The Intersection: A Detroiter Tells Her Story
A high school graduate in 1967, this WSU professor analyzes whether life in Detroit has improved since then.
During Detroit’s most infamous summer, Melba Boyd was a newly graduated Detroit Pershing High School alum. The 1967 rebellion, as she labels it, had a profound effect on her.
She is now chair and distinguished professor at Wayne State University’s Department of African-American Studies.
Speaking on Detroit Today with Host Sandra Svoboda, Boyd recalls her childhood in the city and life as an adult here, where racial power is tilted toward white society at the expense of African Americans. She finds the Kerner Commission was accurate when its members’ predicted society was moving toward two societies, “one black, one white, separate and unequal.”
“Certainly when the Kerner report came out,” says Boyd, “I remember very clearly that is spoke to the kind of racism [prevalent in Detroit].”
To hear their full conversation, click on the link above.
Original air date: March 10th, 2016
