Stop Bank of America & Fannie Mae From Evicting the Henrys!
Tuesday, January 3
10:00 am: Rally and Press Conference at the home of Robert and Debbie Henry, 13694 Helen St. in Southgate exit I-75 at Northline Road (#37), east to Dix Highway, turn south and go 4 streets, left on Helen
11:00 am: Picket Bank of America’s nearby Southgate branch, 13763 Northline, just east of Dix Highway (aka Toledo Hwy), Southgate, MI
National Day To Stop Foreclosures! Detroit, Stop Evictions Now! – A No Struggle, No Development! Production By KennySnod.
Occupy Detroit, National Day To Stop Foreclosures and Evictions’ call for an end of foreclosures took the fight to one of the home of a Detroiter being evicted. Occupy demanded a Moratorium on Foreclosures & Evictions — Over sixty to seventy people protested Tuesday Dec. 6, 2011 demanding there be a National Moratorium on Foreclosures & Evictions. Saying banks have received government bailout money should better serve the people who provided the funds. The banks are getting very wealthy off of foreclosing on people’s homes, even though they took the $700 billion to do the opposite.
There’s a serious moral and ethical gap between us and what these institutions are doing. They don’t care about us, it’s all about the rich getting richer, we the people getting poorer. P.S., Occupy Foreclosures demonstration inhad participants support, including the UAW, Local and National Political Groups, Different Religious denominations, People Before Banks, Workers World, National Lawyers Groups etc. –
A No Struggle, No Development! Production By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com YouTube – I also, have over 234 community videos on my YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/KennySnod
Moratorium NOW!, Occupy Detroit, and People Before Banks rally outside Kyra Williams' home Dec. 6, 2011.
By Diane Bukowski
December 7, 2011
DETROIT—Detroiter Kyra Williams can celebrate the holidays in her home on Detroit’s east side now that Citimortgage has backed off her eviction, in the wake of protests by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, People Before Banks, and Occupy Detroit.
Kyra Williams (l) thanks supporters, with her attorney Vanessa Fluker at her side.
“Last night, we got a call at 6:30 p.m. from the attorneys representing the mortgage company,” attorney Jerry Goldberg announced during a rally outside Williams home Dec. 6. “They said they heard that Occupy Detroit was going to be in the courtroom tomorrow and they put it in writing to agree to let Ms. Williams stay in her home. We have to remain vigilant because they’ve reneged before, but this shows the power of our struggle!”
After being brutally evicted by police from their camp sites across the nation, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has begun an Occupy Our Homes campaign, with a website at http://www.occupyourhomes.org/.
Attorney Jerry Goldberg with Rob and Debbie Henry at rally Dec. 6, 2011
Over one hundred people in Detroit participated in the OWS National Day of Action against Foreclosures at Williams home. Earlier that day, they held a press conference outside the home of Rob and Debbie Henry in Southgate, who are slated for eviction Jan. 2, 2012.
Williams, whose church and community have assisted her in her offer to buy her home from her landlord, thanked the protesters as she stood side by side with her attorney Vanessa Fluker, also of the Moratorium NOW Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs. (Click on Kyra Williams flier for details of Williams’ two-year battle to keep her home.)
“I fight foreclosure cases every day in the courtroom, with everything I have,” Fluker said. “But that is an uphill battle. It takes people coming together as we have today to be victorious.”
Rob Henry with nieces at WIlliams rally Dec. 6, 2011.
She and Goldberg explained that seventy-five percent of evictions now are carried out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, using tax dollars against the people who pay them. The two agencies reimburse mortgage companies 100 percent of the value of the mortgage, even though the actual value of the homes in many cases have dropped up to 80 percent.
“It’s a silent bail-out of the banks,” Fluker said.
Goldberg added, “We have every right to demand that President Barack Obama issue an executive order declaring a halt to all foreclosures. During the Great Depression, 25 states passed laws that made it illegal to foreclose. Here in Michigan, moratoriums were halted for five years, while judges made arrangements for payments that homeowners could afford.”
Belva Davis, who fought with Moratorium NOW! to save her home, also spoke at rally Dec. 6.
Also present at the rally were Rob and Debbie Henry with their nieces. They are slated to be evicted from their Southgate home Jan. 2. (Click on OCCUPY Rob and Debbie Henry home for details.) Occupy Detroit held a press conference at their home the morning of Dec. 6, and protesters outside Williams’ home vowed to be in Southgate on that day to occupy their home.
Numerous others spoke at the rally, including Belva Davis, who won back her home after the intervention of the Moratorium NOW! coalition, Joe McGuire of the Direct Action Committee of Occupy Detroit, attorney Tanya Phillips of the National Lawyers Guild and Michigan Legal Services, activists Abiyomi Azikiwe, and many more.
Some of hundreds who rallied for Mumia outside Philadelphia courtroom last year as arguments to overturn his death penalty were heard; his supporters also demanded no life sentence, declaring he is innocent. Photo/Diane Bukowski
By The Associated Press
December 7, 2011
Mumia Abu-Jamal with son many years ago.
