Up to 10,000 turned out for Lansing rally April 13; RECALL SNYDER among the demands: R

CLARITY HEARING SCHEDULED

Members of Michigan Citizens United, a Political Action Committee formed out of concern for Governor Snyder’s dictatorial approach to addressing budget woes in Michigan, will submit a petition for the recall of Governor Rick Snyder to the Washtenaw County Clerk on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 18, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. The petition will be reviewed by the Washtenaw County Election Commission for the clarity of the language. Once approved, the committee plans to begin gathering signatures on May 8, 2011.

Snyder and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing yucking it up at basketball game

Michigan Citizens United is a grassroots effort of concerned citizens from across the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan. MCU members believe that Snyder’s early performance proves he is not qualified to lead Michigan. Some of the offending actions include:

• The Emergency Financial Manager Bill (officially known as the Local Government And School District Fiscal Accountability Act, Act 4 of 2011), which was signed into law by Governor Snyder on March 16, 2011. New provisions give the governor sweeping and unilateral authority to declare a “financial emergency” in towns or school districts and appoint an emergency financial manager (EFM). The EFM is given broad new powers to nullify contracts; dismiss elected and appointed officials, committees, boards, and authorities; eliminate or redistrict entire cities or schools; take and sell public and private land; hire private security forces; and eliminate services.

• 

  Lansing April 13

  The Proposed 2011-12 budget which gives a $1.8 billion dollar tax break to corporations and raises taxes by up $1.7 billion on retired people and working poor, without addressing the budget deficit. It takes money from the K-12 educational fund and reduces per-pupil funding levels to local districts; reduces funding to universities and colleges. It reduces essential services for the sick, the poor, and the elderly, and slashes funding for local governments.

• The cuts to local governments and schools, in turn, threaten the financial solvency of those entities, making more of them targets for hostile takeover by the state.

• While Governor Snyder talks about shared sacrifice, it appears the sacrifice is shared by the lower 98% of income-earning citizens of Michigan, while the upper 2% and corporations reap new benefits.

The 1.1 million signatures the group plans to gather will be submitted to the Michigan Department of State on or before the August 5, 2011 deadline to appear on the November ballot.

Recall information is available at www.firericksnyder.org or on Facebook search for “Recall Governor Rick Snyder” – it is also available on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/firericksnyder .

U.S. still bombing Libya; money for jobs, homes, schools not war!

France calls for more NATO action

GRANMA INTERNATIONAL
Havana. April 14, 2011

WASHINGTON, April 13.—U.S. air force planes are still bombing targets in Libya despite having transferred the command of operations to NATO, the Pentagon admitted today, ANSA reports.

The imperial powers are calling for an accelerated rate and intensity of attacks..

Col. David Lapan, DOD spokesman

Colonel David Lapan, spokesperson for the Department of Defense, confirmed that U.S. aircraft attacked antiaircraft defense positions of troops loyal to Muammar al Gaddafi.

Lapan’s statement coincided with increasing reports of divisions within NATO, where many commands are insisting that the balance cannot be loaded in favor of the rebels without a greater contribution from U.S. forces.

From Brussels, AFP reported that this Thursday in Berlin, France is to ask its Atlantic Alliance partners to strike land targets in Libya more swiftly, as well as for more aircraft to counter troops loyal to Gaddafi, according to diplomatic sources.

French planes bombing Benghazi

“Just six of the 28 allies are involved in bombing land targets and two are carrying 50% of the campaign against 50%,” they stated.

Military sources have noted that France, with 29 bombers and Britain, with 10, are undertaking half of the work, supported by Belgium, Canada, Denmark and Norway.

Muammar al-Gaddafi on Libyan TV

Meanwhile, EFE reports that NATO fighter planes have bombed Sirte, Colonel Gaddafi’s birthplace, and Misrata, the country’s third most important city, as stated by Libyan state television, which confirmed that in the latter city, Tripoli Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries, was hit by the allied aviation, causing the death of many people using it.

An engineer working at communication company in Sirte city informed that three stations of centimeters communication were attacked by the crusader colonial aggression on Monday morning. The three stations which provide services of communications to the citizens and other companies of utilities such as hospitals, emergency medical services, fire departments, first aid departments and gas systems.

” it is clear by targeting such vital location, they- NATO and alliances forces- present a new proof of targeting civil locations”, the engineer added.

From Libyan State TV at http://en.ljbc.net/home.php#

(There were reports that the Libyan site had been hijacked but it can still be accessed through the link above.)

In Doha, the Qatari capital, it was announced that International Libya Contact Group delegates have agreed to set up a temporary fund to finance the rebels, and have demanded more military and political pressure on Gaddafi.

