Word: motel
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When John Hersey, determined to do a book on the Detroit riots, chose to concentrate on the events at the Algiers Motel, he had settled on an incident rich in tragedy and drama, one that is a good basis for a novel. He chose, however, to explore the situation in a work of reportage, foregoing his opportunity, as perhaps the best-informed observer of the affair, to propose answers to moot questions and to make judgements on the players and the action of the drama. One wishes he had written the novel, or at least darned the holes...
...three Detroit policemen involved in the affair, Patrolman David Senak, would seem capable of the kind of thinking which could produce the savage beatings and indiscriminate killing that resulted from the discovery of eleven black men and two white women in the same part of a motel...
Senak had shot and killed two men that Tuesday before being called to the Algiers Motel...
...only one of the murders which can be ascribed to a definite killer. His colleagues, attempting to frighten the civilians into revealing the identity of the non-existent sniper, had taken several of the blacks into separate roms, fired some shots into the ceiling, and returned to the motel residents left lined up in the hallway saying things like "that one didn't even kick." One of the other officers then asked August, "Do you want to kill one now?" August answered, "Yes," and, not being aware of the nature of the "game," took Aubury Pollard into...
...Algiers Motel incident is one of unique significance on the current American racial battleground. It deserves a better treatment than this book gives it. Hopefully it will get it sometime soon...