Prosecutors announced Wednesday that they will no longer pursue the death penalty against former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, meaning he will spend the rest of his life in prison for gunning down a white police officer nearly 30 years ago.
The decision by District Attorney Seth Williams, made with the support of the officer’s widow and the city police commissioner, comes after nearly 30 years of legal battles over the racially charged case.
Abu-Jamal was convicted of fatally shooting Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981. He was sentenced to death after his trial the following year.
Abu-Jamal, a one-time journalist who has been incarcerated in a Pennsylvania prison, has garnered worldwide support from those who believe he was the victim of a biased justice system. Hundreds of vocal supporters and death-penalty opponents regularly turn out for court hearings in his case, even though Abu-Jamal is rarely entitled to attend.
Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1970 at Philadelphia Black Panthers office, where he was Minister of Information
His message resonated particularly on college campuses and in the movie and music industries — actors Mike Farrell and Tim Robbins were among dozens of luminaries who used a New York Times ad to advocate for a new trial, and the Beastie Boys played a concert to raise money for Abu-Jamal’s defense fund.
His conviction was upheld through years of legal appeals. But a federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing after ruling the instructions given to the jury were potentially misleading.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to weigh in on the case in October. That forced prosecutors to decide if they wanted to again pursue the death penalty through a new sentencing hearing or accept a life sentence.
Mumia's attorney Judith Ritter, New York City Councilman Charles Barron, and Pam Africa, leader of the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, during Philly rally Photo/Diane Bukowski
The officer’s widow, Maureen Faulkner, has tried to remain visible over the years to ensure that her husband is not forgotten. They were newlyweds when he died.
According to trial testimony, Abu-Jamal saw his brother scuffle with the 25-year-old patrolman during a 4 a.m. traffic stop in 1981 and ran toward the scene. Police found Abu-Jamal wounded by a round from Faulkner’s gun. Faulkner, shot several times, was killed. A .38-caliber revolver registered to Abu-Jamal was found at the scene with five spent shell casings.
Abu-Jamal, born Wesley Cook, turned 58 earlier this year.
Children at Philly rally demand freedom for Mumia Photo/Diane Bukowski
His writings and radio broadcasts from death row made him a cause celebre and the subject of numerous books and movies. His own 1995 book, “Live From Death Row,” describes prison life and calls the justice system racist and ruled by political expediency.
Over the years, Abu-Jamal has challenged the predominantly white makeup of the jury, instructions given to jurors and the statements of eyewitnesses. He has also alleged ineffective counsel, racism by the trial judge and that another man confessed to the crime.
International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal (ICFFMAJ)
Phone: (267) 760-7344
Email: ICFFMAJ@aol.com
Desmond Tutu Calls for Mumia’s Release
Bishop Desmond Tutu
“Now that it is clear that Mumia should never have been on death row in the first place, justice will not be served by relegating him to prison for the rest of his life—yet another form of death sentence. Based on even a minimal following of international human rights standards, Mumia must now be released. I therefore join the call, and ask others to follow, asking District Attorney Seth Williams to rise to the challenge of reconciliation, human rights, and justice: drop this case now, and allow Mumia Abu-Jamal to be immediately released, with full time served.”
DA DROPS DEATH SENTENCE
The news that the DA’s Office of Philadelphia is no longer seeking the death penalty for Mumia is no news to supporters of the nearly 30 year Pennsylvania Death Row prisoner. However, because Mumia has for thirty years been subjected to torture on death row and because he is innocent, justice for Mumia will not be served by life imprisonment, but by his release from prison.
Mumia’s case is like thousands of other cases in Philadelphia in which the prosecutor, the judge, and the police conspired to obtain a conviction. One of the most important and least known facts of this case is the existence of a fourth person at the crime scene, Kenneth Freeman. Within hours of the shooting, a driver’s license application found in Officer Faulkner’s shirt pocket led the police to Freeman, who was identified as the shooter in a line-up. Yet Freeman’s presence at the scene was concealed, first by Inspector Alfonso Giordano and later, at trial, by Prosecutor Joe McGill. Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice asserted that withholding evidence of innocence by the prosecutor warrants the overturning of a conviction.
Free Mumia NOW!
The police investigation that led to Mumia’s conviction was also riddled with corruption and tampering with evidence. The recently discovered Polokoff photographs that were taken at the crime scene, reveal that officer James Forbes, who testified in court that he had properly handled the guns allegedly retrieved at the crime scene, appears holding the guns with his bare hands. The photos also discredit cabdriver Robert Chobert as a witness; his taxi, contrary to his testimony, is pictured facing away from the fallen officer’s car. This evidence hasn’t been reviewed by any court.
Our call to Seth Williams is that he honor DA Lynn Abraham’s 1995 promise to the city of Philadelphia that she would discard any cases where evidence surfaces that even one of the officers involved in an investigation lied in court or in written reports.
The D.A. may think that the case can be laid to rest by sending Mumia off to life in prison. But an aroused public, with the Supreme Court ruling the death sentence to be unconstitutional, is ready to challenge anew the entire trial. The same judge, jury, and DA that were involved in the unlawful sentencing process committed equally egregious violations in the conviction. This is not an ending, it is a new beginning for the movement supporting Abu-Jamal’s quest for release.