Moussa Ibrahim, Libyan government spokesman

A communiqué issued at the end of the first meeting of this group, comprising 40 countries and international organizations, expressed tacit support for the self-proclaimed rebel National Transition Council in its attempt to force the Libyan leader to leave the country.

Moussa Ibrahim, spokesperson for the Libyan government, dismissed the authority of the Doha meeting and from Tripoli, defined the attempt to overthrow Gaddafi as imperialist thinking, as well as branding Qatar an “oil corporation.”

SITUATION IN YEMEN AND EGYPT

From Sana, Yemen, ANSA reported that five people died in clashes between opposing groups: two in the capital, two in Aden (south) and one in Yafie, in the southern province of Lahej.

Meanwhile, EFE noted from Cairo that t former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was arrested while remaining hospitalized in an “unstable condition” in the coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, while his sons Alaa and Gamal are in a capital prison.

Translated by Granma International

VOD contributing editor Greg Thrasher at Lansing rally April 13

By Greg Thrasher

In too many venues in this region from the board rooms to the lounges of manufacturing plants to even church basements there is always some chatter or whispers about Black on Black crime. Often these exchanges involve a discussion about horrific criminal acts perpetrated against Black victims by Black assailants. The range and depth of Black on Black crime in the city hurts even now as I write these words yet these words must be written.
 
Many of these internal exchanges and chatter are constructive and warranted it is also true that many of them are nasty race tinged rumors and chatter often used to demonize the city and Black folks in general. Quite often those invoking this verbiage are Black people, from police officers to parents to pastors.
 
Yet my words here today are not about the criminal themes surrounding this potent and provocative subject matter but  in this setting I want to engage in a dialogue about another incarnation of Black On Black crimes. I want to explore and discuss the crimes of personal inhumanity we commit against each other.  The crime of Black on Black inhumanity. These are intra/inter personal negative actions just as lethal as crimes that violate our criminal laws.
 

Join together instead

The tragic behavior and destructive culture within the Black diaspora that negates the humanity and self esteem of Black people is sometimes beyond comprehension. The very nature of Black people shouting down each other’s dreams, ambitions and esteem and denying each other the basic dignity of humanity is reckless and impacts the every caliber of our lives.
 
No wound or injury hurts and stings and leaves life-long scars more than those which defeat our spirit and damn our personhood and self essence. When Black parents lecture to their children that they are ignorant, stupid and losers these words fill the air with arrows that pierce not only the heart but they puncture the mental ether of our children’s mental state of mind. When we attack the foundations of our children’s essence we destroy the currency of their consciousness and we harm their personal futures and we create obstacles in their dreams.
 

Children need parents' encouragement

The damage of anti-esteem words punishes the very soul of a child’s imagination. When a Black person hurls bitter rage at a senior person it augments the velocity of our elders’ life span. When Black people wage a civil war within the community we commit crimes against humanity that prevent our communities from prospering and even recovering from tough times and duress.
 
The prisons of anger, rage, contempt, shame, ridicule, humiliation, envy, jealousy, sadness, despair, and sorrow handcuff the very essence of our community. Detroit cannot recover if the crimes against our personal dignity and self worth continue at the present velocity.
 
We need rallies and protests which focus on ending the civil war of personal self hate and incivility we share and exchange with each other to often on a daily basis. Instead of a day of prayer and atonement, we need endless moments of recognizing each other’s personal essence and self worth. We need to schedule appointments and meetings with each other with agendas that promote our humanity for each other.
 
The foundation of this collective self hate and contempt for our very essence and personhood has a history in the development of America. I will leave the navigation of the origins of our collective self hate for another day. If we intend to create a city which has a future, we must as a Black community begin this journey with the affirmation of our collective self worth. We must end the crimes of inhumanity we are waging against each other beginning within our families and extending out into our relationships with our friends and others.
 
We can live a purposeful life in the city of Detroit and other urban venues across America. We must end the internal civil war within the Black community which places our very collective being in peril. Our future starts now only if we affirm each other’s humanity and self worth every moment we interact with each other. Right here…Right now…

Debra Taylor (l) with bullhorn and Monica Patrick at right lead chants

By Diane Bukowski

 DETROIT – The start of a TWO-SIDED “class war” was hopefully evident in Lansing April 13. Up to 10,000 members of virtually every union in Michigan, and their supporters, swamped the Capitol building to oppose Governor Rick Snyder’s budget and 41 bills pending in the legislature.

