Above: Rev. Edward Pinkney of the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations speaks in Detroit at Moratorium NOW! meeting Oct. 20, 2014.

Nationally-known Benton Harbor freedom fighter vows to fight on for all the people

Challenges, appeal planned

Election petition violations are misdemeanors, not felonies under state law

Recent COA decision may impact case

By Diane Bukowski

October 4, 2014

Rev. Edward Pinkney at May 26, 2012 rally against the Emergency Manager and Whirlpool takeover of Benton Harbor, MI.

ST. JOSEPH, MI – An all-white jury found renowned Benton Harbor activist Rev. Edward Pinkney guilty Oct. 3 of five counts of “forgery under the Michigan election law,” related to a recall petition against Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower. The charges were brought April 24. The day after, a SWAT team surrounded and invaded his home as if he were a violent criminal. He was not there and turned himself in later.

The jury acquitted him of six misdemeanor charges relating to the presence of duplicate signatures on the petitions.

The petitions cited Hightower’s opposition to a city income tax that would have brought substantial revenues to the poverty-stricken city from Whirlpool, which is headquartered in Benton Harbor.

Berrien County Circuit Court Judge Sterling Schrock.

Berrien County Circuit Court Judge Sterling Schrock set sentencing for Dec. 15.

The verdict followed five days of testimony beginning Oct. 27, during which a Michigan State Police forensics technician said there was no way to tell who allegedly changed petition dates, to bring them within the required time frame for the recall. Other prosecution witnesses testified only that Rev. Pinkney appeared to have originated the petition. But they, defense witnesses, and Pinkney himself testified that the petitions had gone through many hands.

Three defense witnesses also testified that they saw another woman changing dates on the petitions without Pinkney’s knowledge.

“I could not believe they could find me guilty without one piece of evidence,” Rev. Pinkney said. “It didn’t mean a lot to me that it was an all-white jury. I thought the jurists would have enough heart, enough courage and righteousness to do the right thing. They didn’t just fail me. They failed everybody that lives in the city of Benton Harbor. Now everybody in Benton Harbor is in jeopardy. They are saying they don’t need evidence to send someone to prison.”

Benton Harbor youth protest Whirlpool during 2012 PGA.

He added, “Here, Whirlpool controls not only Benton Harbor and the residents, but also the court system itself. They will do anything to crush you if you stand up to them. That’s why it’s so important to fight this. I’m going to fight them until the end. This is not just an attack on Rev. Pinkney. It’s an attack on every single person that lives in Benton Harbor, in the state and around the country.”

Whirlpool is headquartered in Benton Harbor but decades ago moved all its manufacturing facilities out of state, leaving the 98 percent Black city with virtually no economic base. Since then, it has gobbled up public and private land across the city to build an $86 million headquarters on the St. Joseph River, along with a luxury condominium complex and a “world-class” golf course adjoining Benton Harbor’s public Jean Klock Park on a beautiful stretch of Lake Michigan beach.

City Commissioner Marcus Muhammad talks with James Cornelius, Pinkney’s co-defendant, who was the actual initiator of the recall petitions. Cornelius pled guilty to a lesser charge. PHOTO: Final Call

City Commissioner Marcus Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam, was set to run against Hightower after a civil court found there were sufficient valid petition signatures for the recall, despite Sepic’s charges against Pinkney. However, an appeals court overturned their ruling and the recall election was cancelled.

Rev. Pinkney’s attorney Tat Parish said they will file an appeal after the sentencing. He added they may also file motions prior to the sentencing to set aside the verdict due to insufficient evidence and to the prosecution’s use of a “penalty statute” to charge Pinkney. That statute is MCL 168.937, relating in general to forgery. (Click on mcl-168-937 for full text.)

Michigan election law also contains MCL 168.544c, which relates specifically to election petitions, and says violations of its provisions are misdemeanors. (Click on MICHIGAN ELECTION LAW 168.544c for full text.)

Attorney Tat Parish with Rev. Pinkney during trial.

On Oct. 23, a Michigan Court of Appeals issued an unpublished opinion in People v. Michael Brandon Hall, which upheld District and Circuit Court findings that Hall had been appropriately charged under the misdemeanor statute, despite the prosecution’s contention to the contrary.

(Click on COA Brandon Michael Hall 10 23 14 No 321045 to read full decision.)

Hall actually admitted to forging ten electors’ signatures on petitions that he turned in. In contrast, Rev. Pinkney denied tampering with the Hightower recall petitions at all. The prosecution was unable to produce direct evidence that he changed dates, a much less serious act then forging names.

But Pinkney was charged under the more severe forgery statute and has contended since his arrest that he was innocent, and that the statute was not appropriate.

Attorney Donald Hann

Attorney Donald Hann, who represented Hall, told VOD that even though the petitions in his case involved nominating petitions, state law requires that the same format be used for recall petitions. He said the Hall case is on point as far as he understands the facts in Pinkney’s case.

“He’s probably got a legitimate shot at an appeal [on this issue]” Hann said. He noted that the forgery statute has a caveat indicating, “unless herein otherwise provided,” which caused him to find the misdemeanor statute.

The Hall appeals court said that the misdemeanor statute was more recent and specific, and therefore took precedence. It noted also that Hall’s due process rights would have been violated if charged under the felony statute. They noted that election petitions are required to state that violations are misdemeanors.

“As he did in the lower courts, defendant argues that it would be fundamentally unfair to allow a felony forgery prosecution when the nominating petition itself provides that the conduct at issue in this case is a misdemeanor,” said the Court.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic

The prosecution in Hall argued that their office had broad discretion in choosing between the two statutes, but the Appeals Court cited rulings favoring “lenity,” i.e. choosing the more lenient of the statutes.

But there is no “lenity” in Berrien County for peoples’ activists like Rev. Pinkney.

Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic told a local TV station after his conviction, “Each of those felony counts carries a five years maximum but he has at least three prior felony convictions, which turns him into an habitual offender, subject to a life sentence. The sentencing guidelines restrain the judge from sentencing him to life, but I believe there will be either a lengthy jail sentence or a prison sentence.”

Sepic, however, did not cite a “habitual offender” charge in this case. The remainder of his statement speaks for itself regarding his enmity and that of the Berrien County court system towards Rev. Pinkney.

Three of Pinkney’s felony convictions, for which he actually served time in the state prison system, were also election-related. On appeal, his sentences were reduced to probation.

Rebellion in Benton Harbor after police caused death of Terrance Shurn in 2003..

Those charges became a cause celebre as a political attack. Pinkney’s supporters note that he has fought not only Whirlpool and state emergency manager laws, but also disproportionate arrest and sentencing practices in the Berrien County Circuit Court for Black Benton Harbor residents, as well as rampant police brutality there. In 2003, Benton Harbor youth staged a days-long rebellion after police caused the death of Terrance Shurn by chasing his motorcycle into a wall.

Memorial for Terrance Shurn at his funeral

“Any time you live in a society that doesn’t take care of its people you have a problem,” Pinkney said. “And that’s what we have here in Berrien County. I am standing up for the people. We want them to understand this fight is going to continue with or without me. In that sense, I’m happy today because people can take a good look at this system. It’s a class war. It’s us against them. Rich against poor. That’s what it adds up to. The point is we have to take a stand. It’s about you, your children, and your grandchildren. I never thought for a minute that the system could be this broken and would go to this extreme. They could care less about you, me or anybody else. They only have one thing in mind. That is to make sure they protect the rich.”

He added, “We’ve got to fix this jury system. There was not one person from Benton Harbor, not one person from Benton Township on the jury. Anytime a Black man is sitting inside that courtroom and the jury is all white, that is a major problem. I think the jury is dishonest, and I think something should be done about it. Matter-a-fact, they should be facing time behind bars. . .

“There’s a lot of things that we can do now. We are working on an appeal. We are going to continue to fight this battle. We’re going to stand firm. This is all about the people.”

The U.S. Census shows that Berrien County is in fact 15.3 percent African American, and four percent Latino. The entire jury venire in Pinkney’s case included only two Blacks, who were promptly excluded by the prosecution. Pinkney’s supporters say this is nothing but “The New Jim Crow,” as author Michelle Alexander dubbed it in her book of the same name.

Rev. Pinkney told VOD that juries in Berrien County Circuit Court have been all-white for at least the last 10 years.