The December 9 forum at the National Constitutional Center, featuring Prof. Cornel West, will be preceded by an 11:30 a.m. Press Conference, at the American Friends Service Committee building, 1501 Cherry Street. Then the following day there will be a full-day of organizing and fundraising activities, Saturday December 10, at the Germantown Event Center, 5245 Germantown Avenue, beginning at 12 Noon.
For Interview Contact
Dr. Johanna Fernandez, 917.930.0804
Dr. Suzanne Ross, 917.584.2135
Dr. Mark Taylor, 609.638.0806
Ariana’s parents also asking supporters to come to custody hearing Dec. 12
By Diane Bukowski
DETROIT – Detroit’s heroic mother Maryanne Godboldo is calling on her supporters to pack the court Friday, Dec. 9 at 9 a.m., as Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy attempts to overturn 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles’ dismissal of all criminal charges against her. Giles said the charges violated protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
The hearing will be held in front of Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Gregory Bill.
Maryanne Godboldo speaks at Dec. 3 rally
“He will be reviewing the possibility of me going to trial after all,” Godboldo explained during a rally Dec. 3, held at Holy Hope Heritage Baptist Church on Detroit’s west side.
“Each side will present their arguments. But I am my mother and father’s child. They taught us who we are as Black folks, as Godboldos. We have survived over hundreds of years. We MUST fight for our children!”
Godboldo stood off Detroit’s Special Response Team, equipped with helicopters, tanks and assault weapons, for 12 hours Mar. 24 to prevent them and Child Protective Services (CPS) worker Mia Wenk from seizing her daughter Ariana Godboldo-Hakim, 13 at the time. Wenk wanted to force the child back on a dangerous drug, Risperdal.
Worthy subsequently charged Godboldo with discharging a weapon in a dwelling, felonious assault, resisting and obstructing police officers, and using a firearm during a felony. Her child was kidnapped and held in Northville Psychiatric Hospital for over six weeks, where she was indeed given Risperdal and other dangerous psychotropic drugs that are banned for use in children.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy
In addition, the hospital took Ariana’s artificial leg, which she had worn since birth, from her during her stay, forcing her into a wheelchair. There is evidence that she was also sexually assaulted.
“My daughter is coming along but she has her setbacks where she is in agony,” Godboldo said. “The Risperdal did far more damage than the immunizations whose effects led me to seek help for her.”
One of the institutions where Godboldo took Ariana to seek help, The New Oakland Child-Adolescent and Family Center, has been paid by drug companies to conduct trials since at least 2004. They first prescribed Risperdal for Ariana, then reported Godboldo to CPS for weaning her off the drug due to severe side effects.
Ariana's father Mubarak Hakim chairs rally Dec. 3, 2011
Godboldo’s case received world-wide publicity and support from families who had gone through similar situations.
“I would not want any other mothers to go through what we have,” Godboldo said at the rally. “I believe when we hear of a family whose children are about to be taken, we should organize the community and surround their house to support them.”
On Aug. 29, Judge Giles dismissed the criminal case against Godboldo.
“We are talking about a person’s constitutional rights including the right to liberty, subjecting them to an order that is grossly inadequate and incorrect,” Giles said. “It does not even express any situation where we have exigent circumstances where it says the child is at risk. . .Therefore I am going to quash this order and everything thereafter is null and void. It is the fruit of the poisonous tree.”
Giles originally held his ruling on the court order in abeyance until further testimony in Godboldo’s preliminary exam revealed the weakness of the prosecution’s case.
Rukiyah Shabazz speaks at Godboldo-Hakim rally 12 3 11
Godboldo’s stand first exposed the illegal, assembly line procedure the Wayne County Family Court has been using for years to take children from the arms of their families. During a custody hearing in front of Wayne County Family Court Judge Lynne Pierce, a court supervisor testified that orders to take children are never seen by the Chief Judge Leslie Kim Smith and hearings are not held before her.
Instead, the orders are rubber-stamped with the Chief Judge’s signature by three probation officers, who are not authorized to act in her stead.
Godboldo said her attorney Allison Folmar has informed her that the Court has now ceased that procedure. However, nothing has been done about hundreds and probably thousands of children who were illegally taken by Michigan CPS over the past decades.
Ariana’s father, Mubarak Hakim, chaired the rally, speaking eloquently on behalf of his child and her mother.
Paul Taylor gives Black Power salute during rally
“This is a big cover-up,” Hakim said. “People at higher levels are trying to duck and block, trying to put our sister in jail. This was a choice between life and death for Maryanne. If you are in a position where someone is trying to take your child, you are going to fight them to the death.”
Paul Taylor of the Inner City Sub Center said he has known Hakim as a committed activist, musician and entrepreneur “extraordinaire” for many years. He noted that Hakim has not received the publicity and respect due him for his devotion to his child and his dedication to the defense of her mother.