AFSCME Intl. Rep. Herbert Sanders (being interviewed) kicked off the rally

The event was historic, said Herbert Sanders, International Representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). He kicked off the rally, officially sponsored by the We Are the People coalition.

“This is a call to battle,” Sanders said. “It’s time to fight. This moment in history has caused us to build solidarity like never before, and it’s just the beginning. We plan to recall Snyder and every legislator who has advocated these attacks. If that doesn’t work, WE ARE PREPARED TO SHUT THE STATE DOWN!”

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPbX7nN9Zbk to hear Herbert Sanders’ excellent speech.

Choirs from AFSCME and SEIU sang "God Bless America"

The demonstrators were Black, Latin and white, male, female and LGBT, young folks and seniors, child care workers making minimum wage and public workers at every level (many of them also living in poverty), including clericals, custodians, bus drivers, teachers, and nurses. The private sector was represented by steelworkers, autoworkers, laborers, and even members of elite skilled trades unions who are normally divorced from the general working-class fray.

Bus drivers called in sick

Many Detroit bus drivers called in sick to attend, carrying red “ATU” signs (Amalgamated Transit Union). They were docked a day’s pay by Mayor Dave Bing’s anti-union

administration, in the wake of his budget address the day before. It was AFSCME Council 25, which represents City of Detroit workers, that put out the initial call for the April 13 Day of Unity.

The rally was scheduled for 12 noon to 5 p.m., with the intention that many committed workers would leave their jobs to give the state government a taste of what might be to come.

STOP CORPORATE GREED!

Sanders ticked off a list of all the unions there, with their members roaring in response.

“In the coming days, the legislature will start voting on Snyder’s budget,” he said. “That includes $564 million in public education cuts, $200 million in higher education, eliminating the earned income tax for working families, taxes on seniors’ pensions to pay for $1.2 billion in tax cuts for the corporations and CEO’s, contracting out union services to address the budget shortfalls as a result of huge corporate tax breaks, and a litany of more than 40 bills in the legislature designed to take away 75 years of progress for working America.”

Kids off chopping block

The crowd chanted repeatedly, “THAT’S NOT RIGHT!”

One worker cried out, “Don’t forget the fact that we know how to fight!” Chants of “This is what democracy looks like!” were raised as well.

“I gave 30 years of service to Wayne County, I went to work every day,” said Dorothy Burrell.

Dorothy Burrell

“Now the government wants to tax my pension, and [Wayne County Executive Robert] Ficano has already taken part of our 13th bonus check, which is the only thing we have left because we lost our cost of living increases. We are paying more for our health benefits too.”

One of the bills pending in the legislature would force all public workers to pay 20 percent of the cost of their health care.

“Whose money, our money! Whose pension? Our pension! Whose house, our house!” the protesters chanted repeatedly.

DFT members

Marsha Chatman, a lead Special Ed teacher at Keiden Elementary in Detroit, said, “I’m here because of cuts involving 470 students. We’re already in a deficit, and we don’t need any more cuts. We hoped this governor would bring jobs, but instead he has divided the state and taken everything away. Those that put him in there want him out now. He’s not been in office six months, and look at all these people.”

Her co-worker, Detroit Federation of Teachers union steward Rochelle Massingill, also of Keiden school, denounced Robert Bobb’s cuts at DPS, approved by the state.

Kids B4 business

“This is prompting a lot of the best teachers, especially new teachers, not to come to the district,” Massingill said. “Principals, occupational therapists, social workers and others are leaving. They are attacking not only the students and their families, but our families. Young teachers have to look out for their future.”

Despite the failure of United Auto Workers President Bob King to attend the rally or join the call for it, numerous UAW locals turned out with their banners and placards anyway.

UAW Local 651 present!

Dan Tyler of UAW Local 651 in Flint carried a homemade sign declaring, “Never forget who paved the way for the rights we have today! Why should THEY have to pay?”

It was the historic Flint autoworkers sitdown which launched a nationwide flood of plant and workplace takeovers, leading to the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which later linked with the American Federal of Labor.

UAW Local 412 in the house

“There are all sorts of UAW locals here,” Tyler said. “If you’re not rich, if you’re middle or working class or poor, everything they’re doing has an impact on everybody’s way of life. They tax us and leave the rich alone, when they are the ones who can afford it the most.”

A song of “We are the union, mighty, mighty union,” arose from the ranks of a sea of green-shirted AFSCME members from all over the state. UAW Local 869 leader David Edgar paced the stage, leading chants of “What do we need? JOBS! When do we need them? NOW! GOOD JOBS NOW!”

UNITE in the house

The stage was crowded with workers holding banners from the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, UNITE, the UAW, the Michigan Nurses Association, the Laborers International Union, the Sprinkler Fitters, and many others.