To sign petition in support of Rev. Pinkney, click on http://www.bhbanco.org/2014/09/b-n-c-o-petition-we-demand-justice-in.html?spref=tw

To donate to the campaign to free Rev. Pinkney, send funds to
Rev. Edward Pinkney
1940 Union St.
Benton Harbor, MI 49022  Phone: 269-925-0001

Listen to Rev. Pinkney every Sunday 5:00 p.m. on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rev-pinkney/2014/10/19/pinkney-to-pinkney

Related Stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/10/29/free-rev-pinkney-frame-up-benton-harbor-trial-targets-nationally-known-freedom-fighter/

http://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/local/petitions-changed-but-by-whom/article_a1311aa0-a30c-5d3c-8208-ae3fc791fbc8.html

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/07/13/drop-the-charges-against-rev-edward-pinkney-of-benton-harbor-trial-set-for-july-21/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/07/benton-harbor-rev-pinkney-to-face-trial-on-felony-charges-july-21-despite-no-evidence/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/03/rev-pinkney-in-the-mouth-of-the-beast-in-benton-harbor/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/27/dismiss-all-charges-against-rev-pinkney-court-fri-may-30-save-benton-harbor-boycott-whirlpool/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/04/26/free-rev-edward-pinkney-recall-whirlpool-stooge-benton-harbor-mayor-james-hightower/ 

Rev. Pinkney Convicted, Threatened with Life in Prison

Submitted by Glen Ford on Wed, 11/05/2014 – 13:02

“Prosecutor Mike Sepic is calling for a life prison.”

Rev. Edward Pinkney, the 66-year-old community activist who has battled for decades on behalf of the mostly Black population of Benton Harbor, Michigan, was this week convicted on five counts of forging the dates of some signatures on a petition to recall the town’s mayor. The Berrien County jury was all-white. So was the judge and the prosecutor. Each of the felony counts carries a maximum five year sentence, but prosecutor Mike Sepic is calling for a life prison term on the grounds that Rev. Pinkney “has at least three prior felony convictions” – all of them stemming from his nonviolent resistance to white supremacy and the rule of the rich.

Rev. Pinkney’s nemesis – the rich entity that rules in Berrien County – is Whirlpool, the giant corporation that once employed lots of Black people in low-wage positions at its Benton Harbor headquarters, but now wants them gone, so that the land on which the town sits on the shores of Lake Michigan can be put to more luxurious and profitable uses. In better times, a park was set aside for community use. But, what Whirlpool giveth, Whirlpool taketh away. The park was privatized and then turned into a golf course where Whirlpool can entertain its executives and visiting operatives of the ruling class.

Whirlpool’s $86 million headquarters in Benton Harbor.

Whirlpool’s money buys local politicians, like the city commissioners that Rev. Pinkney and others sought to recall, back in 2007, a campaign that led to Pinkney’s conviction on charges of “buying votes” – as if a poor Black preacher would try to compete with a multi-billion-dollar corporation in the game of vote-buying. As the legal battle wore on, Rev. Pinkney was sentenced to a year in state prison for the “crime” of quoting the Bible. A white judge claimed that, in Rev. Pinkney’s mouth, the holy scripture becomes a lethal threat. This is how a Black man-of-the-cloth earns a felony record in southeast Michigan.

Back in May, Rev. Pinkney was trying to recall the current mayor, James Hightower – who he calls a flunky of Whirlpool – when a county SWAT team surrounded his house, to arrest the Reverend on new charges.

Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower at event in Whirlpool HQ>

“Whirlpool’s money buys local politicians, like the city commissioners that Rev. Pinkney and others sought to recall.”

The white corporate fathers’ vendetta against voting rights advocates like Pinkney seems like overkill, since the people of Benton Harbor and more than half the Black population of Michigan have been effectively disenfranchised by an Emergency Manager law that covers every majority Black city in the state.

Rev. Pinkney with supporter Danny Glover, actor/activist in Oct. 2012.

The people can vote for a mayor and city council, but a state appointee holds all the power, and his job is to turn over public assets to private corporations. But, even when the rich effectively hold total power, they still feel it necessary to crush those who question their right to rule – especially if the questioners are Black. Rev. Pinkney calls it a “class war.” In the United States, that has always also meant a race war, in which the full weight of the racist capitalist state is brought to bear. The state piles on multiple unjust felony convictions so that a Bible-quoting community leader is made to appear to be a criminal, deserving of life in prison.

But felony counts are like boxing rounds. Rev. Pinkney is still on his feet, fist in the air. Right on, Reverend.

For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com, and sign up for free email notification of our new issues, each Wednesday.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

Below: Rachel Maddox reports on Benton Harbor.

Detroit “public auction” advertised on freeway side of now abandoned Herman Kiefer Health Complex.

Vehicles, equipment from privatized DPW, PLD on the auction block 

Slavemaster Rick Snyder has devastated Black cities across Michigan with similar asset sales through Emergency Managers. No one from the federal level on down has taken massive action to stop the racist divestment.

Detroit workers losing hundreds of jobs, residents lose services

 “Assets” stored in Herman Kiefer parking lots—after Health Dept. privatized, services eliminated/ outsourced, 400 workers laid-off

 Sale used to “pay off debt,” banks profit

 Muncipal Market Advisors warned  Oct. 27 that divesting city assets could lead to a second Chapter 9 bankruptcy in very near future

 November 3, 2014

 By Diane Bukowski 

DETROIT – The City of Detroit, a/k/a Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and his appointed COO Gary Brown, will auction “more than 450 surplus vehicles it no longer needs.  Despite no longer being needed by the city, many of these pieces of equipment can serve private contractors or other municipalities well for years to come,” according to a release on the city’s website.

DPW trucks lined up outside HKHC Building 1, which used to house substance abuse treatment services.

A large banner strung across the John Lodge Freeway side of the now abandoned Herman Kiefer Health Complex advertises the online auction, set for Nov. 5 and 13. Parking lots there currently house assets from the Public Lighting and Public Works departments.

“Many of these vehicles are in very good working order and have a lot of life left in them,” said Gary Brown, City of Detroit Chief Operating Officer.

DPW vehicles block former entrance to Herman Kiefer Family Health Center, an adult medical clinic which provided doctors, nurses, prescriptions and other services to low-income Detroiters.

So did the jobs of over 165 DPW workers, replaced by the for-profit Rizzo Environmental Services, based in suburban Sterling Heights, and Advanced Disposal Services, with corporate offices in Ponte Vedra, Florida. The companies may as well have been holding slave auctions. The City Council gave them these jobs and a contract for a rock bottom price of $122 million.

DPW worker LaDonna Nash/Photo credit: WSWS

Long-time DPW worker LaDonna Nash told the WSWS newspaper (see link below), “If the new managers don’t like you, then you’re in trouble. All of the buildings here are going to be sold. The work for container repair, forestry, parks and recreation; all of it is going to private companies.

“They say some of us can transfer to other departments but that will be bumping other city workers out of their jobs. The new companies don’t even have women hauling trash. There are some 20 female workers and we are going to lose our jobs. I’m in my 40s—what am I going to do? Then there are the guys who are on disability. These guys were hurt on the job here—the foremen told them to do dangerous tasks they shouldn’t have been doing. They’re going to be out of a job too.”

PLD vehicle parked in lot in front of Building 7, where Community Health Field Services including home visits by nurses, was originally located.

EM Orr told DTE the entire Public Lighting Department, including its revenue-generating provision of lighting to public buildings, will be phased out over the next five years to DTE, which has already taken over PLD’s electricity grid. The newly-founded regional Public Lighting Authority plans to dismantle 46,000 of the city’s 88,000 streetlights, in areas targeted for “blight (i.e. Black) removal,” according to Orr’s May 12, 2013 Financial and Operating Plan.

PLD was founded in the 1920’s and was originally meant to provide electricity to the entire city, including its residences. The city’s former Auditor General reported several years ago that those service lines could have been revamped to provide revenue-generating, public cable TV service to city residents at lower costs.

DPW and PLD vehicles pack parking lot which used to provide space for patients of the Herman Kiefer Family Health Center.

PLD has been one of few opportunities for Black and women skilled trades workers such as electricians to get long-term employment.

Profit from the auctions is to be used to “pay down debt,” with some allegedly restored to the departments, according to an Oct. 30 article in the Monitor. Considering there will be no DPW or PLD, it is clear only the banks will profit from these auctions.

Front of the vacated Herman Kiefer Health Complex. Peeling sign at lower left says “Detroit Health and Wellness Promotion Department.”

