In a terrified voice, she spoke of her fears to Diana Nixon, a black oncology nurse and lifelong Detroiter. You would have thought this was a city of trolls. You know, we didn't bring the anger to ourselves. Most of it is fear. We're not going to hurt you.
People have to live together.
Of course, police-community tension didn't begin and end with Malice Green. Black distrust of white officers was the kindling that caught on fire 30 years ago this month, launching the worst urban unrest of the 1960s. And many believe that bitter anger on the part of police and National Guardsmen fueled and lengthened the riot. Under Young, blacks eventually comprised more than half the force. But the old fears didn't die, not by 1992, and not today.