Detroit exclusive featurette: How the US army turned the city into a war zone during the 1967 riot
'It reminded me of my military experiences... it was like an invasion'
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Your support makes all the difference.Kathryn Bigelow's camera can navigate war zones - in The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty - but the streets she captured in her latest film weren't those of a battleground. This was an American city invaded by its own army.
In 1967, police raided an unlicensed speakeasy in Detroit, the Blind Pig, arresting all of its occupants, all of them black. The move sparked a widespread riot in the city, as black citizens retaliated against the police's reign of prejudice and brutality.
In response, Governor George Romney sent in the National Guard, while President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in paratroopers. 8,000 national guard marched into the city, alongside 4,700 combat troops, and 360 state police. The result left 43 individuals dead, 1,189 injured, while 7,231 were arrested and more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed.
Detroit became almost unrecognisable as the troops rolled in. As part of a new featurette for Bigelow's Detroit, US Congressman John Conyers Jr. relays that "it reminded me of my military experiences... it was like an invasion."
Mark Boal, the film's screenwriter, also describes some of the men's dangerous inexperience, as former Detroit police officer Ike McKinnon tells the story of police firing at a young person who had come to the window, mistaking them for a sniper.
Detroit is out now on Digital Download and Blu-ray & DVD from 8 January.
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