2012-08-31 "GOP Platform Declares Medicaid Unconstitutional" by Ian Millhiser from "Think Progress"
[http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/31/778371/gop-platform-declares-medicaid-unconstitutional/]:
Almost
immediately after President Obama took office, many Republican
politicians seized upon a distorted vision of the Constitution’s Tenth
Amendment that would leave America nearly incapable of governing itself.
Indeed, top Republicans — including U.S. Senators, governors and
members of Congress — have claimed that everything from Social Security
to Medicare to federal disaster relief to national child labor laws all
violate the Constitution [http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2011/09/pdf/tea_party_constitution.pdf]. A similarly erroneous vision of the Constitution has now infected the GOP’s party platform:
[begin excerpt]
We
support the review and examination of all federal agencies to eliminate
wasteful spending, operational inefficiencies, or abuse of power to
determine whether they are performing functions that are better
performed by the States. These functions, as appropriate, should be
returned to the States in accordance with the Tenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution. We affirm that all legislation, rules, and
regulations must conform and public servants must adhere to the U.S.
Constitution, as originally intended by the Framers. . . . Scores
of entrenched federal programs violate the constitutional mandates of
federalism by taking money from the States, laundering it through
various federal agencies, only to return to the States shrunken grants
with mandates attached. We propose wherever feasible to leave resources where they originate: in the homes and neighborhoods of the taxpayers.
[end excerpt]
The
GOP platform closely echoes a brief filed by GOP mega attorney Paul
Clement on behalf of several Republican elected officials challenging
the Affordable Care Act in the Supreme Court [http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/23/450960/scotus-preview-part-iv-the-big-scary/].
According to Clement, because federal revenues are “composed of tax
dollars collected from the States’ own residents,” it somehow follows
that state governments have a claim on federal revenue. The GOP platform
suggests that this claim is so strong that any federal program which
grants money to the states is unconstitutional if it also requires the
states to comply with certain rules in order to receive that money.
There
are many federal programs which fit this description, but the biggest
one is Medicaid. Medicaid offers funding to the states to provide health
services to the poor. States are free to take this money or to leave
it, but they must agree to follow certain rules before they can take the
money. In other words, Medicaid is exactly the same kind of grant “with
mandates attached” that the GOP finds constitutionally objectionable.
Medicaid
also covers more than 62 million Americans, all of whom would lose
their health coverage if the GOP’s apparent vision of the Constitution
were to prevail.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Anti-Fascism: 2012-08-31 "New York Bakery Workers Fight Closure, Occupy Store"
by Mark Brenner & Theresa Moran from "Labor Notes" [http://labornotes.org/blogs/2012/08/deli-workers-fight-closure-occupy-store]:
Workers occupied a Manhattan bakery after owners announced they were closing the store and opening up in a new location.
Workers at the New York City bakery Hot and Crusty got a jump start on Labor Day this year, storming one of the chain’s Manhattan locations this afternoon—and refusing to leave.
The occupation came 11 days after owners announced they were closing the 63rd Street store. Workers condemned the closure as retaliation for union organizing.
On May 23 a majority of the workers voted to form an independent union, the Hot and Crusty Workers Association.
The mostly immigrant workforce was joined by dozens of activists from Occupy Wall Street and the recently formed Laundry Workers Center, occupying the Upper East Side store for two hours before police ejected the occupiers.
Five protesters were arrested for refusing to leave the store.
During negotiations yesterday the company told the union it was reopening in a nearby location, and promised to rehire the workers and negotiate in good faith, according to Laundry Workers Center organizer Virgilio Aran.
But the company flagged that workers would all be required to document their immigration status, a move Aran described as blatant intimidation. “They’re trying to use immigration as a tactic to scare people,” he said.
The late-May union vote came on the heels of a five month campaign to address years of wage theft, sexual harassment, and abuse.
A Hot and Crusty worker who works at a different location in the small chain reported similar conditions, noting that he was never paid overtime until filing a complaint with the Department of Labor. The worker, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, also said that Hot and Crusty owners are trying to stop the union from growing.
“They told us if we organized they’d fire all the people who work here,” he said.
Supporters have demanded that the store maintain the workforce and honor the union in its new location.
Workers occupied a Manhattan bakery after owners announced they were closing the store and opening up in a new location.
Workers at the New York City bakery Hot and Crusty got a jump start on Labor Day this year, storming one of the chain’s Manhattan locations this afternoon—and refusing to leave.
The occupation came 11 days after owners announced they were closing the 63rd Street store. Workers condemned the closure as retaliation for union organizing.
On May 23 a majority of the workers voted to form an independent union, the Hot and Crusty Workers Association.
The mostly immigrant workforce was joined by dozens of activists from Occupy Wall Street and the recently formed Laundry Workers Center, occupying the Upper East Side store for two hours before police ejected the occupiers.
Five protesters were arrested for refusing to leave the store.
During negotiations yesterday the company told the union it was reopening in a nearby location, and promised to rehire the workers and negotiate in good faith, according to Laundry Workers Center organizer Virgilio Aran.
But the company flagged that workers would all be required to document their immigration status, a move Aran described as blatant intimidation. “They’re trying to use immigration as a tactic to scare people,” he said.
The late-May union vote came on the heels of a five month campaign to address years of wage theft, sexual harassment, and abuse.
A Hot and Crusty worker who works at a different location in the small chain reported similar conditions, noting that he was never paid overtime until filing a complaint with the Department of Labor. The worker, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, also said that Hot and Crusty owners are trying to stop the union from growing.
“They told us if we organized they’d fire all the people who work here,” he said.
Supporters have demanded that the store maintain the workforce and honor the union in its new location.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
2012-08-30 "Facing Grand Jury Intimidation: Fear, Silence and Solidarity"
by Natasha Lennard from "Truthout":
[http://truth-out.org/news/item/11181-facing-grand-jury-intimidation-fear-silence-and-solidarity]:
We've seen some pretty bold anti-authoritarian actions across the country in the last month. Police vehicles were vandalized in San Francisco, Oakland, Illinois and Milwaukee. Anarchist redecorators visited courthouses, police substations, sports car dealerships and more. Banners dropped in New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, Seattle and elsewhere echoed their graffitied sentiments: "Fuck Grand Juries"; "Solidarity with Northwest Anarchists." Boldest of all, however (and the inspiration underpinning this spate), has been the action from a small group of anarchists in the Pacific Northwest: silence.
Two Portland-based activists, Leah-Lynn Plante and Dennison Williams, publicly announced late last month that they had been subpoenaed to appear in front of a federal grand jury in Seattle and that they would refuse to cooperate. During a grand jury hearing on August 2, Plante did just this - offering her name and birthdate only - and has been summoned to return for another hearing on August 30, where she again intends to say nothing. Meanwhile, it is believed a handful of other activists are fighting to quash subpoenas served to them with the shared intention of noncooperation.
Grand juries are among the blackest boxes in the federal judiciary system. Given their highly secretive nature, few people within - or outside - activist circles know what it means to be called to a grand jury and what it takes to resist.
"Our passion for freedom is stronger than their state prisons," Williams announced in a statement on behalf of himself and Plante about their intention to resist the grand jury, referencing the fact that by merely staying silent, the two could face considerable jail time, despite facing no criminal charges.
The Seattle grand jury subpoenas were served in late July, when the FBI and a Joint Terrorist Task Force conducted a series of raids on activist homes and squats in Portland, Olympia and Seattle with warrants seeking out computers, phones, black clothing and "anarchist literature." The FBI has stated only that the grand jury pertains to "violent crime," but it is believed to relate to property damage in Seattle during this year's May Day protests. The relatively small scale of the property destruction - a handful of spraypainted cars, slashed tires and smashed windows at a downtown Starbucks, Niketown, Wells Fargo and American Apparel store - in comparison to the cost of the police and FBI investigations points to the likelihood that the raids and grand juries have been widely dubbed a witch hunt, understood by commentators and activists alike as an attempt to intimidate, deter and undermine anarchists in the Northwest and beyond.
Will Potter, author of "Green is the New Red," who has long covered the state persecution of environmental activists and anarchists, noted in a recent interview with The Dissenter, "I think what's most indicative of what's going on though is that specific call for agents to seize 'anarchist literature' as some kind of evidence of potential illegal activity." He added that the convening of a grand jury is "especially troubling because grand juries have been used historically against social movements as tools of fishing expeditions, and they're used to seek out information about people's politics and their political associations." [http://truth-out.org/http:/dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/07/31/interview-greenisthenewred-coms-will-potter-on-fbi-raids-grand-juries-political-repression/]
Ironically, however, the purported purpose of a federal grand jury is to act as "a safeguard to the accused from the improper motivations of government"- to protect the accused from prosecutorial overreach [http://peopleslawoffice.com/improper-use-of-federal-grand-jury-michael-deutsch-political-repression/]. A jury of between 16 and 23 civilians hears evidence from a given investigation brought by a prosecutor (the US attorney) in the form of documents, recordings and witnesses, and decides whether there are grounds to move forward with an indictment. However, the grand jury process has been long and regularly used as a form of political repression. According to Heidi Boghosian, director of the National Lawyers Guild (the NLG is a group with a long history of advising grand jury resisters), "abuse of grand juries includes attempts to gather intelligence or information otherwise not easily obtained by the FBI." As such, the grand jury process has been used to probe and intimidate activist groups of various stripes, from the Puerto Rican Independence Movement last century, to black liberationists, environmentalists and anarchists.
For the grand jury resisters themselves, the time during which a grand jury sits (typically 18 months) is a harrowing one. As the NLG's Boghosian explained: "If someone receives a grand jury subpoena and decides not to cooperate, that person may be held in civil contempt. There is a chance that the individual may be jailed or imprisoned for the length of the grand jury in an effort to coerce the person to cooperate."
"It's actually lawful for the prosecution to hold an individual in order to coerce cooperation, but unlawful to hold the person as a form of punishment," said Boghosian. "In addition to facing civil contempt, in some instances a non-cooperator may face criminal contempt charges."
