Protesters disrupt Gov. Rick Snyder’s Speech To Detroit’s Council of Baptist Pastors at Bethel East
A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass
The appearance by Gov. Rick Snyder at the Council of Baptist Pastors in Detroit was disrupted Tuesday, June 26, 2012 when several dozen protesters and activists disrupted the meeting with shouts and chants about the emergency manager law etc. “Are you going to make sure the repeal gets on the ballot?”
Later when Gov. Snyder was asked another question about the repeal, by Rev. Charles Williams II, which was considered another disruption, Snyder was whisked out of the Bethel Baptist Church by his security detail.
The meeting took place at Bethel East Church on Detroit’s east side, Rev.Michael Owens the pastor.
A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass
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New Marcus Garvey Movement protests Snyder at Bethel East church June 26, 2012.
SNYDER RUNS FROM ANGRY DETROITERS
Protesters pledge escalation of fightback
By Diane Bukowski
July 2, 2012
- Protesters said Snyder had “gall” to come to Bethel Baptist East on Detroit’s poor east side.
DETROIT – Opponents of Public Act 4 and other anti-Detroit legislation ran Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder out of the heart of the city’s east side June 24, chanting as he stood to speak, “Pay us our money!” They were referring to over $307 million in debt owed by the state to Detroit, cited in Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon’s June 1 lawsuit.
The Detroit Council of Baptist Pastors had invited Snyder to speak at Rev. Michael Owens’ Bethel Baptist Church East. Towards the end of the session, Rev. Charles Williams II of the National Action Network stood and loudly asked Snyder, “Are you going to honor the decision of 260,000 voters? Are you going to make sure Public Act 4 is on the ballot?”
- Rev. Charles Williams II
PA4, passed in 2011 with Snyder’s full support, has so far disenfranchised over half of the state’s African-Americans. It has put in place emergency managers with unlimited powers, or draconian “consent agreements,” in Detroit, Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Flint, Inkster, Highland Park, Muskegon Heights, and other majority-Black cities.
Snyder looked around nervously and abruptly sat down after Rev. Williams’ question. Then Rev. Owens and Snyder’s security team rushed him out of the church, as a woman called out sarcastically, “What’s wrong?”
- Gov. Rick “Sniper” Snyder
“I would have more respect for the governor if he had said ‘no I’m not going to let PA4 get on the ballot because I don’t believe in it,’ Rev. Williams said afterwards. “But he’s just going to go to running? This is not a game. People’s lives are on the line, justice and democracy are on the line. He answered nothing about what he’s going to do about the money the state owes the city. What about the amounts other than the $220 million [in revenue-sharing]?”
Williams added, “Snyder has a gun to Krystal Crittendon’s head telling her she will be fired for doing her job, but we’re planning an escalation of protests against him until number one, he vetoes the voter suppression bills and number two, he gets Public Act 4 on the ballot,” Williams said. “Why is he running from 260,000 signatures?”
He said it was likely that Snyder ventured into the poor neighborhood on Holcomb near Gratiot only because the Council of Baptist Pastors had promised him that all discourse would be polite.
Rev. Charles Williams leads NAN march against Snyder down Holcomb June 26, 2012
Two demonstrations, sponsored by the Detroit chapter of the National Action Network (NAN), and by the New Marcus Garvey Movement (NMGM), converged outside the church prior to the meeting.
- Richard Fields and Elaine May on Gratiot before marching to church.
“We have no rights in this city,” said NAN protester Richard Fields. “Many folks have no homes and even no food. I don’t understand why they’re not helping our city. Detroit is a viable city, if you help Detroit, you help the state. The children have no hope. The schools are in bad shape. Why don’t they put money in the schools?”
Elaine Mays noted, “There is real unrest in our city among everyone.”
“I call him Governor Sniper because he’s got Detroit in the crosshairs,” said Pastor L.A. Porche of NMGM. “The people need support, not the politicians.”
Stephen Malik Shelton, who grew up on Detroit’s far southwest side, said, “I think people’s outrage is triggered by his arrogance. It’s traditional for politicians to show up only when they want something. He wants support for the second bridge [across the Detroit River]. We already have one bridge, and the pollution from traffic there has never been addressed. When the Marathon Oil refinery got built, they promised us jobs, but those never materialized. Detroiters are beaten and downtrodden, and being pushed even further down, but we are getting ready for a fight-back.”
- Marathon Oil promised jobs in exchange for tax abatements when it built this refinery in Detroit; no jobs have been produced.
Many NMGM protesters carried signs demanding “No Bridge Card, No Bridge,” referring to the tens of thousands of poor people in Michigan who have been cut off public assistance under Snyder’s administration.
“His policies in our District’s schools have stripped citizens of all their rights,” said Detroit School Board member Wanda Akilah Redmond. “If a parent is concerned about what is happening to their child in school, they have no one to go to except Emergency Manager Roy Roberts, because we, the board, have no power to do anything.”
- Min. Malik Shabazz before meeting (r); radio talk show host Richard Hairston is behind him.
Minister Malik Shabazz, who led the NMGM march as well as the initial chants inside the church, said, “His policies of cutting women and children off assistance, his anti-union policies, forcing the consent agreement, which I call the ‘descent agreement’ on Detroit, and then threatening us with further consequences, are despicable. He is anti-working class, anti-poor, and anti-urban. Now he comes here to the Black Baptist pastors trying to get their endorsement on his bridge, which will cost taxpayers billions.”
Shabazz said he no longer works with The Detroit 300, the “anti-crime” group which he, Raphael B. Johnson, and Angelo Henderson initially set up. Many Detroiters consider it a vigilante organization. “They’ve lost their way,” he commented.
