VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

U.S. Rep. John Conyers speaks at rally against Public Act 4 Jan. 2, 2011

By MICHIGAN FORWARD

March 12, 2012

Ranking Member U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released the following statement in response to the announcement that Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will present a proposed consent agreement to the Detroit City Council and the financial review team tasked with examining the city’s finances.   

As an elected representative of the City of Detroit and the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, I strenuously object to the “consent agreement” being proposed by Governor Synder.  The agreement essentially asks the City to forfeit its citizens’ rights in exchange for no tangible benefit.  Moreover it fails to address the concerns raised under Public Act 4 concerning the violation of voting rights and collective bargaining rights, nor does the agreement provide any sort of mechanism to guard against abuse and mismanagement by appointed overseers.

 My concerns include the following: 

Waiver of Legal Recourse – The agreement requires the City to abandon its ability to contest any aspect of this appointment, even those inconsistent with the suspension of the EM law; It does not authorize the City to obtain independent legal representation; and could force citizens to lose their legal rights to challenge any unconstitutional provisions.

No Financial Assistance from State – It provides the City with no bridge loan or financing whatsoever, in contrast with the precedent set in all jurisdictions outside of Michigan.  The agreement specifically acknowledges that it would impose significant new costs on the City, with no assistance from the State, even though the State owes more than $200 million in foregone revenue sharing proceeds. 

No Compliance with the Open Meetings Act – The agreement specifies that the Open Meetings Act applies to meetings of the new Financial Advisory Board, but does not eliminate the legal loophole being used by the State to avoid the law. 

Unfettered Authority Granted to State – It grants the Mayor the powers available under the EM Law, but only for such period and such terms as the Snyder Administration determines, and even those powers are subject to the new Financial Review Board.  The agreement also seeks to grant these very broad powers to other officials. 

Weakens Collective Bargaining – While one provision states the agreement does not grant the Mayor power to negate collective bargaining agreements (CBAs), other provisions give the Mayor legal authority to modify or terminate CBA’s. The proposed agreement also unilaterally terminates the City’s duty to bargain under the Public Employees Retirement Act.  Includes “least favored nations” clause effectively forcing unions to negotiate against each others’ interests. 

Does Not Protect Against EM Appointment – If at any time the Board is not happy with the manner the elected officials are operating under the consent agreement they can still recommend appointment of an EM or filing for bankruptcy. 

Indefinite Operation by Unelected Officials  – The agreement’s provisions can continue at the whim of the Board, even if there is no valid financial reason for its continuation.  It also requires the City to pay $1 million to Board Members if a court determines their termination is for any reason other than fraud, gross negligence, or willful misconduct.  This is unnecessary and gratuitous.

To read U.S. House Democratic Judiciary Report on the unconstitutionality of Public Act 4, click on Judiciary PA4.

Jessica and Stephanie Brown with their attorney Tracie Martin-Henry (center) meet re 2012 lawsuit vs. Detroit 300. They said the group, acting as an agent of the  DPD, threatened them inside a police precinct re: drive-by killing they had no knowledge of. 

By Diane Bukowski 

Commentary, March 12, 2012 

DETROIT – There is a war being waged by terrorists on the people of Detroit, particularly on our youth. It is NOT a war being waged BY the youth, nor a war being waged by those living in Detroit’s poor, majority-Black neighborhoods, without jobs, and frequently without homes, lights, gas, water and food.

Then acting police chief Ralph Godbee speaks to media in May, 2010 after the police murder of 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

The terrorists in question are those creating a virtual police state in Detroit, t0 increase the growing population of our prison nation, currently 2.5 million, the highest per capita rate in the world.

Pulling the puppet strings on the terrorists are the big-time criminals: the banks, corporations and politicians who have REFUSED to provide hope for the future of Detroit’s people.

In his state of the city address March 7, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing mentioned jobs only once, referring briefly to the Summer Youth Employment program. He had no jobs program for the rest of the year or the rest of Detroiters. In fact, he discussed further downsizing city government and departments which already provide thousands of jobs.

Bing at press conference Nov. 4, 2011 after bus drivers’ strike; he talked about protecting the drivers from “hooligans” and now has laid off dozens of drivers, mechanics and D-DOT workers, along with drastially cutting bus service in preparation for a handover to an authority with one board member out of ten from Detroit.

He did not call for an end to foreclosures and utility shut-offs. He did not call on the state to pay back the $220 million it owes Detroit, or use its $1 billion budget surplus to aid the poorest city in the country.

Instead, he focused much of his talk on so-called “public safety.” (Click on Bing State of the City 2012 )

“Public safety is a top priority of my administration,” he said. “. . . . this past week the U.S. Attorney’s Office, DEA, ATF and the Detroit Police Department announced that they have expanded their efforts on our city’s east side to crack down on violent crime. This will mean that those terrorizing our neighborhoods will be prosecuted federally and face stiffer penalties. . . .We can no longer tolerate this terrorism in our city, and, tonight I want to thank our dedicated community partners and the various community radio patrol groups. I encourage all Detroiters to join them in protecting our neighborhoods and demanding a better quality of life.”

Which brings us to the Detroit 300.

Non-laudatory  news about these “dedicated community partners” finally hit the airwaves March 9. (See video at top of article.) Two women, Jessica and Stephanie Brown, claimed members of the Detroit 300  terrorized THEM in their vigilante search for the killer(s) of infant Delrik Waymon Miller IV (search announced in video below; video of baby Delrik’s mother at bottom of article).

Delric Miller, 9 mos., killed in drive-by shooting in 2012.

They said Northwest Precinct Detroit police officers called downtown first to get the authority to allow Detroit 300 members to meet with the mother and daughter in an interrogation room. There, the women said, the Detroit 300 members repeatedly threatened and verbally abused them, insisting that they knew who the killer(s) were (common police interrogation tactics) before finally releasing them.

The women said they knew nothing about the shooting, but claimed the Detroit 300 had circulated their photos in the neighborhoods, endangering their own families.