For example, in 2009, Utah-based animal rights activist Jordan Halliday spent jail time for civil contempt and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for criminal contempt for his effusive noncooperation with a grand jury. And many resisters who were not jailed nonetheless recount traumatic experiences.
"I thought I was doomed. I had nightmares, night sweats, turned heavily to drinking and drugs," said a 23-year-old anarchist who refused to cooperate with a grand jury in 2009 in New York, which reportedly convened in regard to the placement of an incendiary device in a metropolitan area believed to be connected to anti-war activism. The young man, who requested to remain anonymous, remembers feeling "helpless," believing that at any point, he could be put in jail for his political silence.
However, he equally recalls the comfort he felt in learning that support committees - people he did not even know - were forming and organizing solidarity actions for him. "People having each other's back - it's one thing we do have," he said.
And indeed, statements and acts of solidarity with the Northwest resisters have been numerous and widespread. "Part of the purpose of grand juries seems to be to isolate people from a network of support, the support that puts them in a stronger place to resist," said Kristian Williams, a member of the Committee Against Political Repression [http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/], which formed in support of the grand jury resisters.
"Solidarity actions and support also communicate to the state that people are paying attention to how the situation is being handled. Knowing that there is public opposition - not just a small group of friends outside a courtroom, but people all around the country - hopefully raises the political cost for the US attorney to continue this repression," he added. Hundreds of people have already put in calls to the US attorney to express opposition to the treatment of Northwest anarchists, while over 350 organizations have signed on to a petition of opposition put out by the Committee Against Political Repression. Meanwhile, as mentioned above, banner drops, graffiti and other acts have been dedicated to the grand jury resisters in the past month. A national day of action has been called for August 30 to coincide with Plante's second hearing.
For the New York-based resister, his act of political silence not only affirmed certain ideas about solidarity, but served as striking proof of personal resolve: "In a strange way, you show yourself something important when you resist a grand jury. The things you say, the things you believe, you find yourself actually acting upon them, even though you know it could cost you a chunk of your life."
"It has a very powerful effect on yourself," he said.
It is a sentiment seemingly understood by the anarchists in the Northwest as they begin their grand jury resistance ordeals. While inviting solidarity and support in their public statement, Plante and Dennison added, "You can show your solidarity by refusing to co-operate with any police force and encouraging your friends and families to do the same."
[http://truth-out.org/news/item/11181-facing-grand-jury-intimidation-fear-silence-and-solidarity]:
We've seen some pretty bold anti-authoritarian actions across the country in the last month. Police vehicles were vandalized in San Francisco, Oakland, Illinois and Milwaukee. Anarchist redecorators visited courthouses, police substations, sports car dealerships and more. Banners dropped in New York, Atlanta, Vancouver, Seattle and elsewhere echoed their graffitied sentiments: "Fuck Grand Juries"; "Solidarity with Northwest Anarchists." Boldest of all, however (and the inspiration underpinning this spate), has been the action from a small group of anarchists in the Pacific Northwest: silence.
Two Portland-based activists, Leah-Lynn Plante and Dennison Williams, publicly announced late last month that they had been subpoenaed to appear in front of a federal grand jury in Seattle and that they would refuse to cooperate. During a grand jury hearing on August 2, Plante did just this - offering her name and birthdate only - and has been summoned to return for another hearing on August 30, where she again intends to say nothing. Meanwhile, it is believed a handful of other activists are fighting to quash subpoenas served to them with the shared intention of noncooperation.
Grand juries are among the blackest boxes in the federal judiciary system. Given their highly secretive nature, few people within - or outside - activist circles know what it means to be called to a grand jury and what it takes to resist.
"Our passion for freedom is stronger than their state prisons," Williams announced in a statement on behalf of himself and Plante about their intention to resist the grand jury, referencing the fact that by merely staying silent, the two could face considerable jail time, despite facing no criminal charges.
The Seattle grand jury subpoenas were served in late July, when the FBI and a Joint Terrorist Task Force conducted a series of raids on activist homes and squats in Portland, Olympia and Seattle with warrants seeking out computers, phones, black clothing and "anarchist literature." The FBI has stated only that the grand jury pertains to "violent crime," but it is believed to relate to property damage in Seattle during this year's May Day protests. The relatively small scale of the property destruction - a handful of spraypainted cars, slashed tires and smashed windows at a downtown Starbucks, Niketown, Wells Fargo and American Apparel store - in comparison to the cost of the police and FBI investigations points to the likelihood that the raids and grand juries have been widely dubbed a witch hunt, understood by commentators and activists alike as an attempt to intimidate, deter and undermine anarchists in the Northwest and beyond.
Will Potter, author of "Green is the New Red," who has long covered the state persecution of environmental activists and anarchists, noted in a recent interview with The Dissenter, "I think what's most indicative of what's going on though is that specific call for agents to seize 'anarchist literature' as some kind of evidence of potential illegal activity." He added that the convening of a grand jury is "especially troubling because grand juries have been used historically against social movements as tools of fishing expeditions, and they're used to seek out information about people's politics and their political associations." [http://truth-out.org/http:/dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/07/31/interview-greenisthenewred-coms-will-potter-on-fbi-raids-grand-juries-political-repression/]
Ironically, however, the purported purpose of a federal grand jury is to act as "a safeguard to the accused from the improper motivations of government"- to protect the accused from prosecutorial overreach [http://peopleslawoffice.com/improper-use-of-federal-grand-jury-michael-deutsch-political-repression/]. A jury of between 16 and 23 civilians hears evidence from a given investigation brought by a prosecutor (the US attorney) in the form of documents, recordings and witnesses, and decides whether there are grounds to move forward with an indictment. However, the grand jury process has been long and regularly used as a form of political repression. According to Heidi Boghosian, director of the National Lawyers Guild (the NLG is a group with a long history of advising grand jury resisters), "abuse of grand juries includes attempts to gather intelligence or information otherwise not easily obtained by the FBI." As such, the grand jury process has been used to probe and intimidate activist groups of various stripes, from the Puerto Rican Independence Movement last century, to black liberationists, environmentalists and anarchists.
For the grand jury resisters themselves, the time during which a grand jury sits (typically 18 months) is a harrowing one. As the NLG's Boghosian explained: "If someone receives a grand jury subpoena and decides not to cooperate, that person may be held in civil contempt. There is a chance that the individual may be jailed or imprisoned for the length of the grand jury in an effort to coerce the person to cooperate."
"It's actually lawful for the prosecution to hold an individual in order to coerce cooperation, but unlawful to hold the person as a form of punishment," said Boghosian. "In addition to facing civil contempt, in some instances a non-cooperator may face criminal contempt charges."
For example, in 2009, Utah-based animal rights activist Jordan Halliday spent jail time for civil contempt and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for criminal contempt for his effusive noncooperation with a grand jury. And many resisters who were not jailed nonetheless recount traumatic experiences.
"I thought I was doomed. I had nightmares, night sweats, turned heavily to drinking and drugs," said a 23-year-old anarchist who refused to cooperate with a grand jury in 2009 in New York, which reportedly convened in regard to the placement of an incendiary device in a metropolitan area believed to be connected to anti-war activism. The young man, who requested to remain anonymous, remembers feeling "helpless," believing that at any point, he could be put in jail for his political silence.
However, he equally recalls the comfort he felt in learning that support committees - people he did not even know - were forming and organizing solidarity actions for him. "People having each other's back - it's one thing we do have," he said.
And indeed, statements and acts of solidarity with the Northwest resisters have been numerous and widespread. "Part of the purpose of grand juries seems to be to isolate people from a network of support, the support that puts them in a stronger place to resist," said Kristian Williams, a member of the Committee Against Political Repression [http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/], which formed in support of the grand jury resisters.
"Solidarity actions and support also communicate to the state that people are paying attention to how the situation is being handled. Knowing that there is public opposition - not just a small group of friends outside a courtroom, but people all around the country - hopefully raises the political cost for the US attorney to continue this repression," he added. Hundreds of people have already put in calls to the US attorney to express opposition to the treatment of Northwest anarchists, while over 350 organizations have signed on to a petition of opposition put out by the Committee Against Political Repression. Meanwhile, as mentioned above, banner drops, graffiti and other acts have been dedicated to the grand jury resisters in the past month. A national day of action has been called for August 30 to coincide with Plante's second hearing.
For the New York-based resister, his act of political silence not only affirmed certain ideas about solidarity, but served as striking proof of personal resolve: "In a strange way, you show yourself something important when you resist a grand jury. The things you say, the things you believe, you find yourself actually acting upon them, even though you know it could cost you a chunk of your life."
"It has a very powerful effect on yourself," he said.
It is a sentiment seemingly understood by the anarchists in the Northwest as they begin their grand jury resistance ordeals. While inviting solidarity and support in their public statement, Plante and Dennison added, "You can show your solidarity by refusing to co-operate with any police force and encouraging your friends and families to do the same."
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Republican Party is the vanguard for Christian-Dominionist White-American Nationalists (and anyone else be Damned)
2012-08-29 "As Republican convention emphasizes diversity, racial incidents intrude" by Rosalind S. Helderman and Jon Cohen from "Washington Post" daily newspaper
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-republican-convention-emphasizes-diversity-racial-incidents-intrude/2012/08/29/b9023a52-f1ec-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html]:
TAMPA — From the convention stage here, the Republican Party has tried to highlight its diversity, giving prime speaking slots to Latinos and blacks who have emphasized their party’s economic appeal to all Americans.
But they have delivered those speeches to a convention hall filled overwhelmingly with white faces, an awkward contrast that has been made more uncomfortable this week by a series of racial headaches that have intruded on the party’s efforts to project a new level of inclusiveness.
The tensions come amid a debate within the GOP on how best to lure new voters. The nation’s shifting demographics have caused some Republican leaders to worry not only about the party’s future but about winning in November, particularly in key swing states such as Virginia and Nevada.
