Disparity may lead to unrest

Activists say frustration over schools, housing and jobs could boil over.

Darren A. Nichols / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Could it happen again?

Several community activists suggest that frustrations over equal housing, joblessness and disparities in education in Detroit today could lead to a recurrence of violence. But others contend that multiracial efforts that include the business community and black leaders will help spare the region from civil unrest.

Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer offers a sense of hope, saying many are working on the problems that threaten to rip the city apart.

"The business community has taken the position they don't have to wait to be led," said Archer, mayor from 1993 to 2001. "They are going to invest and make sure the quality of life for the people in and around their business community will succeed."

Archer is an example of one other significant difference from 1967 -- established black statesmen who can readily respond and effect change. They're leaders as significant as U.S. District Judge Damon Keith, U.S. Rep. John Conyers and Detroit's third black mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick.

But without social and economic change, some warn, unrest could repeat itself.

"I don't want to be an alarmist, but I definitely think it could happen again," said Ron Scott, spokesman for the Coalition Against Police Brutality.

Scott pointed to a 2005 incident on the east side in which nearly 200 people began to rally against what they saw as a questionable traffic stop as the type of episode that could swell tensions.

"It's a time like we've never seen before with the economic challenges. I don't think people are dealing with it," Scott said.

A Detroit News poll found 49 percent of whites and 36 percent of blacks believe Detroit has not recovered as well as others or has recovered worst of cities that faced civil unrest in 1967.

Detroit remains one of the nation's poorest cities, with about 31 percent of city residents below the poverty line in 2005, according to the U.S. census. Unemployment in the region ranks at 18 percent for blacks -- 21 percent in Detroit.

In city neighborhoods, residents live with poor street lighting and police who rarely respond in a timely way.

They see disparities in grocery store access, insurance costs and taxes. The region's lack of reliable mass transit makes it difficult to get to the service jobs in the suburbs.

The Rev. Horace Sheffield III, Michigan chapter president of the National Action Network, said those conditions are reflected in Detroit, where young people direct violence at each other.

"You have a whole generation in their early 30s who have never known gainful employment, stability their whole lives, have violence perpetuated against them or engaged in it," said Sheffield, the son of a Detroit civil rights activist. "I don't see that lasting on a perpetual basis. At some point, when they continue to see that contrast (with those who have more opportunities), it's going to be a rude awakening."

Mike Fisher, president of the Detroit Community Initiative, said residents in his northeast neighborhood can't afford car or home insurance.

"I don't see an organized street-level action to fight oppression," said Fisher, a white Detroiter whose group is building low- to moderate-income homes.

"(But) at some point, people are going to resort to crime."

You can reach Darren A. Nichols at (734) 462-2190 or dnichols@detnews.com.