Flashback: What Coleman Young really meant when he said ‘Hit 8 Mile’ 50 years ago – By Bill McGraw (Detroit Free Press) / Dec 30, 2023
Detroit ushered in its first Black mayor in January 1974 with a boisterous inauguration that stretched over three days.
Today, the celebration is largely remembered for four much-debated words in Coleman Young’s first mayoral speech that he delivered 50 years ago Tuesday.
“Hit 8 Mile Road!” Young said, addressing criminals in Detroit.
The mayor, who died in 1997, long maintained he was ordering lawbreakers to get out of town. But many suburbanites reacted with anger. They interpreted Young’s words as an invitation for crooks to invade the suburbs.
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