“The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”
On Tuesday, convention organizers ejected two attendees after they reportedly threw peanuts at a black CNN camerawoman and told her, “This is how we feed animals.” Organizers called the conduct “inexcusable and unacceptable.”
That followed an on-air shouting match between MSNBC host Chris Matthews and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus over whether presidential nominee Mitt Romney was injecting race into the campaign by joking about President Obama’s birth certificate and attacking his record on welfare reform.
“There’s no doubt he did,” Matthews declared.
“Garbage,” Priebus retorted.
And on Wednesday, Yahoo News fired Washington bureau chief David Chalian after a live microphone caught him telling a colleague, before an online event, that Romney and his wife, Ann, were “happy to have a party with black people drowning,” a reference to the RNC’s decision to go ahead with the convention while Hurricane Isaac lashed New Orleans. Chalian later apologized.
By early Wednesday, the conservative Drudge Report featured a block of headlines devoted to issues of race at the convention, most of them critical of liberal news outlets that didn’t air speeches by the GOP’s diverse lineup.
Not all of the race talk has been of the party’s own making. Many Republicans argue that Democrats’ obsession with the issue has forced it to the forefront. They say Democrats have used overtly racial appeals to fire up their base, citing Vice President Biden’s recent charge at a Virginia campaign event attended by hundreds of black voters that the GOP’s approach to financial regulation would“put y’all back in chains.”
Still, the discussions of race this week have highlighted the Republican Party’s continued difficulty in attracting non-white supporters.
Exit polls from 2008 showed that 90 percent of GOP voters were white, a homogeneity that has been consistent for more than 30 years, even as the percentage of the electorate that is white has fallen.
Nonwhite voters favored Obama over Romney by better than three to one in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll from early August; 74 percent of Latino voters and 90 percent of African Americans backed Obama.
And despite a speaker lineup in Tampa that includes Artur Davis, a black former Democratic congressman; former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; and Utah congressional candidate Mia Love, who would be the party’s first black congresswoman if she won in November, just 2 percent of convention delegates are black.
That’s according to an analysis by David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Bositis also said that only two members of the 165-member RNC are black and that none of the leaders of the committees responsible for drafting the GOP platform and adopting the convention rules are black.
“This Republican Party base is white, aging and dying off,” he said.
Many Republicans, however, worry about making overt racial appeals to minorities.
“Amongst politicians, amongst people who cover politics, there’s an overwhelming tendency to silo voters,” said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a breakfast hosted by The Post and Bloomberg News. “As Republicans, we take on a huge risk if we try to appeal to voters . . . within a mind-set of silos instead of making direct appeals on the issues that they’re actually talking about in their household — not necessarily in their category, but in their household.”
A new Post poll put the difference between the two parties’ perception of minority voters on stark display. Respondents were asked an open-ended question: Why do most black voters so consistently support Democrats?
Though “don’t know” was the top answer for members of both parties, a close second among Republicans was that black voters are dependent on government or seeking a government handout. Democrats more often said that their party addresses issues of poverty.
In Tampa, Republicans have devoted significant time to brainstorming how to expand the party’s appeal to Latinos. At various forums and lectures, they have debated whether the GOP should change its tone in discussing illegal immigration, appeal more directly to religious Latinos on social issues or make a more explicit argument that Republicans can help boost the economic prospects of Latino communities.
“We as a party have got to get it,” said Mel Martinez, a former senator from Florida and a former RNC chairman, speaking at a Tuesday event sponsored by Univision and the National Journal. “We’ve got to get smart about this. We could be relegated to a minority party. . . . We’ve got to find a way to make that connection.”
There has been less discussion of new ways to reach out to black voters, in part out of a recognition that the first African American president has a special relationship with African American voters.
Davis, who in 2008 helped nominate Obama at the Democratic National Convention but became disenchanted with the president’s handling of the economy, said that to reach black voters, Republicans must expand their message beyond limiting government.
“It’s not just enough to go into the black community and say, ‘We want to keep government from taking over your life.’ That doesn’t resonate in a whole lot of the black community, who have come to see government as a salvation and as economic leveler,” he said. “It’s going to take being willing to define conservatism as not just a defense of economic liberty but as a broader way of constructing a society that can promote social mobility.”
Romney adviser Tara Wall said, “We know that a majority of black Americans will vote for President Obama,” but “that doesn’t mean Democrats or President Obama own the black vote or can take every black vote for granted.”
She said Romney’s policies on school choice, social issues and job creation appeal to black families.
“These are some common principles that we share and that we can engage on,” she said. “This is a long-term effort. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Raynard Jackson, a black GOP political consultant, wrote Tuesday on the RootDC Live blog that he is “embarrassed by the lack of diversity” at the convention and frustrated by his party’s empty promises.
“The Republican line is that the overwhelming majority of blacks will vote for Obama because he is African American,” Jackson wrote. “I find this thinking extremely insulting as a black Republican. The reason the majority of blacks will vote for Obama is because Republicans have not given African Americans a reason to vote for Republicans or Romney.”
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-republican-convention-emphasizes-diversity-racial-incidents-intrude/2012/08/29/b9023a52-f1ec-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html]:
TAMPA — From the convention stage here, the Republican Party has tried to highlight its diversity, giving prime speaking slots to Latinos and blacks who have emphasized their party’s economic appeal to all Americans.
But they have delivered those speeches to a convention hall filled overwhelmingly with white faces, an awkward contrast that has been made more uncomfortable this week by a series of racial headaches that have intruded on the party’s efforts to project a new level of inclusiveness.
The tensions come amid a debate within the GOP on how best to lure new voters. The nation’s shifting demographics have caused some Republican leaders to worry not only about the party’s future but about winning in November, particularly in key swing states such as Virginia and Nevada.
“The demographics race we’re losing badly,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.). “We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”
On Tuesday, convention organizers ejected two attendees after they reportedly threw peanuts at a black CNN camerawoman and told her, “This is how we feed animals.” Organizers called the conduct “inexcusable and unacceptable.”
That followed an on-air shouting match between MSNBC host Chris Matthews and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus over whether presidential nominee Mitt Romney was injecting race into the campaign by joking about President Obama’s birth certificate and attacking his record on welfare reform.
“There’s no doubt he did,” Matthews declared.
“Garbage,” Priebus retorted.
And on Wednesday, Yahoo News fired Washington bureau chief David Chalian after a live microphone caught him telling a colleague, before an online event, that Romney and his wife, Ann, were “happy to have a party with black people drowning,” a reference to the RNC’s decision to go ahead with the convention while Hurricane Isaac lashed New Orleans. Chalian later apologized.
By early Wednesday, the conservative Drudge Report featured a block of headlines devoted to issues of race at the convention, most of them critical of liberal news outlets that didn’t air speeches by the GOP’s diverse lineup.
Not all of the race talk has been of the party’s own making. Many Republicans argue that Democrats’ obsession with the issue has forced it to the forefront. They say Democrats have used overtly racial appeals to fire up their base, citing Vice President Biden’s recent charge at a Virginia campaign event attended by hundreds of black voters that the GOP’s approach to financial regulation would“put y’all back in chains.”
Still, the discussions of race this week have highlighted the Republican Party’s continued difficulty in attracting non-white supporters.
Exit polls from 2008 showed that 90 percent of GOP voters were white, a homogeneity that has been consistent for more than 30 years, even as the percentage of the electorate that is white has fallen.
Nonwhite voters favored Obama over Romney by better than three to one in a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll from early August; 74 percent of Latino voters and 90 percent of African Americans backed Obama.
And despite a speaker lineup in Tampa that includes Artur Davis, a black former Democratic congressman; former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; and Utah congressional candidate Mia Love, who would be the party’s first black congresswoman if she won in November, just 2 percent of convention delegates are black.
That’s according to an analysis by David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Bositis also said that only two members of the 165-member RNC are black and that none of the leaders of the committees responsible for drafting the GOP platform and adopting the convention rules are black.
“This Republican Party base is white, aging and dying off,” he said.
Many Republicans, however, worry about making overt racial appeals to minorities.
“Amongst politicians, amongst people who cover politics, there’s an overwhelming tendency to silo voters,” said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a breakfast hosted by The Post and Bloomberg News. “As Republicans, we take on a huge risk if we try to appeal to voters . . . within a mind-set of silos instead of making direct appeals on the issues that they’re actually talking about in their household — not necessarily in their category, but in their household.”
A new Post poll put the difference between the two parties’ perception of minority voters on stark display. Respondents were asked an open-ended question: Why do most black voters so consistently support Democrats?
Though “don’t know” was the top answer for members of both parties, a close second among Republicans was that black voters are dependent on government or seeking a government handout. Democrats more often said that their party addresses issues of poverty.
In Tampa, Republicans have devoted significant time to brainstorming how to expand the party’s appeal to Latinos. At various forums and lectures, they have debated whether the GOP should change its tone in discussing illegal immigration, appeal more directly to religious Latinos on social issues or make a more explicit argument that Republicans can help boost the economic prospects of Latino communities.
“We as a party have got to get it,” said Mel Martinez, a former senator from Florida and a former RNC chairman, speaking at a Tuesday event sponsored by Univision and the National Journal. “We’ve got to get smart about this. We could be relegated to a minority party. . . . We’ve got to find a way to make that connection.”
There has been less discussion of new ways to reach out to black voters, in part out of a recognition that the first African American president has a special relationship with African American voters.
Davis, who in 2008 helped nominate Obama at the Democratic National Convention but became disenchanted with the president’s handling of the economy, said that to reach black voters, Republicans must expand their message beyond limiting government.
“It’s not just enough to go into the black community and say, ‘We want to keep government from taking over your life.’ That doesn’t resonate in a whole lot of the black community, who have come to see government as a salvation and as economic leveler,” he said. “It’s going to take being willing to define conservatism as not just a defense of economic liberty but as a broader way of constructing a society that can promote social mobility.”