How did the “Detroit 300” have the authority to interrogate ANYBODY, or to HOLD AND RELEASE anybody, whether in a police station or ANYWHERE?  They have repeatedly been lauded in the daily media. They announced their campaign to find the drive-by killers of baby Delric Miller during a press conference. Some Detroit 300 members wore hoods to conceal their faces. WHY? Are they undercover cops, perhaps? After this publicity, prisoners in the Wayne County Jail assaulted an individual police described only as a “person of interest” in the killing. 

WHO ARE THE DETROIT 300?

Raphael Johnson and Angelo Henderson with Detroit 300 recruits

“The Detroit 300 is a conglomerate of citizens, civic groups, organizations and businesses that are banned together fight & deter crime in our residential areas, also known as neighborhoods,” declares their website. “Its sole focus is to help communities organize to eradicate crime by policing targeted areas and collectively pursuing individuals who wreak havoc, mayhem, and terror therein (eg., murder, shootings, rape, burglary, robbery, assault & battery, burning of dwellings and stripping of homes.)

“The Detroit 300 was founded by Raphael B. Johnson (National TV Personality for the Maury Show/Community Activist) and Co-founded by Angelo B. Henderson (Pulitzer Prize winner/Radio Personality and Minister Malik Shabazz (25 year Community Activist). The group was born out of the Detroit community’s frustration with perpetual neighborhood crimes.”

Malik Shabazz, telling the public, “Don’t snitch, just tell”

Of course, Minister Malik Shabazz of the New Black Panther Nation is the same individual who has picketed alleged “drug houses” in poor areas of Detroit for years, always backed up by the police, themselves alleged to be frequent perpetrators of drug-trafficking.

The Detroit 300 incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2010, according the state’s business entity website. They have not yet filed their annual report with the state for 2011. Although they claim to be a non-profit, they are not listed with all other non-profits across the country on Guidestar.org, to which the federal government sends what are known as “990” tax filings for non-profits. Their incorporation documents are signed only by Raphael B. Johnson.

Their by-laws, posted on their website, (click on FINAL BY LAWS OF THE DETROIT 300[1])  indicate they have no actual members, but only a Board of Directors which is vested with all powers. The board may have from three to 11 directors, who maintain office until “death, resignation, or removal.” Removal is authorized only by other members of the board. There is no listing available of board members or officers.

Detroit 300 Looking for Clown Posse in Murder of Delric Miller: MyFoxDETROIT.com

VOD contacted Raphael B. Johnson by email to ask him the following questions: 

Teens learning to be cops at DPD Goodfellows summer program

1) Where is funding for your organization coming from? According to the by-laws, you have provisions indemnifying officers, etc. against lawsuits and even criminal charges, meaning you have some method of paying for legal representation at the very least. Is any funding coming from the Police Department or other law enforcement agencies?

2) Who ARE the people who sit on your board of directors, as well as officers like CEO, Vice-President(s), Secretary. Treasurer, etc.? They are not disclosed in your articles of incorporation, filed in 2010. Additionally, you have not filed an annual report for 2011 according to state records. Normally you would list officers on an annual report.

3) You are incorporated as a non-profit. However, there is no report on Guidestar.org, to which the IRS forwards all 990 filings of non-profit organizations, on the Detroit 300. You should have at least filed a form 990 for the year 2010. Are you reporting to the IRS? Please provide me with a copy of your certification as a non-profit from the IRS at the very least; I am requesting all copies of any 990’s filed as well. According to federal law, if I come to your office to request these materials, they must be provided within 24 hours, which I do plan to do if you don’t supply them otherwise.

4) What is your statement regarding the actions of your members on Friday, March 9, in interrogating two women at the Northwest Detroit Police Precinct? Not only regarding interrogating them at that site, but also about interrogating them at all? What right do your “volunteers” have to carry out interrogations?

5) Why did “volunteers” for your organization wear black hooded masks in the video announcing your campaign to find the killers of the baby? Are they undercover cops? How do you screen your members, psychologically and otherwise, i.e. how do you know they are not psychopaths?

6) What is your comment on the fact that prisoners in the Wayne County Jail beat up a “person of interest,” NOT CHARGED, in the killing of the baby after publicity on your campaign to find the killer?

7) How do you reconcile your activities with The Detroit 300 with your own prison past? Did you take part in snitching while you were in prison, since you advocate it now?

8) Why do you target exclusively Black, poor neighborhoods in Detroit for your patrols rather than the criminals who are running our society, including Gov. Rick Snyder, Wall Street, big corporations who are illegally foreclosing on poor and working people and destroying our cities, and on down that list?

VOD WILL PUBLISH MR. JOHNSON’S RESPONSE WHEN IT COMES. 

Meanwhile, our sympathies go out to ALL mothers, fathers and families of youth, children, babies and others who have been killed in the current onslaught of violence in Detroit. These are agonizing consequences of the level of despair and poverty in our city, when poor and oppressed people start turning on each other instead of the real criminals at the top.

Black Panthers’ free breakfast for children, Chicago 1970

In the 1960’s, the Black Panther Party and others ORGANIZED so-called “youth gangs” and educated them politically, totally contrary to the approach of the Detroit 300.  The youth assisted the Panthers in their provision of food and education to members of the community, and in their organized political campaign against the powers-that-be.

THIS is the solution to violence in our city, not more poor people, especially youth, targeted, arrested, brutalized, killed and/or imprisoned by the terrorists who are fronting for the wealthy military-industrial-prison complex and Wall Street.

Brandon Jessup, CEO of Michigan Forward, announces victory in the campaign to collect signatures to put Public Act 4, the “Dictator Act” on the November ballot. The 50 boxes next to him contain petitions with over 220,000 signatures.

By Diane Bukowski

March 1, 2012 

DETROIT – Hundreds of people who helped gather 228,000 signatures on petitions for a referendum to repeal Public Act 4, the “Dictator Act,” rallied Feb. 28 to celebrate their victory, then rode buses to Lansing the next day to hand boxloads of petitions over to the Secretary of State. 

