Speramus Meliora: "We Hope For Better Things"

There was a great deal of conflict about how to navigate the aftermath of the uprising following the Summer of 1967. Michigan Governor George Romney and Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh established the New Detroit Committee and appointed Hudson’s Department Store CEO, Joseph Hudson as the chair of the group. The New Detroit Committee was charged with managing the community rebuilding process and was composed of community members from the Detroit area.

There were several community-based organizations that were initially involved with the work of the New Detroit Committee, namely the Detroit Council of Organizations and the Federation for Self Determination. In the early days of the New Detroit Committee, there was grant funding made available to these community organizations, but there was significant disagreement about the stipulations related to the funding. Both the Detroit Council of Organizations and Federation for Self Determination had reservations about accepting the grant funding offered by the New Detroit Committee, as the stipulations made by the committee felt paternalistic on the part of the predominantly white committee. Ultimately, the Detroit Council of Organizations accepted the terms of the funding after deliberation, but the Federation for Self Determination rejected it on the basis that accepting the terms of the funding would run counter to the Federation’s mission. The members of the New Detroit Committee that were also a part of the Federation for Self Determination resigned after the Federation rejected the grant funding.

Several years after the events of the 1967 uprising, the New Detroit Committee released Beyond the Difference, a report detailing the work done by the committee.