This session will briefly review the history of racism in the Detroit police force and the reconfiguration of the department in the period when Coleman Young was Mayor. We will then explore the more recent incidents of police violence toward Detroit residents, together with the federal investigation and consent decree designed to reign in police violence, raising the question: what role does race play in contemporary Detroit police behavior? Finally in the context of grassroots responses by Detroit residents to the challenges the city faces after abandonment and bankruptcy, we'll consider the work of the Detroit Coalition against Police Brutality (with its founder) and reflect upon some of the initiatives citizens have devised to address both police and interpersonal violence and to define alternative strategies for the pacification of neighborhoods. The session will be led by Stephen Ward and Charlie Bright (both Faculty, STP Program, RC) and Ron Scott, a long-time Detroit activist and media strategist who co-hosts a weekly political affairs radio program and is a board member of the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership.