ce, I will identify each event in thesequence as I see it from the Detroit riots of 1967 as referenced by Eldridge inPatterns of Racial Conflict.The first step in Gurr’s primary causal sequence: The Development ofDiscontent.At approximately 3:45am on the morning of Sunday, July 23, 1967,twelve police officers raided an illegal after-hours drinking club chartered asthe United Community League for Civic Actions (UCLCA), in a predominatelyblack section of downtown Detroit. The raid was part of a larger plan to closeDetroit’s after-hours drinking establishments, known as “blind pigs.” Mostblind pig raids didn’t result in many arrests, however on this night, policearrested some eighty individuals. As a result of the unusually large number ofarrests, a large number of patrol cars and vans had to be called to transport thearrested individuals. As this was happening, a group of about 200 spectatorshad arrived on the scene to witness the mass arrests. As the police left with theprisoners, many of the bystanders starting taunting and throwing bottles at thepolice. Smaller groups of teenagers quickly fanned out from the arrest site andstarted breaking store windows, throwing litter baskets and bricks and looting.A riot had begun. This blind pig raid along with the already existing racial tension in thearea constitutes perfectly Gurr’s first step in the primary causal sequence forpolitical violence. Discontent arising from the perception of relative deprivation is thebasic, instigating condition for participation in collective violence (Gurr, WhyMen Rebel, p. 13). Relative deprivation is defined as a perceived discrepancybetween men’s value expectations and their value capabilities (Gurr, Why MenRebel, p. 13). The blacks who rioted in Detroit were clearly experiencing a gapbetween their value expectations and their value capabilities. Blacks had a verystrong feeling that they were being discriminated agains...
