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

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero and other supports of two-year foreclosure moratorium, Chase boycott

Major banks’ mortgage fraud schemes exposed across U.S.

 

By Diane Bukowski 

DETROIT – As a flood of mortgage fraud exposures engulfed the nation’s largest banks, Michigan’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero has pledged today that he would impose a two-year halt to all foreclosures upon assuming office in 2011. 

“I have fought the banks tooth and nail,” Bernero told a cheering audience sporting AFSCME Council 25 t-shirts at an Oct. 8 press conference called by the newly formed “People Before Banks” Coalition.  

“I see by today’s newspapers that the Bank of America has just halted all foreclosures in 50 states, as an investigation into the fraudulent practices of the banks and lenders widens. Yesterday, I confronted bank CEO’s in person at the Detroit Economic Club (DEC), telling them, ‘If you do right by the people, you’ll get along with me.’”

Standing ovation for Bernero, People Before Banks

Bernero, mayor of Lansing, the state capitol, first announced his fight against the banks last July. He called for Michigan’s governor and treasurer to pull more than $1 billion in state deposits from JP Morgan Chase. He said that despite the government’s payment of $25 billion in TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) bailout tax dollars, the bank has continued to redline Michigan small businesses, driving some out of business. 

On Oct. 7, local news media reported that Bernero “stunned” the audience at the DEC forum. 

“If you are part of the Wall Street breed that runs over people for ever-growing profits and growing bonuses, you will have a problem, because I’ve had it,” he told the businessmen who comprise the Club’s membership. “We’re up to here with it. Enough is enough.” 

Accused of “bullying” the members of the Club, he told a Detroit Free Press reporter, “I’ll tell you who feels bullied. It’s people that have been thrown out of their homes, especially by mistake, fraudulently. It’s 600 a day in Michigan, that’s who’s being bullied and that’s got to be stopped immediately, now.” 

GRASS ROOTS PUSHED POLITICIANS TO TAKE STANCE AGAINST BANKS

The astounding anti-bank stance adopted by Bernero and other government officials has exploded in the wake of groundbreaking efforts by Detroit’s Moratorium NOW! Coalition against Foreclosures, Evictions, and Shut-offs. It was taken up nationally by the United Auto Workers and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee in a march of thousands in Detroit Aug. 28 and later in Washington Oct. 2.  Continue reading →

Mumia Abu-Jamal: Journalism in prison

The nearly 29-year struggle to free political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal faces a critical juncture with the announcement that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit will review Abu-Jamal’s death sentence on Nov. 9. It is imperative that all who stand for justice and against racism and state repression pack the courtroom in Philadelphia.

In 2008 the Third Circuit Court granted Abu-Jamal a new sentencing hearing based on flawed jury instructions in the sentencing phase of his 1982 trial. However, on Jan. 19 of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Philadelphia district attorney’s petition for a review of a 2001 ruling by federal Judge William Yohn that overturned Abu-Jamal’s death penalty but not his conviction.

The Supreme Court went against Yohn’s decision as well as the 2008 Third Circuit ruling granting a new sentencing-phase jury trial to decide if Abu-Jamal’s death penalty was to be reinstated. In the week before the Jan. 19 decision the Supreme Court ruled on Smith v. Spisak, a case that also involved questionable instructions to the jury during the sentencing phase, although the case differs from Abu-Jamal’s in both legal and political aspects.

Ruling in white supremacist’s case used against Mumia

Neo-Nazi and white supremacist Frank Spisak killed three people and then bragged about it in court. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther organizer, was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner on Dec. 9, 1981, but has always maintained his innocence. Several prosecution witnesses from his 1982 trial have since recanted their testimony.

Spisak’s lawyers had appealed based on the 1988 Supreme Court ruling in Mills v. Maryland, which addresses confusing jury instructions. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned Spisak’s sentence based on Mills, but the U.S. Supreme Court decided the standard did not apply in Abu-Jamal’s case.

It would appear that the Supreme Court, which had the district attorney’s appeal of Yohn’s decision since 2001, was waiting for a case like Spisak’s so they could justify their reversal in Abu-Jamal’s case, even though the two cases and the two defendants differ as night from day. Even though Abu-Jamal’s case met the Mills standard, the Supreme Court refused to apply it, in what was clearly a decision motivated by politics and not law. Continue reading →

"Momma's happy now!" Barrow with supporters after court hearing, including Gwen Gaines in T-shirt

Former candidate seeks Bing’s immediate removal due to massive irregulaties in vote

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT, Oct. 4  — Just as a  tide of anger against Mayor Dave Bing’s urban removal plans is rising, the Michigan Court of Appeals has said it will hear  former mayoral candidate Tom Barrow’s suit challenging Bing’s right to be Mayor on Nov. 2. 