During her incarceration at Northville, Hakim visited Ariana every single day and is participating with Godboldo as the state fights ruthlessly for custody of the child. Judge Pierce has refused to drop the custody case.
Hakim and Godboldo are asking that supporters also attend the next hearing in front of Pierce, set for Monday, Dec. 12 at 1:30 p.m. at the Lincoln Hall of Juvenile Justice, located at E. Forest and the I-75 service drive.
Also speaking at the rally were Beverly Trans, who has devoted years to researching and battling illegal child seizures after her child was taken (click on BeverlyTran for further history), Minister Malik Shabazz of the New Marcus Garvey and New Black Panther movements, and Rukiyah Shabazz.
Is Worthy trying to exonerate killer cop Joseph Weekley, others by demonizing Aiyana’s family?
“The Detroit Police and its entities (Mayor, corporate Detroit, etc.) will do anything to protect the white cop that murdered seven-year-old and Black, Aiyana Jones, even if it means defaming, and destroying Aiyana’s family. This strategy has been used over, and over again to protect the system of white wannabe supremacy. We must fight, and resist this assault with all our might.” Fige Bornu, Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee
By Diane Bukowski
December 3, 2011
Chauncey Owens listens to attorney David Cripps during hearing
DETROIT – Why is Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy continuing to press first-degree murder charges against Charles Jones, father of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, killed by Detroit police May 16, 2010?
It became evident after Chauncey Owens once again refused to testify in Jones’ case, during a second stab at a preliminary exam Nov. 28, that the prosecution has little other evidence against Jones in the killing of Je’Rean Blake, 17, on May 14, 2010.
Thirty-Sixth District Court Judge E. Lynise Bryant-Weekes said there was only a “slim chance” that she could bind Jones over on first-degree murder and felony firearms charges without any other testimony.
Charles Jones consults with attorney Leon Weiss Nov. 28
“We have one other witness who is here to testify she identified the defendant at the scene,” Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran told her. But he said the testimony would not involve “direct evidence regarding the homicide.”
He offered no testimony regarding the gun allegedly used to kill Blake that would link it directly to Jones. The prosecution claims Jones gave Owens the gun prior to the shooting.
With his lawyer David Cripps standing behind him, Owens remained firm, calm and collected even after Moran offered him an order of “use immunity” to circumvent his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Judge Bryant-Weekes held him in contempt of court, remanding him to the Wayne County Jail without bond.
36th District Court Judge E. Lynise Bryant-Weekes
But she added, “I am 99 percent certain that I have no authority to hold him on contempt charges for one year.” She said the exam would resume Thursday, Dec. 22 at 1:30 p.m. to see if Owens had changed his mind.
Cripps explained Owens’ refusal to testify, saying the “use immunity” offer does not protect him against charges of perjury. Moran said no immunity can be offered against perjury charges by state law.
“In light of the fact that we don’t believe the order protects him, he still maintains his silence in spite of the court’s order,” Cripps said. “I have had a full discussion with my client on this matter.”
One-man grand jury, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny
Jones’ attorney Leon Weiss of the law firm of Fieger, Fieger, Schwartz and Kenney objected to holding Jones any longer.
“The man is presumed innocent and in fact is innocent,” Weiss said. “Without the testimony of Mr. Owens the prosecution has no case even for probable cause. The government can’t just make someone sit in jail until somebody else changes their mind. My client was simply living his life and mourning the loss of his daughter when he was arrested.”
Jones is also charged with perjury, during testimony given to a one-man grand jury, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny, in March. A Detroit police sergeant testified during the exam that she was present at the grand jury hearing. She said he testified essentially that he knew nothing about the circumstances of the Blake killing.
Moran, however, brought no other witness to the stand to contradict Jones’ alleged statements.
Party story at St. Jean and Mack, site of Je'Rean Blake's killing
According to testimony given by bystanders at a bus stop, which is cited in Owens’ court file, there were at least 40 people in the large parking lot of a liquor store when Blake was killed. The Michigan State police seized a van belonging to Owens’ brother Sherrod Heard from the backyard of the Jones’ residence. Owens allegedly exited that van before the Blake killing.
In addition to offering no testimony about the gun itself, such as fingerprints, the prosecution has brought no witnesses to say they saw Jones give the gun to Owens.
Prosecutor Kym Worthy showed up herself at Joseph Weekley's arraignment; he is free on personal bond.
The question becomes whether they are expending so much time, money and effort on prosecuting Jones for other reasons, likely that a conviction would assist Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley in his trial on involuntary manslaughter charges, set for May 2 next year.
Owens was scheduled to be sentenced on second-degree murder charges in the Blake case, to which he pled guilty, on Dec. 2. Attorney Cripps said he requested an adjournment of his sentencing until his contempt of court charges are resolved.
Cripps added that the plea agreement he made, guaranteeing him a maximum of 28 years for the murder charge and two years for a firearms charge, may be withdrawn by the prosecutor due to his refusal to testify in Jones’ case, but Worthy has not yet done so. The written plea agreement stated only that he would “tell the truth” about who provided him the weapon.
