threw bottles at the police and their vehicles, who retreated quickly. The damage was done, however, and the riot only escalated from there. In less than an hour, thousands of people were on the streets, looting whatever they could.
Sharkey Hesano was in the National Guard when the riots broke out. He lived just three blocks from where the riots began, and his family owned a store that quickly succumbed to the riot. “I got called in at 6 a.m.,” he said. “We were bussed down to the police headquarters by Greektown.”
Hesano and his crew were assigned to protect critical infrastructure like water treatment plants and power stations. It was mostly boring, he said, because rioters were focused on looting retail stores. He and his fellow service members walked perimeters around these critical properties but were never met with any resistance.
Perhaps the most surprising thing for Hesano was his experience with non-rioters. During a break, he would go into a fast-food joint to refuel. He found that all the customers were endlessly thankful for his service and helping protect the city from the riots, so much so that he never paid for his own food.
The next day, Hesano was deployed at the Jeffersonian Apartments, specifically a bank on the lower level that the government wanted to protect from looters. During parts of his rotation, he was stationed on the roof of the 30-story building, overlooking the city on fire.
As the riots calmed down, Hesano and the National Guard made their way to the Belle Isle bathhouse, where thousands of arrested people were being kept and looked after by the guard. “Detroit was home for me,” Hesano said. “I watched it burn, including my family’s store.”
Jerry Yono, who owned and operated a store on Linwood Street in Detroit, was present for most of the riots. “I stood outside my store while it was going on, talking to people in the street as they rolled by,” he said.
Yono’s store, which was popular in the Black community, was labeled with a special sign reading “Soul Brother.” After the riots broke out, Black customers from his store took up arms to defend his shop from looters and arsonists.
“The drug store across the street, which was owned by a Jewish family, was looted completely,” he said. “I watched them carry out a safe, put it into a Cadillac, and drive away from the store.” Yono added that other people went into the store and cleaned it out before burning it down.
Imperial Market, the name of Yono’s store, holds a special place in history. Its photo appears in the August 4, 1967, issue of Life Magazine that featured words and images of the riots. In the photo, you can see two Black individuals defending the store from inside as well as the words “Soul Brother” handwritten on a poster.
Other Chaldeans had their stores completely looted and burned. Mike Denha, who had a store with his family, tried to go to it when the riots started. The road leading to their store was completely blocked off by police, rendering the building inaccessible. Eventually, looters took the whole store and arsonists burned down what was left.
The Aftermath
Much like the Chaldean community experienced shared trauma from events in Iraq, they now have a shared trauma with the citizens of Detroit. Chaldeans are a resilient people; they persisted and prospered in the city and the surrounding suburbs. Many made the transition from convenience store owners to real estate developers, restaurant owners, and entrepreneurs, sending their kids to college, medical school, and law school.
The roots they planted in Detroit will continue to grow and enrich the communities in which they live, work, and play.