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization bus takes off for Lansing Feb. 29; Maurren Taylor and Marian Kramer lead the way from front.

The State Board of Canvassers has 60 days to validate the signatures. Only 161,000 signatures are needed to put the referendum on the November ballot.  If they are certified, according to state law, PA 4 will be frozen until the people of Michigan have their say. 

 Brandon Jessup, the young founder of Michigan Forward who initiated the referendum drive and tirelessly coordinated the campaign, with the help of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, was jubilant as he announced the final total at Council 25’s Detroit headquarters Feb. 28. At the time it was 218,297, but it had surged upwards by the next day.  

Crowd cheers Brandon Jessup, Al Garrett, and other speakers at rally Feb. 28, 2012

“It was all of you and the thousands of volunteers across the state, 2500 of them, who talked to their families, their friends and their neighbors, who made this possible,” Jessup said. “It was you who told Detroit and Michigan to hold the line, help is on the way.” 

AFSCME International Secretary-Treasurer Lee Saunders addressed crowd

Jessup appeared to have lost a few pounds during the months since the grueling campaign began in June, 2011, but he did not let that get in the way of his stirring speech. 

“It was the spirit of the fight for self-determination that motivated us,” he told a cheering crowd. “We spoke to [Gov. Rick] Snyder and told him he can create the conditions for rebellion if he wants to, but he can only hold back the headwinds for so long.  He will pay in November for taxing pensions, cutting children and families off welfare, closing schools, and appointing emergency managers like Pharaohs, because 1.5 million people will be going to the polls to vote for ourselves!” 

Language in PA4 indicates that emergency financial managers established under PA 72 are folded in under PA 4. If it is indeed frozen, that should mean numerous frozen EM’s across Michigan. 

Signature approval should freeze PA4 and EM's (l to r) Louis Schimmel of Pontiac,Jack Martin of Highland Park PS, Joe Harris of Benton Harbor, Mike Brown of Flint, and Roy Roberts of Detroit PS

The apparent referendum victory appeared to have thrown the camp of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder into some confusion. State Attorney General Bill Schuette has said that if the signatures are certified, PA 4’s predecessor, Public Act 72, would be back on the books. He has yet to establish a legal rationale for that. Meanwhile, legislators are scrambling to come up with bills to prevent the freezing of PA4 and its emergency managers.

Attorney Herb Sanders, who co-coordinated the start of the campaign against PA4 with Detroit Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, speaks at rally; Councilwoman Watson was also present.

State Treasurer Andy Dillon extended the deadline for Detroit’s emergency review team to report back to March 28, and meanwhile Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has announced he is working on a package with Snyder to “restructure” Detroit and its finances.  Their negotiations sound suspiciously like what has happened in Inkster. 

Inkster’s review team has recommended a “consent agreement” to Dillon, meaning the city council and mayor have agreed to its terms. It appears that Mayor Hilliard Hampton may be endowed with the powers of an emergency manager if it clears. 

Even the children went to Lansing: former Detroit school board member Marie Thornton with granddaughter Tylynn on MWRO bus

Jessup said he came up with the idea for the referendum after Pontiac City Councilman Kermit Williams, who gave the invocation at the rally, approached him. Pontiac was the second city to fall victim to the dictates of PA 4 after Benton Harbor, and after three emergency managers now has the city’s entire assets on the auction block. 

“Poverbs 31 tells us to open our mouths and speak for the cause of the poor and the needy,” Williams said during his prayer. 

Michigan AFSCME Council 25 President Al Garrett

“Today is a great day for Detroit, the citizens of Michigan and of the nation,” Attorney Herb Sanders told the crowd. Sanders entered the fray with his sleeves rolled up on behalf of AFSCME Council 25. He is one of the attorneys who at the instigation of Detroit Councilwoman JoAnn Watson filed suit to stop PA4. 

“We faced a mountain of despair, but now we can talk about the hope we have for the people of Michigan,” Sanders said. “There have been over 60 pieces of anti-labor, anti-poor legislation passed in Lansing since January of last year. But every signature gathered represents a stone of hope as it relates to the mountain of despair, and we plan to take those stones to Lansing tomorrow to build a mountain of hope.” 

State Reps. Harvey Santana and John Olumba, with Pontiac City Councilman Kermit Williams at right, were among those who led the battle.

AFSCME Council 25 Secretary Larry Roehrig is from Flint, another victim of PA 4. He segued from Sanders talk, saying, “If we have enough stones, they will become an onslaught of projectiles, from people of all faiths, all colors, from Detroit, Marysville, Saginaw, Benton Harbor, Monroe and everywhere. This is the toughness of my union brothers and sisters.”

 Council 25 President Al Garrett reminded the crowd, “This is just a first step. Next we need a constitutional amendment to make sure that every worker in the state of Michigan has a right to belong to a union. The pension tax has to be on our agenda to be repealed. We have to stop the cutbacks in public workers’ wages and benefits.” 

AFSCME Co. 25 Secretary-Treasurer Larry Roehrig of Flint coordinated campaign there

Garrett said the AFSCME International Union had provided funds to pay clerical workers to enter the petition signatures into databases for use in the upcoming campaigns, recognizing that PA4 and other Michigan legislation is part of a “coordinated attack by ultraconservatives across the county.”

 He introduced AFSCME International Secretary Lee Saunders, who ticked off  peoples’ victories so far in other parts of the country.

Wisconsin residents submitted over 1 million signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker

 “Gov. Scott Walker took collective bargaining away in Wisconsin, but the people there have since recalled two state senators and in a couple of weeks will have more than a million signatures to recall Walker,” Saunders said. “We needed 251,000 signatures in Ohio to put collective bargaining on the ballot, and collected 1.3 million! We won that vote by a 2 to 1 margin!”

 Maureen Taylor, president of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, said they had appealed to the U.S. Justice Department to monitor the PA4 referendum process in Michigan, but were told that they could not intervene because it was a “local issue.” 