Owens’ attorneys earlier made several attempts to get his confession thrown out based on the stressful circumstances under which it was made. Owens’ had denied involvement in the Blake shooting for an hour and a half, until police had him call his fiancée LaKrystal Sanders, knowing she would tell him her niece Aiyana was dead.
“The Department of Human Services (DHS) called these recipients en masse into the DHS offices and summarily terminated their FIP benefits.”–Michigan Legal Services Advocate
By Diane Bukowski
December 1, 2011
DETROIT – Judges hearing the cases of hundreds of Detroiters who appealed the cut-off of their cash benefits in “rocket docket” hearings Nov. 28 and 29 evidently were too afraid or ashamed even to look the appellants in the face.
VOD interviewed a mother of eight who said she and her advocate from Michigan Legal Services (MLS) were put in a room where they talked to a speaker on the wall.
“I couldn’t hardly hear the judge,” said the mother. ““Most of the time he wasn’t even listening to what we said anyway.”
"Cathy Smith" told VOD she has emphasized the importance of education to all her children.
She asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, since she and her family still have food stamps and Medicaid benefits. VOD will call her Cathy Smith. Smith said they were at the hearings office for seven hours, even though she came early and was the only recipient with a professional advocate present.
The MLS advocate said the level of rage among the 27 mothers who showed up that day at that location, out of 41 scheduled, was high.
“They were saying ‘you’re going to have to deal with us one day if you don’t deal with us today,’” he recalled. “But these sisters are also resilient and determined to survive.”
He said the administrative law judge summarily ruled against all 27 appellants, terminating their benefits for life.
Judge ruled summarily against 27 mothers and children
“No matter what issues were raised by the customers to have their FIP [Family Independence Program] benefits restored, the judge was adamant that the hearings would focus solely on months the recipients received federal TANF [Temporary Aid to Needy Families] benefits. Basically, the process wound up being a ‘hearing’ only in name, something to placate the courts. The Department of Human Services (DHS) called these recipients en masse into the DHS offices and summarily terminated their FIP benefits.”
He said Ms. Smith has applied for State Disability Assistance and has numerous health problems, which they explained to the judge, to no avail. DHS Director Maura Corrigan said earlier that disabled individuals would be exempt from the cut-offs.
The cut-offs were temporarily suspended on Oct. 4 by U.S. District Judge Paul Borman, who said notices mailed to the recipients violated the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Bill Clinton's "welfare reform" began the cut-off of millions of poor from public assistance in 1996.
In the second count, the CCJ contended that the state had no authority to cut-off families based on federal limits. In 1996, President Bill Clinton’s “welfare reform” program established a 60-month lifetime limit on federal assistance. Some states including Michigan continued benefits past that limit by using a combination of federal and state aid.
The current cut-offs resulted from state legislation mandating a 48-month lifetime benefit limit on FIP benefits. The legislation was originally signed in Dec. 2006 by former Governor Jennifer Granholm, then viciously amended by the current state legislature and signed by Governor Rick Snyder.
Ms. Smith said DHS determined that she had received only 19 months of state aid, which according to the CCJ lawsuit should have left her with 29 more months. However, the Nov. 28 and 29 decisions were based on the 60-month limit on federal aid, according to the MLS advocate. Ms. Smith had received 101 months of federal aid.
DHS head Maura Corrigan with Ric-tator Snyder
State-wide, 12,000 families were slashed from the rolls in October based on the federal limit. The Department of Human Services (DHS) said 929 families appealed the cut-offs and were subjected to the “rocket docket” hearings.
The story Ms. Smith, who is 38, told VOD took much longer than a 30 minute hearing and spanned the length of her life.
“The state has known who I am almost since I was born,” Ms. Smith said. “I was taken from my mother when I was two and became a ward of the state. First they put me and my sisters and brothers in the D.J. Healy Home. Then I lived with my grandmother and then went from one foster home to another. I was touched on and beaten for years until my sister turned 18 and got custody of the rest of us.”
She said one of the foster parents owned properties and forced the nine children in her custody to work on the homes without pay and in violation of child labor laws. She said a babysitter also burned her back, and it remains injured from both experiences.
She is also a borderline diabetic, has kidney problems, asthma for which she must use a breathing machine, and carpal tunnel syndrome.
But Ms. Smith said she has worked throughout her life when she could.
“I worked from 2003 to 2010 as a waitress, bartender and supervisor in a bar,” she said. “But my health was getting worse and worse. It was hard for me to pick up the heavy trays, and I finally had to leave.”
Ms. Smith said she has not been able to have healthy relationships with men because of the abuse she experienced, but the state has never provided her with the counseling she so desperately needs. Instead, in 2002, they took her children for three years.
Ms. Smith said that trauma in addition to her own experiences in the foster care system made her determined that her children would never again face the same ordeal.
She said she has five sons and three daughters, ranging in age from 8 to 20.
“Two of my sons have graduated from high school and are working, so they can help us out,” she said. “I have two other children in high school, one in middle school, and two in elementary school. They have zero absences. They go to school every day, because I want to make sure that they have it better than I did.”
