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

Robert Bobb, joined at hip with Anthony Adams, announces "Renaissance 2012" plan

District will fire teachers, staff, break unions, hand schools over to unelected charter boards

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – Detroit Board of Education President Anthony Adams is clearly “joined at the hip” with Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Robert Bobb, as Mayor Dave Bing said he (Bing) is joined with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

On April 5, Adams presented what he called a “joint” board-EM charter school plan for DPS to the Detroit City Council. It was virtually identical to the “Renaissance 2012” plan announced earlier by Bobb. (See VOD articles at http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=5584 and http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=5724.)

2011 DPS closings, charter conversions proposed by Adams/Bobb

The plan involves the closure of at least 40 DPS schools for the year 2012, with an additional 18 scheduled for closure if charter operators are not found for them. Another 27 schools not scheduled for closure will be put on the charter auction block. (See blue box listing schools.)

Adams passed out copies of a presentation on the plan to the council, which was obtained by VOD from the City Clerk’s office. The report has a “Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager” logo stamped on every page.      

Board member Ida Short said the board has not voted to approve the Adams-Bobb plan.

“We have not voted to accept the chartering plan even though our President and Vice-President [Tyrone Winfrey] have appeared in several places about it,” Short told the Council. “We have chartering in New Orleans, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and New York, but the data shows that on the whole the charters are not doing as well as public schools.”

School board member Ida Short

A March 13, 2011 article in the New York Times said, “Charter school students score about the same on state tests as Detroit district students, even though charters have fewer special education students (8 percent versus 17 percent in the district) and fewer poor children (65 percent get subsidized lunches versus 82 percent at district schools). It’s hard to know whether children are better off under these “reforms” or they’re just being moved around more.”  (Click on http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/education/14winerip.html to read entire article.)

Detroit's schoolchildren now being sold at public auction as were their ancestors during slavery days

Adams said he has favored charter schools at least since 1994, and has recently been involved in ongoing discussions with charter operators who are chomping at the bit to get DPS’ $7200 per pupil from the state of Michigan for an estimated 16,000 students.

That’s at least $115.2 million, if Snyder’s plan to cut per-pupil funds by $400 passes the state legislature. If not, the current per-pupil rate is $7600, bringing the total to $121.6 million. Bobb has said the plan would save DPS $70-$90 million.

“The irony of this whole movement is that when the state charter law was first enacted, I think  DPS was first school district to offer charters,” Adams said. He noted the first Detroit charters were “Afro-centered.”

“We should have taken advantage of that charter school opportunity then because it would have given us a different base of funding and a different prospect for how we handle education in city of Detroit now,” Adams told Council members.

He added later, “The state does not guarantee a PUBLIC SCHOOL education for every student, it just guarantees an education.”

In fact, the State Constitution DOES guarantee a free public education for every student without discrimination. (See yellow box). Charters won a court battle indicating they are “public schools,” but in the court of public opinion, there is certainly “reasonable doubt” about this issue.

 Adams did not explain why since 1994, years which included his term as DPS general counsel to state appointed-CEO Kenneth Burnley, he never advocated for African-centered education in the entire Detroit system. The vast majority of students attending DPS are Black. Additionally, many authorities believe African-centered education is historically accurate, unlike Euro-centered education, which begins the history of civilization with the Greek and Roman empires.

It should thus be advantageous to students of ALL races.

In fact, the nation’s PUBLIC school system was largely founded by Africans who broke the bonds of slavery during and after the Civil War, with the intention of educating ALL children regardless of race or economic status. To them, free PUBLIC education was a paramount RIGHT, since many had been whipped and lynched for learning to read.

Charter operators: "Give me your children at $7600 per head."

Michigan state law first authorized the opening of charter schools or “public school academies” as they are euphemistically termed, in 1994. These schools, while garnering the same state per pupil aid as public school districts, are not governed by elected school boards or subject to the same oversight requirements, as well as guarantees of teacher certification and union representation.

The charter schools proposed by Adams and Bobb will not be any different. Adams said the charter operators are averse to dealing with union contracts, and that the firing of teachers and staff in the schools will happen. He said the district will continue to own the schools and will provide a “menu of services” for the charter operators, including maintenance and transportation (which have already been privatized).

DPS parent opposes devastation of district Apr. 30, 2010

But he claimed the schools, which would be under district authority, would have ample “community involvement.” 

Adams said each charter school board would be required to have three members from the community, but would not specify if that meant DPS parents or even Detroit residents. He said board members will not be elected by the community, but selected by charter operators.

“As a part of this process, we will be taking applications from community people on a first-come, first-served basis, who will be given training at no cost, and become certified to be board members,” Adams said. “Their names will be provided to the charter operators who will select them from list. This will be a moment of empowerment—the community will now have the  opportunity to make a difference at the school level.”

City Councilwoman Brenda Jones

In response to questions from Councilwoman Brenda Jones about the logistics of implementing such drastic changes over the summer, Adams said, “This is very aggressive plan, it does require in a very short time line a two-phase approach. There are a number of schools currently in hopper scheduled to be closed,” Adams said.

He said the proposed closings allow the district to seek Requests for Proposals from charter operators, which have now been posted on the DPS website.

“We can’t in good conscience continue to operate in same way in the same manner, if our kids are not becoming very proficient in what they do,” Adams said. “We must embrace the notion of academic excellence. Academic failure will no longer be tolerated.”

Adams claimed only five percent of Detroit school children are proficient in reading as compared to the national average.

Studies to support this allegation are not included in the report.  Adams was likely using the 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment, a national test developed by the Governing Board of the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, and the Council of  Great City Schools. The test only sampled students, using categories of Advanced, Proficient, Basic and Below Basic.

Detroit children have the highest poverty rate in the country

Crain’s Detroit Business said of the test, “Detroit’s fourth graders received an overall score of 200 on a scale of 0-500, putting the city dead last among the other 17 large central U.S. cities grouped together in the NAEP test. The national average of districts of all kinds was 239.”

In fact, 20101state “report card” grades accorded to schools on the chopping and/or auction block for 2011 show only three with “D alert” grades. The remainder have B or C grades, and there are even several with A grades. (See list of schools.)

Adams neglected to say that Detroiters also come in dead last in the rate of poverty among “large central U.S.cities,” ranking highest at 33.6 percent in 2004, with a whopping 45.8 percent of its children living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census. Current breakdowns from the 2010 U.S. Census are not available on that website, which has been drastically altered.

The U.S. Constitution still includes the three-fifths compromise

Detroit children also receive about three-fifths the amount of state per-pupil aid as do children from wealthy suburbs like Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, according to Michigan Department of Education figures. That unquestionably violates the non-discrimination clause of the state’s constitution, but has NEVER been challenged by any Detroit official or state politician.

In other words, Detroit is back to slavery days, when Africans were considered three-fifths of a person.

 To make things worse, 86 percent of that minimal per-pupil aid goes to pay off the district’s debt to the banks. (Go to VOD article    )

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson told Adams, “The state of Michigan led a takeover initiative in 1999, and since then huge deficits have been garnered under the state’s watch. It is unconscionable to leave DPS with this debt—it’s their debt. Detroit citizens voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to excuse that debt. The district had a $93 million surplus in 1999, and was right in the middle academically. It was all about money, power and politics and it still is.”