Pres. Barack Obama greets Gen. David Patraeus, then commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, now coordinator of U.S. wars across the region' at leat 50 percent of U.S. bvdget goes to military, not to suffering cities

The Justice Department is headed by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, President Barack Obama’s appointee. So far, that Department has failed to initiate an investigation of the use of PA 4 to disenfranchise predominantly Black cities across Michigan, as requested by U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-Detroit). The Democratic Caucus of the Judiciary Committee on which he sits has however issuing a scathing report condemnding PA 4 for violations of the Voting Rights Act. (See separate story.)

Several speakers at the rally, however, took the opportunity to connect the PA4 campaign with the campaign to re-elect President Obama in November. 

There was no discussion of alternatives to the Democrats and Republicans, both of them funded during the class war that is happening across the U.S. by the infamous 1%.  The 99% have weighed in so far in Michigan to defeat Public Act 4, but it remains to be seen if they will take on the battle that Occupy Wall Street has called for, on a mass level, instead of focusing solely on the voting booth.

Heroes of the Paris Commune, who established a people's government there in 1871 before it was drowned in blood. History has proven them right..

Maura Corrigan demands City Council hand over Detroit Department of Human Services/ March 2, 2012

 State illegally withholds $8 million meanwhile, causing thousands to go without services; no documentation for charges of mismanagement 

State wants Wayne Metro CAA to take over; WMCAA board meeting Thursday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at 2121 Biddle, #102 Wyandotte, MI

By Diane Bukowski 

March 3, 2012 

DETROIT - NOVEMBER 20: A pedestrian walks by graffiti on a downtown street November 20, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. An estimated one in three Detroiters lives in poverty, making the city the poorest large city in America. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

DETROIT – Maura Corrigan, who cut 15,000 Michigan families off public assistance and then recently called most of them part of “the underground economy” and “gamers” in published remarks, came to Detroit March 2 to demand that the City Council voluntarily cede control of the Detroit Human Services Department. 

Corrigan said she wants the Wyandotte-based Wayne-Metropolitan Community Action Agency (WMCAA), run by an 18-member board dominated by wealthy suburban and corporate representatives from areas like Grosse Ile, to take over after DHS is de-designated as Detroit’s “community action agency.” 

Her reason? 

“Our goal is that Detroit residents receive every single cent of government assistance that is due to them,” Corrigan said. Corrigan is head of the state Department of Human Services, appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder. She was previously a right-wing State Supreme Court justice. 

Corrigan said the state is withholding nearly $8 million in federal community services block grants from the city’s DHS, and will not renew the contract for the city’s $17 million home weatherization program March 31. After not being paid for several weeks, contractual weatherization workers were laid off Dec. 14, leaving hundreds of Detroiters, mostly seniors, with half-completed work on their homes. 

The rest of the department is essentially shut down, according to Cecily McClellan, Vice-President of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees. No funds have come in from the state since Oct. 1, 2011. She said there are no funds and personnel left for the department to distribute emergency food resources, pay back due energy bills, prevent evictions, and repair houses using mainly small Black contractors, who are also not being paid. 

“The funds are already suspended,” Councilwoman JoAnn Watson told Corrigan. “Our people are not able to get service, and because they were cut off welfare by the State, the only place they can go is the city, and now they cannot get service there either because the state is illegally withholding the funds. These grants (WCMAA board meets Thurs. March 15 at       were intended for the people of          2 p.m. at 2121 Biddle, #102 Wyandotte, MI.)  Detroit to have services and employment.” 

Chris Griffiths demands the City Council stand up to Corrigan, while Bertram Marks and APTE V-P Cecilyn McClellan listen

Corrigan said a joint investigation by state and federal inspectors along with the FBI is going on to turn up “potentially illegal misuse of funds.” She threatened that if the Council did not agree to voluntarily give up control of DHS, “we will move forward with adversarial proceedings to de-certify DHS as a community action agency.” 

During her exchange with City Council members, Corrigan refused to address them by their titles, for example calling Councilwoman JoAnn Watson “Ms. Watson.” She snubbed city residents who packed the chamber in support of the city’s DHS by walking out before public comment. 

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson tells Corrigan the state cut-off of funds to DHS is illegal.

“Those folks who just left think we are stupid,” said one speaker afterwards. “I’m not stupid, I have two college degrees and studied law. Nobody in this room is stupid. But she said the people of Detroit don’t understand. She threatened you [the Council] with no basis. She even said she lost the paperwork involved. Do not give away DHS simply because they walked in here and asked you to.” 

During public comment, Chris Griffiths stood to declare, “I speak for the people of Detroit in asking you to disapprove the transfer of funds belonging to us. The people of Detroit need jobs and we will lose those jobs if this happens. Corrupt individuals from the state have come in under the pretense of helping us but they are robbing us.” 

Angeles Hunt of DHS advisory board tells Council to stand up for DHS

Angeles Hunt, who is a City of Detroit retiree and now serves as an elected member of the Human Services Commission, said, “I want to know how this can be done without even any notification to us. The City Council must fight for DHS.” 

Several building contractors testified that they are owed millions in funds for work they have already done in the weatherization program. 

In an aside, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said regarding Mayor Dave Bing, “We have one administration locked up, maybe we need the current one locked up too.”

Bing has already agreed to a voluntary de-designation of DHS in an exchange of letters with the governor’s office, although he is not authorized to do so without City Council consent according to law.  He did not bother to come himself or send representatives to the Council hearing, enraging many Council members as well as the public. 

Only Council President Pro-Tem Gary Brown openly supported voluntary de-designation. 

“I wholeheartedly believe that the city ought to get out of the business of things it doesn’t do well,” Brown said. “I support a Detroit-based Detroit-headquartered entity [like the Detroit Urban League] being designated.” 

Corrigan however countered that  a “community action agency” has to comply with specific requirements, and that  since Wayne Metro is already a CAA, it can continue services without fund cut-offs while Requests for Proposals for private contracts are submitted. She said the City of Detroit would not be eligible to submit such a proposal.