She said she was only receiving $908 a month in cash benefits for herself and the six children still at home. She has found another house for less rent, at $500, but it needs work which she said her oldest sons will provide.
Ms. Smith said she is fearful that if she is still not able to work after the three months of “State Emergency Relief” rental assistance provided after the cut-offs runs out, her children may be forced out of her care and into the nightmare that was her childhood.
“The state will say I can’t afford to put a roof over their heads and take them,” she said.
Snyder and Corrigan earlier this year held a special swearing-in ceremony for 300 new Child Protective Services workers.
Speaker at Washington, D.C. home rule rally/ Photo by Greg Thrasher
By Greg Thrasher, VOD Washington Bureau, contributing editor
December 4, 2011
Many of the readers of Voice of Detroit know that for a number of reasons I have relocated to the DC region. I look forward to continue my role as a contributing editor for Voice Of Detroit to offer my opinions, commentaries and advocacy on behalf of Detroit and those facing the dailiy realties of injustice and oppression. I will be your Voice of Detroit correspondent in the nation’s capital.
DC protesters demand democracy/Photo by Greg Thrasher
The similarities between the District of Columbia and Detroit and the common denominators at a social and political level are eerie and interesting. With regard to how the residents of both cities are treated, the powers who govern these urban areas often provide these residents with inferior leadership and stewardship. There is an intentional disregard for the plight of those living in urban venues and quite often this mindset is reflected in public policies and public governance.
In America too often the function of local, national and federal policies has reflected and exhibited a systematic legacy of contempt for people of color , including the disenfranchisement of voters who as residents are often non-white. It is quite tragic to witness that, in the most powerful country in the world where democracy is the weapon used to invade foreign nations, the residents of the District of Colombia are often as powerless as those in third world nations living under a despot or a dictator.
In the District of Columbia, chants of statehood, home rule and self determination are everywhere from radio talks show to posters and bumper stickers protesting the absence of voting rights for the residents of the district in the congress. Residents of both Detroit and the District are suffering from both lousy political leadership but also a failure of the emergence of progressive leaders outside of the normal organizations. As with Detroit many of the non-profits and activist groups in the district are impotent and add little value to the agenda of the poor and oppressed. Too often many of the so-called allies of the poor and oppressed are nothing more than conduits of ego and self empowerment at the expense of the poor’s fate and circumstances.
Rally for DC home rule/Photo by Greg Thrasher
What is also a farce is how both venues suffer from the oversight of other government agencies, In Detroit you have an inept and corrupt county government that is layered with a dysfunctional and marginal state government apparatus seeking to insert an emergency manager to control Detroit’s finances, when both of these government entities are lacking and failing in handling their own fiscal budgets. In the District of Columbia the federal government is legally responsible for many of the fiscal responsibilities of the district, yet our federal government is in a meltdown and hardly a beacon of sound financial standards and principles.
Our urban venues in this nation are deserving of the best services a nation as great as America can offer and provide. The residents of our urban cities are worthy of superior pubic services as well as premium educational outcomes and systems for their children. It is therefore imperative that policies must be developed and implemented to protect and support the very existence of life in our urban cities. Stay tuned to my column where I will report and offer up solutions and paradigms that enhance not only the quality of life for both the people of Detroit and the District but all urban citizens in our nation .
Greg Thrasher in Lansing April 13
FROM DETROIT TO D.C.
VOD welcomes our contributing editor’s move to the nation’s capital, where he can report first-hand on events that impact not only D.C. and Detroit, but the entire country.
SLAVEMASTER SNYDER USES PA 4 LASH AGAINST MICHIGAN'S MAJORITY-BLACK CITIES
INVOKES “DICTATOR ACT” PA 4 AGAINST DETROIT, LARGEST BLACK-MAJORITY CITY IN WORLD OUTSIDE AFRICA
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson demands right to self-determination
Chokwe Lumumba calls move part of world-wide colonialism
By Diane Bukowski
Dec. 2, 2011
Detroit – Detroit’s leaders are standing united against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s announcement that he will begin a 30-day review of this 86 percent Black city’s finances under Public Act 4 (PA4), known variously as the “Local Government and School District Financial Accountability Act” and “The Dictator Act.”
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson with Mayor Dave Bing at her right, UAW President Bob King to his right, during Dec. 1, 2011 press conference
Snyder has initiated such reviews exclusively in other majority Black cities across Michigan. They have invariably led to the appointment of an emergency manager (EM). The EM has the absolute power to disincorporate the city, sell its assets, remove its elected leaders, privatize or eliminate services, and break union contracts, among other measures.
“Detroit is the largest majority Black city in the world, outside of Africa,” Detroit attorney George Washington noted significantly at a Dec. 1 forum on PA 4.
Snyder’s main excuse for the review, to begin Dec. 6, is the city’s current alleged $150 million deficit. The deficit results largely from the fact that the city has paid $529 million on its debt to the banks in 2011 alone, half of that in interest, according to a recent financial report by Ernst & Young. While Snyder and other government officials have demanded that workers sacrifice, they have made no demand for the banks to come to the table.