Romney adviser Tara Wall said, “We know that a majority of black Americans will vote for President Obama,” but “that doesn’t mean Democrats or President Obama own the black vote or can take every black vote for granted.”
She said Romney’s policies on school choice, social issues and job creation appeal to black families.
“These are some common principles that we share and that we can engage on,” she said. “This is a long-term effort. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Raynard Jackson, a black GOP political consultant, wrote Tuesday on the RootDC Live blog that he is “embarrassed by the lack of diversity” at the convention and frustrated by his party’s empty promises.
“The Republican line is that the overwhelming majority of blacks will vote for Obama because he is African American,” Jackson wrote. “I find this thinking extremely insulting as a black Republican. The reason the majority of blacks will vote for Obama is because Republicans have not given African Americans a reason to vote for Republicans or Romney.”
2012-08-28 "Romney Camp: We’ll Continue Lying, Because It’s Working"
by Jeff Fecke [http://www.care2.com/causes/romney-camp-well-continue-lying-because-its-working.html]:
The campaign of Mitt Romney said bluntly Tuesday that they were going to continue running untruthful ads about President Barack Obama, because the ads are working.
Despite universal agreement among independent fact-checkers that Romney is lying about Obama’s welfare policy, Romney campaign pollster Neil Newhouse said that wouldn’t deter the campaign.
“Fact checkers come to this with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs, and we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers,” Newhouse told BuzzFeed [http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-camp-bets-welfare-attack].
Romney strategist Ashley O’Connor agreed, telling ABC News that the ad was “new information.”
The “new information” in the ad is that Obama plans to eliminate work requirements added to welfare in the 1996 reform law signed by President Bill Clinton. This information is new to voters because it is flatly untrue; the Obama administration is simply not doing what the Romney campaign claims they are doing [http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/08/22/159791065/despite-fact-checks-romney-escalates-welfare-work-requirement-charge].
The Obama administration has offered waivers that would allow states some flexibility in setting rules for welfare. These waivers were requested by both Democratic and Republican governors, who are looking for new ways to move people from welfare to work in a stagnant economy. Bob Haskins, who worked as a Republican staffer for welfare policy during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton administrations, told NPR flatly, “There’s no plausible scenario under which [Obama's policy] really constitutes a serious attack on welfare reform.”
Nevertheless, the Romney campaign has gone ahead with the ads, which claim that Obama has simply eliminated the work requirement for welfare.
The ads’ complete falsity and attack on welfare recipients has made it clear that the Romney campaign is seeking to use race as a wedge issue, in order to peel off enough white votes from Obama to win the election. With Romney cracking birther jokes and ripping the NAACP, it’s become pretty obvious that Romney is trying to stoke the fires of racial resentment in order to oust the country’s first African American president.
Romney is so intent on a racist campaign that he’s willing to flat-out lie to do so. Will it work? That’s up to the American people to decide.
The campaign of Mitt Romney said bluntly Tuesday that they were going to continue running untruthful ads about President Barack Obama, because the ads are working.
Despite universal agreement among independent fact-checkers that Romney is lying about Obama’s welfare policy, Romney campaign pollster Neil Newhouse said that wouldn’t deter the campaign.
“Fact checkers come to this with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs, and we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers,” Newhouse told BuzzFeed [http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-camp-bets-welfare-attack].
Romney strategist Ashley O’Connor agreed, telling ABC News that the ad was “new information.”
The “new information” in the ad is that Obama plans to eliminate work requirements added to welfare in the 1996 reform law signed by President Bill Clinton. This information is new to voters because it is flatly untrue; the Obama administration is simply not doing what the Romney campaign claims they are doing [http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/08/22/159791065/despite-fact-checks-romney-escalates-welfare-work-requirement-charge].
The Obama administration has offered waivers that would allow states some flexibility in setting rules for welfare. These waivers were requested by both Democratic and Republican governors, who are looking for new ways to move people from welfare to work in a stagnant economy. Bob Haskins, who worked as a Republican staffer for welfare policy during the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton administrations, told NPR flatly, “There’s no plausible scenario under which [Obama's policy] really constitutes a serious attack on welfare reform.”
Nevertheless, the Romney campaign has gone ahead with the ads, which claim that Obama has simply eliminated the work requirement for welfare.
The ads’ complete falsity and attack on welfare recipients has made it clear that the Romney campaign is seeking to use race as a wedge issue, in order to peel off enough white votes from Obama to win the election. With Romney cracking birther jokes and ripping the NAACP, it’s become pretty obvious that Romney is trying to stoke the fires of racial resentment in order to oust the country’s first African American president.
Romney is so intent on a racist campaign that he’s willing to flat-out lie to do so. Will it work? That’s up to the American people to decide.
2012-08-29 "Romneyville Occupiers" march to the RNC
Photograph from "Occupy Boston": Romneyville Occupiers march to the RNC photo courtesy James Brownse - glad some Americans are willing to but their feet on the street to say enough nonsense; Stop the War on the Poor
Anarchist-fueled paranoia in Tampa Bay, Florida
2012-08-28 "Peaceful anarchists?" by Jo Piazza from "Current TV"
[http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93883943_rnc-2012-explainer-peaceful-anarchists.htm]:
Protesters took to the streets of downtown Tampa on Monday afternoon in a loosely organized march called Occupy the RNC.
While following a city-mandated "parade route," the group simultaneously chanted against corporate greed, government malfeasance and the Republican National Convention generally.
Protesters ranged from as young as 14 to several men and women in their 80s.
It is worth noting that the approximately 1,800 police officers on the streets of downtown Tampa outnumbered the protesters by about a power of five, making the blocks around the Tampa Bay Times Forum look more like a police state than a convention hub.
Toward the end of the march, a splinter group, referring to themselves as anarchists, made their way to a side street where they regrouped and smoked rolled cigarettes near a row of portable bathrooms while accepting water from Salvation Army volunteers.
Much has been made of the anarchist protestors in Tampa.
A report surfaced days before the convention that anarchist groups had plans to wreak havoc in Tampa by blocking roads, shutting down transit systems and harassing police and pedestrians with eggs filled with acid and balloons full of urine and feces.
The bulletin also warned of a specific group of anarchists from New York City that had plans for blockading bridges.
They don't look that scary in person.
We couldn't help but wonder, what exactly is an anarchist and what are they doing at the Republican National Convention?
This group claimed they just want peace, and, in fact, when confronted by a scrum of counter-protestors — Christian right-wingers that spewed insults and hate speech at them — the anarchists stepped down.
"We will not engage with you," they said. With that, they walked away.
We asked two of them to explain exactly what they came out for in Tampa. Their ideas may not be as fully formed as many protesters' around the country and things may change as this week goes on, but the evidence on Monday showed that this group, at least, was fairly benign in their intentions for violence.
"Anarchism means a system without government. And a lot of people think a system without government would be complete chaos, but I think all governments have done for the world is poison, corrupt and enslave society. ... Our government is taking a giant crap on the Constitution every day," one masked and unnamed anarchist protestor explained above the din of wails from his comrades over the arrival of what they believed was Homeland Security, but was actually a routine drive-by of motorcycle police.
"I am hoping to accomplish peaceful protests like everyone else," he told us, before fleeing down the street.
2012-08-30 "Protests Fizzle During GOP Convention"ABC OTUS News [http://news.yahoo.com/protests-fizzle-during-gop-convention-211101677.html]:
The three dozen chanting anti-GOP protesters hit a lull of silence as they marched through a low-income neighborhood in west Tampa. "What are you guys doing? Taking a nap?" shouted one protester to his cohorts, exhorting them to yell. Another shouted, "You guys are reeeeaaal quiet now!"
Quiet is the right word for protests at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this week. They have been unexpectedly muted and even the protesters know it. Thousands of demonstrators had been expected but only hundreds arrived, mostly Green Party supporters, Occupy Wall Street activists, anarchists and union stalwarts.
Only two arrests have been linked to protests so far — one man for carrying a machete, the other for wearing a bandanna in violation of a city ordinance. That's compared to several hundred in St. Paul, Minn., four years ago. Her streets have been so tranquil that Police Chief Jane Castor canceled news conferences because there was no trouble to report.
Activists blame the threat of Hurricane Isaac, the overwhelming police presence, undercover law enforcement infiltration of their ranks and even the ghost-town nature of downtown during the convention week. Some activists worry they have no momentum built for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., next week, and then the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street next month.
"Unless you have the numbers out on the street, you really can't change anything," said Nick Sabatella, 25, an Occupy Wall Street activist from New Jersey.
The protesters were behind the eight ball even before the convention started. The threat of Hurricane Isaac stopped at least 16 busloads of activists from coming to town because bus operators didn't want their equipment and drivers headed into possible danger. Downpours on Monday put a damper on a kickoff march that drew only several hundred protesters, not the 5,000 marchers that had been anticipated. And rain continued off and on throughout the week.
"Nobody came down because of this weather," said Jeff Smith, a 38-year-old construction worker from New York, who is part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Smith also faulted the protest leaders and the tight security.
"They don't seem to be too organized down here," he said. "Probably because there are cops on every corner."
Groups of officers are stationed on almost every corner of downtown. They are riding around in packs on bicycles and are using helicopters for surveillance.
While many activists praised the police for their restraint and politeness, they said the number of officers on the streets was overkill.
"I'm really sad that every four years there is more of a militarization of the police at these conventions," said Cheri Honkala, the Green Party's vice presidential candidate. "It's a waste of taxpayers' dollars and it really scares me that someday there will be nobody left marching."
The police presence isn't just in uniform.
In "Romneyville," a tent village of protesters about a mile from the convention, the residents are well aware that undercover officers have infiltrated their ranks and that they tend to be among the more aggressive "activists."
"You know how if you go into Macy's around the holidays and somebody tries to shoplift something, and you then realize there are actually no shoppers, that they're all undercover police officers? That's the case here," Honkala said.