Adams showed a slide of enrollment projections for the district. The district expects a school population of 50,617 in 2016 as compared to an actual population in 168,213 in 2000, he said. That’s 30 PERCENT of pre-state-takeover figures.

Detroit parents are fleeing to charters and to suburban districts, as schools close, he said. Reports show seventy thousand Detroit children now attend charter schools, causing the loss of $533 million in school aid ANNUALLY to the Detroit Public Schools.

Adams claimed that under the Renaissance 2012 plan, no student will be relocated from their current school, if the school is selected for charterization.

He said charters will be required to take special education students. But the actual language in his presentation is “Charter operators will be contractually required to meet all special education needs of enrolled students,” a rather different statement.

In response to questions from Councilwoman Brenda Jones, Adams defended the closing of the Day School for the Deaf and other Special Education programs. He said the Day School’s students will be merged into Edmonson and Schultz schools and questioned the validity of separating deaf and special ed students from the general population.

Gallaudet students blocking entrance to university to protest appointment of hearing president in 2006

“Kids must understand they don’t live in a world by themselves, deaf children should be accepted,” he said. “The district keeps special needs populations in their own world, but some with moderate challenges should be merged, so they have a broader understanding of what the world is all about.”

He claimed all programs for deaf and special ed students would transfer with them.

“Whether society will be sensitive to their needs could be very questionable,” Jones responded.

Council members Gary Brown, Saunteel Jenkins, Charles Pugh 9 22 10

There is a national movement in the deaf population that manifested itself in uprisings at the country’s only university for the deaf, Gallaudet in Washington, D.C., in 1988 and 2006. Students demanded a president who is deaf. Many in the deaf community still prefer to use sign language, which they consider a language as valid as English or Spanish, as opposed to “blending in” to the community at large by learning to speak vocally and reading lips.

Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins congratulated Adams on working closely with Bobb despite the board’s earlier adversarial relationship with him. Adams himself sued Bobb at one point for slander because Bobb claimed Adams wouldn’t show up for hearings on shady DPS real estate deals because he was involved in them.

“We can continue to fight,” Adams said. “We won the battle on mayoral control, but where has that gotten us in terms of improving the quality of education for our children?

He said the community and the district’s EM should work together with private foundations, since the district’s status as a public school system had prevented the private foundations from contributing funds for the benefit of Detroit’s children.

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

 Law Professor Michelle Alexander says the shocking incarceration rate is due to the War on Drugs, a war waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color.  

By Dick Price, editor of LA Progressive

March 31, 2011    

 This article first appeared on LA Progressive.

“More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began,” Michelle Alexander told a standing room only house at the Pasadena Main Library this past Wednesday, the first of many jarring points she made in a riveting presentation.

Former prisoners and allies support GA prison strike outside Detroit's Mound Rd. prison Dec. 14, 2010

Alexander, currently a law professor at Ohio State, had been brought in to discuss her year-old bestseller, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness . Interest ran so high beforehand that the organizers had to move the event to a location that could accommodate the eager attendees. That evening, more than 200 people braved the pouring rain and inevitable traffic jams to crowd into the library’s main room, with dozens more shuffled into an overflow room, and even more latecomers turned away altogether. Alexander and her topic had struck a nerve.

Growing crime rates over the past 30 years don’t explain the skyrocketing numbers of Black — and increasingly Brown — men caught in America’s prison system, according to Alexander, who clerked for Supreme Court Justice  Harry Blackmun after attending Stanford Law. “In fact, crime rates have fluctuated over the years and are now at historical lows.”

“Most of that increase is due to the War on Drugs, a war waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color,” she said, even though studies have shown that whites use and sell illegal drugs at rates equal to or above blacks. In some black inner-city communities, four of five black youth can expect to be caught up in the criminal justice system during their lifetimes.

As a consequence, a great many black men are disenfranchised, said Alexander — prevented because of their felony convictions from voting and from living in public housing, discriminated in hiring, excluded from juries, and denied educational opportunities.

“What do we expect them to do?” she asked, who researched her ground-breaking book while serving as Director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California. “Well, seventy percent return to prison within two years, that’s what they do.”

Prison in California

Organized by the Pasadena Public Library and the Flintridge Center, with a dozen or more cosponsors, including the ACLU Pasadena/Foothills Chapter and Neighborhood Church, and the LA Progressive as the sole media sponsor, the event drew a crowd of the converted, frankly — more than two-thirds from Pasadena’s well-established black community and others drawn from activist circles. Although Alexander is a polished speaker on a deeply researched topic, little she said stunned the crowd, which, after all, was the choir. So the question is what to do about this glaring injustice.

Married to a federal prosecutor, Alexander briefly touched on the differing opinion in the Alexander household. “You can imagine the arguments we have,” Alexander said in relating discussions she has with her husband. “He thinks there are changes we can make within the system,” she said, agreeing that there are good people working on the issues and that improvements can be made. “But I think there has to be a revolution of some kind.”

Depiction of slave ship

However change is to come, a big impediment will be the massive prison-industrial system.

“If we were to return prison populations to 1970 levels, before the War on Drugs began,” she said. “More than a million people working in the system would see their jobs disappear.”

So it’s like America’s current war addiction. We have built a massive war machine — one bigger than all the other countries in the world combined — with millions of well-paid defense industry and billions of dollars at stake. With a hammer that big, every foreign policy issue looks like a nail — another bomb to drop, another country to invade, another massive weapons development project to build.

Similarly, with such a well-entrenched prison-industrial complex in place — also with a million jobs and billions of dollars at stake — every criminal justice issue also looks like a nail — another prison sentence to pass down, another third strike to enforce, another prison to build in some job-starved small town, another chance at a better life to deny.

Alexander, who drew her early inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., devotes the last part of “The New Jim Crow” to steps people can take to combat this gross injustice. In particular, she recommended supporting the Drug Policy Alliance. At the book signing afterwards, Dr. Anthony Samad recruited Michelle Alexander to appear this fall at one his Urban Issues Forums, typically at the California African American Museum next to USC.

Maryanne Godboldo speaking at rally April 2

Hearing held on Maryanne Godboldo’s right to resist an unlawful home invasion by police

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT — Thirty-Sixth District Court Judge Paula Humphries stayed all criminal proceedings against Maryanne Godboldo April 6 after a hearing on a defense motion, according to court documents. Godboldo’s attorney Allison Folmar argued during the hearing that a similar case involving resistance to an illegal police home invasion is currently pending before the Michigan Supreme Court.

Michigan Court Rules require that similar cases not be adjudicated until the high court hands down its ruling on the seminal case.

Godboldo's attorney Allison Folmar speaks to media Mar. 30

As a result of the stay, Godboldo’s April 8 preliminary exam on eight felony counts related to her stand-off with police on Mar. 24 has been canceled, along with all other court actions, until the high court decides People v. Moreno 488 Mich. 1010 (2010). The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal Moreno on Dec. 29, 2010.

“The charges stem from police unlawfully and forcibly entering her home on March 24 without a search warrant,” reads the motion filed by Folmar. “Defendant asserts she can claim self-defense for resisting this unlawful and forcible entry into her home.”