Ironically, that is election day, an official holiday for city employees. Bing and the City Council just imposed a concession contract on AFSCME workers, the last hold-outs, after months of their angry protests at the Coleman A. Young Center. 

Al Garrett, president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, was excited when informed of the announcement. 

 “I’ll be at the polls and the appeals court and we’ll get a letter out to our members. We”ll be happy to get to the bottom of this–there have been too many problems with elections in Detroit for too long. And secretly–and you can print this, I’m rooting for Barrow.” 

Nearly all city unions endorsed Barrow in last year’s election. 

The hearing, by a panel of three judges,  is open to the public and will take place at the state’s Cadillac Place building  (the old GM building on W. Grand Blvd. and Second) at 11 a.m on the 14th floor. 

Barrow said the appeals judges assigned to the case are Deborah Servitto, appointed by Governor James Blanchard, Pat D’Onofrio, appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm, and Brian Zahra. 

 “The underlying facts in this case have never before happened in the United States,” said Barrow’s campaign manager Geoffrey Garfield. “Because of the paucity of modern case law, many legal observers expect the Court’s decision to establish precedent for decades to come as this case is being monitored all over the country.’

Barrow supporters pack recount hearing Dec. 23

He said the Wayne County Board of Canvassers ruled “100 percent of Detroit’s 41,485 absentee ballots could not be recounted; that another 8,001 ballots from neighborhood precincts also could not be recounted; and that 9,649 ballots could not be determined to have been cast in compliance with state law requiring polls to open at 7am and remain open until 8pm.. Thus 59,135 , or 54.9% of the 114,718 ballots cast for mayor were tainted in an election where the margin to alter the outcome of the race was 9,692, nearly 7 times less than the number of irregular ballots. These facts alone should have our citizens up in arms and demanding accountability from Detroit election officials!”

Barrow said, “This law suit is not sour grapes or a refusal to accept an election loss, rather it’s about 59,135 of 114,718 ballots which the public does not know were un-recountable and irregular.  It is clear that Mr.  Bing was not validly elected,  rather only the passage of time gives the public a false impression of legitimacy.”  Continue reading →

Imam Luqman Adbullah, leader of the Masjid El-Haqq mosque

Imam shot 21 times as he lay prone; no fingerprints on gun he allegedly fired 

By Diane Bukowski 

DETROIT – Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox declared Sept. 30  that FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) agents violated “no Michigan laws” when they shot Imam Luqman Abdullah, leader of Detroit’s Masjid El-Haqq mosque, to death Oct. 28, 2009. 

Agents shot Imam Abdullah 21 times as he lay on his stomach on the floor, according to a report released by Mr. Cox’s office. The report and attached agent statements claim Imam Abdullah refused orders to show his hands, which were under his body, and then opened fire on an FBI dog which was biting him, before the agents killed him. 

“My office’s review found undisputed evidence that Mr. Abdullah resisted arrest and fired a gun first in the direction of the agents,” Mr. Cox said.  “Under Michigan law, law enforcement agents are justified in using deadly force in these types of situations, and therefore we found no crimes.” 

Mr. Cox’s office said they conducted 82 interviews, reviewed 1600 pages of U.S. Justice Department files, and FBI and Dearborn Police Department video recordings. 

The report says no fingerprints were found on the gun allegedly used by the Imam. 

Imam Abullah's son Omar Regan (speaking) and Jamil Carswell (to his left) lead protest against their father's murder outside the Federal McNamara Building 11 4 09

“The 9 mm firearm recovered from Abdullah was analyzed by the FBI lab,” Mr. Cox’s office said. “There were no usable latent prints found on the firearm—a finding not uncommon with firearms.” 

The report does not say an examination of the Imam’s hands or body for gunshot residue took place. During a press conference Feb. 1, Wayne County Medical Examiner Carl Schmidt said that the Imam’s hands were not bagged to preserve such evidence. 

The agents killed Imam Abdullah during a “sting” at a warehouse in suburban Dearborn, planned months beforehand, and repeatedly rehearsed, according to the report. Twenty-nine agents took part in the warehouse. Ten other mosque members were arrested and still face federal theft and weapons charges. 