Without hard confirmation, they have let their suspected undercover officers stay.
"You can't get rid of people if you can't prove it on the spot," Honkala said.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said at a news conference Thursday that he had expected few arrests as the convention wraps up Thursday night.
"We have trained so hard and so long for this," Buckhorn said. "When this is said and done, this will be the benchmark that every city should strive for."
Castor said her strategy was to approach the protesters, ask what their goals are and then help them reach them. Often, protesters simply wanted to pose in an intersection for the media. She let them if they didn't intend violence. Officers even took leftover food to Romneyville.
"Everyone was to be treated with dignity and respect," Castor said.
The nature of downtown also made it harder for protesters to be heard. Few people live there and many businesses told their workers to stay away during the convention, leaving the streets nearly empty.
"We could protest until we're blue in the face but there weren't people normally around to see that," said Darrell Prince, a 35-year-old political fundraiser from New York who is part of Occupy Wall Street. "Whether it was intelligent design or they were just fortunate, it worked out for the RNC."
On Thursday, 16 protesters, watched by 35 officers, marched from Romneyville to Domino's Pizza to protest corporate-owned businesses. Despite the low numbers, protesters eked out some victories.
As Paul Ryan was in the midst of a speech accepting the vice presidential nomination on the convention floor, he was disrupted by a pink banner and a yelling protester from the feminist group Code Pink. She was escorted out as some in the crowd shouted "U-S-A, U-S-A."
Many Romneyville residents are relocating their impromptu community to Charlotte and the Democratic convention. They are hoping for bigger crowds and more energy, drawing on Occupy activists from cities along the Eastern seaboard.
"Who knows?" Sabattella said. "Maybe it can still happen."
2012-08-29 "Citizens Struggle in the Shadow of the RNC" by Ruth Conniff from "The Progressive"
[http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/29-5]:
Law enforcement officers block a downtown street during a protest on August 27, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. The demonstration was being held just before of the start of the Republican's nominating convention which will hold its first session on August 28. The convention was scheduled to start on August 27 but was pushed back one day as Tropical Storm Isaac threatens to hit the Tampa area. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Everywhere you look, there are flocks of police on bicycles, on horseback, jumping out of trucks in full body armor. Roads are blocked, and downtown Tampa is ringed with high fences, forcing anyone who strays outside the convention compound to walk extra miles to circumnavigate the heavily guarded RNC.
Even local library branches are closed.
"Oh my god, they walled off the county building!" Terrie Weeks, an environmental activist who works at a local law firm, said as she drove through town. "You can't believe how weird this is to a local."
Who is all this security keeping away?
"For weeks, the local news kept warning everyone about violent anarchists," said Mark Skogman, a radio reporter and multimedia specialist who is involved in local politics. "People on the local council were so terrified about these violent anarchists coming in, they were talking about leaving the area. I finally calmed them down."
Overkill is too mild a word to describe the contrast between the heavy security and the protests in Tampa, which have been peaceful, and somewhat muted by the weather.
There is a shantytown called Romneyville at a local park, which was the starting point for a 500-person march demanding an end to foreclosures. There was a beautiful melting ice sculpture in the park that formed the words "middle class."
A group called Progress Florida has a complete "progressive's guide to the RNC" on its website: [www.progressflorida.org].
Darden Rice, Progress Florida's executive director, moderated a panel discussion in St. Petersburg on Monday night titled, "Is This What Democracy Looks Like?"
In the shadow of the RNC, where helicopters buzzed overhead, local activists expressed their disillusionment with both political parties.
People feel powerless in a democracy hijacked by corporate interests and seemingly as inaccessible to ordinary citizens as the Tampa Bay Times Forum where the Republicans are ensconced.
Rice seconded a comment from one activist in attendance about feeling like "a grain of sand trying to fight against the ocean."
Despite the inspiring examples of the massive protests in Wisconsin and Occupy Wall Street, activists are not sure where to put their energy in this election year.
Panelist Arun Gupta, a progressive journalist and chronicler of the Occupy movement, spoke for many in the crowd when he talked about the disappointments of the Obama Administration--from continuing the war in Afghanistan, to pursuing policies of assassination and torture, to the coddling of Wall Street bankers and an inadequate rescue effort for the American middle class.
On the other end of the panel, Judithanne Scourfield-McLaughlin, a professor at the University of South Florida who worked for the Gore campaign in 2000, urged progressives to pour their efforts into getting out the vote for Obama.
Scourfield-McLaughlin warned that a Romney-Ryan administration would be a disaster. No one disagreed.
The key problem, she said, is that people who ought to vote for the Democrats don't vote--or, in 2000, that they voted for the Green Party.
Inadvertently illustrating the biggest problem with the Obama campaign, Scourfield-McLaughlin dismissed the failed effort to recall governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin as a distraction from the "real" election.
Talk about out of touch.
The President literally phoned in his support for the Walker recall effort. He deliberately avoided a grassroots fight on the core principles his party is supposed to represent. Yet now his campaign expects activists in Wisconsin to pour their hearts and souls into getting out the vote for him.
The fact that the Democrats are making the same argument they made in 2000--that the left must fall in line and vote for the lesser evil--even if it's true, as almost everyone in the room agreed--shows what a long way we've come from the excitement and optimism of 2008.
People all over the country are hurting. Yet there have been no criminal charges against the bankers who caused the financial crisis--let alone serious bank regulation. Cutting government spending, "entitlement reform," and reducing the deficit are talking points not just for Republicans, but for Obama, too.
No wonder people are discouraged.
But if national politics looks terribly alienating, local activists groups -- including Awake Pinellas, which sponsored the panel in St. Petersburg -- are doing serious, constructive work.
Awake Pinellas is part of a massive citizens' movement in Florida called Awake the State, which grew out of Wisconsin-like protests from Pensacola to Key West opposing Governor Rick Scott and the Republican legislature's program of deep cuts to education and health care.
St. Petersburg is one of a handful of cities where elected officials are now talking openly about raising taxes to protect citizens' quality of life.
Rice credits the local Awake coalition, which includes the SEIU, League of Women Voters, the NAACP and smaller, local groups.
Awake Pinellas launched something called the People's Budget Review to fight a program of austerity on the local level that was choking schools, libraries, and services for the poor.
"We had a lot of workshops on the budget, and packed the room at city council meetings with citizens calling for an alternative," Rice explains.
The result: The Republican mayor who is facing reelection is no longer talking about more budget cuts, and instead the council is debating between raising property taxes and imposing new fees. Cuts to services are off the table.
Packing those meetings gave council members "cover" to talk about how public investment is key to attracting business, how budget cuts hurt the area, and how citizens' quality of life is adversely affected by austerity, Rice says.
"It's not all roses," Rice adds--some regressive fees are being debated.
But slashing public jobs, reducing library hours, and closing polls--all of which were on the table--are now off.
The violent anarchists may be AWOL, but in St. Petersburg at least, citizens are winning battles in the fight to take back their government.
[http://current.com/groups/news-blog/93883943_rnc-2012-explainer-peaceful-anarchists.htm]:
Protesters took to the streets of downtown Tampa on Monday afternoon in a loosely organized march called Occupy the RNC.
While following a city-mandated "parade route," the group simultaneously chanted against corporate greed, government malfeasance and the Republican National Convention generally.
Protesters ranged from as young as 14 to several men and women in their 80s.
It is worth noting that the approximately 1,800 police officers on the streets of downtown Tampa outnumbered the protesters by about a power of five, making the blocks around the Tampa Bay Times Forum look more like a police state than a convention hub.
Toward the end of the march, a splinter group, referring to themselves as anarchists, made their way to a side street where they regrouped and smoked rolled cigarettes near a row of portable bathrooms while accepting water from Salvation Army volunteers.
Much has been made of the anarchist protestors in Tampa.
A report surfaced days before the convention that anarchist groups had plans to wreak havoc in Tampa by blocking roads, shutting down transit systems and harassing police and pedestrians with eggs filled with acid and balloons full of urine and feces.
The bulletin also warned of a specific group of anarchists from New York City that had plans for blockading bridges.
They don't look that scary in person.
We couldn't help but wonder, what exactly is an anarchist and what are they doing at the Republican National Convention?
This group claimed they just want peace, and, in fact, when confronted by a scrum of counter-protestors — Christian right-wingers that spewed insults and hate speech at them — the anarchists stepped down.
"We will not engage with you," they said. With that, they walked away.
We asked two of them to explain exactly what they came out for in Tampa. Their ideas may not be as fully formed as many protesters' around the country and things may change as this week goes on, but the evidence on Monday showed that this group, at least, was fairly benign in their intentions for violence.
"Anarchism means a system without government. And a lot of people think a system without government would be complete chaos, but I think all governments have done for the world is poison, corrupt and enslave society. ... Our government is taking a giant crap on the Constitution every day," one masked and unnamed anarchist protestor explained above the din of wails from his comrades over the arrival of what they believed was Homeland Security, but was actually a routine drive-by of motorcycle police.
"I am hoping to accomplish peaceful protests like everyone else," he told us, before fleeing down the street.
2012-08-30 "Protests Fizzle During GOP Convention"ABC OTUS News [http://news.yahoo.com/protests-fizzle-during-gop-convention-211101677.html]:
The three dozen chanting anti-GOP protesters hit a lull of silence as they marched through a low-income neighborhood in west Tampa. "What are you guys doing? Taking a nap?" shouted one protester to his cohorts, exhorting them to yell. Another shouted, "You guys are reeeeaaal quiet now!"
Quiet is the right word for protests at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this week. They have been unexpectedly muted and even the protesters know it. Thousands of demonstrators had been expected but only hundreds arrived, mostly Green Party supporters, Occupy Wall Street activists, anarchists and union stalwarts.
