Voter Rights, Ballot Initiatives, and People's Court in Detroitistan

While serving on the Detroit Public Schools Board of Educaton, representing District 2, Southwest Detroit, I am also actively participating on a ballot iniative to repeal Public Act 4, Emergency Manager legislation. This legislation currently only effects Black communities, which by definition effect Latino communities because we are neighbors in every single instance where this occurs. Benton Harbor, Pontiac, Flint, Detroit and more to come, are under siege via this legislation that removes our rights to govern ourselves.
Rachel Maddow, the public commentator did a very descriptive piece on this with regard to Michigan's Emergency Manager law and how it effects Benton Harbor, a little community on Lake Michigan. Detroit Schools are under Emergency Manager, but we are not part of the city. The mayor of Detroit, Dave Bing, recently requested that Detroit get put under and EM and asked if he could be it. This would mean that the city of Detroit would no longer need to pay into its own employees' pension funds, would be free to terminate collective bargaining agreements with all its unions, and privatize the bus system, the water, the lighting, and all other Detroit held properties.
This may cause the people of Detroit to revolt. Many people who live here live on their pensions. Teachers, public employees and the hundreds, if not thousands of others who can not move out because they cannot sell their homes would lose them if they could not keep up their taxes and utilities, which are higher than any other part of the state of Michigan.
Meanwhile, Wayne County, where Detroit lives, is riddled with corruption and theft. Every day we learn of millions of dollars meant for poor people, for economic initiatives, for job creation going into the pockets of the county's lucky contractors and political aappointees of Robert Ficano, the Wayne County Execuitive. This looters' paradise has no oversight and deals with millions of dollars in tax payer money. People in Detroit expect so little from our government or elected and especially appointed officials that there is little outrage.
There is no talk of putting Wayne County under Emergency Management.
Our school system in Detroit has been kidnapped, robbed and raped by state government and private contractors. Now there is a move to make a separate and unequal district for "failing schools" with completely private and secret oversight. Public money goes into private troughs for the lucky few. Goverment works like charter schools here; cream the jewels off the top and let the public pay for whatever is left.
The good news is that there are many people; thousands of people here who love Detroit. People who simultaneously grieve and fight the corrupt privatization of all things public.
There are young people documenting everything that goes on; art projects, literacy projects, investigative work, and organizing going on all over the city.
The candles are being lit in the darkness that fell over Detroit when DTE cuts off energy to poor people; we hope for the young people who do energy efficient projects to come in to Highland Park. If we start our own court, maybe we can get the thieves to just give our money back and get them to teach literacry, some alternative lifestyle to the greed that has overtaken the human spirit. We do not need anyone else going to prison; that is just another money making machine for the contractors.
Transformation is evident every day here.
When there is nothing left to loot, these looters will leave us alone.
Any day now...

The Guilt Project: Can I Get a Witness?

 Innocence Projects are a very important development in the human rights arena. Many people are sitting in prison who have been wrongly convicted. Their incarceration destroys lives and serves no purpose, except to the profiteers of the prison industry. But there are also those who commit crimes with impunity, whose crimes create hardship and destroy lives of innocent people. Taking money meant for health care for the poor and enriching oneself is a crime against humanity. Taking money meant to create jobs in a desperate economy and diverting or wasting it to enrich some while cheating the poor is a special kind of crime and should be treated as such.
The news this week from Detroit - or for the past month- is strange and entertaining. It is also infuriating. If crime and punishment were treated in relative terms, no one in Detroit would have to go to prison. Our former mayor is awaiting trial on a series of charges arising from his time spent in office. The youngest mayor in our history, Kwame Kilpatrick committed a series of crimes in office which involve misuse of the city's precious resources. It does seem as if he is the whore who acted without any Johns. Some of his cronies are facing prison and others are already in prison.
Now fast forward:
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano is now associated with countless no bid contracts, amounting to millions of dollars of tax payer money.   Shell corporations, non profits set up to divert money meant for health care for poor people, development projects... we will never know where it went, who took it and where it came from and where it was supposed to go.
We do know this: We trusted elected officials with stewardship of our precious tax dollars. In return, they gave their cronies contracts, gave them special tax credits for properties on which they pay no taxes while the rest of us pick up the tab in the form of our uneven and inequitable  property taxes While rank and file county workers took a 20% pay cut, home foreclosure is up exponentially,. the land bank Ficano oversees scoops up property for pennies on the dollar. People are going without health care and losing their homes as a direct consequence of this unbridled greed. .Ficano can fire people he says let him down; no one is talking about him going to prison.He will likely be able to run for re election.
What is the difference between the millions looted out of county government and the city corruption and the incredible difference in how such crimes are treated?
You do the math.
Don't forget your crayons.