Herman Kiefer formerly housed the Detroit Health and Wellness Department. The Health Department served the people of Detroit beginning in 1825, running three hospitals and five clinics, as well as coordinating a home physician visit program.

Freeway entrance to HKHC still displays sign showing some of services no longer provided there.

One of its hospitals, Detroit General, founded in 1918, was privatized in 1980 when it was transferred to the Detroit Medical Center and became Detroit Receiving Hospital. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, then DMC CEO, sold the DMC to Vanguard Health, 70 percent owned by the Blackstone Hedge Fund. Vanguard then sold it to Tenet. Receiving is now laying off most of its custodial staff.

Over four hundred workers there were laid off when the Health Department was handed over to the private Institute for Population Health (IPH) in May, 2012, during the fall-out from the “Consent Agreement” that led to the appointment of Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr.

AFSCME Health Department Local 457 President Laurie Walker testifies at City Council May 6, 2012.

The IPH has now itself gone bust. Nearly all the services at the Health Department were paid for by federal grants, which the City of Detroit lost as a result.

“We provide services to 300,000 clients annually,” Laurie Walker, President of AFSCME Health Department Local 457 told the City Council before it voted to privatize the Department . “We enjoy our positions and care about the people. We live in the city, own homes here, and pay taxes. Last year, two city workers on my block were laid off and now their homes are vacant. I will have to consider moving as well even though I love this city.”

In recent decades, the Department provided Maternal and Infant Health Programs, in a city where the 2009 infant mortality rate was 14.8 per 1,000, more than double the national average of 6.3 per 1,000. It provided WIC (a federal food program for women, infants and children), immunizations, lead screening, vision and hearing testing, family planning, nurse home visits, and substance abuse treatment among other services. Its vital records division and adult and pediatric dental clinics were self-sustaining through fees.

The Council, at the request of former Mayor Dave Bing, also got rid of the federally-funded Detroit Human Services and Workforce Development Departments and their employees, along with the grants.

The city release also says that 79 transit buses and “historic” trolley cars will be auctioned off. Although the Detroit Department of Transportation still exists, largely because of federal regulations preventing replacement of unionized employees, the eventual plan is to fold it into the Detroit Regional Transit Authority.

The contract for the auction has been awarded to Hilco Industrial, a global corporation headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, and Miedema Auctioneering and Appraisals, headquartered in Byron Center, Michigan. Both companies are white-owned and show only white executives on their staff.

On Oct. 27, Municipal Market Advisors said such asset sell-offs, among other factors, are likely to lead to a second Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing almost as soon as Detroit exits the first.

They said that after privatizing and selling off assets,

“Detroit has – in our opinion – set itself up to leave bankruptcy not only with a reduced debt load but with little financial and operational flexibility for the future,” the firm wrote. “We think that it is more than ‘feasible’ that the city finds itself facing fiscal difficulties over the next five years. In effect, Detroit may wind up, on its first day of out of bankruptcy, as one of the most likely candidates forChapter 9 in the state of Michigan.”

Public Lighting Department workers fixing street lights on Belle Isle July 29, 2012. Under pretense of a 30-yr. renewable $0 “lease,” the State of Michigan has also stolen Belle Isle from Detroiters. Gov. Rick Snyder’s aide told Councilwoman JoAnn Watson he wanted Belle Isle directly after he took office.  This writer went out for a bike ride on Belle Isle after finishing this article. There were hardly any streetlights working on the entire island. The bridge lights were on, and lights around the casino, but only a few others blinked on as the island got dark. D-DOT no longer operates bus routes on the island. My bike ride began while it was still light, but there were hardly any people out to enjoy the beautiful day, in cars, on foot, or on bicycles. NIGHTMARE!

City announcement: City of Detroit to Hold Two Auctions of Vehicles Machinery and Shop Equipment in November

Hilco brochure: Hilco brochure

Related articles:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/09/06/racist-bankruptcy-plan-hearing-sanctions-theft-of-detroit/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2013/05/16/detroit-em-orrs-report-envisions-a-nightmare-future/  

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/21/detroit-founded-health-dept-in-1825-it-previously-ran-3-hospitals-including-detroit-general-5-clinics-physician-home-visit-services/  

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/05/21/city-wants-to-replace-health-dept-with-private-institute-for-population-health/  

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/10/28/bankruptcy-did-little-to-stabilize-detroit-municipal-market-advisors/ 

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/20/sani-f20.html

https://www.hilcoind.com/sale-details?view=detailview&pid=abba049c-da78-f31c-d724-51ed53fcc364

SOMETHING FOR A LAUGH ON VOD, FOR A CHANGE.

Trott’s former law firm, Trott & Trott, is accused of using unethical and deceptive practices to foreclose on homes.

By Sarah Cwiek

Michigan Radio

David Trott’s “former” firm foreclosed on 80,000 homes in 2009 alone,

Republican candidate for Congress David Trott was the subject of some street theater this week.

Trott is running for the U.S. House seat in Metro Detroit’s 11th district.

He’s also a former co-owner of the Trott & Trott law firm, which specializes in home foreclosure work on behalf of banks. It prospered during the recent housing crisis, foreclosing on up to 80,000 homes in 2009 alone.

Many homeowners who have dealt with Trott & Trott accuse the firm of deceptive, unethical business practices. A group calling themselves “Trott survivors” shared their stories during a mock trial in front of a Birmingham bank.

Their “testimony” was a series of accusations outlining Trott & Trott’s “dishonest and destructive” tactics, like stonewalling on loan modifications, dual tracking (pursuing foreclosure while also negotiating modifications), improper notice, and document fraud.

Ray Mandry

Ray Mandry said he sought a mortgage modification after he had several major surgeries and lost his job in 2011. He qualified, and a representative from the Wayne County Department of Foreclosure Prevention reached out to Trott & Trott.

“[Trott and Trott] promised to set up a meeting, since we could in fact pay what we needed to pay with a modification,” Mandry said. “He was promised those meetings, and they never came. Calls to Trott & Trott and the bank went unanswered. We never received any further communication, in spite of our efforts, until the sheriff’s notice was posted on our door.”

Mandry was able to keep his home, but only after a two-year court battle.

Jerry Cullors told a similar story. He was trying negotiate a modification with his bank, but “Trott & Trott went behind our back, trying to get a sheriff’s sale going.”

“We didn’t find out about the sheriff’s sale until after the bank called us back and said, ‘Well, we have to put this on hold because we need to talk to our lawyers,’” Cullors said. “Not knowing that their lawyers were from Trott & Trott.”

Jerry Cullors and daughter.

And Cull0rs said when he went to court, Trott’s lawyers urged him to sign a “consent form” they said would delay a sheriff’s sale. But the judge later told Cullers he had effectively signed away his house.

“Trott & Trott’s lawyers will sit back and tell you anything to get your home away from you,” Cullers said.  “If you think I would sign a piece of paper giving up my home…no, there’s no way on God’s earth I would do this.”

Trott’s campaign dismissed the accusations as part of a pattern of “negative attacks by losing campaigns.”

“No one wants to foreclose,” Trott’s campaign said in an emailed statement. “The law firm represents clients and handles paperwork for clients.  The firm has and continues to help thousands of Michigan families keep their homes through loan modifications and short sales.”

Krystal Price, leader of RICO BUSTERS, who is also fighting Trott & Trott in her own case. For more info on RICO BUSTERS, see link to their You Tube site below.

Trott has denied engaging in any illegal or unethical practices, and points out that the firm has “never been subject to a significant judgment, and no court has ever sanctioned the firm for unethical conduct.”

However, five major US banks have paid out billions in settlements after the US Justice Department found they engaged in illegal practices during the foreclosure crisis—including many of the same practices Trott & Trott has been accused of.

Trott has also acknowledged making more money off foreclosures than loan modifications, but said actions he took were always on behalf of the banks he worked for.

Trott is expected to win in the heavily-Republican 11th district, though he is in a 3-way race.

He faces Democrat Bobby McKenzie, and current Republican 11th district Congressman Kerry Bentivolio, who’s waging a write-in campaign after Trott defeated him in the primary.

Trott foreclosure fraud as put together by RICO BUSTERS.

Related:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/10/21/keep-foreclosure-king-david-trott-out-of-congress/

http://mfi-miami.com/2014/06/did-financial-terrorist-david-trott-knowingly-violate-campaign-finance-laws/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/08/02/ricobusters-fight-criminal-injustice-system-domestic-terrorism-by-corporate-oligarchy/

You tube website for RICO BUSTERS:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd3xqk6Kc778ASLAsRpV5ag

Below are videos from RICO BUSTERS on Trott & Trott and Krystal Price’s fight against them, the banks, and the courts.