Flags and banners from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), the Graduate Employees Organization, the Sheetmetal Workers, the Plumbers, the Bricklayers, the Boilermakers, the Cement Masons, the Ironworkers, the Teamsters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Communications Workers of America, and the United Food and Commercial Workers flew in the bright sunlight.

Fund people not war!

 “We pray to our God that if the hands [of Snyder and the lawmakers] sign those bills to tax pensions and end collective bargaining, they will become withered hands,” said the Rev. David Bullock, head of the Detroit Chapter of Rainbow:PUSH during the invocation. “We pray to our God that the tongues of those who speak ill of the workers, of teachers, firefighters, public employees, those who built this country, will stick to the roofs of their mouths.”

Bullock diplomatically avoided referencing the Biblical alternatives to the punishments he cited.

NALC and AFSCME out in force

After Sanders, Mary Pollack, president of the Michigan State Employee Retirees’ Union, with 150,000 members, addressed the crowd.

“We believe this proposed tax shift to seniors and working people while disinvesting in Michigan communities is unfair,” Pollack said, to chants of “THAT’S UNFAIR.”

NO PENSION TAX!

She noted that over 70 percent of her members have pensions under $24,000, while 15 percent get less than $12,000 a year.

“Yet the governor and leaders of the House and Senate propose to tax our pensions while eliminating taxes on 95 percent of the businesses in our state, and slashing the budgets for education, human services, and health care,” she said. “We need better schools and universities; we need the government to fund public services, not tax breaks.”

Speaker from Alliance for Immigrant Rights

A young organizer from the Alliance for Immigration Rights denounced ICE raids in southwest Detroit and anti-immigration legislation passed in Arizona and proposed in Michigan.

“Our families are being ripped apart by the raids, and our people are being stopped by the police because of the color of their skins,” she said. “We are not hardcore criminals like the Wall Street banks who go to the casinos with our mortgage and retirement money, like the CEO’s laying off workers and causing the collapse of their companies.”

She led the crowd in a chant of “Si, se puede!” (yes, we can).

Child care worker Robin Edwards

One of the bills in the hopper would deny child care workers the right to unionize, and Snyder’s budget cuts subsidies for child care.

“We are part of the backbone of Michigan communities, but we have been abandoned,” said child care worker Robin Edwards. “We give other workers the support they need every day. But Rick Snyder is working to prevent us from organizing. This is not the Michigan we believe in.”

Students sacrificed

A teacher in the East Detroit High School system denounced emergency manager laws and other pending bills, saying they would destroy public education in the state of Michigan.

“They are taking 15 to 20 percent out of school budgets evcrywhere, they’ve cut funds for remediation, enrichment courses , and basic education period,” he said. “If there are no teachers, there will be no education for kids. There is a $600 million surplus in K-12 funding now; it must be used to properly fund education.”

People were angry

“YA BASTA!” the crowd chanted, as Graduate Employees Organization representative Serge Farines denounced the increased tax burden on workers and the poor. He called on the demonstrators to join in a protest outside the University of Michigan commencement April 30, where Snyder is scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

 A round of cheers went up for Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who was defeated by Snyder in the gubernatorial race.

Bernero and daughters

Some present at the rally said they believed the Democratic Party did not throw its full support behind Bernero because of his militant stance against the corporations, banks and mortgage companies.

His opponent in the primary, former House Speaker Andy Dillon, was supported by the likes of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, and former Mayor Dennis Archer.

Independent class struggle!

Dillon is now State Treasurer, busy training Emergency Managers across the state in league with the proponents of state takeovers of municipalities and school districts.

One sign in the crowd read “No compromises! No share the sacrifices! No givebacks! We need a workers’ party that fights the Dems/GOP with HARD class struggle!”

Bernero told the crowd, “YOU make this state and this country, not the moneymakers on Wall Street, not the big banksters, not those in every corporate boardroom!”

Utility Workers rep flew in from New York

International union leaders from the IBEW and from the Utility Workers Union flew in from Chicago and New York to address the crowd, among dozens of other speakers. Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, whose staff helped organize busloads of demonstrators from Detroit, was present on-stage as well.

On her WHPR TV show, Watson has asked supporters to call her office at 313-224-3435 if they are interested in attending a special announcement April 21 related to city legislation against water department takeovers.

Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson on stage

More information on upcoming events can be obtained by calling the headquarters of AFSCME Council 25 in Detroit at 313-964-1711.

Also listed as a contact for the We are the People Coalition on a press release was Zack Pohl at 517-980-6190.