Only two arrests have been linked to protests so far — one man for carrying a machete, the other for wearing a bandanna in violation of a city ordinance. That's compared to several hundred in St. Paul, Minn., four years ago. Her streets have been so tranquil that Police Chief Jane Castor canceled news conferences because there was no trouble to report.
Activists blame the threat of Hurricane Isaac, the overwhelming police presence, undercover law enforcement infiltration of their ranks and even the ghost-town nature of downtown during the convention week. Some activists worry they have no momentum built for the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., next week, and then the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street next month.
"Unless you have the numbers out on the street, you really can't change anything," said Nick Sabatella, 25, an Occupy Wall Street activist from New Jersey.
The protesters were behind the eight ball even before the convention started. The threat of Hurricane Isaac stopped at least 16 busloads of activists from coming to town because bus operators didn't want their equipment and drivers headed into possible danger. Downpours on Monday put a damper on a kickoff march that drew only several hundred protesters, not the 5,000 marchers that had been anticipated. And rain continued off and on throughout the week.
"Nobody came down because of this weather," said Jeff Smith, a 38-year-old construction worker from New York, who is part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Smith also faulted the protest leaders and the tight security.
"They don't seem to be too organized down here," he said. "Probably because there are cops on every corner."
Groups of officers are stationed on almost every corner of downtown. They are riding around in packs on bicycles and are using helicopters for surveillance.
While many activists praised the police for their restraint and politeness, they said the number of officers on the streets was overkill.
"I'm really sad that every four years there is more of a militarization of the police at these conventions," said Cheri Honkala, the Green Party's vice presidential candidate. "It's a waste of taxpayers' dollars and it really scares me that someday there will be nobody left marching."
The police presence isn't just in uniform.
In "Romneyville," a tent village of protesters about a mile from the convention, the residents are well aware that undercover officers have infiltrated their ranks and that they tend to be among the more aggressive "activists."
"You know how if you go into Macy's around the holidays and somebody tries to shoplift something, and you then realize there are actually no shoppers, that they're all undercover police officers? That's the case here," Honkala said.
Without hard confirmation, they have let their suspected undercover officers stay.
"You can't get rid of people if you can't prove it on the spot," Honkala said.
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said at a news conference Thursday that he had expected few arrests as the convention wraps up Thursday night.
"We have trained so hard and so long for this," Buckhorn said. "When this is said and done, this will be the benchmark that every city should strive for."
Castor said her strategy was to approach the protesters, ask what their goals are and then help them reach them. Often, protesters simply wanted to pose in an intersection for the media. She let them if they didn't intend violence. Officers even took leftover food to Romneyville.
"Everyone was to be treated with dignity and respect," Castor said.
The nature of downtown also made it harder for protesters to be heard. Few people live there and many businesses told their workers to stay away during the convention, leaving the streets nearly empty.
"We could protest until we're blue in the face but there weren't people normally around to see that," said Darrell Prince, a 35-year-old political fundraiser from New York who is part of Occupy Wall Street. "Whether it was intelligent design or they were just fortunate, it worked out for the RNC."
On Thursday, 16 protesters, watched by 35 officers, marched from Romneyville to Domino's Pizza to protest corporate-owned businesses. Despite the low numbers, protesters eked out some victories.
As Paul Ryan was in the midst of a speech accepting the vice presidential nomination on the convention floor, he was disrupted by a pink banner and a yelling protester from the feminist group Code Pink. She was escorted out as some in the crowd shouted "U-S-A, U-S-A."
Many Romneyville residents are relocating their impromptu community to Charlotte and the Democratic convention. They are hoping for bigger crowds and more energy, drawing on Occupy activists from cities along the Eastern seaboard.
"Who knows?" Sabattella said. "Maybe it can still happen."
2012-08-29 "Citizens Struggle in the Shadow of the RNC" by Ruth Conniff from "The Progressive"
[http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/29-5]:
Law enforcement officers block a downtown street during a protest on August 27, 2012 in Tampa, Florida. The demonstration was being held just before of the start of the Republican's nominating convention which will hold its first session on August 28. The convention was scheduled to start on August 27 but was pushed back one day as Tropical Storm Isaac threatens to hit the Tampa area. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Everywhere you look, there are flocks of police on bicycles, on horseback, jumping out of trucks in full body armor. Roads are blocked, and downtown Tampa is ringed with high fences, forcing anyone who strays outside the convention compound to walk extra miles to circumnavigate the heavily guarded RNC.
Even local library branches are closed.
"Oh my god, they walled off the county building!" Terrie Weeks, an environmental activist who works at a local law firm, said as she drove through town. "You can't believe how weird this is to a local."
Who is all this security keeping away?
"For weeks, the local news kept warning everyone about violent anarchists," said Mark Skogman, a radio reporter and multimedia specialist who is involved in local politics. "People on the local council were so terrified about these violent anarchists coming in, they were talking about leaving the area. I finally calmed them down."
Overkill is too mild a word to describe the contrast between the heavy security and the protests in Tampa, which have been peaceful, and somewhat muted by the weather.
There is a shantytown called Romneyville at a local park, which was the starting point for a 500-person march demanding an end to foreclosures. There was a beautiful melting ice sculpture in the park that formed the words "middle class."
A group called Progress Florida has a complete "progressive's guide to the RNC" on its website: [www.progressflorida.org].
Darden Rice, Progress Florida's executive director, moderated a panel discussion in St. Petersburg on Monday night titled, "Is This What Democracy Looks Like?"
In the shadow of the RNC, where helicopters buzzed overhead, local activists expressed their disillusionment with both political parties.
People feel powerless in a democracy hijacked by corporate interests and seemingly as inaccessible to ordinary citizens as the Tampa Bay Times Forum where the Republicans are ensconced.
Rice seconded a comment from one activist in attendance about feeling like "a grain of sand trying to fight against the ocean."
Despite the inspiring examples of the massive protests in Wisconsin and Occupy Wall Street, activists are not sure where to put their energy in this election year.
Panelist Arun Gupta, a progressive journalist and chronicler of the Occupy movement, spoke for many in the crowd when he talked about the disappointments of the Obama Administration--from continuing the war in Afghanistan, to pursuing policies of assassination and torture, to the coddling of Wall Street bankers and an inadequate rescue effort for the American middle class.
On the other end of the panel, Judithanne Scourfield-McLaughlin, a professor at the University of South Florida who worked for the Gore campaign in 2000, urged progressives to pour their efforts into getting out the vote for Obama.
Scourfield-McLaughlin warned that a Romney-Ryan administration would be a disaster. No one disagreed.
The key problem, she said, is that people who ought to vote for the Democrats don't vote--or, in 2000, that they voted for the Green Party.
Inadvertently illustrating the biggest problem with the Obama campaign, Scourfield-McLaughlin dismissed the failed effort to recall governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin as a distraction from the "real" election.
Talk about out of touch.
The President literally phoned in his support for the Walker recall effort. He deliberately avoided a grassroots fight on the core principles his party is supposed to represent. Yet now his campaign expects activists in Wisconsin to pour their hearts and souls into getting out the vote for him.
The fact that the Democrats are making the same argument they made in 2000--that the left must fall in line and vote for the lesser evil--even if it's true, as almost everyone in the room agreed--shows what a long way we've come from the excitement and optimism of 2008.
People all over the country are hurting. Yet there have been no criminal charges against the bankers who caused the financial crisis--let alone serious bank regulation. Cutting government spending, "entitlement reform," and reducing the deficit are talking points not just for Republicans, but for Obama, too.
No wonder people are discouraged.
But if national politics looks terribly alienating, local activists groups -- including Awake Pinellas, which sponsored the panel in St. Petersburg -- are doing serious, constructive work.
Awake Pinellas is part of a massive citizens' movement in Florida called Awake the State, which grew out of Wisconsin-like protests from Pensacola to Key West opposing Governor Rick Scott and the Republican legislature's program of deep cuts to education and health care.
St. Petersburg is one of a handful of cities where elected officials are now talking openly about raising taxes to protect citizens' quality of life.
Rice credits the local Awake coalition, which includes the SEIU, League of Women Voters, the NAACP and smaller, local groups.
Awake Pinellas launched something called the People's Budget Review to fight a program of austerity on the local level that was choking schools, libraries, and services for the poor.
"We had a lot of workshops on the budget, and packed the room at city council meetings with citizens calling for an alternative," Rice explains.
The result: The Republican mayor who is facing reelection is no longer talking about more budget cuts, and instead the council is debating between raising property taxes and imposing new fees. Cuts to services are off the table.
Packing those meetings gave council members "cover" to talk about how public investment is key to attracting business, how budget cuts hurt the area, and how citizens' quality of life is adversely affected by austerity, Rice says.
"It's not all roses," Rice adds--some regressive fees are being debated.
But slashing public jobs, reducing library hours, and closing polls--all of which were on the table--are now off.
The violent anarchists may be AWOL, but in St. Petersburg at least, citizens are winning battles in the fight to take back their government.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
2012-08-27 Anarchist Militia in the Military, a Psy-op
Anarcho-Scare of 2012. Just in time for the elections. De-legitimize the Black Panthers and their current supporters. De-legitimize the increasingly militant ex-GI's like Scott Olsen who are sick and tired to the U.S. military's lies. De-legitimize insurrectionary anarchists planning to demonstrate at both conventions.
Serious about what? Forming a weird, elitist, hierarchical armed group? Who gives a shit? Wanting to overthrow the government isn't the defining point of anarchist politics. regardless, the only evidence they may identify as "anarchists" (at least the only evidence mentioned in this article) is that they "wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol".
2012-08-27 "4 soldiers planned to take over U.S. government and assassinate the president" by "THE ASSOCIATED PRESS", posted at "New York Daily News"
[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/prosecutor-ga-murder-case-uncovers-terror-plot-4-soldiers-planned-u-s-government-assassinate-president-article-1.1145553]:
4 Fort Stewart soldiers, Michael Burnett, Isaac Aguigui, Anthony Peden and Christopher Salmon, formed F.E.A.R., an anarchist group plotting to overthrow the federal government. They spent $87,000 stockpiling weapons and killed Michael Roark and his girlfriend, Tiffany York, to protect their dark secret.