ACLU TESTIFIES AT INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ON KILLING OF MILTON HALL IN SAGINAW, MI

From the Michigan ACLU

October 27, 2014 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan testified today before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) about the failure of the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute officers involved in the unjustified police shooting death of Milton Hall in Saginaw, Michigan.

Jewell Hall

From Jewell Hall, Milton Hall’s mother

For much of his life, my son Milton stood up for those who did not have the strength to stand up for themselves.

But now he’s gone, gunned down by Saginaw police officers who fired more than 45 shots at him, striking him 14 times. Now, Milton Hall needs someone to stand up for him.

Although Milton’s death was captured on camera, caught by police dashcams and bystanders’ cellphones, justice still has not been served.

Despite the abundance of evidence, the Saginaw County prosecutor refused to charge the officers who killed Milton with any crime. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice failed to charge those officers as well.

Milton Hall

Milton’s death has been devastating to me, to our family and to our community. But his senseless killing also has given me a renewed commitment to work, in the little time that I have left, with parents whose kids have been similarly killed.

Together, we must address conditions that allow police to use excessive and deadly force with impunity. We need to change how police deal with situations like the one that ended my son’s life.

www.aclumich.org

► View videos & legal documents on this case Because freedom can’t defend itself: become a member, subscribe to our email action alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.

Related stories:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/29/the-execution-of-milton-hall-justice-for-milton-hall-killed-by-saginaw-mi-police/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2012/08/19/police-gun-down-saginaw-mi-man-with-46-shots-in-5-seconds/

Prayer vigil at site of Milton Hall’s execution.

Vonderrit Myers, Jr. with mother Syreeta.

“There’s no evidence that there was a gun battle going on.”

By BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

October 29, 2014

In “Code Black Alert: Slave Patrols Alive and Well Across America, Part I – the Killing of Vonderrit Myers,” we stated: “…we will never know what happened in the ten minutes after Vonderrit Myers Jr., 18, carried his turkey sandwich out of frame and into the last ten minutes of his life.” An AP news story, however, this week has provided more clues into the violent last ten minutes of Vonderrit Myers’ short life.

Vonderrit Myers was murdered on October 9th by a moonlighting unidentified St. Louis police officer working as a private security guard. The slave patroller/police officer stated that he pursued Vonderrit because he saw him running down the street accompanied by friends. For this slave patroller, African boys running down a street automatically indicate suspicious and criminal behavior.

Protesters block streets in St. Louis after murder of Vonderrit Myers, Jr. by off-duty uniformed cop on private security patrol

Michael Brown died on August 9th at the hands of Ferguson police officer Darryl Wilson – just 12 miles from the scene of Vonderrit’s execution. Brown was walking down the street with a friend that, from the perspective of his executioner, constituted “suspicious” behavior and led to his death.

The Myers family enlisted noted pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht to perform an independent autopsy. Dr. Wecht is known for his exploration of the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley and Benet Ramsey. The autopsy revealed that the 18 year old was shot eight times. Six of the gunshots were from behind. In other words, the autopsy suggests that Vonderrit was running away from the slave patroller/police officer, in contradiction to the version offered by St. Louis police.

“For this slave patroller, African boys running down a street automatically indicate suspicious and criminal behavior.”

Dr. Cyril Wecht explains independent autopsy results.

Dr. Wecht surmised that “Myers was initially shot six times in the back of both legs…another shot hit the side of the left leg, shattering his femur…the fatal wound was to the side of Myers’ face…” entering the right cheek.”

Myer’s attorney, Jerryl Christmas, offered, “The evidence show that the story we’ve been given by the Police Department does not match up…There’s no evidence that there was a gun battle going on.”

Predictably, St. Louis police have stated that Vonderrit was the aggressor and precipitated the confrontation by firing at the officer. Missouri State Highway Patrol issued a statement that gunshot residue was found on “Myer’s hand, waistband and shirt.” Both the Police Department cum Slave Patrol and Brian Millikan, the officer’s attorney, seem to indicate that the result of the ballistics report favors the police account.

The official report, that has changed numerous times, is that Vonderrit fired three shots before his gun jammed. The unidentified officer has stated that he did not discharge his weapon until Myer’s gun malfunctioned.

Hundreds attended funeral for Vonderrit Myers, Jr.

The police version of the last ten minutes of Vonderrit’s life has changed numerous times. Initially, Vonderrit was said to be wearing a hoody that the slave patroller pulled off during a scuffle. However, earlier security video from the convenience store does not show Vonderrit wearing a hoody. In addition, the police have stated that Vonderrit jumped out of bushes to attack the unidentified police officer but the bushes are missing from the crime scene photos. Finally, Vonderrit, according to police reports, is said to have fired a Ruger 9mm at the stalking police officer that later turns into a Smith and Wesson .038 in the next official version of the department’s report.

”The autopsy suggests that Vonderrit was running away from the slave patroller/police officer, in contradiction to the version offered by St. Louis police.”

It’s clear that the St. Louis police department is engaged in a massive cover-up, falsifying documents, perhaps tampering with materials and iniquitous lying to protect one of its own.

Syreeta and Vonderrit Myers, Sr. during announcement of private autopsy results.

Vonderitt’s story has not received the national attention it deserves, primarily because the police department moved quickly to demonize him with reports of previous interactions with law enforcement. However, despite the orchestrated attempt by the St. Louis police and the silence of the national media, his father, Vonderrit Myers, Sr., with his wife Syreeta by his side, spoke to supporters and activists who had marched to their home stating, “My son was loved and he still is loved.”

Vonderrit, a young man, looking forward to graduating from high school was buried yesterday. St. Louis police authorities have refused to release the name of the slave patroller who executed him.

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo is the author of No FEAR: A Whistleblowers Triumph over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA is available through amazon.com. Dr. Coleman-Adebayo worked at the EPA for 18 years and blew the whistle on a US multinational corporation that endangered vanadium mine workers. Marsha’s successful lawsuit led to the introduction and passage of the first civil rights and whistleblower law of the 21st Century: The Notification of Federal Employees Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 (NoFEAR Act.) She is Director of Transparency and Accountability for the Green Shadow Cabinet, serves on the Advisory Board of ExposeFacts.com and Coordinator of the DC-based, Hands-Up Coalition and No FEAR Coalition. www.marshacoleman-adebayo.com.

• Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo’s blog

Related:

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/myers-family-attorney-private-autopsy-disputes-police-account-shaw-shooting

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/10/09/white-off-duty-st-louis-cop-kills-vonderrit-myers-jr-18-with-17-shots/

Some of Rev. Edward Pinkney’s supporters outside courthouse during his preliminary exam May 31, 2014. Those who attended the opening day of his trial Oct. 27, 2014 said the courtroom was packed, with an overflow room so attendees could watch the proceedings on TV. However, Marcina Cole (third from left in photo) reported that the TV transmission started late and was of poor quality,

 Video below: supporters in court this week celebrate Rev. Pinkney’s birthday, which ironically is October 27, the same day his trial began.

Long-time Black activist minister faces 25 years in prison on trumped up election fraud charges

Busloads journey from across region to support Pinkney Oct. 27, first day of trial

Trial witness: “No way to know who was responsible for altered dates”

Pinkney expected to take the stand today

By Diane Bukowski

October 28, 2014

(Events in Benton Harbor are from attributed sources, as author was too sick to travel there for trial opening.)

Rev. Edward Pinkney speaking in Detroit Oct. 10, 2014 at Moratorium NOW! HQ.

ST. JOSEPH, MI – According to published reports, supporters of Rev. Edward Pinkney descended on Benton Harbor from all over in droves as his trial on five felony counts of election fraud, each carrying up to five years in prison, and six misdemeanors, began Oct. 27. The trial is taking place in the Berrien County Courthouse, located in St. Joseph, across the river from Benton Harbor.

Ironically, Oct. 27 is Rev. Pinkney’s birthday.

A busload of metro Detroiters, organized by Pinkney supporter Marcina Cole, Michigan Welfare Rights, Moratorium NOW! and others left from Northland Mall that morning at 5:30 a.m., after raising $600 for half the cost of the bus.

One supporter tweeted: “Court packed for @revpinkney! Supporters drove in from across the region. Judge Sterling R. Schrock presiding with jury hearing, People vs Pinkney, Edward. Case # 2014-001528. Court is setting up televised overflow room for people unable to fit in courtroom.”

