FEET TO FIRE: MARCH VS. PROSECUTOR KYM WORTHY

         Wed., March 22, 2017 @ 1 pm to 3 pm  

Frank Murphy Hall of (In)Justice

1441 St. Antoine, at Gratiot, Detroit, Michigan, 48226

Everyone is invited to speak your Truth.

If you or someone you know has been failed by the Prosecutor please come out. JUSTICE must Be Served!

SPONSORED BY P.O.S.T. (PROTECT OUR STOLEN TREASURES)

HOSTED BY YOLANDA MCNAIR

P.O.S.T. T-shirts

Yolanda McNair — We will have a few shirts available at the Feet To Fire Campaign #2. Raising funds for the Stolen Lives Tour.

https://www.facebook.com/events/161117921068421/

Protect Our Stolen Treasures https://www.facebook.com/groups/962246117184392/?ref=group_cover

Adaisha’s Justice

https://www.facebook.com/adaishas.justice?fref=nf

Voice for Terrance Kellom

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1812917155594955/

A Voice for Kimoni Davis

https://www.facebook.com/groups/101197416899202/

I am Kevin Matthews

https://www.facebook.com/groups/696081167197719/ 

SOME OF THOSE KILLED BY POLICE IN METRO DETROIT, 1996 TO PRESENT; KILLER KOPS NOT CHARGED BY WAYNE CO. PROSECUTOR KYM WORTHY 

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy virulently opposed state legislation introduced in the last decade to outlaw JLWOP. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed JLWOP she continues to put every stumbling block possible in the way of releasing Wayne County juvenile lifers. Wayne County has the highest number of children sent to die in the state.

Some of Michigan’s juvenile lifers: (l to r, top through bottom row), Cortez Davis, Raymond Carp, Dakotah Eliason, Henry Hill (Worthy recommends JLWOP again), Keith Maxey (Worthy recommends JLWOP again), Dontez Tillman, Charles Lewis (Worthy recommends JLWOP again) Jemal Tipton, Nicole Dupure, Giovanni Casper, Jean Cintron, Matthew Bentley (JLWOP recommended again), Bosie Smith, Kevin Boyd, Damion Todd, Jennifer Pruitt, Edward Sanders, David Walton (photos show some lifers at current age, others at age they went to prison). Although some have been re-sentenced, none have been released to date after serving unconstitutional sentences for most of their lives in prison.

Protect Our Stolen Lives (P.O.S.T.) was founded in Detroit by Yolanda McNair, mother of Adaisha Miller, killed just before her 21st birthday by a gun fired by a Detroit cop.

POST members and supporters block Woodward Avenue during protest Sept. 24, 2016, as dozens of cars honked their horns in support. They included Arnetta Grable, mother of Lamar Grable, Mertilla Jones, grandmother of Aiyana Jones, Kevin Kellom, father of Terrance Kellom, and Yolanda McNair, mother of Adaisha Miller.

In conjunction with the national Stolen Lives Project and community groups around the country, they held a national conference and protest against police slaughter of their loved ones and Black, Latin and poor people across the United States.

Groups from metro Detroit as well as New York City, Kenosha, Illinois, and Dayton, Ohio were among those who attended the day-long conference, held at St. Matthews and St. Josephs Church on Woodward at Holbrook Avenue.

Kevin Kellom, Pastor Jerome McCorry of the Dayton, Ohio Faith and Justice Social Alliance, and Yolanda McNair during march.

Among police murder victims they spoke about were Adaisha Miller, Terrance Kellom, Aiyana Jones, Lamar Grable, and Kimoni “Kodak” Davis of Detroit, Justus Howell, from Kenosha Illinois, Malcolm Ferguson and John Collado from New York City, and Emmet Till.

At the close of the conference, Pastor McCorry was in tears.

“This is my family,” he said. “I love everyone sitting at this table. I refuse to ever sell you out.

“This is a fight we all better fight. It is as much about white folks as Black folks. A boat cannot rise from the flood waters until the people at the bottom are saved.”

See http://voiceofdetroit.net/2016/10/02/families-block-woodward-in-detroit-to-protest-police-slaughter-of-their-loved-ones/

National conference families gather at conclusion Sept. 24, 2016, holding posts displaying solidarity among Black and Palestinian oppressed peoples.

Above: Agnes Hitchcock, steward of Call ’em Out, passes torch to New Era Detroit leaders including (l to r) Zeek, Scrill and Lyric Divine. Watermelons at base of podium represent ‘Sambo’ awards Call ’em Out has traditionally handed out to traitors in the community. Attendees at the packed dinner, held at the  voted top ‘Sambo’ honors to:

• City Clerk Janice Winfrey, for repeated election-rigging
• Rev. Wayne T. Jackson, who hosted Donald Trump at his church during the presidential campaign (New Era Detroit later entered birthday celebration for Walker to register their disgust)
• Rev. Wendell Anthony, who along with other Black officials, endorsed Mike Duggan for Mayor, calling him the “white mayor, the right mayor,” signed off on Detroit bankruptcy, recent abolition of Detroit Public Schools, and “Transition Team” sabotage of school board elected in 2004.