U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Peden, 25, left, and Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, 19, are led away in handcuffs after appearing before a magistrate judge at the Long County Sheriffs Office in Ludowici, Ga. Prosecutors say a murder case against the four soldiers in Georgia has revealed they formed an anarchist militia within the U.S. military with plans to overthrow the federal government.
LUDOWICI, Ga. (AP) — Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Prosecutors in rural Long County, near the sprawling Army post Fort Stewart, said the militia group composed of active duty and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components and was serious enough to kill two people — former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York — by shooting them in the woods last December in order to keep its plans secret.
“This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk,” prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a Superior Court judge. “Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans.”
One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Army Pfc. Michael Burnett, also gave testimony that backed up many of the assertions made by prosecutors. The 26-year-old soldier pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges. He made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the three other soldiers.
Prosecutors said the group called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don’t know how many members the militia had.
Burnett, 26, said he knew the group’s leaders from serving with them at Fort Stewart. He agreed to testify against fellow soldiers Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia’s founder and leader, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon.
All are charged by state authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday.
Prosecutors say Roark, 19, served with the four defendants in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the Army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced.
Burnett testified that on the night of Dec. 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the Army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark’s girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings.
“A loose end is the way Isaac put it,” Burnett said.
Aguigui’s attorney, Daveniya Fisher, did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press. Attorneys for Peden and Salmon both declined to comment Monday.
Also charged in the killings is Salmon’s wife, Heather Salmon. Her attorney, Charles Nester, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife’s death, but Pauley told the judge her death was “highly suspicious.”
She said Aguigui used the money to buy $87,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb components that were recovered from the accused soldiers’ homes and from a storage locker. He also used the insurance payments to buy land for his militia group in Washington state, Pauley said.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself “the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet.” He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
“All members of the group were on active-duty or were former members of the military,” Pauley said. “He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned.”
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
The Army brought charges against the four accused soldiers in connection with the slayings of Roark and York in March, but has yet to act on them. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said he could not comment immediately on the militia accusations that emerged in civilian court Monday.
District Attorney Tom Durden said his office has been sharing information with federal authorities, but no charges have been filed in federal court. Jim Durham, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, would not comment on whether a case is pending.
2012-08-28 "Soldier allegedly led militia group that plotted to kill President Obama" by Mike Carter from "The Seattle Times", re-posted at "Detroit Free Press"
[http://www.freep.com/article/20120828/NEWS07/120828049/soldiers-militia-stockpile-assassinate-government?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs]:
In this Dec. 12, 2011, file photo, U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Peden, 25, left, and Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, 19, are led away in handcuffs after appearing before a judge at the Long County Sheriffs Office in Ludowici, Ga. / Lewis Levine, Associated Press
SEATTLE — A soldier from Chelan County, Wash., suspected of murder in Georgia and accused of being the founder of a militia group that was plotting to kill President Barack Obama and overthrow the U.S. government, purchased 15 firearms, including several semiautomatic assault-style rifles, at a Wenatchee, Wash., gun store in September 2011.
It was that purchase, along with a suspicious relative, that first brought Army Pvt. Isaac Aguigui of Cashmere, Wash., to the attention of local law enforcement, Wenatchee Police Sgt. John Kruse said Tuesday.
The relative, who has asked not to be named, told police that Aguigui’s wife, who was a fellow soldier, and their unborn child had died under suspicious circumstances in July 2011 at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they were stationed. The relative also was concerned that Aguigui had purchased more than a dozen firearms from High Mountain Hunting Supply in Wenatchee.
After checking the report and talking to the gun store, Kruse said police decided they should contact the Army Criminal Investigation Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the FBI in Spokane. Kruse said he spoke with FBI Resident Agent in Charge Frank Harrill about the incident.
“We didn’t do much with this. There had been no crime that we knew of, and it didn’t really involve Wenatchee at all,” he said. Moreover, “people buy multiple guns all the time,” Kruse said.
The department did issue an “officer safety” bulletin alerting police to Aguigui’s whereabouts, the fact that he was under investigation by the Army, and that he had recently purchased numerous firearms.
Kruse said Aguigui returned to Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia shortly thereafter.
Aguigui is among four soldiers based in Georgia who are charged with killing a former comrade, a Washington state native, and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed, plotted a range of anti-government attacks, including bombing a dam in Washington and poisoning the state’s apple crop, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Isabel Pauley, the prosecutor in Long County, near Fort Stewart, said the militia group of active and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components. They allege the group was serious enough to kill two people — former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York — by shooting them in the woods last December in order to keep its plans secret.
The group allegedly called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don’t know how many members it had.
One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Pfc. Michael Burnett, pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges in a deal to testify against the three other soldiers — Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia’s founder and leader, and Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon.
All are charged by Georgia authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday.
Aguigui was home-schooled in the Chelan County town of Cashmere, joining the Army after graduation. He married fellow soldier Dierdre Wetzker at Fort Stewart, according to news reports and interviews with family.
Wetzker, 24, died last year at Fort Stewart while pregnant with the couple’s son. According to Orlin Wetzker, her uncle in Ogden, Utah, the family was told by law enforcement officials that she may have been poisoned. A call to Aguigui’s parents’ home in Cashmere was not returned.
The prosecutors in the Georgia homicide case have called Wetzker’s death “highly suspicious,” but no charges have been filed.
According to court testimony, the group used some of the nearly $500,000 in insurance and death benefits to buy more than $87,000 worth of military-grade firearms and land in Washington state.
Orlin Wetzker said he knew nothing of Aguigui’s politics.
Ayn Dietrich, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Seattle, said the bureau was aware of the case but declined to comment further.
Roark, who was born in Kirkland, Wash., and spent part of high school in Marysville, according to The (Everett) Herald, served with the four defendants in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the Army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced.
Burnett testified that on the night of Dec. 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the Army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark’s girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings.
“A ’loose end’ is the way Isaac put it,” Burnett said.
Roark’s mother, Tracy Jahr, told KOMO-TV her son died “for standing up for what he knew was right.”
She said her son told her last fall he had met someone with a lot of money.
“My mom’s radar went up just a little bit and I said, ’Well, who is this person? Where is he from? Where does he live? Tell me more about him,’” Jahr told KOMO.
She said the situation eventually prompted him to leave the Army in December. He was killed two days later.
“It’s not real because it can’t possibly be your child that’s been killed. It was devastating. It was devastating,” Jahr said.
Also charged in the killings is Salmon’s wife, Heather Salmon. Her attorney, Charles Nester, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself “the nicest coldblooded murderer you will ever meet.” He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
“All members of the group were on active duty or were former members of the military,” Pauley said. “He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned.”
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition-control point, and members talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said.
In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said the Army has dropped its own charges against the four soldiers in the slayings of Roark and York. Military authorities filed charges in March but never acted on them. Fort Stewart officials Monday refused to identify the units the accused soldiers served in and their jobs within those units.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based organization that tracks hate groups in the U.S., said Aguigui’s father, Ed Aguigui, had “no clue” as to the location of the land in Washington state that reportedly was purchased by his son and members of his militia group. “I served my country for 20 years and I honor that, take pride in that,” said Ed Aguigui, a veteran.
According to The Wenatchee World, Isaac Aguigui represented Washington state in the American Legion Boys Nation held in July 2008 in Washington, D.C. The American Legion Boys Nation is a weeklong citizenship and government program in the nation’s capital that is designed to instill in each participant a deep loyalty to America while providing practical insight into the operation of the federal government, officials say.
The newspaper also reports he was among 21 Republicans who gathered in Wenatchee in October 2008 for the third and final presidential debate.
“When Obama outlined his health care plan,” the newspaper reported, “17-year-old Isaac Aguigui of Cashmere said, ’That makes absolutely no sense.’”
2012-08-28 "'Anarchists' accused of murder; broader plot against government" from "CNN"
[http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/28/justice/georgia-soldiers-plot/index.html]:
(CNN) -- This much is clear: Four U.S. Army soldiers based in Georgia are accused of killing two people.
Beyond that, a Georgia prosecutor and federal authorities are offering differing responses to a possible plot by the group to overthrow the government and assassinate President Barack Obama.
"As far as the evidence has shown, the motive for the murders was the overthrow of the government," District Attorney Tom Durden said.
"This wasn't barroom talk," Durden said, describing the men as part of an anarchist militia. "They amassed a good bit of weapons and explosive materials."
A law enforcement official said the men had legally purchased at least 18 rifles and handguns in Washington and Georgia. The official said uncompleted pipe bombs were also found, and were comprised of store-bought materials. No sophisticated military grade-explosives were involved in their construction.
However, several agencies called into the investigation because of the accumulation of weapons -- including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- made scant mention of any alleged assassination plot or government overthrow attempt.
One official described it as a murder case and said no federal charges had been filed.
On Monday, Pfc. Michael Burnett laid out the elaborate plot, telling a southeast Georgia court that he was part of what prosecutors called "an anarchist group and militia."
Dressed in his Army uniform, he spoke in a Long County court about the group of Army soldiers and its role in the December deaths of former soldier Michael Roark and his teenage girlfriend, Tiffany York. Roark, he said, was killed because he took money from the group and planned to leave.
"I don't know how it got to the point where two people got murdered," Burnett said in court.
He talked about how he and three others accused -- Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon -- had begun getting together, "just going out shooting guns, just guy stuff."
"And then Aguigui introduced me to 'the manuscript,' that's what he called it, a book about true patriots," the soldier said.
The four men became part of a group that aimed "to give the government back to the people," according to Burnett, who said that revolution was its goal. They called it FEAR -- Forever Enduring Always Ready -- and spent thousands of dollars buying guns and bomb parts.
The government needed a change, Burnett told the court. "I thought we were the people who would be able to change it."