Organizers also asked those interested in being notified of the ongoing struggle to text MI to 225568, so their phones could be added to the growing battle against the neo-Nazi like attacks on the country’s working and poor people.

Detroit AFSCME retiree Helen Webb (l), Loc. 457 Pres. Laurie Walker to her left; Loc. 1023 Pres. Sheila Pennington second from right

A new day is dawning! (Kenny Snodgrass videographing at left)

Young mothers brutalized, hauled out, arrested for peaceful sit-in to save Catherine Ferguson Academy April 15, 2011

Cops slam Ashley Matthews against police car; she has two-year-old daughter

13 ARRESTED IN HEROIC ACTION, BUT VOW THAT FIGHT CONTINUES 

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – In an interview with VOD, Ashley Matthews, 17, described the heroic student-led occupation of her school, Catherine Ferguson Academy on April 15. She spoke of the wholehearted support the young mothers received from the community, as well as the vicious physical and verbal brutality police visited on them during their arrests.

She said two toddlers, there with their mothers, watched the events.

Inside Catherine Ferguson Academy in happier times

“When I came home, my mom and step-dad watched us on the news,” Matthews said. “My mom broke out in tears when she saw how the police treated me. She told me, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ This was the most joyful moment of my life. I was so flabbergasted by all the support and I felt so much pride because I actually stood up for something I believe in.”

Catherine Ferguson is a Detroit Public School for teens with children, or who are expecting. It provides special support services to help them complete their education and go on to college. It received broad publicity last year for the urban farm the students themselves created in the surrounding area.

Catherine Ferguson student working on well-publicized urban farm

It is the only school of its kind in the country, but it is on the list of almost 60 schools that DPS czar Robert Bobb, board chair Anthony Adams, and their state cronies, have slated for the chopping block this June, either through closure, merger or charterization.  (See VOD article at http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=6372)

Matthews said she has a two-year-old daughter, Breanna.

Teacher and young male supporter arrested

“The girls bring their kids to school because we don’t have anyone else to watch them,” said Matthews. “What else are we going to do? Ninety percent of our students graduate, and most of them go on to two and four year colleges. Our principal tells us ‘smart mothers make smart children.’”

Cops brought out canine unit: who let the dogs (and cops) out?

She said she is four classes away from graduation, but does not know if the students who sat in will be allowed back. She said she decided they needed to fight to save their school, and approached the organization By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) for support.

“The day before, I packed up all my stuff, my clothes and food, because I thought we were going to stay for a week,” Matthews said. “I left my daughter with my mom and dad. We were inside making signs and calls, going on Facebook, and putting stuff up in the windows. We hooked up speakers in the windows so we could voice our demands.”

Supporters chanted "NO NO, LET THEM GO!"

She said she was “surprised” when she saw how many people demonstrated outside in their support. She said the supporters passed lasagna through the windows, but that they didn’t even get a chance to eat it because the police got there first. Supporters at first blocked numerous police cars from entering the school’s back lot.

Cop arrests picketer

“When we heard the police were coming, we ran to the library as fast as we could and barricaded ourselves in there. The police knocked on the window, and before we knew it, they busted open the library door. We all got in a line and held hands. We took a vote because we wanted to be democratic and we decided not to leave. We chose to stick together, we came together and we were staying together. We were chanting, ‘Whose schools? Our schools!’ The whole time I was recording everything on my phone.”

She said the cop who arrested her, a Detroit police officer named R. Brown, saw that she was recording the events and snatched the phone away. She said Detroit Public Schools officers also took part in the attacks.

Huge cops push 100-lb. Ashley toward car

“I had sat down, and he yanked me up and slammed me down on my stomach on the floor,” Matthews said. “All the girls went berserk, telling him to get off me, but he was just wiping up the floor with me. He pressed his thumbs in my neck, and he tightened the handcuffs so hard that I have bruises there. I cried at first but then I made myself stop.”

Matthews said she weighs only 100 lbs. and is often mistaken for being much younger because she is so small.

Supporter is horrified at brutality

“The officer pushed me up against the police car, with my face against it, and put me in it,” Matthews said. “They police didn’t read us our rights even though they told us we were under arrest. Then they were playing ‘good cop, bad cop,’ asking, ‘does your mom know you’re going to jail?’ I told them ‘She knows, I’m fighting for my education, and I want a lawyer.’ I wouldn’t talk to them any more after that.”

But Matthews said the police “verbally assaulted” them the whole way to the Eighth Precinct at Schaefer and Grand River.