Danny Glover with Rev. Edward Pinkney during Benton Harbor awards ceremony last year.

Nationally, Pinkney has had strong support from actor/activist Danny Glover and from former six-term U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who remarked Oct. 17, “Why is the Congressional Black Caucus silent on the persecution of Benton Harbor leader, Rev Edward Pinkney, who is being maliciously prosecuted AGAIN?  What has happened up there in DC to eliminate all heart, backbone, and guts? What’s left without that???”

Pinkney, a leader of the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations (BANCO), led a recall campaign against current Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower, who has the support of the Whirlpool Corporation. Charges are based on those recall petitions.

Cynthia McKinney with Rev. Edward Pinkney in Benton Harbor, 2011

Whirlpool is headquartered in Benton Harbor but earlier stripped the 96 percent Black city of its economic base by moving its plants out of state, leading to a   poverty rate. It is also taking over acres of desirable lakefront Benton Harbor property. Pinkney has fought this corporate attack for many years, as well as fighting rampant murders by local police forces of Black Benton Harbor residents, and massively disproportionate incarceraton rates of Blacks.

Regarding jury selection the previous week, Gordon reported on the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizations (BANCO) website:

“The Berrien County trial beginning this Monday at 8:30am now has a jury and it’s all white. Rev. Pinkney is from Benton Harbor, 96% African-American, but the jurors are from the surrounding white towns.”

He said that during questioning of prospective jurors, Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic asked several jurors if they would be willing to convict without evidence. The prosecution has conceded that their case has no direct evidence, only circumstantial evidence.

But by Tuesday, Oct 28, even the conservative Herald-Palladium began its lead story with the following:

Mark Goff says there is no way to tell who may have altered petitions, during preliminary exam.

“Dates on recall petitions circulated by Edward Pinkney were altered, though there is no way to know who was responsible, a state police forensic document examiner testified Tuesday. Detective Sgt. Mark Goff told a Berrien County Trial Court jury that some of the dates next to signatures on five petitions were written with more than one ink.

“That indicates the use of more than one pen or that numbers were written at different times, he said.” (See link below.)

The remainder of the story is basically a recap of officials’ testimony reported on by VOD during Pinkney’s preliminary exam. (See links below.)

The following day, according to the Herald Palladium, 24 witnesses who signed the recall petitions in question testified. On cross exam by Pinkney’s attorney Tat Parish, many appeared to be confused about which petition they had signed and when. The police and courts have essentially conducted a reign of terror to frighten the people of Benton Harbor, exemplified by the SWAT raid on Pinkney’s home.

The defense was expected to begin its presentation today, with Rev. Pinkney himself taking the stand.

Marcina Cole

The previous Monday, Oct. 20, Rev. Pinkney himself spoke to a packed crowd of supporters at the Moratorium NOW! headquarters in Detroit, following up on an earlier Detroit appearance at UAW Local 22.

Marcina Cole, a DTE retiree, introduced Pinkney, putting his struggle in context with the current battle for justice by Blacks across Michigan and the country.

Noting that a SWAT team of Benton Harbor police showed up to arrest Pinkney on the election fraud charges May 25, she said, “There is injustice across the U.S., including police terrorism like the murder of Michael Brown, shutting people’s water off, no housing, health care, and food for our people. We have to stop listening to the mass media. Even abroad, Palestinians are being gunned down from the skies, killing babies and children. Too many folks are getting off for killing our babies. Next it might be your baby. We must fight, fight, fight and don’t stop!”

To a standing ovation, Rev. Pinkney took the podium.

“The fight in Benton Harbor is a war over whether America will have prosperity and democracy, or will live in poverty under the heels of capitalist rule,” Pinkney said. “We must create discomfort in the houses of the powerful with or without violence. . . .We must take over the banks, show them who we are, especially here in Detroit.”

Audience at Detroit rally gives standing ovation to Rev. Pinkney Oct. 20, 2014.

He said the Berrien County Courthouse has been “physically removing and destroying Black families in Benton Harbor.” He recounted the case of one man who became “cop of the year” after he planted drugs on over 300 Benton Harbor residents. He said the defense had numerous witnesses, but they were not allowed to testify.

“It’s not about me and you,” he said, “it’s about the future of our children, about Negro removal, about ethnic cleansing. IT’S ABOUT GENOCIDE! No one in history has ever gotten anything by appealing to the moral sense of the rulers. You only get what you can take! Democracy has been stolen.”

Pinkney recounted the history of the SWAT assault on the home of himself and his wife Dorothy Pinkney (covered earlier in VOD—see link below.)

“At my arraignment, the judge took about 20 minutes to tell me how terrible I am, as if I had committed the worst crime in the history of mankind. They thought they had a smoking gun, but when it came to testimony about who changed signature dates, their expert said he could not say WHO. It is shameful and disgraceful. They are counting on having an all-white jury.”

He said he had been in court that morning asking for a change of venue due to the racial composition of the county surrounding Benton Harbor, and to constant negative publicity in the Herald-Palladium and other local news media. The judge said he would grant a change of venue only if we could not pick a jury.”

Apparently Judge Sterling Shrock felt an all-white jury was sufficient, even in the increasingly hostile and racist atmosphere that permeates not only Berrien County, but in Detroit, where the banks and corporations are taking over the city from its majority Black population through a phony bankrupty, and in the entire state and country.

Rev. Pinkney leads rally against Emergency Manager law in Michigan. Benton Harbor was the first city to be hit with PA 436.

Rev. Pinkney (center second from top) with wife Dorothy in front of him, and Detroit supporters including the late renowned General Baker (rear row right) during 2011 trial regarding the Whirlpool-led move to remove him as BH NAACP President.

To sign petition in support of Rev. Pinkney, click on http://www.bhbanco.org/2014/09/b-n-c-o-petition-we-demand-justice-in.html?spref=tw

To donate to the campaign to free Rev. Pinkney, send funds to
Rev. Edward Pinkney
1940 Union St.
Benton Harbor, MI 49022  Phone: 269-925-0001

Listen to Rev. Pinkney every Sunday 5:00 p.m. on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/rev-pinkney/2014/10/19/pinkney-to-pinkney

Related Stories:

Witness testifies Pinkney sought 2nd petition signature HP

http://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/local/petitions-changed-but-by-whom/article_a1311aa0-a30c-5d3c-8208-ae3fc791fbc8.html

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/07/13/drop-the-charges-against-rev-edward-pinkney-of-benton-harbor-trial-set-for-july-21/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/07/benton-harbor-rev-pinkney-to-face-trial-on-felony-charges-july-21-despite-no-evidence/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/06/03/rev-pinkney-in-the-mouth-of-the-beast-in-benton-harbor/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/05/27/dismiss-all-charges-against-rev-pinkney-court-fri-may-30-save-benton-harbor-boycott-whirlpool/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/04/26/free-rev-edward-pinkney-recall-whirlpool-stooge-benton-harbor-mayor-james-hightower/ 

Protest against bankruptcy, EM, foreclosures blocks Jefferson Ave. in downtown Detroit May 1, 2014.

Independent firm says Detroit may have “set itself up for another Chapter 9”

Expert says “feasibility walks a very thin line”

Bankruptcy Judge Rhodes to announce decision on Nov. 7 at 2 pm.

VOD to have analysis up shortly

By Caitlin Devitt

OCT 27, 2014 3:36pm ET

CHICAGO – On the closing day of Detroit’s bankruptcy trial, municipal research firm Municipal Market Advisors warned that the city may have just set itself up for another Chapter 9.

MMA, an independent advisory firm, issued the warning as part of its weekly outlook report released on Monday. It came out the same day as attorneys presented closing arguments to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes in the trial on the city’s plan of confirmation.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan targets Detroit Water and Sewerage Dept. Sept. 9, 2014 in announcing plan under bankruptcy for Great Lakes Water Authority,

After privatizing or selling several of its assets, “Detroit has – in our opinion – set itself up to leave bankruptcy not only with a reduced debt load but with little financial and operational flexibility for the future,” the firm wrote.

“We think that it is more than ‘feasible’ that the city finds itself facing fiscal difficulties over the next five years. In effect, Detroit may wind up, on its first day of out of bankruptcy, as one of the most likely candidates for Chapter 9 in the state of Michigan.”

On the plus side, the city will have shed $7 billion of debt if Rhodes approves the plan, MMA said.