“Last spring, we became aware of severe problems with DHS,” Corrigan said. “They have fallen far short of what is required by federal law even though the state provided technical assistance. . . there is strong evidence of years of mismanagement, misuse of funds, and criminal activity.” 

Standing room only crowd packed Council chambers 3 2 12

Corrigan claimed “50 to 74 percent of the money” allocated to DHS went to residents who were ineligible.  She claimed the department was double-billing the state DHS and Department of Education for various services. She did not produce evidence of this, claiming it was currently under wraps due to the criminal investigation. 

Corrigan claimed she had provided the City Council with numerous notices of illegal DHS practices, but Councilman Kwame Kenyatta, who heads the Community Services Committee, said his committee has not received any such notices. 

Councilman Gary Brown speaks in favor of de-designation of DHS

VOD obtained a package of reports on the city’s DHS by the Bureau of Community Action and Opportunity, the subdivision of the state’s DHS which has the ONLY authority to recommend de-designation. The reports are dated in August, 2010, June, 2011, and December, 2011. They completely contradict Corrigan’s allegations. (To view entire package including state audits of DHS, federal and state regulations for de-designation of a CAA, and exchange of letters between Mayor Bing and the Snyder administration, click on https://sendnow.acrobat.com/?i=WCiYm2hHKOFvMQAhdE0EYg . This download is only available for 7 days from date of this post, so it would be helpful to print it out. Document was too large for attachment to this post. If you miss the deadline, email VODeditor@hotmail.com and we will send you a copy.)

They are essentially routine reports on audits conducted of various divisions of the city’s DHS, which cite minor problems such as workers forgetting to include the quarterly DHS supplement for SSI payments in household income. That supplement is $41.00. The reports say clearly that the households would be eligible for service even with the funds included.  In some cases, the Bureau noted that DHS workers had incorrectly cited sources of income that should not have been included, but still allowed services. 

More Detroiters demand Council stand firm against state attack on Detroit DHS

In general, the Bureau says that all discrepancies they pointed out have been resolved, except for three findings, one of which was not the fault of DHS. 

 That was that the city’s budget and finance departments used DHS funds to pay $384,175 in interest on debt repayments for the $1.5 billion pension obligation certificate (POC) borrowing during the Kilpatrick administration in 2005. The state asked for reimbursement from the department. 

The Bureau also found that ONE two-member household was not eligible for weatherization assistance because its yearly income of $8,074.00 exceeded the poverty limit of $7,404. 

Councilwoman Brenda Jones opposed the voluntary de-designation.

The state also found that the department did not do criminal checks on a handful of contractual workers and asked that they do so. Nowhere in the reports does the Bureau recommend that the city’s DHS be de-designated as a community action agency.

(See box with requirements for de-designation, none of which Corrigan has followed. Also note box describing WMCAA board of directors, in particular its CEO Louis Piszker, who runs a for-profit agency out of WMCAA’s Ecorse office, mostly likely a complete conflict of interest. Perhaps Corrigan needs to be investigating WMCAA instead.)

Members of Young Detroit Builders who came to 2010 City Council hearing; three of them are now in college.

Since this story was published, VOD has found that funds the Detroit DHS provides to Young Detroit Builders (YDB) have also been cut. YDB is an educational and training program that helps young adults ages 18-24 earn their GED’s while getting hands-on construction training, doing community service and earning a living allowance. They receive counseling and mentoring as well. Many graduates of the program have gone on to college, including several of those in the picture at the right, who testified at a City Council hearing in 2010.

Officials said YDB funds administered by the city DHS are still owed for the months of August and September, 2011, and that no funds have been received from that grant since then. As a result, many of the workers who run the program have not been paid for weeks, and some have been forced to leave. YDB representatives who were present at the March 2 hearing were on the list to speak, but the hearing ended before they were allowed to do so. Their website is at www.youngdetroitbuilders.org .

Shenetta Coleman, former director of Detroit DHS (Photo from Facebook)

For background information on how Mayor Bing and the daily media conspired to dismantle Detroit DHS over the last several years, read the whistleblower lawsuit filed by Shenetta Coleman, former director of DHS, at Shenetta Coleman lawsuit best, Coleman alleges she was fired by Bing because she objected to the usage of DHS federal grant funds for renovation of the Herman Kiefer Health Complex in order to combine DHS with the Detroit Department of Health, for payment on the city’s POC debt, and to pay staff who did not work for DHS.

VOD: The City Council later sent a letter to Corrigan expressing the majority’s opposition to voluntary de-certification of DHS.

Greg Thrasher

By Greg Thrasher, VOD Washington Bureau

March 5, 2012 

One of the political realities of America today even during the Presidency of our nation’s first non-white President is the emergence of special interest political movements which have altered the legislative agendas of both state and federal political bodies. Here in Washington DC the influence of the Tea Party unlike any other special interest political movement has paid dividends.
 
The Tea Party has created an atmosphere that has influenced Congress and to a lesser extent the White House. The push for a smaller government with drastic cuts in government programs and expenditures is real in the beltway.  Even the Department of Defense has produced an austerity budget.

President Barack Obama has tendered a budget which proposed cuts in federal spending in excess of $4 trillion as well as reductions in existing entitlement programs This theme of smaller and compressed public spending and budgets now is a national trend in every state across the nation. What is insane about this national plea is that even seniors and others who are recipients of federal aid and support have surrendered      Washington, D.C.: Tea Party rally       to this madness and even promoted cutting their own federal benefits from Medicare to social security. 

Postal workers in Detroit protest drastic cutbacks

The national government spending cuts forecast a future of less government workers from postal clerks to reduced military troops and national military bases . The results of such large scale reductions in our federal budget simply mean more unemployment, and reduced healthcare and pension benefits. The dependents of federal employees, from spouses ,children and care givers,  will have to find a way to stay afloat when the breadwinners of these families are laid off and civil service jobs are eliminated. 

