The Detroit City Council is considering a four-day curfew that would extend across the annual fireworks and River Days festival.
Nolan Finley of The Detroit News thinks it's a bad idea, and offers a better one:
I walked past Hart Plaza on my way to the downtown fireworks two years ago at just about the same time police were herding a large group of teenagers into paddy wagons, vans and buses.
They were mostly younger teens; many were frightened and crying. And they were almost exclusively black.
At the same time, hundreds of white kids were strolling past them, with their blankets, picnic baskets and parents, headed toward prime viewing seats on the Detroit riverfront. The optics were jarring.
I wondered what message those scared black kids were processing about their place in this city, and in this world.
One group had parents escorting them to the fireworks, the editorial page editor notes, and the other didn't.
Finley suggests the city work with schools and churches to recruit volunteers to take small groups of kids to the fireworks and River Days.
The city's children shouldn't be shut out from the great things happening in their city.