CALL ‘EM OUT SAMBO AWARDS TO:

Winfrey, Gov. Snyder

Donald Trump, Wayne T. Jackson

Anthony gives Duggan Freedom Fund Award

By Diane Bukowski

DONATE TO VOICE OF DETROIT PLEASE! IN DESPERATE NEED OF FUNDS! CLICK ON https://www.gofundme.com/VOD-readers-up. THANK YOU!!

March 12, 2017

DETROIT — The International Institute in Detroit was packed to overflowing with members and supporters of the renowned activist group Call ’em Out, most of them veterans of this city’s struggle for decades, on Feb. 27. They came to welcome the youth of New Era Detroit into the battle, and to conduct their annual dinner and “Sambo” awards ceremony singling out members of the city’s “Black misleadership class,” as Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report calls them. The top awardees were Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, Rev. Wayne T. Jackson, and Rev. Wendell Anthony.

Video above: Lyric Divine, Zeek and Scrill of New Era Detroit thank Call ’em Out and supporters at Sambo Awards dinner, introducing their agenda for the youth and people of Detroit.

NED members cooked and provided the “beans and cornbread” dinner which has been a staple of Call ’em Out’s annual Sambo awards ceremonies since the first one in 2004. NED’s on-stage speeches showed that they are carrying out much of the militant program favoring Detroit’s Black-majority population, similar to that embodied in Call ’em Out’s work since 2002.

Photo of Agnes Hitchcock taunting Detroit’s illegally elected “mayor” Mike Duggan graced the front of the Sambo Awards program.

Agnes Hitchcock  introduced the event. She became famous internationally for throwing “the grapes of wrath” at Detroit School Board members in 2005, after they reversed an earlier vote and supported the closing of 50 Detroit Public Schools. Those closures were the first mass shutdowns in any large majority-Black city in the U.S. They  initiated a “Hurricane Katrina” here that has seen over 200 DPS institutions drowned in Wall Street greed.

She was arrested and hauled out of the meeting, as were many students, parents  and even members of the media, from many board meetings during that time.

Additionally, Board of Education Member Marie Thornton was subjected to constant sanctions initiated by Board Chair Jimmy Womack, and verbal abuse from audience participant Loyce Lester, due to her votes against the school closings and many contracts she considered questionable.  

Activist Sandra Hines hauled out of board meeting Oct. 20, 2008 after condemning school closings.

The DPS Katrina has left Detroit communities littered with the ghostly burnt-out and vandalized shells of historic venues like the Oakman Orthopedic School, the city’s only school designed specifically for the needs of special needs students.

Those schools once anchored strong Black-majority neighborhoods and produced many nationally-known leaders in all fields. Meanwhile, as in New Orleans, the majority of Detroit’s children now attend private for-profit charter schools run by corrupt politicians and “snakes in the pulpit,” as Call ’em Out termed many city pastors. 

During her introduction, Hitchcock pointed out that there are no longer any Detroit Public Schools left, due to the passage of legislation last year, supported by Detroit “mayor” Mike Duggan, Rev. Wendell Anthony,  and even the leadership of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, that created a state-run “Detroit Public Schools Community District.” It is paired with a state School Reform Office that has the authority to close even more schools.

Activists Eula Powell, Gwen Mingo and Marie Thornton, a former militant Detroit Board of Education member, at front of packed hall. Mingo is reading flier denouncing sell-out pastors including Rev. Charles Williams II of the National Action Network, passed out at the dinner.

State legislation is now pending that would eliminate the entire elected State Board of Education and its Superintendent, in favor of a board appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who has already taken over many predominantly Black cities and school districts under the state’s second Emergency Manager Act.

Below, New Era Detroit leader Scrill speaks at Call ’em Out Dinner along with Detroit Public Schools students NED is politically educating and organizing to become the next generation of fighters for majority control of Detroit schools.  

Public schools in the U.S. were largely initiated after the Civil War by kidnapped Africans who had been lynched and tortured for learning to read on the plantations of the South. The national attack on public schools, replacing them with private, religious and charter schools paid for by public taxes, is an attack on that heroic legacy.

Scrill was framed up by Detroit police on felony charges of “assaulting, resisting and obstructing” them during a peaceful NED outreach walk through a Detroit neighborhood in Aug. 2016. NED and Call ’em Out combined forces to pack the courtroom and win an acquittal for him in January, 2017. Scrill also said NED is educating the youth about the thousands of police murders across the U.S., largely of young people of color, including Detroit’s Aiyana Jones, and about the nature of the system in general.