President Barack Obama

Instead of fighting back and becoming more vocal against the Tea Party movement and others who seek to shrink the federal budget, public workers’ unions are capitulating to the objectives of those who seek to reduce federal spending. The reality is that even traditional non-profit organizations, which have as part of their charters that they must care for the general welfare of their members, are also retreating and offering token pushback to the cries of reducing and cutting spending in Washington. 

Of course a progressive nation with an agenda that promotes the well being of its citizens must challenge the trends of downsizing government spending by all means necessary. It is incumbent on all of us to influence and demand that these groups challenge our President. We must articulate to President Barack Obama that his proposed budget cuts are not acceptable and more importantly he must change his course . Progressive leaders and activists must engage the president during his reelection campaign to realize that unless he steps up and protects the jobs of public employees and programs which help the poor, seniors and our children,  President Obama will not get our support in November.
 
We cannot allow special interest groups like the Tea Party and backward factions of the Democratic Party to shape and influence and create national policies that are against our interests and put all of us in peril. We must aggressively mount our own political  movement that goes beyond protesting in the streets to becoming unoccupied in the voting booth. Unless political power works for us in 2012, our political allies become our adversaries not our advocates.

greg_thrasher@msn.com

Ramarley Graham, 18, shot to deathy by NYPD in his own home as family watched

© By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.

February 19, 2012

NEW YORK CITY — Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson owes his job, as chief prosecutor, to C. Vernon Mason and myself.  It shows that two Black attorneys, pro bono, can secure more justice in New York than a slew of Black selected officials.  It started with a takeover of the World Trade Center in 1985 arising out of the death of Michael Stewart.  

NYC graffiti artist Michael Stewart in coma before his death at the hands of New York transit police

The problem, in 1985 with the fatal beating of Michael Stewart, was the same as the problem in 2012 with the police-sponsored death of Ramarley Graham in his home.  At least two members of the New York Police Department are credited with the death of Graham.  Eleven police officers of the NYC Transit Authority were credited with the fatal beating of Stewart. 

District attorneys are openly hostile to the notion of prosecuting cops for killing Blacks.  In the death of Michael Stewart, it took two grand juries before 11 cops were indicted for his fatal beating.  The Manhattan district attorney was stone-walling the investigation.  Similarly, no grand jury has been assembled to investigate the death of Graham. 

Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson

 Johnson became the first person of African ancestry to occupy the office of prosecutor in any of the sixty-two counties in New York.  District attorneys have symbiotic relationships with police agencies.  They prefer not to investigate and prosecute police personnel. (VOD editor: note record of Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who has not charged a single Detroit cop herself in dozens of unjustified killings.)

 The two suspects in the death of Ramarley Graham are members of the NYPD. 

Regarding Johnson as Bronx district attorney, Blacks and Latinos alone can re-elect him.  On the other hand, the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association can gather and collect evidence in addition to its members giving testimony in criminal proceedings but the PBA lacks the political clout to elect a district attorney in the Bronx.  

Rev. Al Sharpton

Nearly a month after the death of Graham, no grand jury has been sworn to investigate this killing in his home.  There is no obvious justification for the delay in the investigation of the Graham killing.  Delay only helps the defense and weakens the criminal investigation.  An indifferent prosecution can lead to an acquittal. 

 Rev. Al Sharpton is demanding justice on behalf of the Graham family while he has a desk next to the New York state attorney general.  This desk was promised to Rev. Sharpton during the campaign for state prosecutor.  The New York State attorney general is obviously listening to Rev. Sharpton who is also a close friend of Gov. Andrew Cuomo.  He is the “water boy” for the Democratic Party. 

 This appears to be an open and shut case.  The police lacked probable cause to enter his home.  No one observed Ramarley engaged in criminal activities.  The police entered Graham’s home without consent, probable cause or a warrant.  No life was being threatened.  Nonetheless, the police fatally shot Graham in the chest.  See earlier VOD article with videos at: http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/02/07/police-shoot-unarmed-nyc-teen-to-death-at-home-in-front-of-his-family-including-six-year-old-brother/ 

Wayne County, MI Prosecutor Kym Worthy

The shooting happened on February 2, 2012.  As of February 18, no grand jury has been empanelled to investigate the shooting.  Soon, the shooting will be ready for the cold case file.  New York is prepared to cough up hush money to Graham’s next-of-kin.  It is not prepared to send a police officer to prison for killing a Black youth. 

 New York has made it clear that only a personal injury lawyer may participate in cases of police criminality or police brutality.  Lawyers must accept a stipulation for hush money.  There is no room for a private attorney general.  A public trial, for hush money, is out of the question. Moreover, there must be no jail time for the shooter. 

 I am the only person in the United States who has ever secured a special prosecutor in two racially-motivated cases.  The reason is simple.  I am not afraid to bargain with whites.  A slave is not entitled to the right to bargain and there is no demand for justice.  Whites know that I will put a demand on the table ab initio. 

 A demand includes a declarative statement followed by “or else”.  When it comes to life, liberty and property, I am a person who “says what I mean and mean what I say”.  Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. said it best:  “A man who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for.”  It boils down to philosophy, logic and ethics. 

Attorney Alton Maddox, Jr.

ALTON H. MADDOX, JR.         
CHAIRMAN          

UNITED AFRICAN MOVEMENT

TEL.: (718) 834-9034

FAX : (718) 884-8241
P.O. BOX 35
BRONX, NY 10471

VIDEO ABOVE: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on May 17, 2010, that juveniles may not be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for a non-homicide. Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and a MacArthur Fellow, presented one of the cases before the Court. Stevenson argued, in Sullivan v Florida, that a sentence of life without parole for juveniles is cruel and unusual punishment and, therefore, unconstitutional. The Court’s decision was issued in the companion case, Graham v. Florida.

By Diane Bukowski

March 1, 2012

KALAMAZOO, MI – In the first ruling of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court declared juvenile life without parole sentences for non-capital crimes unconstitutional in 2010, a judge here overturned the sentence of Michigan prisoner Anthony Shamont Jones, 50, on Dec. 21, 2011. He re-sentenced him to life with parole on Feb. 6.