Detroit youth demand self-determination at Feb. 23 rally on Lansing capitol steps
“It was the law in the United States that Africans were three-fifths of a person, that we could not vote, could not own property,” said Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson during a public hearing Dec. 1. “It was against the law for us to escape from slavery, but it was the unpaid slavery of Africans on which this country was built. We have the right to self-determination and freedom, the right to control our own destiny. No way in heaven are we going to let somebody come in from Lansing and take our city.”
Detroit leaders rally at AFSCME Council 25 headquarters Dec. 2 to step up campaign to repeal PA 4.
Watson added that Snyder was moving quickly to take Detroit over before a referendum campaign against PA 4 freezes the act. The Michigan Forward Coalition of labor, community and religious leaders has said it will have enough signatures to do so by mid-December. Once the signatures are certified, the act is held in abeyance until the Nov. 2012 election. Michiganders are expected to vote overwhelmingly against PA 4 then.
Coalition members said they are stepping up their efforts to gather the remaining signatures during a rally Dec. 2. Coalition founder Brandon Jessup was interviewed by WDET’s Rob St. Mary (http://wdet.org/news/story/AntiEFMInterview/). He noted particularly that the cities of Jackson and Allen Park in Michigan, which are a majority white, actually petitioned the state for an emergency manager but were turned down.
Snyder and State Treasurer Andy Dillon, who initiated the takeover move after failing to get the Mayor and City Council to ask for an EM, ignored its racial implications.
Their representatives did not respond to requests from this reporter for explanations regarding why only the majority Black cities of Benton Harbor, Detroit, Ecorse, Flint, Inkster and Pontiac have been hit with PA 4, as well as the majority Black school districts of Detroit and Highland Park.
Dozens of majority-white cities and school districts in Michigan are in deficit, but they have not yet been subjected to the PA 4 plantation owner’s lash.
“It is critical that we work and move forward together in these tough and challenging times,” Gov. Snyder said in a statement. “Unity – not division – is the way to ensure that we can collectively and collaboratively ensure a revitalized, strong and successful Detroit and Michigan. We stand ready to be a supportive, constructive resource.”
State Treasurer Andy Dillon was the official who initiated the action, since PA 4 does not allow the governor himself to do so.
Snyder appoints Andy Dillon (l) as state treasurer prior to taking office.
Among other alleged violations of PA 4, including the city’s low Wall Street bond rating, Dillon cited, “An ongoing inability of the executive and legislative branches of the city government to work cooperatively in respect to the financial management of the city; the existence of recurring operating deficits that essentially have been beyond the ability of city officials to resolve; and the imminent likelihood that the city will deplete its cash during the spring of 2012.”
His last contention was based on a cash flow report by the global accounting firm Ernst & Young, which the firm’s representatives discussed in a closed session with the Mayor and Council, in violation of the state’s Open Meetings Act, on Oct. 26.
The states of New York and New Jersey have lawsuits pending against Ernst & Young which contend the firm collaborated in cooking Lehman Brothers’ books before its downfall and the resulting 2008 Wall Street mortgage meltdown.
The Snyder-Dillon move follows on the heels of a Sept. 9 order issued by U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox that severely diminishes the city’s control of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, the third largest such facility in the country, and Detroit’s most valuable asset, serving 436 communities in eight counties. It has never run a deficit and has AAA bond ratings. Cox is a right-wing Federalist appointed by President George W. Bush.
Mayor Dave Bing, most Council members, and community, business, labor and religious leaders trounced the Snyder-Dillon contentions during a joint press conference on the evening of Dec. 1, particularly Dillon‘s assertion that the executive and legislative branches of the city could not cooperate. They pointed to other ways the state could support the city if it wanted a “collaborative” relationship.
Billboard for $220 million Powerball
“We’ve asked the state to see what they can do about the $220 million owed to the city of Detroit that helped put us in this position in the first place,” Bing said. “Also we’ve requested the state’s assistance in the collection of the city’s income taxes, a service Lansing could provide that would help us collect approximately $155 million in additional revenue on an annual basis. This is our city. We are Detroit. Detroit needs to be run by Detroiters. We know what needs to be done and we stand ready to do it.”
Councilwoman Watson first raised the demand for the $220 million payment from the state, due since a 1998 agreement between former Mayor Dennis Archer and former Governor John Engler. In exchange for reducing the city’s income taxes, particularly on non-residents and businesses, Engler agreed to increase its state revenue sharing amounts but never did.
Lansing, Michigan is deadbeat zone
Councilwoman Watson said the total loss to the city under that agreement has been $580 million. Snyder has so far refused to honor the debt.
Mayor Bing’s adoption of her demand apparently triggered Snyder’s invocation of PA 4. Previously, Snyder and Bing had cooperated in drafting the Act, according to a lawsuit filed by a top aide to Bing after he fired her earlier this year.
Jackson, Mississippi City Council member Chokwe Lumumba called Snyder’s attack on Detroit, Jackson and Gary, Indiana a continuation of colonialism. He was the featured speaker at a forum called by Concerned Teachers United the evening of Dec. 1.