But improving operations could prove to be a major challenge for the post-bankrupt city.

And a “dysfunctional” K-12 school system will continue to limit the city’s attractiveness to new residents.

Protesters outside Detroit Public School HQ demand that the city’s only school built for special needs students, Oakman Orthopedic, remain open. It has since been closed, as have the majority of Detroit public schools.

The firm noted that Martha Kopacz, a muni finance expert hired by Rhodes’ expert witness to review the feasibility of the city’s confirmation plan, affirmed the plan but warned the feasibility walks a very thin line.

“The feasibility described to the court by Ms. Kopacz is fragile at best,” MMA said. “And, it is important to remember that the target is to provide just adequate basic services: hardly an effective marketing spin.”

Related:

kopacz expert report to judge rhodes 071814

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2014/10/22/detroit-bankruptcy-trial/17706507/

UN Rapporteurs Catarina de Albuquerque (speaking) and Leilani Farha (to her left) interview east side Detroit resident about her experience with water shut-offs Oct. 19, 2014.

 UN reps tour Detroit neighborhoods, interview residents Oct. 19

Mass town hall meeting at Wayne Co. Community College

Press conference Oct. 20: rapporteurs denounce water shut-offs 

By Diane Bukowski

October 25, 2014

DETROIT – BUS TOUR

Residents who spoke with United Nations rapporteurs Catarina de Albuquerque and Leilani Farha about water shut-offs, during their visit to Detroit last weekend, painted a devastating picture of mass inhumanity directed at the poor and mostly Black population of Detroit.

Rapporteurs speak with Rochelle McCaskill in her home.

During a bus tour Oct. 19, Rochelle McCaskill invited the representatives into her east-side home, where she, three daughters, and a grandbaby live.

“I was washing my hands recently when the water went off,” she said during an interview in her living room. “My daughter looked out the window and saw a man turning our water off. She ran out to stop him. I have a note from my doctor that says I must have water, which I turned in to the water department. But they said I was still 60 days past due.”

McCaskill said she suffers from MRSA, a contagious antibiotic-resilient infection that causes sores and boils and can become life-threatening. It is becoming more common in communities, although it originated in hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and other institutions where people reside in close quarters.

Valerie Burris, who assisted McCaskill, points out blue “mark of shame” left on sidewalks where water is slated to be shut off.

McCaskill said she must bathe three times a day and frequently wash her clothing to prevent infecting her loved ones. She said she almost died from sepsis last year.

McCaskill told the rapporteurs she receives $672 a month in SSI benefits, while the rent for her tiny home is $600. “I can’t pay my water bill all the time, which is $60 to $85 a month,” she said. “I relax on weekends but hate to see Monday coming, because I know that people may be out there for the rest of the week to turn off my water, heat and lights. They need to make another category for people like me.”

Valerie Burris, who referred McCaskill for assistance, pointed out the blue mark on McCaskill’s sidewalk, that water contractors use to designate homes set for shut-offs.

“It’s like the scarlet letter of shame,” she said. “No one should have to live like this.”

Calvert resident speaks to rapporteurs and bus occupants.

Tour guides Cecily McClellan, who lives on Detroit’s near west side, and Valerie Jean, who stays nearby on the east side of Woodward, described massive housing problems in addition to the water shut-offs.

McClellan said the city is selling 6,000 foreclosed homes at once in “blight bundles,” for which the minimum bid is $1 million. The bus toured Calvert and Glynn Streets, an area of stately solidly-built homes.

“They’re knocking houses down on these streets which can be repaired,” she said, pointing to various vacant lots. “That what the Detroit Futures Project on Glynn Court is for. They refurbished one home with public money for $532,000, then sold it to a white professor for $80,000 who was moving back from Oregon.” She said many foreclosed homes are being sold to whites, and include payment forgiveness arrangements.

Valerie Jean directed the bus down Woodland, where she lives. Jean, who has three children, ran a water contractor from Homrich away when he came to her home, but said he still succeeded in shutting water off to every home within three blocks. She said she has set up a water station in her front yard, where residents can get water and food, since they can’t cook without water.

A resident in that area said the water department claims she owes $4,000. “They’ve charged me for two years I already paid,” she said. “All my bills are paid through 2012. There are 11 residents on this block, and they owe a total of $50,000 in water bills for one year alone. One of the main problems is the sewage bills. They are three times more than what we pay for water.”

Water shut-off notice shows large discrepancy between sewerage and water charges, to penalize poor Detroiters for delinquencies.

During the Kwame Kilpatrick administration, suburban interests who wanted the water department pressured the city into an agreement that Detroit residents would be disproportionately charged for sewerage, because their rate of delinquent payments was higher. Published reports indicate that spikes in Detroiters’ water bills in recent months occurred because the department neglected to charge the discriminatory sewerage rate to all Detroit residents earlier.

Marian Kramer, a Highland Park resident and leader of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, along with another Highland Park resident, said that under Detroit’s bankruptcy plan to regionalize the water department, Highland Park’s system is being merged into DWSD. Now residents of Highland Park, a city within the boundaries of Detroit, get TWO water bills a month, one from each agency. They said most Highland Park residents are senior citizens living on fixed incomes who can’t afford to pay.

Detroiter explains travails with water bills to UN delegates.

A resident of the Sherwood/Seven Mile neighborhood with three children said her water was shut off with no warning notice and without even a knock on the door. “They knew there were children here,” she said, pointing to kids’ chairs on her porch.

“After they shut mine off, I saw them going down the street, shutting off water,” she added. “If you’re behind on your bill, notice or not, they shut it off. In addition to the fee to shut it off, there was a fee to turn it back on. I couldn’t get an appointment for assistance for two weeks. I didn’t have the income to pay it. I was laid off from my job.”

Organizer Russ Bellant, who also lives in the neighborhood, said a total of 11 homes had their water shut off that day, and that there are 60 vacant foreclosed homes in the area. Ten were demolished within a couple of months, he said.

TOWN HALL MEETING AT WAYNE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Massive crowd at Wayne County Community College applauds the UN delegates Oct. 19, 2014. Long-time activist Gwendolyn Gaines is in center in MWRO shirt.

Later that day, at least 600 people packed the auditorium at Wayne County Community College’s downtown campus to address the UN rapporteurs, as well as a panel of community leaders.

Monica Patrick on bus Oct. 19

Monica Patrick, a host of the forum along with the coalition that brought the UN rapporteurs to Detroit, brought to audience to its feet with repeated cries of  “We charge genocide!”

The sponsors of the tour and meeting included MWRO, the Michigan ACLU, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, the People’s Water Board, AFSCME Local 207, Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association, Food and Water Watch, the Detroit School Board in Exile, Michigan Human Rights Coalition, St. Peters Ecumenical Church, and many others.

Prof. Charles Simmons, one of the panelists, said, “I am outraged by the inhumanity, by the suffering of our people. It is immense, callous and intentional. Every human being has the right to water. There must be a national and international fight in the streets. We must remember that the UN is not the final solution, because the same people who run the UN also run the corporations.”

Rapporteurs introduce themselves to panel and audience. Prof. Charles Simmons second from right.

Speaker after speaker testified about the suffering Simmons referred to.

“The principal of Denby High School opened up his school at 5 a.m. so students could come in, wash up, and wash their clothes,” said Tawanna Simpson, a member of the Detroit Board of Education in Exile. (The board has been stripped of its powers under PA 436, the Emergency Manager law.) “But now that the school has been taken over by the Educational Achievement Authority, that no longer happens.”

Gregory Price

Gregory Price, a young man from the southwest side, said, “My neighborhood is heavily dilapidated. At least two or three people there have lost their homes because they could not pay their water bills, which were then attached to their taxes. The water bills and payment plans are monstrosities. People cannot afford to pay them.”

(See sample payment plan letter at DWSD plan.)

He said those who lose their homes go to shelters or remain in the homes with no utilities, while the state cuts off assistance to the families, who no longer have valid addresses.

Nicole Hill said her water bill is now $6,000. She testified that her water was recently shut off from May 15 to July 14, 2014, on top of previous water shut-offs in the past. Her first shut-off was in May, 2011. On October 7 of this year, she said, after a brief respite during Detroit bankruptcy proceedings, they shut it off again. She said the department is steadily cutting off others in her neighborhood as well, at one point shutting off a whole block.

Nicole Hill

“I’ve been battling the water department for two and a half years,” she said. “They’ve billed me at a previous address from 2009, although I had moved, and they keep claiming I have leaks but they haven’t found any.”