Anthony Shamont Jones, flanked by attorneys Kimberly Thomas (r) and Deborah LaBelle (l) addresses court Feb. 2, 2012 Photo: Kalamazoo Gazette

Ninth Circuit Court Judge Gary C. Giguere, Jr.’ s ruling means that Jones will have the opportunity to go before the parole board, after 33 years in prison. Jones was 17 when he was convicted of first-degree felony murder in 1979. He ran from the scene before the victim, Kalamazoo store owner Ronald Hermans, was shot to death.

The ruling has raised the hopes of more than 350 Michigan prisoners who were sentenced as juveniles to die in prison. Jones’ attorneys filed his motion for relief from judgment based on the Graham v. Florida case, in April, 2011, after Jones had long ago exhausted all other appeals.

Ninth District Court Judge Gary C. Giguere, Jr.

Giguere cited Graham in his December ruling.

“In 2010, the United States Supreme Court established a new rule in Graham v. Florida . . . .” Giguere said. “In that case the U.S Supreme Court held that a sentence of life in prison without parole is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment, when imposed on a juvenile convicted of a non-homicide crime.”

He noted that although defendants are normally entitled to only one motion for relief from judgment, “a defendant may file a second or subsequent motion based on a retroactive change in the law that occurred after the first motion for relief from judgment [MCR 6.502(G)(2).”

Jones’ attorneys were Kimberly Thomas of the University of Michigan Juvenile Justice Clinic, Deborah LaBelle, and Daniel Korobkin of the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Giguere upheld all their arguments, which he cited in his decision.

They were that “1) his sentence is categorically unconstitional under the Eighth Amendment because he was less than 18 years old at the time of the offense and he did not commit the homicide within the meaning intended in Graham; 2) his sentence is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment because it is grossly disproportionate to his offense; and 3) his sentence is unconstitutional based on the Michigan constitution’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment because it is broader than the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.”

Attorney Thomas earlier wrote in a Michigan Bar Journal article, “ . . . . the most sympathetic 15-year-old accomplice to a felony-murder and the most sociopathic adult serial killer will receive the same sentence without any judicial ability to take stock of the difference between the two for sentencing purposes. This complete inability of a court to consider the gravity of the offense, including the culpability of the offender, results in disproportionately cruel punishment.”

She noted that Michigan has the second highest number of juveniles sentenced to death in prison of any state. The U.S. is the only country in the world that has this practice.

Giguere also cited a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roper v. Simmons, which outlawed the death penalty for juveniles and set the stage for changing judicial attitudes about juvenile incarceration.

“This Court finds persuasive and compelling the U.S. Supreme Court’s position that studies, statistics and general trends support the notion that juveniles have lessened culpability. . . .juveniles have a lack of maturity, an underdeveloped sense of responsibility, and an increased vulnerability and susceptibility to peer pressure and influence.”

Anthony Dunigan

Attorney LaBelle said in published remarks about Jones’ re-sentencing, “We will urge the parole board to immediately consider him. His co-defendant had that opportunity more than 20 years ago.”

Jones co-defendant Anthony Dunigan, who shot the storeowner during a struggle over the gun, pled guilty to second-degree murder and received a parolable life sentence. He was only 16 at the time and is still in prison. His situation highlights additionally the plight of thousands of the state’s parolable lifers, who were eligible for parole after 10-15 years, but have served far beyond the time their sentencing judges intended.

Juvenile lifer Edward Sanders’ case is almost identical to Jones’ situation. Sanders was convicted of first-degree murder in 1975 although he was not the shooter in an alcohol-fueled drive-by situation involving groups of teenagers, when he was 17.

Edward Sanders “keeping the faith after 36 years”

During his time in prison, Sanders attained a bachelor’s degree (before the state eliminated higher education for prisoners), and has assisted other prisoners with their legal cases as well as spiritually. VOD featured him last year when he was nearly killed by another prisoner known for his history of repeated violent assaults on other prisoners. (Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/09/06/sign-petition-to-transfer-edward-sanders-victim-of-brutal-prison-attack/ ).

Another of the state’s juvenile lifers, Dante Collingham, argued for justice for juveniles in an earlier VOD article.

“Some of the most powerful things that I read in the sentences that detail my history is the fact that a child has absolutely NO place in an adult prison, I see that a child has absolutely NO place within an adult court room, I see the fact Judges and Lawyers, Parents and Politicians were/are smart enough to do better for the most vulnerable sector of our society,” Collingham said. “Smart enough to adjudicate its children in a more responsible way that is directly connected to the spirit of rehabilitation that values a child’s potential, and that respects cutting edge science.”

Dante D. Collingham, “Voice of Juvenile Lifers”

What will happen in the future for other Michigan prisoners like Sanders and Collingham, as well as parolable lifers like Dunigan, remains to be seen. They all need attorneys like the three who won the Jones’ case, and judges like Giguere. In fact, they need judges who will sentence them to time served, and prosecutors who will not appeal such rulings, but that is not currently the reality.

Attorney LaBelle and the ACLU continue to pursue a federal class action complaint that would afford the opportunity for parole to juvenile lifers, “a meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on their demonstrated maturity and rehabilitation.”

U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara earlier dismissed the complaint, Hill v. Granholm, for all but one plaintiff , Keith Maxey, based on statutes of limitation. Since that time, LaBelle has added the names of Giovanni Casper, Jean Carlos Cintron, Nicole Dupur, and Dontez Tillman to the list of plaintiffs.

On Feb. 21, O’Meara allowed the case to proceed on behalf of Maxey and the newly added plaintiffs, but again dismissed it with regard to the other eight original plaintiffs. The final pre-trial conference on that case, which could affect many others, is to be held Jan. 23, 2013, with trial set for Feb. 5, 2013.

“This [U.S. Supreme Court] scrutiny should be a signal to Michigan to examine its own jurisprudence on juveniles receiving sentences of life without parole,” Attorney Thomas said in her article. “Michigan’s constitution, article 1, §16, provides broader protection than the federal constitution under its analogous ban on ‘cruel or unusual punishment.’ Further . . . .in many cases, juveniles sentenced to life without parole in Michigan will never have a judge assess anything about their individual culpability, maturity, or relative role in the offense.”