Scrill announced during his talk  that he will be running for Detroit City Council this year.

Scrill (center back) with supporters from NED and Call ‘Em Out at his trial Jan 25, 2017, outside Frank Murphy courtroom. Their combined forces won acquittal for him.

In addition to its activities in the Detroit Public Schools, New Era Detroit has been conducting marches against police murders like that of Kevin Matthews by a Dearborn cop, holding street rallies in the neighborhoods reminiscent of those organized by the Black Panthers, and taking bottled water to Flint residents.

Some NED members at dinner Feb. 27, 2017, including those who helped prepare the dinner and other activities at ‘Sambo’ Awards event.

They have protested at area stores that are selling alcohol, tobacco and other unhealthy products in the Black community, and taken area pastors like Rev. Wayne T. Walker, who hosted the sole Black church event featuring Donald Trump during his racist Presidential campaign..

They are an independent grass roots organization that maintains a progressive nationalist approach in their politics. The group, which is growing by leaps and bounds, maintains a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NewEraDetroit/ and a very active professionally done You Tube account detailing their many activities on film, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC06QgiCVlGL10qJNl0h_OWA.

Agnes Hitchcock holds up “Sambo” award given to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick  in 2005 for his role in city water shut-offs and privatization of city services.

Call ’em Out has led numerous campaigns since its founding in 2002. The organization held large rallies at venues like Bert’s place, where they condemned the city’s “Sambo’s” like former Mayors Kwame Kilpatrick and Dave Bing, and Council members Kay Everett (now deceased), Sheila Cockrel, and Kwame Kenyatta for handing over city assets, services, and workers’ jobs to the private sector for profit. 

Call ’em Out marched with hundreds of others on the Manoogian Mansion in 2oo5, in a protest covered by international media, against the wave of water shut-offs first initiated under the Kilpatrick administration. It continued its battle against those shut-offs in a large “Blackinaw Island” rally in 2010 where instructions were passed out on how Detroiters could take direct action and turn their own water back on.

Under the Great Lakes Water Authority, which has since taken over the seven-county Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, orders have now gone out to deny water service ever again to homes whose owners turned the water back on as a necessity of life for their children, elders and disabled members.

March on Kwame Kilpatrick’s Manoogian Mansion April 15, 2005 to protest massive water shut-offs (yes, they started then) and other attacks on city services.

“Blackinaw Island” gathering of Call ’em Out May 31, 2014, where plans were laid to stop water shutoffs.

Many photos of these events, taken by Diane Bukowski for the now-defunct Michigan Citizen at the time, are featured at the end of this article.

Such politicians paved the way for the “Emergency Manager” takeover of Detroit under Gov. “Ric-tator” Snyder after a “Consent Agreement” was approved by a City Council headed by now notorious child molester Charles Pugh.

DWSD worker Andrew Daniels-El holds up city charter at large rally organized by Call ’em Out in Bert’s Warehouse Theater Jan. 28, 2009. Also shown next to Hitchcock is AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl, who passed at the age of 62 after years of leading his local in militant battles against the takeover of DWSD.

EM Kevyn Orr, in coordination with Snyder and Wall Street banks, led the unprecedented, disastrous and illegal declaration of Detroit bankruptcy that has stripped the city of its assets including the $6 billion Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), and stolen the jobs, pensions and health care of City of Detroit workers and retirees.

These actions were in gross violation of Detroit’s City Charter, (its most recent version passed by the people of the city in 2012) as well as union contracts.

During the dinner, an election was held, in mocking emulation of alleged practices by City Clerk Janice Winfrey, to see who would become the 2017 “Sambo’s.” Ballots were purchased at the cost of 25 cents each, and individuals could purchase as many as they desired.

Other participants at packed Call ’em Out Dinner Feb. 27, 2017.

Bill Davis, president of the Detroit Active and Retired Employee Association (DAREA), (2nd from left) with other dinner participants.

More dinner attendees.

Aside from the winning Sambo nominees, also listed on the ballots were:

• 

  Marie Thornton of Call ’em Out with Scrill of NED at dinner Feb. 27, 2017. Thornton helped count ballots.

  Jeffrey Robinson, the alleged adopted son of Rev. Loyce Lester, who is running for Mayor; he attempted to get this author fired from the Michigan Citizen for objecting to Lester’s unbridled attacks on Marie Thornton from the audience.

