City on fire: 50 years after Grand Rapids’ race riot

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Fifty years after a riot burned parts of Grand Rapids, the scars remain.

The 1967 race riot was part of a nationwide movement brought on by poverty, poor treatment and mistrust.

It changed the city forever.

Buildings were destroyed; hundreds were arrested; police ducked rocks, bricks and bullets. Many long-time residents fled for the suburbs.

Tonight on 24 Hour News 8 at 6 and 7, Target 8 investigator Ken Kolker and photojournalist Larry Gron examine the riot through the eyes of rioters, the police who responded and the innocents caught up in it.

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