In its grant of leave to appeal on the Moreno case, the state Supreme Court said three factors are to be decided, which the motion quotes as follows:

Godboldo family home: is it safe harbor?

“The parties shall address 1) whether a person present in his/her own home can lawfully resist police officers who unlawfully and forcibly enter the home, without violating MCL 750.81d; 2) If not, whether so interpreted MCL 750.81d is unconstitutional. 3) Whether a defendant prosecuted under MCL 750.81d for resisting a police officer who unlawfully and forcibly enters defendant’s home can claim self-defense.”

The investigator’s report in Godboldo’s file makes it clear that the officers involved, Lt. Michael Nied, and P.O.’s Thomas Trewell and Kevin Simpson, did forcibly enter Godboldo’s home, located on Blaine near Linwood. It says first of all that they responded to a “patrol run” to meet Wayne County Child Protective Services, with a “court order” and a “petition” to remove Ariana.

Lt. Michael Nied in Michigan National Guard (Facebook photo)

The report identifies the case worker as Mia Wenk.

“A Black female who was later discovered to be the child’s mother came to the door and refused to unlock the security gate,” says the report. It says a supervising officer came to the scene and entry was again denied.

“Officers forced entry to outside door and officer attempted entry into inner door,” says the report. “Gunshot was fired at officers. Drywall sprayed onto Lieutenant Nied.  Officers exited and declared a barricaded gunman situation.”

Subsequently numerous armored vehicles, helicopters and Special Response Team (SRT, previously known as SWAT) officers descended on the lone mother and child in their home. Members of Godboldo’s family and community organizers came to the scene, along with Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Deborah Thomas.

At about 5 a.m., Godboldo emerged from the home after Judge Thomas spoke with her, and was taken into custody, as was her child. Thomas said in published remarks, “We talked that day mother-to-mother. I asked her to come out on her porch and I promised I would come here today to walk out with her. I never dreamed [the bond] would be set so high and she wouldn’t be free to care for her daughter.”

Judge Deborah Thomas

Thomas was speaking outside 36^th District Court after Godboldo’s arraignment Mar. 30. The newspaper (The Detroit News) also said, “Thomas said she eventually talked Godboldo out with a promise her daughter would be turned over to a relative, but family members say the girl was taken into protective custody anyway.”

Another story later said Thomas indicated there were defects in the documents police used to force their way into the Godboldo home.

Godboldo was later freed on a $200,000 personal recognizance bond by Humphries.

In the Angel Moreno case, the defense’s argument, summarized in the Appeals Court decision last June, was:

Police break down a door

“Defendant contends that police lacked probable cause and that exigent circumstances did not exist to justify a warrantless entry by officers into defendant’s home. As such, defendant asserts he had a constitutional right to refuse entry and resist an illegal and forcible entry into his residence. Defendant also argues that due process was violated because no reasonable person would have known he could be charged under MCL 750.81d for defending his home from an aggressive police officer acting without a warrant or pursuant to any recognized exception to the warrant requirement. In addition, defendant asks this Court to declare that a person’s right to not retreat and defend his home constitutes . . . a defense to MCL 750.81d.”

In the case, officers from the city of Holland, Michigan forced their way into Angel Moreno’s home after he told them they could not enter without a warrant. The officers had told another individual they wanted to enter to “secure the residence while they obtained a search warrant.”

Holland Michigan police officer

“Defendant came to the door and, using vulgar language, refused officers entry into the home,” says the opinion. “Defendant told the officers to ‘get off his porch,’ and demanded that the officers obtain a warrant to enter. Defendant moved to close the front door. At this point,  [officers] DeWys and Hamberg were not inside the house, but were positioned on the sill of the front door. The door was almost closed when Hamberg placed his shoulder to the door to prevent it being closed and a struggle ensued between defendant and the officers. During this physical confrontation, Hamberg and defendant were struggling in the doorway and may have crossed the threshold. Ultimately, the officers were able to physically subdue defendant and remove him from the home’s doorway and effectuate his arrest.”

The officers then entered the home and searched it, allegedly obtaining marijuana in the process.

Moreno’s attorney, Craig Haehnel, of Grand Rapids, said, “It would be outrageous and offend sensibility to think the police can break into a home without a warrant, or that when they knock you to the ground and you defend yourself you could be charged with a felony. It’s a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

Craig Haehnel, defense attorney in People v. Moreno

He said the MCL 750.81d statute currently on the books was amended from previous law.

“We used to have a resisting and opposing law in which a recognized defense was if it was an illegal arrest,” he said. “We grew up with the notion that you should be able to walk away from an officer conducting such an arrest. But even under the current statute, the definition of ‘obstruction’ requires that it involves lawful activity [by the police].”

The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

He said that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared it illegal for states to pass laws that violate the Fourth Amendment.

MCL 750.81d is a state statute that has been frequently disputed by defense attorneys, who believe it is unconstitutional, partially because of its vagueness.

It reads in part, “(1) Except as provided in subsections (2), (3), and (4), an individual who assaults, batters, wounds, resists, obstructs, opposes, or endangers a person who the individual knows or has reason to know is performing his or her duties is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 2 years or a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.”*

Maryann Godboldo is charged with three counts under that statute, pertaining to officers Neid, Trewell, and Simpson.

Neither Attorney Folmar nor family members were available for comment on Humphries’ ruling as this article went to press.

To read an excellent article by Darrell Dawsey of MLive.com, “Was a Detroit mother right to resist efforts by Child Protective Services, police to take her child?” click on http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/03/was_a_detroit_mother_right_to.html

Dancers who performed "Testify" during rally express their support for Maryanne Godboldo; her sister Penny Godboldo, who choreographed the dance, is at Maryanne's right

Rally draws hundreds along with world-wide support

Judge orders continued confinement of daughter, 13

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – Hundreds packed the pews of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church to support Maryanne Godboldo April 2. Her family says thousands more across the world have contacted them to support the battle to bring her daughter Ariana, 13, home immediately.

Maryanne Godboldo speaks at rally

Over $3,000 was raised for Godboldo’s legal fees during the rally, by members of the Church’s Social Justice Ministry, who took collection plates from pew to pew.

Godboldo faces eight felony charges for standing off police armored vehicles, helicopters, and SWAT team members brandishing assault weapons on March 24.  She and her supporters say she was only trying to keep Child Protective Services from forcing a dangerous drug, Risperdal, on her child.

“I want my daughter back TODAY,” Godboldo said from the church’s pulpit. “I’m terrified; I don’t know what is happening to her. If we don’t stand up for our children, we have no future. I am so filled with joy and thankful for your support, Detroit. The only reason I came out of my home was not all those guns out there, not the threats they brought against me, but because of YOU!”

Attorney Allison Folmar with her daughter at rally

Godboldo’s daughter is currently incarcerated at the Hawthorn Family Center at Northville, despite efforts by other family members to have her released to their custody. Attorneys Allison Folmar and Wanda Evans earlier obtained a temporary restraining order preventing doctors there from putting Arianna back on Risperdal.

Despite a large turn-out of supporters at a Wayne County Juvenile Court custody hearing April 6, and evidence that Arianna may have contracted a sexually-transmitted disease while at Hawthorn, Referee Leslie Graves ruled that the child would remain in state custody.