(Note following article on Tony Sparks, whose similar case has reached the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.)

By Michael Harris 

Published Feb. 29, 2012 

(VOD editor: This article is very timely considering the ongoing debate among presidential candidates over ex-offenders’ right to vote. In Michigan and some other states, ex-felons DO have the right to vote, but Mitt Romney and others have made it appear that is not the case.

In other parts of the world, voting ights for prisoners are viewed ifferently. The European Court for Human Rights recently overruled Britain’s blanket ban on prisoners’ right to vote. (For details, click on http://echrblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/voting-rights-for-detaines-reform.html. the website for the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.) 

Prisoners in China voting

The U.S. is one of the few countries that incarcerates people for life without parole, and the ONLY country that sentences juveniles to die in prison. Certainly, during these lifetime terms, prisoners should be enfranchised. Over 2.5 million men and women are incarcerated in the U.S., many unjustly. The participation of these millions, who know this system from inside the belly of the beast, would drastically change the landscape of elections in favor of poor and working people, Black, Latino, and of all races. Additionally, they could be COUNTED ON TO TURN OUT TO VOTE!) 

KINCHELOE, MI – I, on behalf of the local chapter of the National Lifers of America, Inc. at Kinross Correctional Facility, would like to share proposals with you that I have submitted to our executive board at Kinross. Our local National Lifers of America Executive Board has endorsed a proposal which I sponsor, for Michigan prisoner voting rights. 

We believe that it is long overdue for Michigan prisoners to obtain voting rights. Under Art. II Sec. 2 of the Michigan Constitution, and MCL 168.758b, Michigan inmates cannot vote in state or federal elections. We believe that those laws should be changed in favor of Michigan inmate voting rights. 

Michigan inmates are forced to pay sales taxes and medical fees, as well as “surcharges” on various consumer products. The Michigan Department of Corrections has been benefiting from those taxes and surcharges coming from Michigan inmate accounts. Those funds have been used for government projects, like building Michigan State Police offices, buying law enforcement tools to help officials locate cellular phones in Michigan’s prisons, and taser guns.

Michigan inmates pay for health care visists, surcharges on commissary items (commissary food items), catalog orders, and inmate phone services, which is one of the government’s biggest tax revenues for the Michigan Department of Corrections. 

Thirty percent of Michigan's budget is spent on prisons

We believe that if Michigan is going to have Michigan inmates pay taxes like first class citizens, then we should be able to vote like first class citizens. We believe that we can also make a difference on issues like adequate affordable health care, reduction in spending in the Michigan Department of Corrections, judicial reform, corrections reform, and support for economic growth in Michigan. We also would like to see Michigan with a new public corruption law that would “get tough” on public officials who violate the public trust. 

We would like to introduce our legislative proposal to the Michigan legislature, to have it voted on before the November, 2012 general elections, or have it on the state ballot for the November, 2012 general elections. But as it stands, we believe that it is hypocritical for Michigan government to make inmates pay taxes and surcharges, but not allow them to vote. 

We know that we face opposition. Because politicians and judges, as well as prosecutors, like to use that “get tough on crime” issue to win elections. We believe that if Michigan prisoners have voting rights, politicians would have to address corrections reforms. More spending in schools instead of prisons, and making sure that all inmates are computer literate, and skilled, which will help reduce crime.

The Michigan Department of Corrections has become a business, and it wants to keep the prisons full for two reasons: (1) to make money off Michigan inmates through taxes and surcharges, so that government budgets will continue to obtain financial relief. (2) to create government jobs, and wrongfully make it appear that the economy is back on track. 

We would like to see term limits for federal judges. Not even the President of the United States has a life-time job. We would like to see the Governor of Michigan sign an executive order, or the legislature create a new law, that would appoint a state cold case division of the Michigan Attorney General’s office, that would examine all claims of false imprisonment, regarding inmates whose cases have long been closed. We would like to see more commutation of sentences for inmates who have been rehabilitated, but are serving life sentences, and long indeterminate sentences. We would also like to see a cap on juvenile sentences for youth who were tried as adults for capital offenses. 

We would like to see amendments to state and federal post-conviction laws, which procedurally bar claims that are untimely, by those claiming actual innocence. 

We would like to have a say on what leaders are elected, and what leaders have control over our lives. If Michigan is going to insist that we pay taxes and surcharges, then Michigan should let us vote.

Cover of Whitney Houston family funeral program

 To view entire 12-page program for seven days from date of this post, click on the link below:

https://sendnow.acrobat.com/?i=-Nr32mmHRSYJ-pW5dGS2Rg

To view second version, click on WHouston_0001_NEW  (this version was size reduced because this site does not support size of original pdf. It will not be as clear as original document.) Kenny Snodgrass sent program to VOD>

WHITNEY HOUSTON (1963-2012)                  

[col. writ. 2/11/12] © ‘12 Mumia Abu-Jamal  

The death of songbird Whitney Houston, hit like a thunderclap.

At the age of 48, she was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel room, as of this writing, cause unknown. 

Her voice was an instrument at which one can only marvel. 

Apparently, many, many others felt likewise, for she sold an estimated 170 million records and videos. 

She won virtually every award available: Grammys, it seemed, by the double. 

But more important was her music: love songs, pop songs, ballads and show tunes that dazzled and delighted. 

Like “I Will Always Love You,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Savin’ All My Love For You,” “Run to You,” “You Give Good Love”–and many, many more. 

Her voice, her pace, her phrasing, her stage presence and her beauty were a package that virtually defined Star. Indeed, she was that rarest of creatures: Superstar. 

Ironically, the very media that savaged her for years, flipped into worship mode, when she was gone and could no longer hear them. 

Whitney Houston was a daughter, wife, mother and actress. Her songs will be heard, sung and loved for generations.