Mignon Jennings, a disabled GM worker as well as a former city worker, said her recent bill was $395 for sewerage, and $195 for water. “I’m the only one in my family,” she said, wondering how her bill could be so high. My home is in jeopardy of being taken. I hope you have a Plan B to provide assistance.”

Another woman testified that her water bill went up $600 in one month because she allowed neighbors whose water had been shut off to come to her house to get that necessity of life. Others testified about having elders and children in their homes when their water was shut off, and about being forced to go to suburban Wyandotte for water assistance since the shutdown of the Detroit’s Human Services Department and the dismantling of the Water Affordability Program.

Demeeko Williams after press conference on Great Lakes Water Authority,

Demeeko Williams of the Detroit Water Project said the ‘entire system is to blame for the savage water shut-offs in Detroit.

“They’ve shut down transportation, closed all our schools, fired Dad and Mom, and stolen our international waterway at Belle Isle,” he cried out. “Now Governor Snyder and Detroit EM Kevyn Orr are committing genocide by stealing the water department and regionalizing it.”

In 200 days, according to Mayor Mike Duggan and representatives from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties, they expect to have the “Great Lakes Water Authority” in place, pursuant to the Detroit bankruptcy. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes has said he plans to announce whether he will confirm the bankruptcy plan in two weeks. Any negotiation or agreement reached now with DWSD and the UN would be null and void under that plan anyway.

A young man who appeared to be about twelve years old said emphatically, “I believe that water should be free.”

Sharon Moore said her 80-year-old mother’s water bill has increased 100 percent every month, while water is running down the street from a nearby abandoned building.

John Rakolta, CEO of Walbridge Aldinger, a major DWSD contractor and a major contributor to Gov. Rick Snyder’s campaign.

A single mother with three children said she would not allow the water department to install a remote meter because of possible negative health effects, which have been broadly publicized, so they shut her water off. She said she finally allowed them to install the meter but is still plagued by payment problems.

The meters are being installed under a four-year $153 million contract with Detroit Meter Partners, comprised of Walbridge-Aldinger and Weiss Construction. Customers are forced to pay large installation fees.

Walbridge CEO John Rakolta is a top campaign supporter of Gov. John Engler, for whom his daughter also works. He has also been involved in the Detroit schools takeover.

Police on watch outside Water Affordability Fair.

“I went to the Water Affordability Fair the city advertised,” the single mother said. “They had a tank and four or five police officers there in case of trouble.”

Michelle McCray, a homeless woman, pointed out that the denial of water and other necessities to the poor has been happening for a long time in Detroit and elsewhere. “I’ve been homeless since 1999, and I’m in a homeless shelter,” she said. “They put you out all day without any access to water or bathrooms. The restaurants won’t let you use their bathrooms. That means all day in the hot sun with no water. This has been going on for at least 25 years.”

Michelle McCray describes conditions for those living in shelters, deprived of water and sanitary facilities during the day,

McCray, along with several people who wanted to speak on behalf of indigenous people, was cut short, while others were refused access to the microphone by some conference organizers, who said they wanted to focus only on water and foreclosures.

Richard Johnson El-Bey, of the Moors Coalition on Police Brutality was one of those prevented from speaking. Several other Moors were also present in the audience. Johnson El-Bey told VOD he is now homeless because he relied on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People without success. That Declaration says in part,

“Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the improvement of their economic and social conditions, including, inter alia, in the areas of education, employment, vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security.

States shall take effective measures and, where appropriate, special measures to ensure continuing improvement of their economic and social conditions. Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities.” (Entire declaration at UN Dec Rights of Indigenous Peoples.)

Richard Johnson El-Bey, with fellow Moor, shows his skilled trades licenses.

Showing a photo of his great-grandmother’s sister and other documents related to his heritage, he said, “I am Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee. My people pre-date the existence of the United States of America on their land. We have a right to individual sovereignty. I’ve sued the United Nations and the United States to no avail, and I’ve gone to the City Human Rights Department with the same results.”

Johnson El-Bey said he has repeatedly been denied work despite having 44 years of experience in 17 skilled trades, because he cannot get requested documentation due to his refusal to acknowledge citizenship in the U.S. The UN Declaration says another right guaranteed is “that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while recognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as such.”

Although Johnson El-Bey has African looks, Native American tribes for many centuries accepted tens of thousands of kidnapped Africans (“slaves”) into their lands and intermarried. A large proportion of “African-Americans” today have indigenous blood.

UN RAPPORTEURS REPORT OUT AT PRESS CONFERENCE

Final press conference Oct. 22; (l to r) Lila Cabbel, People’s Water Board, Catarina De Albuquerque, UN Rapporteur, Jerry Goldberg, Moratorium NOW!, Maureen Taylor, MWRO, Leilani Farha, UN Rapporteur, UN aide, Attorney Alice Jennings, Marian Kramer, MWRO, UN aide. Photo: Cornell Squires

“Detroit’s water shut-offs target the poor, vulnerable and African-Americans”

Human rights to water, sanitation and housing take precedence over financial concerns

By Diane Bukowski

October 25, 2014

Council Pres. Brenda Jones speaks about DWSD 10-point plan, with Mayor Mike Duggan at far right, and his chief of staff Alexis Wiley at left.

DETROIT —  After meeting with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and City Council members in a closed session the morning of Oct. 22, representatives of the UN Office of the High Commission for human rights roundly denounced conditions faced by Detroit’s majority population, and expressed disappointment with City plans to remedy them.

“This is a man-made Perfect Storm,” said Catarina De Albuquerque, the first UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. She is also a Professor of Law at the Universities of Brage, Coimbra and the American University’s Washington College of Law, and a senior legal advisor at the UN Prosecutor General’s office. She called the shut-offs “the most extensive” in the U.S.

“We found that 57,000 households have been shut-off this year,” she said. “They have no water to drink, bathe, flush toilets, and keep their clothes and houses clean. The city doesn’t even have data on how many households are affected [and their demographics]. People have a right to life, and not to be discriminated against and stigmatized by these shut-offs.”

UN rapporteurs receive testimony from packed Wayne County College Auditorium of Detroit residents on how water shut-offs are affecting them. In the United Kingdom and other countries, water shut-offs are barred by law due to public health concerns.

She went on, “There is a disproportionate impact on low-income African-Americans in Detroit, where 80 percent of the population is African-American and 40 percent of African-Americans live below the poverty level. They are being asked to face impossible choices—to pay their rent or their water bill, to pay their medical expenses or their water bill. These are not choices we expect people to have to make in one of the richest, if not the richest, country in the world.”

She noted the U.S. has ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the right to life and security of the person, the provision of housing and water in a non-discriminatory fashion, and the elimination of racial discrimination.

“The human right to water and sanitation is explicitly recognized,” she added. “This does not mean that water has to be free. Nobody we saw asked us for free water; they just want affordable and fair bills. In many of the other 15 countries I have visited, they do want free water, but here all they want is justice and affordability.”

Downtown Detroit rally against water shut-offs.

She said disconnection of water services is only acceptable if it can be shown that the resident can pay.

“The rich are able to pay their bills, therefore the burden should be on the authorities to make sure that happens,” she went on. “We met with the Mayor and City Officials and are aware of their measures [the 10 point plan], but these are insufficient. The Mayor does not consider chronically low-income people’s ability to pay.”

Leilani Farha is the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this area. She is also a lawyer and Executive Director of the NGO Canada Without Poverty.

Detroit woman testifies angrily about her experiences with DWSD  during WCCC town hall meeting.

“Unaffordable housing leads to constructive eviction,” Farha said. “Affordability and security of tenure are key standards, which give the feeling that you’re not going to have to leave unexpectedly. We talked to residents who don’t know how long they will be able to maintain their housing. They also have to right to non-discrimination, to information, to justice, to access to remedies and to due process. They have the right to live without fear. What impressed me the most was that people fear their kids are going to be taken away.”

The two rapporteurs laid out the following recommendations:

• The City of Detroit must restore water connections to all residences and neighborhoods.
• Stop any further disconnections to those who are unable to pay.
• We urge the city, state and federal government to adopt mandatory affordability standards.
• Special policies must be set up to ensure these measures are tailored to the needs of the people.
• The international standard for an individual’s need for water is 100 liters per person per day. [One liter is approximately .26 gallons; so the need is at least 26 gallons per person per day.]
• Authorities must make an urgent assessment of public health consequences of the water shut-offs.
• Appropriate investments must be made to determine if there is a disproportionate impact on people of color. For the homeless, the City of Detroit must take urgent steps to ensure they are housed with adequate supplies of water.
• Residents should be ensured of access to administrative and legal remedies to challenge shut-offs if they are unable to pay, the amounts of their bills, and the affordability of water in the City of Detroit.