“I received a call from her mother Monday that they were transporting Arianna in an ambulance to Children’s Hospital for treatment for an STD,” Arianna’s father Mubarak Hakim told VOD. “We went down there and stayed all night with her. They took tests and we are awaiting the results. But they took her back to Hawthorn anyway. Her mother and I are visiting her there every day.”

Child's father Mubarak Hakim speaks at rally

After the hearing, Godboldo said, “I’m very concerned about my daughter, I’m trying to hold on, but I don’t think that I can do it. We need more people and more help. It was very hard for me to walk out of there without my daughter.”

During the April 2 rally, Godboldo spoke of the young women she met while she was incarcerated in the Wayne County Jail until she was freed on a personal bond March 30.

“They don’t have anyone to speak for them,” she said. “So many of them were medicated. A nurse would come and they would line up for their medications. One woman told me what Risperdal did to her. She was kidnapped at 17 and forced into prostitution in Chicago. When she got free and came back home, they put her on that drug. She said she felt dizzy, was hallucinating, and couldn’t function on a day-to-day basis.”

Godboldo family members; Rev. Edie Worthy at right

Attorney Evans called for massive help from the legal community, both in the custody battle and to fight the criminal charges.

“We are working hard to get these charges dismissed and Arianna home,” Evans said. “We need at least six attorneys in and out of court filing motions for stays and other actions. Every time they file something, we have to file in return. We need a medical team, of at least six specialists. We need paralegals, private investigators. This case has gone nation-wide. We are receiving emails from all over the world.”

Godboldo’s niece Ambyr Brooks said that the family has been contacted by people from Australia to Canada, many of whom have been similarly subjected to

Attorney Wanda Evans

Another victim of state kidnapping

state abductions of their children and forced medications.

Evans said she has been working in the juvenile system since 1984, but that removing children from their homes is not helping.

“I want to say this is a typical case,” she said, “but here you have an intelligent, articulate, attentive mother who has done her research and gotten preferred medical help for her daughter, and she is asking for assistance. But the system’s attitude is that it is not up to the family. Because she doesn’t want to deal with their plan, they have a whole team come in to bombard her and take away her child. Put yourself in the shoes of Maryanne Godboldo, what would YOU do? Wouldn’t YOU stand up and fight?”

Barbara Ann and Michael Polizzi

Barbara Ann Polizzi, a critical care nurse from New York, drove 13 hours to the rally with her 17-year-old son Michael to tell a story almost identical to that of Arianna’s. Michael too was forced to take Risperdal.

“My son and I could not stop crying when we saw this story, because we know what you have been through,” Polizzi told Godboldo. “Michael lived away from me for six years and I had to fight all by myself to get him back.”

Many in the audience were moved to tears by Michael’s presentation.

“I felt scared and fearful,” he said. “The medicine gave me shortness of breath and made my heart race. I had to get an inhaler and started on heart medication on top of it. I was not Michael anymore.”

He said he was subjected to constant abuse during his placement away from his mother.

“My mother loves me and would not hurt me, but the staff at the school would hit me and yell at me,” he said. “They put me in the basement for six weeks. They would not let me take showers with my friends or play with them. A man did something to me that he shouldn’t have, and my mother came and got me. She took me off Risperdal and I was Michael again, I didn’t feel sad, the stiffness in my ankles went away. My mother never gave up on me.”

Calling Arianna his “new friend,” Michael said he is very worried about her.

“I know she was scared and sad when they took her away, and so was her mother,” Michael said. “The hospital is not a place for you. They force medications on you and if you don’t take them they give you a shot and even put you in restraints. Arianna needs to be Arianna. She must come home today before something bad happens to her. The hospitals never tell the moms what happens behind closed doors.”

Dr. Margaret Betts

Dr. Margaret Betts likened the taking of Godboldo’s child to the days of slavery. 

“You would think this is 1811, instead of 2011, where they forcibly take a child and separate her from her family,” Betts said. “I’m appalled because I’m a physician, a certified allopath and I know that foods, herbs and spices given in the right combination can heal 90 percent of all diseases. The medications Maryanne’s child was given have permanent side effects. She was getting better under the alternative medicines. This was a case of her loving her daughter too much. If it happened to her it can happen to you.”

The Godboldo family is known for their long-time participation in the arts community in Detroit. Maryanne’s sister Penny Godboldo is a Dunham-certified master dance teacher at Marygrove College, and also runs her own dance institute. She choreographed a special dance for her sister and niece, called “Testify,” which was performed during the rally as part of the spiritual service by the Dance Ministry of Hartford, to a song by jazz artist Dianne Reeves

Hartford Dance Ministry performs "Testify"

 “That evening when I saw the police officers there and the tanks and helicopters, I knew only with God’s grace that this would end peacefully,” Penny Godboldo said. “It took a lot to do what my sister did.”

Towards the end of the dance, both sisters joined the purple-and-white robed dancers, poignantly displaying in movement their sorrow and belief that Arianna would come home. Penny Godboldo has coordinated much of the support for her sister, assisted by the Rev. Edie Worthy, head of Hartford Memorial Church’s Social Justice Ministry, and community organizers like Ron Scott, who chaired the rally.

Penny Godboldo attributed their defiant spirit to their upbringing by their parents, Lovey, now 98, and Walter Godboldo, who have a long history in the Detroit community.

Aurora Harris

“Maryanne has always been a good mother,” said the child’s father Mubarak Hakim. “She had Arianna active in dance classes, singing with the choir, and swimming. Maryanne is not war-like, but she is a person who will stand up for truth and justice. The pharmaceutical industry is evil, wicked and barbarous, it’s all about money.  Doctors get perks from the corporations to introduce new drugs and make hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Aurora Harris, parent of an autistic child, who is fighting the neglect of students with disabilities in the Detroit Public Schools system, read a poem she wrote for the Godboldos, called “No, the drugs make me act like a junkie.”

Paul Taylor of the Inner City Sub Center led a chant, “Save the babies!”

“They said she was holding her daughter hostage, but they were holding Maryanne hostage, she and her child. Maryanne’s father Hakim and I go way back, he has been an organizer of entrepreneurial training for young people with our center.”

Ray Jenkins with wife

Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said, “We will not allow the state or any other entity to deny our humanity, and there is no form of humanity higher than motherhood.”

Among supporters at the rally were Ray Kendrick and his wife. Kendrick said that Walter and Lovey Godboldo took him “under their wing” when he was just 13.

“The kids all thought I was their oldest brother for years,” Kendrick said. “Their father was a mechanic, and he taught me how to repair cars.” Kendrick and his son later founded Park Property Management.

Deacon Bridgette McDonald of Hartford

Poster

T-shirt

Memorial said an organizing meeting will be held Monday April 11 at 6 p.m. in the church’s basement.The Justice4Maryanne committee is selling T-shirts for $20 with her photo and the slogan “The state does not own my child,” as well as posters, to raise funds for her defense and Arianna’s return. Contributions can also be made through PayPal on the organization’s website at www.justice4maryanne.com . The support committee can also be reached by calling 313-867-4841 or emailing justice4maryanne@gmail.com; Penny Godboldo said they welcome letters of support, to be presented to the authorities, and asked that they be emailed to the committee.

Youth support Ariana outside Juvenile Court hearing Photo David Coates/Detroit News

Alleged Detroit Census figures for 2010

By Jerry Goldberg

March 31, 2011 

(VOD ed. note: This article relates to Detroit’s census count as recently announced by the federal government. It should be noted that the city government is appealing this count. It should also be noted that if Michigan were to follow the lead of states like New York and New Jersey, and count prisoners in their home districts, Detroit’s population count would be significantly increased. Additionally, the deliberate destruction of the Detroit Public Schools, which are losing 86 percent of their state pupil aid to the banks, has also driven people out of our once great and beloved city.)

Detroit family hears speakers calling for moratorium on foreclosures, government debt to the banks

Detroit lost 25 percent of its population in the last decade, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. (Detroit News, March 23). Detroit’s population declined from 951,270 in 2000 to 713,777 in 2010.

Detroit, an 85 percent African-American city, experienced the greatest population loss of any U.S. city except New Orleans.

Not one of the many newspaper articles discussing this lost population puts the blame where it belongs — on the major banks, which have leveled neighborhoods throughout Detroit with mass foreclosures driven by racist, predatory lending.

Demonstrators demand moratorium NOW at Aug. 28 rally in Detroit

The foreclosure epidemic that has leveled communities throughout Detroit is a direct product of the racist lending practices of every major bank. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority published data noting 62 percent of all mortgage loans to African Americans in metro Detroit in2005-2007 were subprime loans, compared to 28 percent for whites. A huge 87 percent of African-American borrowers in Wayne County, where the city of Detroit is located, were sold subprimeloans in 2006. (Detroit News, Sept. 8, 2007)

A January 2009 report prepared by the City’s Planning and Development Department noted that of 330,000 new mortgages in Detroit from 2004 to 2006, 73 percent were subprime mortgages (mortgages at least 3 percent above the standard interest rate).The report noted that from 2005 to 2009, the city experienced 67,000 bank foreclosures, more than 20 percent of all household mortgages. In addition, there were 4,000 tax foreclosures in the first six months of 2008. The study noted that two-thirds of foreclosed properties were now vacant.

Anthony King (center) was evicted in 2009 from his parental home, where he had lived for 41 years, and cared for his parents; supporters moved him back in but he was eventually forced out; he is featured in Michael Moore's movie "Capitalism: A Love Story."

The foreclosures have continued in the years since this report was published. More than 69,000 homes in the Detroit metro area received delinquency or foreclosure notices in 2009 (foreclosuredeals.com, Feb. 9, 2010) Metro Detroit recorded 43,541 foreclosures in 2010, the third highest number in the U.S. (Detroit News, Jan. 27) Last fall 13,000 tax-foreclosed properties were placed on the auction block. (Michigan Public Radio, Sept. 17). 

The banks knew these subprime loans would fail when they made them, but they didn’t care because of the massive profits they made — until the bubble burst, at which time the banks were bailed out by the taxpayers and continue to be bailed out to this day. Most mortgage loans are owned or backed by such federal government entities as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The federal government pays the bank the inflated value of the mortgage and then evicts the homeowner.

Stop debt service to the banks

Home on Murray Hill in Detroit in 2009; VOD editor grew up here and home is still well-maintained by its current occupants

Detroit had the lowest foreclosure rate of any metropolitan area in the U.S. in 1996. (Black Commentator, Nov. 22, 2007)  An article in Landlord Nation, April 13, 2009, reported that Detroit, a city once known for its high percentage of home ownership for African Americans, now has the lowest ownership rate for single family detached homes out of the 20 largest cities in the U.S. The average sale price of homes in Detroit with HUD-backed mortgages plunged from $46,702 in 2003 to $8,672 in 2008 and $6,035 for the first three months of 2009.

As early as March 2007, the Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shutoffs pointed out to Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm that she could declare a state of economic emergency under Michigan law and place a moratorium on foreclosures based on the 1930s Mortgage Moratorium Act, which was upheld by the Michigan and U.S. Supreme Courts.

Jennifer Granholm

Mayor Dave Bing

Granholm explicitly stated, “The banks wouldn’t like it.”

The coalition similarly approached three Detroit mayors — Kwame Kilpatrick, Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and Dave Bing — to declare a state of emergency in Detroit and formally request the imposition of a foreclosure moratorium for the city. Each of these politicians rejected this demand that would have preserved Detroit’s housing and population base.

Kwame Kilpatrick

Former interim Mayor Ken Cockrel, Jr. and Deputy Mayor Saul Green

Today, with the city’s tax base destroyed by the loss of property values caused by the foreclosure epidemic, the same banks that caused this crisis have the audacity to demand huge cutbacks in city services and jobs in order to be paid debt service on loans made to the city, which are continually renegotiated as the tax base declines.

In fact, the banks exercise direct control over large sections of the city budget, with casino tax dollars and state revenue sharing paid to trustees, so the funds go directly to the banks. Up to [86 percent of state per-pupil school aid] is earmarked for debt service to the banks (Ed. note: go to VOD  articles, “DPS Katrina” Parts One and Two, at http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=5584 and http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=5724 to see actual figures from DPS website.)

Young Detroit Builders at City Council hearing last year; Council cut all their CDBG funding

Detroit can be rebuilt and repopulated. The city needs a massive jobs program where youth can be trained as carpenters, plumbers and electricians to rebuild the housing stock that has been destroyed by the banks, so that vacant homes can be returned to their rightful owners or turned over to the homeless and unemployed. This jobs program can be paid for by placing a moratorium on debt service to the banks, as well as collecting reparations from the banks for destroying this once great city.

Articles copyright 1995-2011 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire articleis permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.

Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011

Email: ww@workers.org

Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld

Kwame Ture Freedom Ride to Africa (Libya)! – The Inheritor and Continuator of the Revolutionary Theory and Practice of Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and Kwame Ture!

A Call Issued by the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC) in Honor of and in Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and Kwame Ture

April 4, 2011

Click here, to endorse the Kwame Ture Freedom Ride to Africa (Libya)!

Click here, to join the Kwame Ture Freedom Ride to Africa (Libya)!

Kwame Ture, formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, was extremely busy, excited and happy in Africa, during the last week, days, hours and seconds of his life, November 8 to 15, 1998. Among his many political activities, he was anxiously and methodically preparing for the arrival in Conakry, Guinea of a Libyan hospital plane that would take him, members of his family, and a small cadre of All-African People’s Revolutionary Party organizers to Tripoli, Libya. This invitation was extended by Muammar Al Qathafi and the People of the Libyan Jamahiriya. Kwame was also awarded the Qathafi International Human Rights Prize. See the picture below.

Kwame Ture awarded the Quatafi International Human Rights Prize in Libya

WaBun-Inini (Vernon Bellecourt)

The Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere, thanks to Kwame’s and Wabun-Inini’s work, were awarded the Qathafi International Human Rights Prize in 1991. WaBun-Inini, also known as Vernon Bellecourt, is the late and former national spokesperson of the American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council. Click here, to see AIM’s Statement on the War in Libya.