Detroit police raided Masjid El-Haqq the same day. The report says a “Detroit SWAT team” also participated in the Dearborn ambush, along with Dearborn police.

Members of Imam's Mosque pray during protest outside ALPACT Dinner featuring Detroit FBI head Andrew Arena Nov. 2009

Imam Abdullah’s son Omar Regan said he and his family are not surprised at what they consider a complete whitewash.

“They told on themselves,” Mr. Regan said. “They admitted he complied with their orders and laid on his stomach. They had cameras in the warehouse, but the agents who set the scene up put TV’s on a pallet in front of where my father was lying, so you very conveniently don’t see his killing on video. Why would you have to sic a dog on a man lying on the ground when you have 29 agents to subdue him?” 

The 21 gunshots pulverized virtually all the Imam’s organs. His arm was broken, and his mouth severely lacerated by the dog, according to a second autopsy commissioned by the Michigan Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).  Continue reading →

AFSCME workers march at CAYMC

•  26 unpaid furlough days per year for 3 years (total 78 days) – equal to a three-year, 10% pay cut.\
• If your department decides to work you on some furlough days, Bing could force you to take unpaid furlough days at some other point within the year to make it up.
• If your spouse has health insurance available from his/her employer (regardless of how substandard or overpriced) the imposed contract requires that your spouse purchase their employer’s insurance as their primary insurance. The city worker could choose to pay to insure their spouse but that would be secondary insurance. This would cost many families thousands of extra dollars per year.
• No longevity pay.
• Overtime would not start until after you’ve worked 40 hours in a work week (sick time, O.J.I., jury duty, furlough days, etc. would not count as hours worked. For example, if you worked a double shift, management could schedule you off on an unpaid furlough day later in the pay period and you’d only get a straight 40 hour check for that week.
• If you’re scheduled off work on a holiday, but call in sick your last scheduled work day before or the day after the holiday, you won’t get paid for the holiday.
• When and if the payroll system is able to make the adjustments, management may insist that all paychecks be issued bi-weekly with mandatory direct deposit.
• Tuition refund eliminated for 3 years; after that it would only be available with 3 years seniority.
• There will be further negotiations and arbitration regarding City’s plan to enact generally harsher city-wide disciplinary guidelines, including longer suspensions.
• More limits on name brand drugs with the final decision made by health insurance companies. No more drugs for fertility or sexual dysfunction.
• Retiree health care benefits will now match current employee benefits; if you remarry after retiring, your new spouse and /or new dependents would no longer be covered by health insurance.     Continue reading →

 

UAW Pres. Bob King and FLOC Pres. Baldemar Velasquez at podium; Rev. David Bullock of Rainbow PUSH second from left, Attorney Vanessa Fluker second from right

Demand two year moratorium on foreclosures, FLOC negotiations

In a show of determination, they cut up Chase credit cards during the press conference. Public assistance recipient Orrie Johnson even offered to cut up her bridge card because Chase gets a fee every time the social services card is swiped for funds, but was told she did not have to go that far. 

“Chase banksters are nothing but gangsters!” declared Pastor D. Alexander Bullock, chair of the Detroit chapter of Rainbow PUSH. “We want Chase to own up to its responsibility for destroying our communities. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired, and of dealing with belligerent banks.” 

In addition to Bullock, the leaders included International United Auto Workers (UAW) President Bob King, Baldemar Velasquez, President of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), attorney Vanessa Fluker of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, and the Rev. Ed Rowe of the Central United Methodist Church. 

Tobacco farmworker in the hot fields of North Carolina

They demanded that Chase declare a two-year moratorium on foreclosures in Michigan, and force R.J. Reynolds Tobacco to negotiate humane working and living conditions for farmworkers in North Carolina. Chase is one of the lead banks in a consortium of lenders that has invested $498 million dollars in Reynolds American, one of the largest tobacco companies in the U.S. 

“We have spent all week with lawyers from Chase asking them to change their practice of destroying our communities by foreclosing on homes, but they were totally unreasonable,” King said. “Property values for every person in Michigan have plummeted, and this means less money in taxes for our schools and public services. If people of conscience do not stand together, this will never change.” 

King said he and Velasquez had just returned from touring R.J. Reynolds tobacco farms in North Carolina. 

“Farmworkers spend 12 to 14 hours a day in the hot sun, only to go back to decrepit, unclean housing where half the beds don’t have mattresses, and the ones that do are infested with bedbugs,” King said. “To make matters worse, they have to pay the company to live in these ramshackle huts. We demand that R.J. Reynolds sit down and negotiate with FLOC.”