Police rousted demonstrators too

“All the officers were so rude to us you would have thought we had killed somebody,” she said.  “They asked us, ‘do you have money, because you’re going to be in jail all weekend.’ They told me it was good I’m 17, because I would have to go on the ‘big block’ and I’d better not be talking that ‘education stuff’ there. They were so mad because it was females standing up. But we have the right to fight for our school, and we were non-violent.”

She said the students felt absolutely “degraded” by the treatment they received from the police.

Eighth Precinct police station

The students, represented by attorney Joyce Schon, were released that evening from the garage in the precinct, where they were forced to sit during their detention.  During their arrests, their cell phones were taken, and many left without their shoes or jackets because the police would not allow them to get them. Matthews said she received a ticket for “trespassing and being in the school after hours.”

Catherine Ferguson Academy before the police raid

She said they plan to go back to get their possessions at the school this week.

“We ran out the jail to so many people hugging us, and telling us how proud they were of us,” Matthews said.

“It’s all over You Tube and Facebook now, and I hope everyone sees how the police treated females in my school,” Matthews said. “All my friends were contacting me on Facebook when I got home and asking what I got arrested for. It’s time for all of us to stand up, it’s our future. We can’t find another school that does what Catherine Ferguson does. I am thankful to BAMN and our supporters because they truly showed us we do have a sense of hope, that there is something you can do about what happens.”

GROWN (AND JAILED) IN DETROIT

She said her mother was a single mom too, and taught her to be strong, to do the best she could.

“Robert Bobb doesn’t understand how we have to work hard to get an education to get to where we want to go, because he never had to do it,” Matthews said.

“The fight’s not over, not as long as any school is on that list,” she said. “We are going to fight in a respectable, peaceful way for my school and for every school. I owe it to myself, to my classmates, to my daughter, to my mom and dad. I still love my school, and the Detroit Public Schools, and I am a proud citizen of Detroit.”

BAMN ORGANIZERS TELL STORY 

Monica Smith (at left during earlier protest) went inside Catherine Ferguson with its students to occupy the school while other BAMN organizers rallied support outside. She was among those arrested.

“We are encouraging students everywhere to take up the fight to save their schools,” Smith said.

“The students are in great spirits and they all say they would do it again. We are completely against these policies getting rid of public education and closing schools like Catherine Ferguson, Moses Field, Carlton, Rutherford.  Rutherford is for autistic children, and Carlton has over 500 students. Where are they going to put them? The other schools are filled. Evidently they want pregnant girls and mothers and disabled students to stay home.

Donna Stern organizing support outside Catherine Ferguson

Smith said a documentary filmmaker was also inside and arrested. She said the woman’s camera was seized during her arrest, then returned, but a sergeant at the police station seized it again and kept it. She said students were also filming events on their cell phones, many of which the police smashed on the ground, and that they are concerned about the preservation of the documentary film.

If police do erase the film, or have destroyed any other evidence, it is a violation of the law, according to various attorneys.

Smith said the sit-in was very well-organized, and that people from the community, including those from the Trumbullplex commune nearby, came to their assistance almost at once.

“There were two small kids in there, two years and four years old,” she said. “They gave the kids to the principal. But the police were totally brutal. They choked me twice, they choked a 100-lb. student, and they lifted up a teacher who took part in the sit-in by the pants. At the police station, they handcuffed us together on the floor of the garage. Everyone who was handcuffed has bruises on their wrists and arms. When I was dragged out, they pulled my handcuffs up so high I was on my toes.”

BAMN organizer and teacher Donna Stern said the police took everyone’s cell phones and smashed them on the floor, making the students really angry because their phones are their only way to stay in touch with their families and children. 

“They don’t have that much money, and getting a new phone is a big deal,” Stern said.

She confirmed the accounts of Matthews and Smith regarding the brutal way in which the police treated the young women. She said the number of supporters outside kept growing, and that they followed the arrested students to the police station, where they kept protesting until their release.

VIDEO FROM WHICH ARREST PHOTOS WERE TAKEN IS ON YOU TUBE AT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmrpcHIYVMM

Supporters of students vow to continue fight

SIGN PETITION TO SAVE CATHERINE FERGUSON AT http://www.grownindetroitmovie.com/school.php  : 

Carole Kronberg of Detroit speaking at Board of Police Commissioners meeting

To All Detroit City Council Members

This is a concerned resident citizen’s request for action by the Council. Those Detroit Police who arrested peaceful defenders of Catherine Ferguson Academy (an excellent school, doing vitally important work, but slated for destruction by Robert Bobb) were NOT acting out of loyalty to the People or to the Bill of Rights!  Apparently, they thought they were supposed to be OK with “politics by bulldozer!”  

