(CBS DETROIT) – After a 57-year wait, the families of three young black men killed by police during the 1967 Detroit riots are getting the recognition they deserve.
What happened at the Algiers Motel on July 25, 1967, remains a thorn in the side of family members who have fought for decades to expose the reality of what happened that day.
Aubrey Pollard, Carl Cooper and Fred Temple were shot and killed by local and federal agents as they investigated reports of gunfire in the early stages of the riot.
Lee Forsyth lives with these painful memories, as he saw his best friends die that night.
“I see my room there. I’ve been here twice in 57 years. This is great, the memorial. It’s for someone else to remember. I don’t want to remember it,” Forsyth said.
He says he always knew what really happened, and a historical monument is beginning to confirm that experience.
“This day is long overdue. I am truly proud to be mayor when this historical marker is placed today to educate the next generation,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.
The truth will hurt some, but not like the pain that so many of these family members went through when they didn’t know their uncle, grandfather or brother. Ultimately, the truth will heal.
“Just to have this here is enough of an apology for me because they are being honored. This day can change the future,” said Cooper’s cousin Kevin Buchanan.
“By remembering the lives of Aubrey Pollard, Carl Cooper, and Fred Temple, and all those who were injured that night, we combat the dangers of forgetting and work together to build a better world where such cruelty and violence do not repeat themselves,” said historian Danielle McGuire.
McGuire was one of the few people who fought to reveal the truth. She says the historical marker not only undoes the damage done by suppressing this history; it also serves as a symbol that history should never be erased.
Jack Springgate