• Former School Board member Jonathan Kinloch, who allegedly sponsored a resolution to “sanction” Call ’em Out at a 13th District Democratic Party meeting;
• Current Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, another supporter of “mayor” Duggan, who previously ran against him;
• Detroit City Councilman James Tate, who was among the “Fatal Five” who voted for the state Consent Agreement that led to the Emergency Manager takeover of Detroit and the bankruptcy which followed.
• Detroit City Councilman Andre Spivey, another member of the Fatal Five.
• Heaster Wheeler, Executive VP of the Detroit NAACP, who has followed in the political footsteps of Wendell Anthony.
• Wayne County Commissioner Jewel Ware.
• 

  Pros. Kym Worthy refused to charge cops in executions of Terrance Kellom, many more

  Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who has done her best to send thousands of Black youth and individuals to Michigan prisons to die, guilty or not.

• Natasha Baker, appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder as the “State School Reform Officer.” Her office is in charge of closing, not assisting, the five percent of lowest-performing schools in the state, most in Detroit.
• Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, ex-officio member of the board of the state-run Detroit Public Schools Community District, as well as member of the state advisory committee overseeing the City of Detroit.
• City Councilman George Cushingberry, long ago sued for stealing assets of his probate clients, also an ardent advocate of privatization.
• Malik Shabazz, an officer of the Detroit 300, which collaborates with Detroit police and openly advocates “snitching” in the neighborhoods.
• Ernest Johnson
• Kevyn Orr, former Emergency Manager of Detroit, who ordered the bankruptcy declaration and left the city in ruins.
• 

  Butch Hollowell, Duggan’s Corporate Counsel, helps him move into his office.

  “Butch” Hollowell, Democratic Party hack now working for ‘mayor’ Duggan as his Chief Corporate Counsel.

• Darnell Earley, former Emergency Manager of Flint as well as the Detroit Public Schools. He ordered the disconnection of Flint from DWSD, resulting in the lead poisoning of the entire population.
• Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity.
• Detroit Federation of Teachers, which endorsed the recent creation of the state-run Detroit Public Schools Community District, (after ousting the DFT’s elected and militant President Steve Conn), as well as the original 1999 state takeover of DPS.
• Bernice Smith, itinerant community gadfly.

PHOTO GALLERY OF CALL ‘EM OUT EVENTS IN EARLIER YEARS:

Call ’em Out “Prayer Vigil” at the late Councilwoman Kay Everett’s house, calling for her to stop privatizing city assets.

Greg Frazier and the late Mary Shoemake present “Power Couple” award to Jan and William Malachi (now deceased); tribute was paid to late Call ’em Out members at dinner

Protest at former School Board President Jimmy Womack’s house by Call ’em Out. Girl in center taunting the late activist Ruth Williams (r) was identified as Womack’s stepdaughter. Photo by Wyoman Mitchell.

Call ’em Out sit-in at City Clerk Janice Winfrey’s office.

Call ’em Out members Mary Shoemake, Erma Thomas, Linda WIllis call for Justice for Aiyana Jones at protest June 26, 2010.

Call ’em Out fights for water rights outside Water Board building.

Call ’em Out outside Coleman A. Young Center May 28, 2009 demands no Detroit giveways at Mackinaw Island Conference.

NOTE: SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF THIS STORY, ISSUES HAVE BEEN RAISED BY ONE OF THE ‘SAMBO’ NOMINEES, JONATHAN KINLOCH, CHAIR OF THE 13TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATIC PARTY, OBJECTING TO HIS NOMINATION. CALL ‘EM OUT RESPONDS AS BELOW:

SOME RELATED STORIES:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2017/01/23/new-era-detroit-asks-support-for-member-facing-felony-charges-trial-jan-25-2017-judge-lillard/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2017/01/29/not-guilty-x-2-victory-for-scrill-new-era-detroit-community/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/02/reverend-doctor-state-rep-jimmy-womack-is-a-liar/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/01/call-em-out-goes-back-to-war-direct-action-to-stop-water-shut-offs/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2010/12/15/mary-shoemake-long-time-activist-and-call-em-out-member-passes/

Claressa Shields ready to put the show into Showtime’s history-making headliner

By: Bob Velin | USA TODAY March 9, 2017 7:41 pm

After becoming the first boxer in U.S. Olympic history — male or female — to win two gold medals, Claressa Shields was expected to rise rapidly through the professional ranks.

Two-time Olympic Gold winner Claressa Shields of Flint, Michigan.

But headlining a fight card on a premium network in her second pro fight? Impossible. No female fighter had ever topped the bill on a premium network, let alone with one pro fight on her résumé.

Yet Shields has been doing the impossible for years. Like winning Olympic boxing gold at 17. Sure, it happens in swimming, and gymnastics, maybe tennis. But not in boxing. Shields was a high school junior when she took home the middleweight title in London in 2012, the first year women could box in the Olympics.

Friday night at MGM Grand in Detroit, just down the road from her hometown of Flint, Mich., family members, friends and her growing legion of fans will gather to watch Shields, 21, make history again when she headlines Showtime’s ShoBox: The New Generation (10 p.m. ET) in a six-round middleweight bout against older, more experienced Szilvia Szabados of Hungary.