He said the amount the UAW is withdrawing from Chase will amount to “hundreds of millions of dollars.”“

Pastor Bill Wylie Kellerman cuts up Chase credit card as Velasquez watches

Labor leaders say the fortunes of banks and unions are linked more than people realize,” the New York Times reported in March. “Wall Street manages union pension portfolios worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Much of that is invested in financial institutions, giving unions a loud voice as shareholders.” 

That month, the International AFL-CIO organized over 200 marches on banks in cities across the country, calling for new taxes on the banks to be used to finance a jobs creation program. 

“They [the banks] played Russian roulette with our economy, and while Wall Street cashed in, they left Main Street holding the bag,” the Times quoted International AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “They gorge themselves in a trough of taxpayers’ dollars, while we struggle to make ends meet.” 

At the press conference, Velasquez said, “Chase Bank is using our tax dollars to exploit us, who are at the bottom of the supply chain. We have 20,000 workers in those fields being treated like dogs, like slaves.” 

He said farmworkers don’t have the right to file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board.  Continue reading →

Raynard Davis confronts Bing: Why can't we grow the city?

Angry residents confront Bing at first community forum

By Diane Bukowski 

DETROIT – Over the past month, Mayor Dave Bing has purported to bring a “kinder, gentler” Trail of Tears to Detroit citizens with his Detroit Strategic Framework Plan, otherwise known as “Detroit Works.”

He has said that he will not force residents from their homes in areas of the city his planners claim are sparsely populated, but gently encourage them to leave. He has claimed to listen to the community in a series of five public forums. 

“I am not down-sizing Detroit,” Bing told the audience at the first event, held Sept. 14 at Bishop Charles Ellis’ palatial Greater Grace Temple on Seven Mile and Telegraph. “Detroit will still be 139 square miles.” 

Bing has said he has no plan himself; that he is waiting for the conclusion of the September forums and future meetings with city administrators to create that plan with Detroiters’ input in mind. 

Wanda Hill said she did not believe there is no plan. She called it “disrespectful” for Bing to call the forums when residents don’t know what his “real intentions” are. 

Detroiters want to renovate homes, not tear them down

A constant refrain throughout that and subsequent forums was that Detroiters don’t want to see the PEOPLE down-sized or moved. Speakers said Detroit should be REBUILT and that the population should be INCREASED. 

Toni Griffin, an urban planner imported from Washington, D.C. and paid by the Kresge Foundation to head the Detroit Works project, has been in Detroit since March according to Crain’s Detroit.  

She and Karla Winters of the city’s Planning and Development Department introduced themselves at the beginning of the forum, then broke the angry audience of over 1,000 people into five groups using sliding partitions. Group One was facilitated by representatives of  the Skillman Foundation and Hamilton Anderson Associates. 

Bing popped into Group One for a short time, only to be confronted by Raynard Davis, who stood and pointed his finger angrily at the Mayor. 

“Why are you talking about shrinking the city instead of growing the city?” Davis asked. “The infrastructure can be repaired and improved, but the city is holding off. The private corporations and the banks deliberately let the city go, instead of bringing in industry and creating jobs.” 

Bing responded nervously, “There are changes happening as we speak. I have already authorized 1800 homes to be torn down.”  

According to reports, the demolition of up to 10,000 homes is on the drawing board, with some of the money coming from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Program and federal recovery funds. 

"We won't be here in 20 years!"

Davis said, “Supposedly there are 85,000 empty houses in Detroit. We need to get them purchased and fix them up so the owners can start paying taxes. When one person sees you fixing up a vacant house, another will follow.” 

“People like me won’t be here twenty years from now,” said an 83-year-old woman. “I want to see our schools open again. It hurts my heart to hear all these vacant houses are being torn down. A big church like this could adopt 100 houses and provide places for us to nurture ourselves and our families. People that lost their homes should get them back. Houses are empty, schools are empty. The city can actually bring in more people; give out Section 8, put people in the skilled trades to work fixing them up. Instead, the schools are closing faster and faster and homes are getting burnt up.” 

She said Detroit should provide a computer for every household, and wi-fi access for the entire city.  Continue reading →

People's Summit marchers protest international CEO summit May 15 09

Bing’s plan was generated long before the September meetings, by international corporate forces who want to “down-size” third world cities here and abroad. 

The Brookings Institute, a Washington D.C.-based “think tank” founded in 1918, led discussions years ago on Detroit and other cities hit hard by the global economic crisis. 