This flight was to be Kwame’s Last Freedom Ride, a revolutionary act to break, once and for all, the immoral and illegal United States government’s travel bans, sanctions, embargoes and blockades against the Peoples and Governments of Côte d’Ivoire, since 1986; the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since 1998; Cuba, since 1962; Iran, since 1979; Korea (North), since 1950; Libya, since 1981; Somalia, since 1990; Sudan, since 2002 and Syria, since 1986.

Kwame, his family, and the core organizers of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party who remained at his bedside, knew that he would die in route or shortly upon his arrival in Tripoli. Kwame, consistent with how he lived his life, was determined to die in Africa, in revolutionary struggle and service, sacrifice and suffering. The members of his family, including his mother Mabel Carmichael, and the cadre of the A-APRP who enabled and empowered Kwame to make this Last Freedom Ride, were prepared to die with him. Reverend Jesse Jackson visited Kwame at the hospital in Conakry. Kwame ordered us to inform Jesse about this Last Freedom Ride. Jesse’s response was diplomatic, but non-committal in joining Kwame in this Africa-changing and World-changing Project. He said, “That is what a good conscientious objector should do!” Thirteen years later, we agree with Jesse, this is what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would do, if he were alive today.

Allies Muammar Gadhafi and NOI Minister Louis Farrakhan

Detailed plans were discussed and agreed to by Kwame, his family, and the small number of faithful A-APRP cadre who would accompany him. There were serious political and logistical questions that had to be answered, which included, but were not limited to: (1) what to do if the military government of Guinea refused permission for the plane to land in or for Kwame to leave Guinea; (2) what to do if the plane was shot down by U.S., imperialism in route to Tripoli; (3) how to organize a militant and mass, Libyan-government sponsored Funeral Symposium in his honor in Tripoli; (4) when and how Kwame’s body would return to Conakry, his eternal resting place; and (5) what to do if the Libyan government would not allow him to leave or the government of Guinea would not let him return. The names of organizations and individuals from every corner of Africa, the African Diaspora and the World, were identified and would have been invited, especially Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and the Rainbow Coalition, to attend Kwame’s Funeral Symposium in Tripoli, and thereby make their contribution to Kwame’s Last Freedom Ride!

True to his revolutionary, Pan-Africanist principles and fighting for Africa on his death-bed, Kwame Ture authored his last political statement, Hell Yes, We are going to Libya! This Statement was distributed strategically and in advance, worldwide, and embargoed for release until after Kwame boarded that Libyan hospital plane in Conakry. Tragically, the plane never left Tripoli. This Statement, Hell Yes, We are going to Libya! was released posthumously, on November 15, 1998, within minutes of Kwame’s transition, and is republished today worldwide! The “beat goes on,” and the African Revolution continues and intensifies!

Miriam Makeba and husband Stokely Carmichael in Conakry, Guinea in 1968

Kwame Ture was born on June 29, 1941, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. He made his transition to the ancestors, on November 15, 1998, in Conakry, Guinea. He would be 70 years young this year, and his revolutionary voice and Pan-Africanist vision is still reverberating in every corner of Africa, the African Diaspora and the World. It reverberates despite the unrelenting, massive and word-wide conspiracy to silence, co-opt, contain and crush Kwame’s voice and vision, and his legacy of revolutionary struggle and sacrifice, service and suffering. Plans are being made to hold a gala and V.I.P. 70th Birthday Party in Washington, DC in Kwame’s honor on Saturday, June 25, 2011. For more information, contact: info@a-aprp-gc.org.

Today, 13 years after Kwame’s transition, the United States government, which is the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world today,” and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an instrument of U.S. imperialism, are interfering in Africa’s internal affairs once again. They are bombing Tripoli and the Muammar Al Qathafi compound and house once again. Africa, from Cote d’Ivoire to Congo to Zimbabwe to Somalia to Egypt to Tunisia in our Motherland, and from Cuba to Haiti to Venezuela and throughout the African Diaspora, is under merciless attack once again, as it has been for more than 3 millennia, by a new generation of international invaders, slave masters, murderers, rapists, thieves, thugs and gangsters.

Ghadafi supporter in Libya

Africa is our Mother! Libya is one of our Mother’s children. Muammar al Qathafi is an African! We will defend the Dignity and Integrity of Mother Africa, our Mother’s children, our sisters and brothers, comrades and friends until death.

The All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC) is the inheritor and continuator of the revolutionary theory and practice of Kwame Nkrumah, the late and beloved first president of Ghana; Ahmed Sekou Toure, the late and beloved first president of Guinea; and Kwame Ture. Equally as important, our organizers continue and intensify our almost five decades of struggle, service and sacrifice as well.

Detroit demonstration: Hands off Libya!

The A-APRP (GC) issues an open call to all progressive justice and peace-seeking Humanity in every corner of the United States and the World, especially students, youth and women, to travel with us to Tripoli immediately, or to meet us there. Our Delegation, which will include a wide and diverse spectrum of organizations, movements and peoples, will openly and uncompromisingly declare in the name of African and World Humanity, the second we land on African (Libyan) soil, that the United States, NATO, and European Union travel bans, sanctions, embargoes and blockades against Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Iran, Korea (North), Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Syria are finished now, immediately, and forever. We will demand that these international gangsters, who commit Crimes against Humanity every day with impunity, and their African puppet Barack Obama, keep their bloody hands off Africa (Libya)!

We ask all of progressive humanity to help us build and to join the Kwame Ture Freedom Ride to Africa (Libya). We remind all, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was clear in his speech against the United States government’s racist, immoral and illegal war against the People and Government of Vietnam, that “[t]he ultimate measure of a [woman or] man is not where [they] stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where [they] stand at times of challenge and controversy.” Dr. King also said, “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”

Click here, to endorse the Kwame Ture Freedom Ride to Africa (Libya)!

Click here, to join the Kwame Ture Freedom Ride to Africa (Libya)!

See you at African Liberation Day on May 21, 2011, from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm, at Malcolm X Park, 16th and Euclid Street NW, Washington, DC.

Click here, to pre-register your attendance to African Liberation Day!

All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)

info@a-aprp-gc.org – http://www.a-aprp-gc.org – (202) 719-0529

Michael I. Roth, CEO and president of Interpublic

Interpublic discloses stake in Facebook

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e1f2c458-5e14-11e0-b1d8-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1IYYxoNCp

 FT.COM

By David Gelles in New York

Published: April 3 2011

Interpublic, the advertising group, has emerged as an unlikely beneficiary of the surging value of Facebook. (Go to 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpublic_Group_of_Companies to read more about Interpublic. Also go to http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/13/businessinsider-meet-facebooks-soon-to-be-billionaire-shareholders-2010-5.DTL to read about Facebook’s other billionaire investors and the ouster of some of its founder.)

Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, owns 24 percent or $53 billion; he met with Pres. Barack Obama, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt (linked to CIA), and Steve Jobs of Apple in San Francisco in February

The company owns a stake in the social network that is today valued at somewhere between $200m and $300m, depending on Facebook’s valuation and the actual size of the stake.

The exact figures have not been disclosed, but people close to Interpublic say it owns slightly less than a half per cent of Facebook, and paid less than $5m for it in 2006.