(Photo of Shields, left, and Szabados during the weigh-in by Tom Casino, Showtime)

Shields couldn’t contain her excitement as she talked by phone on Wednesday. “Now that we’re two days out from the fight, everybody is calling, texting, and just to know that all my family is going to be there — my mom, my dad, my sister, my cousins — it’s a really great feeling,” Shields said. “I predicted this would happen one day; I just didn’t think it would happen so soon. And I’ve already sold out the MGM Grand, so it shows that women can sell tickets.”

Having boxed in two Olympics and two world championships, Shields is used to pressure. But fighting in Kazakhstan or China is not like fighting in the Motor City in front of family and a full house. She remains unfazed.

“Pressure will make you underperform. I have no pressure,” said Shields, who won her professional debut vs. former USA Boxing teammate Franchon Crews in November. “I know what I’m capable of. I know how I box. I know that if I have my mind and everything together, and I’ve had a really good training camp, I’ll perform probably better than I expect to. I know I’m going to look good and do really well. I’m not under any pressure.”

Muhammad Ali (portrait)

Szabados (15-8, six KOs) has about as much confidence as one can muster against the talented and power-punching Shields.

“I’m ready to fight. I’ve been waiting a long time for this fight,” Szabados, 26, said during the final news conference to promote the bout. “This is a huge opportunity for me, and I plan to take advantage of it.”

But the Flint fighter nicknamed “T-Rex” has plenty of reasons not to let that happen, not the least of which is that this fight is for the NABF title, one that Shields’ idol, Muhammad Ali, won on his way to the top 50 years ago.

And this: “I’m not going to let her beat me in front of my family,” Shields said. “I’m not going to let her beat me in front of my nephews, cousins and my mom and dad. I just don’t roll like that.

“If she doesn’t have the talent and skill to go six rounds with me, she will not go six rounds. So, I hope she had a very good training camp. I know I did.”

Claressa Shields with family in Flint

“This is the first time that a woman has been the main event on Showtime, and I’m not coming to make women look bad.”

Shields prefers not to dwell on the past, including those coveted gold medals, instead focusing on what will be. She has a simple goal that those who know her best have no doubt she’ll accomplish.

“I know about Laila Ali, and Christy Martin and Lucia Rijker, and I don’t box like any of them. I have my own unique style. I’ve never seen a female fighter like myself. I want to carry the sport,” she said.

“I want my legacy to be that I’m the best female fighter to ever put on gloves.”

So far, so good.

Claressa Shields vs. Szilvia Szabados Live Stream: How to Watch Fight Online

 Published 12:00 pm EST, March 10, 2017 Updated 12:01 pm EST, March 10, 2017 Comments closed By Tim Keeney

Looking to watch a live stream of the Claressa Shields vs. Szilvia Szabados fight on Friday night? There are a couple different ways to do so, whether or not you have a cable subscription.

The card, which starts at 10 p.m. ET, will be broadcast on Showtime. If you can’t get to a TV, here’s a full rundown of your streaming options:

Shields vs. Szabados Live Stream

Desktop

Users can watch a live stream of the Showtime broadcast on their desktop via Showtime Anytime.

If you have a cable subscription that includes Showtime, you can log in to your cable provide with a username and password to access the stream.

If you don’t have a cable subscription, you can sign up for Showtime for a monthly cost the following ways:

Amazon (Free 7-day trial)

Hulu (Free 30-day trial)

PlayStation Vue (Free 30-day trial)

Roku (Free 7-day trial)

Through the Showtime app (Apple or Android)

Once signed up, you can watch a live stream of Showtime on your computer right here. Instead of signing in with a cable provider, you will sign in with the information for the account you used to add Showtime (Amazon, Hulu, etc.).

Mobile & Other Streaming Devices

If you have a Showtime subscription (read above how to start one if you don’t have cable), you can watch a live stream via the Showtime app, which can be downloaded for free in the following locations:

App Store (or Apple TV)

Google Play Store

Amazon App Store (or Amazon Fire TV)

Roku

Xbox One

Playstation 4 (through Playstation Vue app)

You can click here for more information

Tim Keeney is a sports contributor for Heavy. He has previously worked for Rivals, StatSheet and Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @t_keen 

Coleman Young II, candidate for Mayor, speaks at DAREA meeting March 1, 2017

By Diane Bukowski

 March 5, 2017

 DETROIT – A vibrant and in depth presentation by mayoral candidate Coleman Young II highlighted a packed monthly meeting of the Detroit Active and Retired Employee Association (DAREA) March 1, 2017.