Bruce Katz, vice president of the Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program, told the Detroit News in February,  “There is a nothing -left-to-lose quality in Detroit, much like there was in New Orleans after Katrina.” Griffin later reiterated the comparison, portraying Katrina as a way for New Orleans to start afresh with a clean slate. (See “Detroit—the Next New Orleans?” below for more on Griffin and New Orleans.) 

On Feb. 11, according to Crain’s Detroit, over 250 city officials, corporate executives, developers, and educators met with Katz, Skillman Foundation CEO Carole Goss, Time managing editor Rick Stengel, and Steve Hemp, chairman of the the New Economy Initiative, to discuss the future of Detroit. 

No representatives of community groups like duly elected Citizens District Councils (see article below: “Detroit Works Project Violates State Law), block clubs, unions representing Detroit workers, youth advocates, or grass roots religious and education leaders were there. 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leading 1963 Detroit Freedom March

 “Mentioned but not addressed in the context of Detroit reconstruction is the overwhelming (82%) African-American population,” a reader of one of Katz’s articles declared. “Do the authors envision a reconstructed Detroit with a similar population, or with a major influx of whites and others? The former would be a greater achievement, with Detroit’s history as the magnet for so many African-American families who fled other parts of the country in search of better opportunities. Not something we like to discuss in polite company, but it does make reconstruction of Detroit an even more daunting challenge.” 

“The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC,” says its website. “Our mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: strengthen American democracy, foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity for all populations, and secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.” 

In fact, The Brookings Institution opposed FDR’s New Deal policies and played a significant role in the Republican-backed Marshall Plan in Europe after World War II, which fostered capitalist governments in countries where socialists had led the fight against fascism.  Continue reading →

Gwen Mingo (r) talks with Jimmy Cole at Call 'em Out Dinner Feb. 2010

 DETROIT – Some who attended Mayor Dave Bing’s community forums on his “Detroit Works” plan were skeptical of his assurance that citizens would participate in the planning of Detroit. They noted that Bing did not place on his official advisory board representatives of Citizens District Councils (CDC’s). 

Gwendoline Mingo, who heads the Coordinating Council of all Detroit district councils, said state law, which established these councils, requires all Michigan cities to consult CDC’s on any “urban renewal” plan for their areas. She cited Michigan Public Act 344 of 1947, known as the “Blighted Area Rehabiliation Act.” (see below). 

P.A. 344 of 1947 reads in part: 

“The local official responsible for preparation of the development plan within the district area shall periodically consult with and advise the citizens’ district council regarding all aspects of the plan, including the development of new housing for relocation purposes located either inside or outside of the development area. The consultation shall begin before any final decisions by any local planning agency or local legislative body regarding the development plan other than the designation of the development area.   

 

 

The consultation shall continue throughout the various stages of the development plan, including the final implementation of the plan. The local officials responsible for the development of the plan shall incorporate into the development plan the desires and suggestions of the citizens’ district council to the extent feasible. A local commission, public agency, or local legislative body of any municipality shall not approve any development plan for a development area unless there has previously been consultation between the citizens’ district council and the local officials responsible for the development plan. A record of the meetings, including information and data presented, shall be maintained and included in official presentation of the proposed development plan to the local legislative body. 

 

The chief executive officer of the municipality shall give the citizens’ district council written notice of any contemplated zoning change, hearing, or condemnation proceedings within the district area. The notice shall be given at least 20 days before the effective date of the change or the date of the hearing or proceedings. Upon receiving a request from the citizens’ district council, the local legislative body shall hold a public hearing on the proposed zoning change or condemnation proceedings. Each citizens’ district councilmay call upon any city department for information.”

“What are they going to do about the millions of dollars allocated by the federal government [under Obama’s recovery act], because they promised to improve the quality of life for poor people and seniors,” Mingo asked. 

She said past mayors had “embezzled the money” and she fears the Bing administration plans will fall into the same pattern.

Mingo is still pursuing a lawsuit brought by the residents of Brush Park against the city for its demolition of that neighborhood to benefit corporate developers. 

Historic Brush Park homes

“People said they were going to help us and they did not help,” she said. “The work they said they were going to do they did not do. They got people out of their neighborhoods, as they could give the land to rich developers at low cost or for free, with no property taxes for 12 years. 

“That’s why it is necessary for elected district councils to protect the rights of citizens and make sure state and federal money to help the residents is not misappropriated.” 

Karen Marie Dumas, who leads the Mayor’s public relations department, denied the citizens’ district councils are being pushed aside.  Continue reading →