Interpublic, which owns McCann Erickson and other agencies and is led by chief executive Michael Roth, secured shares in what was then an emerging site mostly popular with university students.

Investments by an advertising group in a social network are rare, but Interpublic won the privilege by committing to spend $10m for its clients on Facebook, an early win for a social network seeking to bolster its image with advertisers.

(Read: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/02/steve-jobs-and-eric-schmidt-to-meet-with-president-obama-thursday-in-san-francisco.html to understand Facebook’s connections with those in power. Eric Smith’s Google has been linked to the CIA: to find out more about those connections, click on  http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/30/google_teams_up_with_cia_to).

Accel Partners CEO Jim Breyer owns 10 percent, worth 22 billion, also linked to CIA

The position in Faceok is not that substantial compared with Interpublic’s overall revenues, which totalled $6.53bn last year. But the value of the stake is welcome for the group, which is recovering from a tough few years during the recession, and has become large enough for Interpublic for the first time to report it in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange ­Commission.

“From time to time, we make investments in privately held companies that we believe may be of interest to the advertising and marketing sectors,” the company wrote in its annual report for December.

“Certain of these investments, the most significant of which is Facebook, have significantly appreciated compared to their cost, but there can be no assurance as to the terms on which we would be able to dispose of any such investments.”

(Ed. note: Go to http://choicelearning.blogspot.com/2006/01/personal-security-cia-and-social.html

When Interpublic took its stake in Facebook, the social network was valued at between $1bn and $2bn. Just a year later, however, Microsoft invested $240m in Facebook at a $15bn valuation.

But as Facebook’s valuation soared last year, thanks to robust trading on the secondary market, Interpublic realised it was sitting on a substantial stake, and was compelled to disclose it to the SEC.

The Russia-based Digital Sky Technologies owns 10 percent of Facebook, worth $22 billion; CEO is Yuri Milner

Based on a valuation of $50bn, an Interpublic stake of 0.4 per cent would be worth $200m. In recent weeks, however, Facebook has been valued at up to $85bn on the secondary market.

Facebook replaces employee over share purchases; Goldman Sachs involved

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: April 2 2011 00:28 | Last updated: April 2 2011 00:28

A Facebook employee was replaced after he bought shares in the company in the private secondary stock market in contravention of the company’s own internal rules. (Go to http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/facebook-michael-brown_n_843489.html?ir=Business to read their take on the event.)

Michael Brown, former corporate development manager for Facebook.

In a statement issued through his lawyer, Mr Brown said: “I did buy Facebook stock on the secondary market in early September 2010, and I did so with the absolute best of intentions and only because I believe in Facebook.”

However, he denied a report that his purchases were related in any way to the $1.5bn investment in Facebook that Goldman Sachs tried to arrange at the start of this year. (Also read http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/17/goldman-sachs-facebook-private-placement.)

The Goldman-led investment was later revamped and an offering to US investments scrapped after news of the planned private share sale leaked out, potentially putting the sale in contravention of US securities laws.

Goldman Sachs tried to buy into Facebook.

The misstep is a black eye for the social networking company, which has increasingly come to rely on the fast-growing private market in its shares as it has held back from a full public listing.The emergence of a liquid private market for its shares has made it possible for employees to cash in some of their holdings before an initial public offering and let outsiders build big stakes in the company, which is now valued by private share sales at more than $70bn.However, the lower level of transparency around private transactions has at times created headaches for Facebook, given the regulations designed to protect investors in these markets, and the company has been criticised for holding back from a full initial public offering.

Michael Brown, an employee in Facebook’s corporate development department, was replaced after buying shares in the company that contravened rules it had set to limit the timing of such purchases.

“I am saddened by the course of events that led to my departure and the incorrect reporting of it,” Mr Brown said. “I am now focused on moving on past this unfortunate series of events.”

Facebook declined to comment.

Standing ovation for Vanessa Fluker

 By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – The auditorium of Central United Methodist Church was filled with supporters of Attorney Vanessa Fluker March 25, including victims of foreclosure, and members of numerous groups including Moratorium NOW, the People’s Crime Lab Task Force, the Original Coalition Against Police Brutality, and other activists of all colors, ages, and sexes.

Vanessa Fluker speaks at rally March 25

Fluker is called the “people’s lawyer” by many, since she works 84 hours a week fighting to keep Detroit’s poor and working people in their homes, and has been active in the campaign for a state and national moratorium on the foreclosures that have devastated cities like Detroit.

 Her office mate, attorney Jerome Goldberg, said she takes cases even he wouldn’t take.

“Her legal work has led to significant legal victories,” Goldberg said. “She won the first case in Michigan holding that MERS [a temporary holding organization for mortgages] has no standing to foreclose.  She has won cases asserting that the failure to evaluate loans for modifications is a defense to a foreclosure.  She has testified in front of the U.S. Congress exposing the ‘silent bailout’ of the banks by the federal government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that occurs with virtually every foreclosure.”

Rubie Curl Pinkins and her attorney Vanessa Fluker demonstrate against her eviction at Bank of America in downtown Detroit

But on March 1, 2011, Michigan Third Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. assessed $12,200 in sanctions against this distinguished attorney and her client for what he called a “vexatious appeal” of an eviction stemming from a foreclosure by RBS Services (Royal Bank of Scotland).  Her support committee is trying to raise $18,000 to allow for late fees to keep her out of jail for contempt.

“It’s not just about me,” Fluker said. “It’s about my client and all those fighting foreclosures. Judge Colombo’s action could have a chilling effect on every attorney, making them fear that vigorous advocacy could result in such sanctions.”

Fluker is an extremely passionate, precise, and articulate speaker with a rapid-fire style that calls to mind the late Kenneth Cockrel, Sr. in his heyday.

Attorney Jerome Goldberg supports Fluker

“Today, we are actually foreclosing on each other,” Fluker told the crowd. “The U.S. government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now owns and controls 75 percent of predatory, toxic loans foisted on homeowners by the banks and mortgage companies.”

Fluker explained that the government insured those loans and has paid the full cost of defaulted mortgages to the original lenders, who received billions in tax-funded bail-outs to boot. This is despite the fact that only a very small percentage of the lenders complied with the requirements of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that they negotiate affordable terms with homeowners to keep them in their homes.

“We must understand the vast profit the banks are making off the people,” Fluker said. “I have numerous clients who are making their mortgage payments every month and still get foreclosure notices. But no one will work with them because of the profit the banks can get out of foreclosing on them. We have to let the banks, the legal system and the legislatures know that we will NOT take this anymore!”

Former Third Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly presents "Outstanding Judge of the Year" award to Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. in 2007

Other speakers supporting Fluker at the rally along with Goldberg were Rev. Ed Rowe of Central United Methodist Church, U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Wayne County Commissioner Martha Scott, and labor author Steve Babson. Conyers said he will sponsor fund-raisers for Fluker in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Many believe the role of Judge Colombo in this matter should be closely scrutinized for conflict of interest.  Colombo has not filed Campaign Finance Reports since 1988, when he received what is evidently an eternal waiver from the Secretary of State.

