July on a Sunday afternoon, as Aretha Franklin's "Never Loved A Man" song could be heard from a neighbor's radio ......W. Forest and 15th St. broke out in chaos. The scretching sound of cars racing around....people shouted call the police as those cars were filled with store merchandise. Someone said there are no police available and all they got was a busy signal. However, police did show up and all I remember is as the sound of gun shots rang out, I was swiftly being snatched up by my mom. That was the only the beginning of what would be a nightmare for lil kids like myself. Fire would later fill the skies as we look down the street to Grand River Ave and the loud buzz and smell of burning electric wire all around us was something I had never experienced before. Frighten, I asked my older brother, when he thought it would all end.....he responded don't worry it'll be over in a few weeks. His response would bring me to tears. Black outs, curfews, shooting and national guards would come rolling down the street that night. Never seen anything like it...it was the closes we'd ever been to an actual war.