DAREA Secretary Yvonne Jones

“When we were fighting the state takeover of Detroit and the bankruptcy, fighting for our pensions, health care and jobs, we went to the state legislature,” DAREA Secretary Yvonne Jones told the audience. “State Sen. Coleman Young II was the ONLY one who came forward in our support, and voted against the emergency manager and bankruptcy on our behalf.”

DAREA officers also reported on the progress of the group’s lawsuit against the bankruptcy imposed on the city by Wall Street banks and corporations in 2014. The bankruptcy has devastated the jobs, wages, pensions and benefits of city workers and stolen nearly all the assets of the largest Black-majority city in the U.S.

DAREA president Bill Davis reported that the Washington, D.C. law firm of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis now represents DAREA and other groups pro bono in a combined appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The USSC confirmed receipt of a petition for a writ of certiorari Feb. 9, 2017, after the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the appellants Oct. 3, 2o16.

DAREA members disembark from bus in Cincinnati June 15, 2016 to attend 6th Circuit Court hearing on their bankruptcy lawsuit. In center is DAREA President Bill Davis, to his right is DAREA VP Cecily McClellan, to his left is retiree Ezza Brandon. They were allowed to wear their “Hands off my Pension” T-shirts in the 6th Circuit courtroom as arguments on bankruptcy appeals were heard. The bus was full, with over 40 retirees.

Young received a standing ovation and shouts of “Mayor Young” as he entered the room. He began his hour-long presentation including a question and answer session, with an initial statement about the 40 percent poverty level in the city of Detroit, the continual drainage of jobs from city residents to suburbanites, and the ongoing water shut-offs.

This reporter, videotaping Young’s talk, had to move to a different location to get a better lighting background, so his initial statements are not captured in the videos below.

But these videos present a view of a knowledgeable, passionate and evidently sincere official, unlike the image portrayed by some of the corporate media, which has lined up behind “mayor” Mike Duggan. Life-long Livonia resident Duggan is in office illegally because the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that he had not lived in Detroit long enough to qualify to run.

Concluding remarks and question and answer session

INFO FOR DETROIT ACTIVE AND RETIRED EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION:

Related document:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/Sixth-Circuit-Court-ruling-on-DAREA-et-al-lawsuits-10-3-16.pdf

DTROIT ACTIVE AND RETIRED EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION (DAREA)

P.O. Box 3724, Highland Park, Michigan 48203     313-649-7018 Detroit2700plus@gmail.com; Blog: Dareafights.blogspot.com

General Membership meetings first Wednesday of every month at 5:30 p.m., at St. Matthew, St. Joseph Episcopal Church, 8850 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI  48203

Committee Meetings: Third Monday of every month, 11 a.m. Nandi’s Knowledge Café, 12511 Woodward Ave. Highland Park, MI  48203

RECENT RELATED STORIES:

BOIL WATER ALERT: ‘THE GLWA DOESN’T CARE ABOUT DETROIT, HAMTRAMCK AND HIGHLAND PARK’

COLEMAN YOUNG II RUNS FOR DETROIT MAYOR; DUMP DUGGAN!

DUGGAN’S DECADES-LONG DETROIT DEMOLITION DERBY

MICHIGAN FREEDOM RIDERS PACK 6TH CIRCUIT IN CINCI TO OVERTURN ‘JIM CROW’ EM LAW PA 436

DETROIT RETIREES PACK 6th CIRCUIT IN BANKRUPTCY APPEALS: “WE FIGHT BECAUSE WE’RE RIGHT!”

Water Works Park Plant at East Jefferson and Cadillac in Detroit.

Alert covers the broadest area in Detroit’s history

DWSD retiree leader Bill Davis: “The GLWA doesn’t care about Blacks and minorities”

Continues beyond the “48 hours” the GLWA first estimated, now GLWA says PREMATURELY it will lift alert after second round of tests

Can GLWA be trusted?

By Diane Bukowski 

March 1, 2017  Updated March 2, 2017

Cheryl Porter, GLWA COO, previously DWSD COO

DETROIT – The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) belatedly issued a boil water alert for massive areas of Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck last night. It cited a two-hour drop in water pressure from an pump failure at the Water Works Park water treatment plant, which may have caused bacterial contamination. The failure occurred at 5 p.m. and lasted for at least two hours, GLWA Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Porter told the Detroit City Council.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department issued a more extensive advisory than the one paragraph issued by the GLWA, which runs the plant. DWSD told people living and working in areas south of McNichols to the riverfront and Linwood east to Conner in the City of Detroit, along with the Cities of Highland Park and Hamtramck,  to boil water before drinking it, or using it to prepare food and cook, while the water is sampled and tested for bacterial contamination.

“Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using . . . for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice,” the DWSD alert said. “The boil water notice shall remain in effect for the defined area until results from the sampling verify the water is safe to drink. CUSTOMERS WILL BE ADVISED WHEN THE BOIL WATER ADVISORY HAS BEEN LIFTED.” (See full DWSD alert at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/DWSD-Boil-Water-Advisory.pdf.)