James Woodham, spokesperson for the Secretary of State, said that Colombo asserted in 1988 that he was not spending more than $1,000 on his campaigns. Woodham said he does not have to request a waiver again, EVER. This reporter, however, has reviewed numerous campaign finance records in her 11-year career, and NEVER found a candidate who had not filed a single report in 23 years.

Colombo house in Grosse Pointe, financed by RBS, the same bank trying to evict Fluker's client

SOS records confirm that Colombo lives at 754 Lakeland in Grosse Pointe. Wayne County Register of Deeds records show that a $200,000 mortgage on the home, taken out in 2007, was written off  in 2009 by the very same bank that is foreclosing on Fluker’s client, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

One of Fluker’s contentions in her “vexacious” lawsuit was that her client had been named by the Center for Community Justice and Advocacy (CCJS) in a federal Fair Housing Complaint against RBS. CCJA accused RBS of discriminating against Blacks by steering them to high interest loans, and then selling their homes at Sheriff’s auctions for low values, thus precluding their six-month right to redemption which is guaranteed under state law.

“Discrimination complaints are an accepted affirmative defense in eviction cases,” Goldberg noted.

Demonstrator smashes window at RBS branch in London during 2009 G-20 protests

Folks in RBS’ home country are not overly fond of the bank either.  Over a half-million demonstrators protesting huge government budget cuts in London, England last week  included some who chose to target a branch of RBS, throwing paint and bottles at the building.

Colombo ran for State Supreme Court last year, but his candidacy was dismissed by many in labor who still remember his infamous 2008 asbestos case ruling.

According to the National Law Journal, Colombo threw out the testimony of an expert witness on asbestos cases, Dr. Michael Kelly, putting thousands more lawsuits brought by victims of asbestos exposure “in limbo.”

Heat stroke caused deaths of four patients; Colombo sentenced nursing home director to probation

In 2007, Colombo sentenced Kathryn Gillis, R.N., former director of nursing at the Northland Nursing Center, to a term of five years probation for causing the heat-related deaths of four patients in the home. She pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and could have received 15 years in prison on each count.

An investigation by the Attorney General’s office revealed that “the facility’s air conditioning system was not functioning, the facility’s windows did not open, and there was a lack of fans for residents to use” when temperatures in Detroit reached 87 to 90 degrees during three days in June, 2001. The patients died from conditions related to heat exposure, but Gillis remained free in her (presumably) air-conditioned home.

Prior to that, Colombo, as head of the Third Circuit Court’s docket review committees, recommended that Judge Deborah Thomas, be removed from the bench, allegedly for non-adherence to trial timeline guidelines. Thomas argued back that she was being forced to hold time-consuming jury trials by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who had ordered no bench trials for judges she felt favored the defense.

Thomas was well known for her battle, begun in 2004, to get more proportionate representation of Blacks on Wayne County juries, another reason Kelly wanted her gone. Colombo was an ardent supporter of Kelly’s. Kelly presented him with a trophy in 2007 that called him the “Third Circuit Court Outstanding Judge of the Year.

Both Kelly and Colombo eventually lost out. A mass community movement in support of Judge Thomas’ advocacy for constitutional jury representation forced her to step down. When judges on the bench voted to replace Kelly with Colombo, the State Supreme Court snubbed them, instead appointing Virgil Smith, who came direct from the Prosecutor’s office.

Checks to the Vanessa G. Fluker Appeal Fund can be sent to 2920 E. Jefferson, Suite 101, Detroit, MI 48207. For more information about Moratorium NOW, call 313-680-5008 or go to their website at www.moratorium-mi.org.

http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2011/03/23/remembering-3-little-girls-for-womens-history-month/ 

Mar 23rd, 2011

Jasiri X

Shout out to Pittsburgh artist Jasiri X who comes with a heartfelt thoughtful joint that focuses on the plight of 3 young girls who were brutally slain…

Here’s what Jasiri penned about the women

For Woman’s History Month we wanted to shed light on how violent this society is especially towards woman and girls. “Three Little Girls” tells the stories of the senseless murders of Christina Taylor Green who was killed during the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Brisenia Flores who was gunned down by anti-immigrant militia intent on starting a race war, and Aiyana Jones who shot to death while asleep in her home, by the Detroit Police Department, while they were filming a reality TV show.

Aiyana Stanley-Jones

I realize these are sad stories, but how can we not be moved to action by the cold-blooded killings of innocent little girls? We have to begin to take an unflinching look at a culture that continues to glorify guns, bombs, and war and sees violence and aggression as the only solutions to its problems.

Written by Jasiri X and featuring 10 year old Hadiyah Yates, “Three Little Girls” was produced by GM3 and directed by Paradise Gray.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgcVMvl-k7A&feature=player_embedded to hear Jasiri X on Three Little Girls.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIE7efHPIvM to hear Conscious Plat “Aiyana Jones–I wrote this song for you.”

Go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_200589719953498 to join the Group “Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee.”

Also go to http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/27070653/index.html to view WDIV interview with Roland Lawrence, chair of the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee, regarding plans for commemoration of first year anniversary of Aiyana’s death this May 16. Email Mr. Lawrence at rolandlawrence@msn.com to volunteer your efforts to help in this event.

“FOUR WOMEN” PHOTO EXHIBIT BY DALE RICH AT DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH  

Photographer Dale Rich at his Four Women exhibit at Detroit Public Library

Detroiter Dale Rich has been photographing the people’s struggles for 40 years, from the days of the civil rights movement in the South, to the newspaper strike in 1995 (which he was part of). He says that strike galvanized him once again to participate in protests and record them for all time.

Nina Simone

He dedicated his “Four Women” exhibit at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library to his great-great-great grandmother, who according to historical documents was sold six times “because she would not be whipped.” He took the theme from Nina Simone’s song, “Four Women,” particularly the fourth stanza: 

Mary Shoemake in photo at bottom left

JUST GO! to former Mayor

Dozens of women from Detroit and around the world were featured in his exhibit. In keeping with the theme, Dale singled out four Detroit women for special honor: Agnes Hitchcock, leader of the well-known activist organization Call ’em Out, Maureen Taylor, President of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Helen Moore of Keep the Vote No Takeover, and Dr. Gloria House, who first became active in the struggle, as did Dale, during the 1960’s, as a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

(Go to  AGNES HITCHCOCK 2, MAUREEN D TAYLOR,  HELEN MOORE, and Gloria House  to read their biographies as they were displayed in the exhibit.)

More women warriors

Many of the photographs are of struggles organized by these women. Some of the participants featured in the photos were Mary Shoemake of Call ’em Out, Michigan Welfare Rights, UAW Local 6000, and virtually every activist group around, who recently passe on. Also seen were Gwendolyn Gaines, Marie Thornton, Gwen Mingo, Vanessa Fluker and many more. Dale said he is particularly proud of his portraits of Winnie Mandela, taken in South African, and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.

But perhaps the photo that summed up the exhibit was of an elder who took part in the original crossing of the Edmund Pettes Bridge in Selma, Alabama, during the famous civil rights march in 1964. Along with many others, she was attacked and beaten unconscious by police. Dale has traveled to Selma for many of the annual Edmund Pettes bridge crossing jubilees, and he photographed her crossing the bridge once again.

Dale plans to sponsor extended slide shows of his portraits of women warriors in the coming weeks