Attorney Chokwe Lumumba speaks at Detroit forum Dec. 1, 2011
“Colonialism is our problem right here in America, as Malcolm X said in his last speech in Detroit, before his murder,” Lumumba said. Lumumba, a nationally-renowned attorney, co-founded the Republic of New Africa in Detroit in the 1960’s, and currently leads the Malcolm X Grass Roots Movement. Most recently he headed the successful effort to free the Scott Sisters.
“Rich, greedy people use any kind of apparatus they can to subjugate poor people;” he added/ “They will bomb and kill people around the world as they did in Libya, which had a higher literacy rate than the United States, and where they killed Africa’s hero Muammar Gadhafi. It is a phenomenon, not a person. President [Barack] Obama is also part of this phenomenon. The answer to colonialism is self-determination, and we must instill that belief in our youth.”
Gov. Snyder, Mayor Bing and most of the City Council originally sought to lay the blame for the city’s alleged economic crisis on the backs of its majority Black workers. Bing called for 1,000 lay-offs while the Council wanted 2,300, in addition to numerous other cutbacks in health insurance and pension benefits.
Public workers from AFSCME and CBTU protest Bing's earlier attempt to raid pension funds
The Council voted 6-3 Nov. 29 to cut retirees’ annual “13th check,” a small amount paid from excess earnings on their own pension funds’ investments.
It was largely due to the indefatigable efforts of Councilwoman Watson that the majority of the Council joined with the Mayor and labor leaders in the Dec. 1 press conference. After his statement, Bing brought Watson to the podium next. She said angrily, “It is outrageous that a state which has its own deficit in a country that has its own deficit has the nerve to be point fingers at our city.”
Watson along with attorney Herbert Sanders of AFSCME Council 25 organized the first mass labor and community protest against PA 4 legislation at the state capitol in Lansing in February.
She pressed for the public hearing the morning of Dec. 1, during which union leaders and city workers presented numerous ways that the city could solve its financial problems without forcing the workers into further sacrifice.
Ed McNeil, Michigan AFSCME Council 25 Executive Assistant, at right
Ed McNeil, executive assistant to Al Garrett, President of Michigan Council 25 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and attorney Richard Mack presented a joint report from many of the city’s unions to the Council.
The report cites the costly practice of contracting out city work for the profits of corporations, many of whom are not withholding city income taxes from their workers or paying corporate taxes to the city. It says nearly $637 million is spent from the city’s general fund alone on expenses that likely go to contractors. It calls for the establishment of a general database of all contracts to allow city and union officials to examine whether they are necessary or productive.
McNeil said, “The media is saying the unions have not been to the table. We have been to the table and brought cost savings ideas year after year to city administrations.”
He called for the city to dump Blue Cross Blue Shield as its health care administrator, and instead make agreements with major Detroit-based hospital chains to offer workers the option of signing directly with the chains for their medical care, instead of going through insurance companies, for a savings of $14 million.
The unions also called for the city to participate in the AFL-CIO Employer Purchasing Coalition (AEPC) to reduce prescription drug costs. It has so far refused to do so.
“This would mean an annual savings of $19 million for AFSCME members’ drugs only,” Attorney Mack said. “AFSCME workers are only 22 percent of the payroll. The savings would amount to $86 million for the entire city.”
Mack also said the state could underwrite portions of the city’s debt, lessening payments because of the city’s poor credit ratings. He added that the city could sell or give away the 60,000 parcels of vacant land it owns to families who need homes, which would bring in at least $1,000 per home in property taxes, or $60 million.
City income tax collector Michelle Wesley
City Council members reacted with astonishment to city income tax collector Michelle Wesley’s description of how corporations rob the city blind.
“If we were able to do our jobs the correct way, we probably could bring city out of deficit,” Wesley said.
“Everybody who owns businesses in the city of Detroit is not on our tax rolls; they are reporting nothing to us. Most corporations who do report say they owe zero dollars. Workers are telling us that their employers are taking cash from them for city taxes, but never turning it in. Lawyers who do work in our courts, athletes from Detroit as well as outside teams who play in town, and even the news media, Channel 2 and 4 and 7 are here on the City of Detroit’s clock and are supposed to be paying taxes but are not. Then there are the landlords who allow their properties to go into foreclosure and buy them back at auction for a fraction of the taxes.”
Metro Times expose on billionaire Matty Moroun
Yolanda Langston, president of Local 517M of the Service Employees International Union, suggested that the city charge a fee to banks to register their thousands of foreclosed properties in Detroit, and be fined for neglect and blight on the properties.
“We need to increase blight fines for property management companies, and millionaires like Matty Moroun who own a lot of blighted properties,” Langston said. “One day when I was insouthwest Detroit doing an inspection, I saw a truck doing illegal dumping on a vacant lot. I told the driver I was in the process of calling 911, but he said, ‘I own this property and all these others around here.’ Others are doing this. We need to hold these folks accountable.”
Councilwoman Watson set a meeting to plan the fightback against the state takeover for Friday, Dec. 9 at 6 p.m. in her office. For further information, call her office at 313-224-4535.