Bill Davis is also President of the Detroit Active and Retired Employee Association (DAREA), which is pursuing a battle against bankruptcy cuts in federal court.

The GLWA and some of the mainstream media first reported that the alert would last for 48 hours, creating ongoing confusion in the three cities, but Porter cautioned that people should wait until the alert is officially lifted after tests are completed. 

“It’s my personal belief that the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) doesn’t care about the people of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, because they have too many Blacks and minorities,” Bill Davis, a retired Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) supervisor, told VOD.

“If we were still under the DWSD, there would have been an immediate alert, but the GLWA chose to sit on it. Gary Brown [head of what’s left of the DWSD] didn’t even know about it until this morning.”

Davis said any bacterial contamination from the water pressure drop meanwhile created risks, particularly for children and elderly people. He said massive staff cutbacks at DWSD before and since the GLWA took it over likely contributed to the failure.

Water fountain at Detroit’s Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on March 2, with notice from DWSD posted above it. Water to all schools and other public buildings is similarly restricted, while private restaurants, supermarkets and other businesses must use alternate resources.

“I’ve been telling this City Council and this Mayor since 2013 that something like this was likely to happen,” Davis said. He said there has not been a massive boil water alert like this in Detroit’s previous history to his knowledge.

He added that the Flint water crisis began with a similar drop in water pressure, which allowed lead contamination of that city’s pipes to leach into water that was moving sluggishly instead of at its full rate of speed. Davis also blamed repeated flooding in the GLWA region from rainstorms on massive staff cutbacks at plants like the Wastewater Treatment Plant downriver, where he worked.  Three major sewage pumps there were non-functional in 2014 as a result of a lack of 24/7 maintenance.

GLWA CEO Sue McCormick told the GLWA board March 1 that she and her staff first contacted the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) drinking water division to find out what to do. Unlike her COO Porter, who previously also served as COO at DWSD, she said the alert would be over after 48 hours.

“This is a very unfortunate circumstance that resulted in what I would call an electrical mechanical failure,” McCormick said in response to a question from VOD, ironically at the GLWA’s public hearing on new water and sewerage rates March 1.

GLWA CEO Sue McCormick with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who signed the contract giving away DWSD to the regional Great Lakes Water Authority.

“It’s a systems control issue from a valve operator,” McCormick went on. “The valve was closing inappropriately causing pumps to back off as the water was starting. We know pressure sagged in the process—particularly in the system from the other plants that would pick up that flow. That worked less effectively than we hoped it would. So we had pressure sag. We know the extent of that pressure sag based on the number of complaints we received in the area. In conversation with MDEQ drinking water division we discussed how we should notify the public. So we issued what I would call a precautionary boil water alert. While today we don’t have any evidence that the system depressurized to the extent that contaminants could have entered the system through the ground or from buildings, we won’t know the result of our tests for 48 hours. So we are suggesting that people in the area boil their water for that time.”

Gary Brown (l) with GLWA officials at meeting June 12, 2015 where contract turning DWSD over to GLWA was signed.

On March 2, the GLWA reported regarding tests conducted only in one day, “While these results are a sign that there is nothing wrong with the water, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is requiring the boil water advisory remain in effect throughout the originally stated 48-hour time period. A second round of test results will be returned tomorrow and upon a second clear result, GLWA will recommend that the boil water advisory be lifted. GLWA will provide additional updates as soon as they are available.”

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan signed the contract turning the six-county DWSD, the larges asset of the largest Black-majority city in the U.S., over to the GLWA, except for a few minor mains in Detroit, in June, 2015. The GLWA was created during the bankruptcy proceedings in 2014 despite ongoing protests by city workers, residents and others who warned of dire consequences.

Area of Detroit where boil water advisory is in effect.

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Freedom Rider: The Corporate Media Enemy

By BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

February 21, 2017 

http://blackagendareport.com/corporate_media_enemies

Margaret Kimberley

“Donald Trump and the corporate media are locked in mutual hostility, but they are both enemies of the poor and oppressed. Media tell non-stop lies about foreign leaders abroad and Black people here at home. As servants of corporate power, the media usually kow-tow to whoever wins the White House. They’ve made an exception for Trump, but that doesn’t make them honest journalists — just flunkies for the other party.

“When the Democratic Party needed to distract its rank and file from its ignominious defeat, the press continued to aid the deception and helped to play a dangerous game in foreign affairs.”

Every day Donald Trump exemplifies the contradictions of this era. He may make a statement that the left can agree with, but not because of shared political beliefs or motives. That is the case with his latest twitter statement regarding the media. “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”

Donald Trump at press conference

The corporate media generally go out of their way to make nice with presidents and promote their agendas. The feeling is mutual and presidents make nice right back. Even George W. Bush, who like Trump lost the popular vote, enjoyed media popularity for most of his two terms in office.