That school and all public schools rightfully belong to the People, because the People paid for them. All power flows from the People, and the People have made it quite clear that they DO NOT want their properties destroyed! 

By the same token, We the People are opposed to the coming hostile State takeover which calls for YOU, our elected officials, to be swept away!  

In its own best interest, and in the interest of the People, CITY COUNCIL NEEDS WITHOUT DELAY TO PASS A RESOLUTION CLARIFYING THE PROPER ROLE OF DETROIT POLICE: Detroit residents pay them (and the Council) to support, not arrest, our demands for Home Rule –rightful LOCAL sovereignty over LOCAL affairs!

If my father’s Uncle Gus were still on the Detroit Council, (He was an alderman and city clerk in the late 1800’s)  I KNOW he would DEFEND –AS YOU SHOULD NOW– THE CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OF DETROIT! 

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Carole A. Kronberg



Link to a Rachel Maddow show about Detroit Catherine Ferguson School fight, student occupations, and Robert Bobb.
 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/42725827#42725827
 
Financial contributions are urgently needed!  Go to http://www.bamn.com/1/donate.asp
 
Please help pay for the tickets and other legal expenses related to the Catherine Ferguson occupation and other protests.
 
Besides providing critical assistance to the young people who are the heroes of our city, these dollars are the smartest way to use your pocketbook to save teacher jobs !
 
In Detroit, there will be a mass meeting at 4:30 this Tuesday, April 26 with unions and community and civil rights groups. 19484 James Couzens.

Please note that the regular Saturday meeting of Defend Public Education / Save Our Students is cancelled due to the holiday and related scheduling problems. 

See more video from the Catherine Ferguson struggle at our youtube site below. 

Steve Conn
Defend Public Education / Save Our Students
313.645.9340 sjconn@msn.com  

·         http://defendpubliceducation.com   THIS IS NEW !!

·         Follow us on twitter: http://twitter.com/steveconn231 

·  You can also text follow steveconn231 to this phone number: 40404

·  Look for us at “Save DPS” on Facebook

·  watch our latest videos at www.youtube.com/dftmembers  

City-wide baby shower at Catherine Ferguson Academy

STUDENTS AND SUPPORTERS SIT-IN TO DEMAND THAT NO DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOL CLOSES

Following in the civil rights tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, Catherine Ferguson students — along with their babies and toddlers, teachers and supporters — have begun a peaceful occupation of Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA). CFA, located at 2750 Selden, is a Detroit Public school that is slated to be closed in June. The students who are sitting down have five demands:

• No School Closings
• Keep All Detroit Schools Public – No More Charters or Privatization
• Reinstate all programs and services that have been eliminated, including art & music as   well as counselors & social workers
• Student Control of Curriculum and School Character to assure that every Detroit school provides equal, quality education for all
• No discipline or retaliation against any of the participants in the occupation

Catherine Ferguson Academy

Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA) is a Detroit public high school for pregnant and parenting teen girls– the only one of its kind in the nation. Providing an excellent education and services for both the teen mothers and their children, CFA has received international attention, numerous awards and is the subject of several documentaries.

 “When people at my regular high school realized that I was pregnant, I was told my chances of being a success in life were over. At Catherine Ferguson, they told me they wouldn’t allow me to be anything BUT a success. I love CFA, and I am prepared to fight to keep it open, not only for myself, but for all the girls who will come behind me,” said Ashley Matthews, a junior at CFA.

Bobb, Adams say Catherine Ferguson Academy is OUT!

With approximately 200 students who come not only from Detroit, but also from the surrounding suburbs, every year Catherine Ferguson achieves a 90% graduation rate and 100% of those who graduate are accepted to two- or four-year colleges, most with financial aid.

“If this school closes, or if any of our services are eliminated, I believe that over half of CFA students will drop out of high school because they don’t have anyone to watch their baby while they attend classes,” said Dalana Gray, who is a senior at CFA. Also, this school benefits our children, because the early education program teaches them a lot that they wouldn’t learn if they were kept at home.”

The school provides pre-natal and parenting classes, and offers high school student mothers the opportunity to finish their high school education immediately after giving birth by providing on-site daycare, early childhood development services, and pre-school for their children, as well as on-site medical, dental and social services, so the young women don’t have to miss school to attend appointments. What also makes CFA unique is its organic garden and farm with chickens, goats and a horse, which the students maintain as part of their science education.