Make Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and U.S. President Barack Obama pay,

Newscaster Paula Tutman asked the rapporteurs in an unusually strident fashion how the city would be able to afford water services if people don’t pay their bills.

“If the city does not have enough,” DeAlbuquerque said, “then there are other levels of government here. The state and the federal governments must step in to support the human right to water, sanitation and housing. The Water Department can talk with many actors throughout the world. There are cities that charge more to those who can pay, such as industry and commerce. There are solutions. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel. For each dollar investment in the right to water, you save $9 in other areas.”

The Rapporteurs cautioned that international law such as that embodied in numerous UN instruments is also about national law. They said that international human rights law should be incorporated in every policy, every program, every human rights condition. They said they will bring their findings to the attention of the U.S. representative to the UN, Susan Rice.

Bankruptcy protest at Federal Courthouse April 1, 2014.

Regarding actions by Detroit’s Emergency Manager and the banks. profit from the city’s bankruptcy, they replied, “Having an emergency manager does not exempt them from human rights obligations. Human rights have precedence over financial and credit concerns. Human rights are primary. There is a whole group and class of people whose human rights are at stake.”

Tangela Harris asked, “How do citizens stand up when democracy is not standing up for them?” She obviously referred to Michigan Emergency Manager law, which has disenfranchised at least 51 percent of Black residents in the state. It was not clear if the UN Rapporteurs had been adequately briefed on this issue.

Through his chief of staff, Alexis Wiley, Mayor Duggan expressed disappointment and scorn towards the UN Rapporteurs’ efforts, after meeting with them for 90 minutes that morning.

Mayor Mike Duggan and chief of staff Alexis Wiley, a former newscaster.

“It’s disappointing but it’s kind of scary that you can have such a heavy name of the United Nations — that is such a responsibility — and to not live up to that responsibility, to come really without an interest in information,” Wiley said in published reports. “No one’s saying we’re perfect. But if you want to work together, let’s work together and make sure policy is built on facts. It’s not built on an agenda.

“As we went through each of the things they raised and made it clear they had incorrect information, they were visibly upset, and now I know it’s because they knew they had to go and change their press release. That’s what’s really disappointing is that they called this a fact-finding mission. If this is really going to be a fact-finding mission then you should actually ask for the facts.”

The UN formal press release, “Detroit’s water shut-offs target the poor, vulnerable, and African-Americans,” is available at UN Detroit water report . It includes phone numbers, email addresses, websites, and social media connections for UN Human Rights agencies.

The City’s “10-point Plan,” which does not guarantee affordability or bar shut0ffs, is at Detroit Water and Sewerage Department 10 point Plan. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes declared this plan adequate and said he had no power to ensure affordable water anyway. He is expected to announce his decision on confirmation of the bankruptcy Plan of Adjustment, which includes the elimination of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department, and its replacement by the regional Great Lakes Water Authority, next week.

Related:

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2014/09/10/detroit-bankruptcy-great-lakes-water-authority-to-steal-largest-asset-of-largest-u-s-black-city-4/

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, hands encompassing Detroit on map, explains plans to hand the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department over to a regional authority.

“The water department is determined to solve its financial problems – and change the city’s demographics – by ejecting the poor from the grid.”

 Submitted by Glen Ford on Wed, 10/22/2014 – 15:09

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford 

(Hands-on coverage by VOD of UN Detroit neighborhood bus tour, town hall meeting, and press conference upcoming.)

The two United Nations Special Rapporteurs have seen human rights violations around the world, but Detroit’s massive water shut-offs are uniquely upsetting. “We were deeply disturbed to observe the indignity people have faced and continue to live with in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and in a city that was a symbol of America’s prosperity,” said Catarina de Albuquerque and Leilani Farha, in a joint statement.

UN Rapporteurs Catarina de Albuquergue (standing) and Leilani Farha at town hall meeting on Detroit water shut-offs and evictions, Oct. 19, 2014.

An “unprecedented” 27,000 households have been disconnected from the pipes that sustain life and dignity – most of them Black and poor, according to the rapporteurs’ observations, although the city doesn’t bother to maintain records on the race and income of those it casts into purgatory. The water department is deliberately blind to the shut-offs’ “disproportionate impact on low-income African Americans.”

Detroit, an 82 percent Black city, run for four decades by Black mayors and Black city councils, and presided over for the past year and a half by a Black state-appointed emergency financial manager, may well be in violation of the United Nations Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, “which explicitly prohibits and calls for the elimination of racial discrimination in relation to several human rights directly affected by water disconnections, including the right to housing and the right to public health,” wrote Albuquerque and Farha.

Richard Johnson El-Bey, ready to address issues of indigenous people, and Michelle McCray, a homeless shelter occupant, at mike to explain their problems to rapporteurs. McCray said those in homeless shelters have been deprived of water and sanitation, including toilet facilities, for years.

The poor are not asking for a free ride, said Albuquerque. “In the three days we were here, nobody asked us for free water. People want to pay their bills within their possibilities…they want affordable and fair bills.” However, the water department is determined to solve its financial problems – and change the city’s demographics – by ejecting the poor from the grid. Albuquerque was compelled to remind Detroit that the city’s bankruptcy drama “doesn’t exempt it from human rights obligations.”

“We have decided to foreclose on everything.”

High water bills and cascading shut-offs have added to the flood of forced evictions. “Our conclusion is that you have here in Detroit a man-made perfect storm,” said the UN officials.

Occupy Detroit and Moratorium NOW at site of pending foreclosure in Detroit.

More precisely, a corporate-made vortex of ethnic and class cleansing, to make way for a new, gentrified city. Just as the water shut-offs are “unprecedented,” so too is the pace of county home foreclosures, which have now targeted one of every five properties in Detroit. Wayne County is notifying 70,000 Detroit households that they have been caught up in the foreclosure frenzy. “We have decided to foreclose on everything,” said Wayne County chief deputy treasurer David Szymanski. He claims the foreclosure proceedings are for the occupants’ own good, since they might then be eligible for federal housing aid.

It is obvious that the water disconnections and housing foreclosures are coordinated prongs of a hyper-aggressive gentrification pincer movement. While emergency manager Kevyn Orr completes the financial restructuring of the city under bankruptcy proceedings, the bureaucracy clears the land of unwanted populations.

Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans housing and public sector including schools; man made storm is Detroit is having same effects.

Back in September, the mayor and city council could have peremptorily dismissed Orr, whose term of authority under the emergency manager law had expired. Instead, they kept him on, so that he can complete the corporate handover of the city in bankruptcy court. The city council reclaimed its powers to award contracts and Mayor Mike Duggan, the first white person to occupy that office since 1974, took responsibility for the day-to-day duties of pushing out the poor.

“You have here in Detroit a man-made perfect storm.”

Mayor Duggan resents the two young UN rapporteurs’ interference with Detroit’s race and class makeover project. Aid Alexis Wiley claims the city is in possession of facts that were not taken into account. “It’s disappointing but it’s kind of scary that you can have such a heavy name of the United Nations — that is such a responsibility — and to not live up to that responsibility, to come really without an interest in information,” said Wiley. “No one’s saying we’re perfect. But if you want to work together, let’s work together and make sure policy is built on facts. It’s not built on an agenda.”

Pres. Obama with Robert Wolf of UBS, a leading Obama campaign fundraiser. UBS is responsible for illegal $1.5 billion debt city incurred in 2005-06.

Certainly, not on a human rights agenda. One wouldn’t want that, would one?. After all, Detroit still has big dreams – it’s just that poor Black people have no place in the plan.

Albuquerque and Farha recommended “that the Federal Government immediately undertake an investigation into the water shut-offs to determine if they are having a disproportionate impact on African Americans and other groups protected against discrimination” – an idea that will be flushed into the nearest Oval Office toilet. The Obama administration is a full partner in transforming Detroit into the model for urban “renaissance” across the country, having signed off on the city’s financial restructuring and acquiesced in the effective disenfranchisement of Detroit – and half of all Black voters in Michigan – under the emergency manager regime.

The Great Black Urban Dispersal is set to accelerate.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

Source URL: http://blackagendareport.com/node/14482