But Trump is different. He cannot say the words New York Times without adding, “Which is failing.” He can’t stand criticism and apparently doesn’t like to work for praise either. We can add his continued fighting with the press to the rest of his list of firsts.

“Even George W. Bush enjoyed media popularity for most of his two terms in office.”

The fact is that the corporate media in this country are our enemies. Media consolidation has left us with a handful of newspapers and television networks which are all controlled by international conglomerates. They hoped they would make neo-liberal heroine Hillary Clinton the next president but Democratic Party failures and her own weaknesses put Trump in the White House.

Iraqi children scream after U.S. soldiers killed their parents during invasion.

The news has been fake long before Donald Trump used those words. The cozy relationship between Bush and the press gave him cover to invade Iraq and kill 1 million people. The correspondents’ dinners and the private briefings create media haves and have nots, and taint the journalism that comes from this collusion. Obama made the private briefing a standard operating practice and kept Democratic pundits in his thrall, not that he had to work hard to win them over.

Trump considers anyone an enemy who doesn’t love him. That is why he is no friend of the press. But the rest of us should not rush to defend them either. After all they do not defend us. In 2016 they stood with Hillary Clinton while Bernie Sanders, despite his political failings, revealed the weaknesses in the Democratic Party. He was mocked, the desire for change was ignored and as a result Trump is the 45^th president of the country.

“The corporate press never took Obama to task for his foreign aggressions.”

Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton

Presentation and politesse are everything to our press overlords, so they never took Obama to task for his foreign aggressions. They repeated lies about foreign leaders who fell into Obama’s cross hairs. They said nothing about job stealing trade deals or the dishonesty which gave us more private health insurance when we needed Medicare for All.

When Hillary Clinton picked up on a Marco Rubio talking point and accused Donald Trump of being a Russian agent and/or dupe, the media followed right along. When her strategy failed they kept repeating it instead of asking why she lost to the person they all disregarded. When the Democratic Party needed to distract its rank and file from its ignominious defeat, the press continued to aid the deception and helped to play a dangerous game in foreign affairs.

Do the media report on the inhumanity of mass incarceration? Do they tell their viewers and readers that half of all Americans live on $31,000 per year or less? Do they reveal the devastation created by American regime change or give voice to its victims?

They do none of these things. They engage in a mutual admiration society and having covered up great wrong doing they now act as gate keepers against Donald Trump. But let us imagine if Trump were to suddenly have a change of heart and personality. Suppose he stopped calling the New York Times “failing.” Suppose he decided to make friends.

“If Trump acted like Obama, he just might enjoy some of his untouchability.”

Suddenly we would see stories about his under appreciated brilliance. The planned wall on the Mexican border would be called a master stroke, the travel ban of citizens from seven mostly Muslim nations would suddenly be deemed a legal breakthrough. If Trump acted like Obama, he just might enjoy some of his untouchability. Such is the power of media imprimatur.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, now owner of the Washington Post,  and a $750 M CIA contract, at White House.

No one should deny that one plus one equals two if Donald Trump states this easily understood fact. When he calls the press the enemy one must remember that the Washington Post was purchased by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos. Bezos then used Amazon’s cloud technology as means of getting a $750 million contract with the CIA.

Late in 2016 the Post runs a fake news story calling outlets like Black Agenda Report agents of the Russian government and begins the process of making repression a reality. To complicate matters further, Bezos is one of eight billionaires on the planet with as much wealth as half of humanity. Anyone with a fat CIA contract who literally controls the world is certainly no friend of the people.

No one should be fooled by Trump’s bloviating, nor should they be fooled by phony outrage from guilty parties. The media are in bed with the rulers and that makes them enemies of the first order.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com.

• Margaret Kimberley’s blog

By Diane Bukowski

February 25, 2017

The Voice of Detroit does not make a habit of endorsing political candidates. But former State Senator Coleman Young II had some good points to make when he announced Feb. 24 that he is taking on “the white mayor, the right mayor” as Rev. Wendell Anthony had the gall to call Mike Duggan when he introduced him.

Many of Senator Young’s points were raised in VOD’s earlier article “Duggan’s Decades-Long Detroit Demolition Derby.” It will take a GRASS ROOTS people’s movement to oust the white aristocracy and banking establishment that has the City of Detroit and the Detroit Public Schools in its clutches, with the devastating bankruptcy under Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Gov. Snyder. But more power to Young, maybe he can get the ball rolling. . . .

DUGGAN’S DECADES-LONG DETROIT DEMOLITION DERBY

Wendell Anthony, Benny Napoleon and others support Duggan during his announcement.