Southeastern High School students protested with walk-outs, sit-ins in March

Nicole Conaway, a science teacher at CFA who decided to join her students in the occupation said, “As a teacher, I can find another job, but for my students, if Catherine Ferguson closes, there are no alternatives. The same can be said for many of the students at other schools on the closing list – the Day School for the Deaf; Rutherford, which is the home of two autistic programs; Moses Fields, which educates many learning disabled children, and several neighborhood schools that are the anchors for their communities. It’s time to say: no more. ”

”The massive school closures that have been carried out in DPS since 2004 have led to the depopulation of Detroit and to the deepening financial crisis of the district. Public schools are being closed to make way for charters and are part of the national attack on public education. Today Detroit – tomorrow, every city in America. The parents and students of Catherine Ferguson are fighting to maintain the right of every student in our nation to a free, quality public education. Every supporter of public education should do everything possible to support their fight and make sure they succeed”, said Shanta Driver, National Chairperson of By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), which is helping to organize and coordinate the occupations.

For more information, call Monica Smith at 313-585-3637 or call 855-ASK-BAMN

Do you wonder (like I do) what the tax accountants and executives are doing over at GE this weekend? Frantically rushing to fill out their IRS returns like the rest of us? Hardly. They’re taking the weekend off to throw themselves a big party and have a hearty laugh at all of us. It must really crack them up to see us like suckers scurrying around to make sure we report everything to Uncle Sam—and even send him a check, if necessary.
The joke’s on us, folks. GE and tons of other corporations will have a tax bill for 2010 of ZERO. GE had $14.2 billion in profits in 2010. Yet they will contribute NOTHING to the federal government while every last dime is soaked from us.¹
In the latest budget deal, our politicians could have tackled the deficit by stopping the flow of these ill-gotten billions to corporations. Instead they cut billions from “wasteful” programs that do “wasteful” things, like create new jobs, drive economic growth, and help the needy and our nation’s children. It’s Democracy in reverse and it sickens me.

GE spends $20 million a year to lobby Congress to throw themselves this party.² But do you know what speaks louder than $20 million? 20 million votes! 20 million people, and more, standing together and taking to the streets. That starts now, with you.
 

This coming Monday, April 18 is Tax Day—and that’s the day when “we the people” will demand our country back from these corporations in events all across the country. The folks at MoveOn tell me that the nearest event to you is in Detroit. I hope you’ll be there:
Host: Wednesday T—fellow MoveOn member
Where: U.S. Post Office-Detroit (in Detroit)
When: Monday, Apr. 18, 2011, at 11:00 AM

RSVP by clicking here  

Bail out the people, not the banks

This Monday, MoveOn members—along with union, community, and environmental allies—will gather outside the headquarters and local offices of the biggest corporate tax dodgers to deliver tax bills from the American people. And we’ll demand that our leaders make these corporate deadbeats pay.
We’re doing this because we don’t buy into the Big Lie: that greedy teachers caused the crash on Wall Street! That the selfish firefighters sent millions of jobs overseas! That pregnant woman, infants, and children are sending us into deficit!

Exxon, Mobil and other oil companies profit from war on Africa

No, it was the big corporations that did this. It was the CEOs and the top 1% of the country. THEY brought on the mortgage crisis. THEY made off with trillions of dollars from our economy. THEY are systematically destroying the middle class. And THEY have bought and sold the very people elected to represent us!

This Monday we will call them out—can you join in?

On Monday, we will have something to say to Exxon, Chevron, and the big banks that crashed our economy and got billions in bailouts, like Citigroup and Bank of America, who pay little or no federal income tax. In fact, the IRS will likely give them a tax REBATE.³ If that doesn’t boggle your mind then nothing will.
The Tax Day events are about sending this message: We are coming after you, we are stopping you and we are going to return the money, jobs, and homes you stole from the people. This is your tipping point, Corporate America. And I, for one, am glad it’s going to happen this Monday.
And don’t go alone, because none of us can win this fight by ourselves. Plus, it’s more fun and exciting to go along with friends and family to be part of real democracy in action—not the store-bought kind Big Business gets on Capitol Hill.

Unions protest outside Chase Bank on Wall Street

If you’ve never been to an event like this before, this is the time.

I really hope you can make it. Click here to RSVP:

http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=114364&id=26978-6828678-YaeujGx&t=5

This is our chance, my friends. Take the time on Monday to make your voice heard. I can guarantee you I will. Please join me.

Sincerely,
Michael Moore

P.S. Can’t make this event? Click here to find another event near you.

Sources:
1. “G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes All Together,” The New York Times, March 24, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=207848&id=26978-6828678-YaeujGx&t=8
2. Ibid.
3. “Tax Time? Not for Giant Corporations,” release from Senator Bernie Sanders, March 27, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=207847&id=26978-6828678-YaeujGx&t=9

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