It is not clear how capable the group was of carrying out the goals Burnett laid out.
Assistant District Attorney Isabel Pauley said it was "unknown" how many others belonged to the group. She identified Aguigui as the leader of what she described as "an anarchist group and militia" that included active and former troops.
"Defendant Aguigui actively recruited new members at Fort Stewart (in southeast Georgia) and targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned," she said.
At the time of their arrest, group members had plotted a number of "acts of domestic terror," the prosecutor said.
These included "forcibly taking over the ammo control point of Fort Stewart to take the post, bombing vehicles of local and state judicial and political figureheads and federal representatives to include the local department of homeland security, (and plotting) to bomb the fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah."
Days before he died, Roark had been discharged from the army, according to Pauley.
Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend were killed because Aguigui felt the couple was "a loose end," Burnett said.
"Sir, if I could have stopped this from happening, I would have," the soldier told the judge about the couple's killings.
Burnett admitted being at the scene of the crime, including watching as a soldier "checked (York's) pulse and then shot her again."
York's sister, Tiffany, told CNN affiliate WTOC that she hoped York "didn't have to beg, or suffer."
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Burnett pleaded guilty to manslaughter -- instead of murder, thus avoiding a possible death sentence -- and other charges. He also agreed to testify against the three other soldiers accused in the case.
All four soldiers had also been charged by the military in connection with the two killings. But as their case proceeded through civilian courts, the Army dismissed its charges, according to Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson.
The military's Criminal Investigative Division (CID) probe is ongoing, though it is not believed there are any "unknown subjects" -- or people besides those four men -- tied to these crimes, Larson said.
In a statement Monday, Larson insisted that Fort Stewart and its affiliated Hunter Army Airfield do not have "a gang or militia problem."
"Any suspicions of gang activity are actively investigated by CID, (which) recognizes the obvious concerns with the combination of gangs and military-type training," he said. "That is why CID monitors and investigates gang and extremist group association with criminal acts in the Army so closely. We believe the reason we are able to maintain a low gang criminal threat status is because of the awareness of and focus on the threat."
Fort Stewart, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, is home to the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
Tens of thousands of troops, their dependents, civilian personnel and contractors live and work on the base, which encompasses 280,000 acres and includes parts of five counties, including Long County, which has about 14,500 residents. Hunter Army Airfield is in Savannah but is officially part of the larger Fort Stewart complex.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks what it characterizes as "hate groups" nationwide, spoke to Aguigui's father Monday night.
"I served my country for 20 years and I honor that, take pride in that," Ed Aguigui told the center, according to the center's Hatewatch blog. "I don't know what my son's views are, and where they came from."
Serious about what? Forming a weird, elitist, hierarchical armed group? Who gives a shit? Wanting to overthrow the government isn't the defining point of anarchist politics. regardless, the only evidence they may identify as "anarchists" (at least the only evidence mentioned in this article) is that they "wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol".
2012-08-27 "4 soldiers planned to take over U.S. government and assassinate the president" by "THE ASSOCIATED PRESS", posted at "New York Daily News"
[http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/prosecutor-ga-murder-case-uncovers-terror-plot-4-soldiers-planned-u-s-government-assassinate-president-article-1.1145553]:
4 Fort Stewart soldiers, Michael Burnett, Isaac Aguigui, Anthony Peden and Christopher Salmon, formed F.E.A.R., an anarchist group plotting to overthrow the federal government. They spent $87,000 stockpiling weapons and killed Michael Roark and his girlfriend, Tiffany York, to protect their dark secret.
U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Peden, 25, left, and Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, 19, are led away in handcuffs after appearing before a magistrate judge at the Long County Sheriffs Office in Ludowici, Ga. Prosecutors say a murder case against the four soldiers in Georgia has revealed they formed an anarchist militia within the U.S. military with plans to overthrow the federal government.
LUDOWICI, Ga. (AP) — Four Army soldiers based in southeast Georgia killed a former comrade and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed that stockpiled assault weapons and plotted a range of anti-government attacks, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Prosecutors in rural Long County, near the sprawling Army post Fort Stewart, said the militia group composed of active duty and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components and was serious enough to kill two people — former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York — by shooting them in the woods last December in order to keep its plans secret.
“This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk,” prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a Superior Court judge. “Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans.”
One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Army Pfc. Michael Burnett, also gave testimony that backed up many of the assertions made by prosecutors. The 26-year-old soldier pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges. He made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the three other soldiers.
Prosecutors said the group called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don’t know how many members the militia had.
Burnett, 26, said he knew the group’s leaders from serving with them at Fort Stewart. He agreed to testify against fellow soldiers Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia’s founder and leader, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon.
All are charged by state authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday.
Prosecutors say Roark, 19, served with the four defendants in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the Army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced.
Burnett testified that on the night of Dec. 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the Army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark’s girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings.
“A loose end is the way Isaac put it,” Burnett said.
Aguigui’s attorney, Daveniya Fisher, did not immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press. Attorneys for Peden and Salmon both declined to comment Monday.
Also charged in the killings is Salmon’s wife, Heather Salmon. Her attorney, Charles Nester, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Pauley said Aguigui funded the militia using $500,000 in insurance and benefit payments from the death of his pregnant wife a year ago. Aguigui was not charged in his wife’s death, but Pauley told the judge her death was “highly suspicious.”
She said Aguigui used the money to buy $87,000 worth of semiautomatic assault rifles, other guns and bomb components that were recovered from the accused soldiers’ homes and from a storage locker. He also used the insurance payments to buy land for his militia group in Washington state, Pauley said.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself “the nicest cold-blooded murderer you will ever meet.” He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
“All members of the group were on active-duty or were former members of the military,” Pauley said. “He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned.”
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
The Army brought charges against the four accused soldiers in connection with the slayings of Roark and York in March, but has yet to act on them. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said he could not comment immediately on the militia accusations that emerged in civilian court Monday.
District Attorney Tom Durden said his office has been sharing information with federal authorities, but no charges have been filed in federal court. Jim Durham, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, would not comment on whether a case is pending.
2012-08-28 "Soldier allegedly led militia group that plotted to kill President Obama" by Mike Carter from "The Seattle Times", re-posted at "Detroit Free Press"
[http://www.freep.com/article/20120828/NEWS07/120828049/soldiers-militia-stockpile-assassinate-government?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs]:
In this Dec. 12, 2011, file photo, U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Peden, 25, left, and Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, 19, are led away in handcuffs after appearing before a judge at the Long County Sheriffs Office in Ludowici, Ga. / Lewis Levine, Associated Press
SEATTLE — A soldier from Chelan County, Wash., suspected of murder in Georgia and accused of being the founder of a militia group that was plotting to kill President Barack Obama and overthrow the U.S. government, purchased 15 firearms, including several semiautomatic assault-style rifles, at a Wenatchee, Wash., gun store in September 2011.
It was that purchase, along with a suspicious relative, that first brought Army Pvt. Isaac Aguigui of Cashmere, Wash., to the attention of local law enforcement, Wenatchee Police Sgt. John Kruse said Tuesday.
The relative, who has asked not to be named, told police that Aguigui’s wife, who was a fellow soldier, and their unborn child had died under suspicious circumstances in July 2011 at Fort Stewart, Ga., where they were stationed. The relative also was concerned that Aguigui had purchased more than a dozen firearms from High Mountain Hunting Supply in Wenatchee.
After checking the report and talking to the gun store, Kruse said police decided they should contact the Army Criminal Investigation Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the FBI in Spokane. Kruse said he spoke with FBI Resident Agent in Charge Frank Harrill about the incident.
“We didn’t do much with this. There had been no crime that we knew of, and it didn’t really involve Wenatchee at all,” he said. Moreover, “people buy multiple guns all the time,” Kruse said.
The department did issue an “officer safety” bulletin alerting police to Aguigui’s whereabouts, the fact that he was under investigation by the Army, and that he had recently purchased numerous firearms.
Kruse said Aguigui returned to Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia shortly thereafter.
Aguigui is among four soldiers based in Georgia who are charged with killing a former comrade, a Washington state native, and his girlfriend to protect an anarchist militia group they formed, plotted a range of anti-government attacks, including bombing a dam in Washington and poisoning the state’s apple crop, prosecutors told a judge Monday.
Isabel Pauley, the prosecutor in Long County, near Fort Stewart, said the militia group of active and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components. They allege the group was serious enough to kill two people — former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York — by shooting them in the woods last December in order to keep its plans secret.
The group allegedly called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don’t know how many members it had.
One of the Fort Stewart soldiers charged in the case, Pfc. Michael Burnett, pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, illegal gang activity and other charges in a deal to testify against the three other soldiers — Aguigui, identified by prosecutors as the militia’s founder and leader, and Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon.
All are charged by Georgia authorities with malice murder, felony murder, criminal gang activity, aggravated assault and using a firearm while committing a felony. A hearing for the three soldiers was scheduled Thursday.
Aguigui was home-schooled in the Chelan County town of Cashmere, joining the Army after graduation. He married fellow soldier Dierdre Wetzker at Fort Stewart, according to news reports and interviews with family.
Wetzker, 24, died last year at Fort Stewart while pregnant with the couple’s son. According to Orlin Wetzker, her uncle in Ogden, Utah, the family was told by law enforcement officials that she may have been poisoned. A call to Aguigui’s parents’ home in Cashmere was not returned.
The prosecutors in the Georgia homicide case have called Wetzker’s death “highly suspicious,” but no charges have been filed.
According to court testimony, the group used some of the nearly $500,000 in insurance and death benefits to buy more than $87,000 worth of military-grade firearms and land in Washington state.
Orlin Wetzker said he knew nothing of Aguigui’s politics.
Ayn Dietrich, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Seattle, said the bureau was aware of the case but declined to comment further.
Roark, who was born in Kirkland, Wash., and spent part of high school in Marysville, according to The (Everett) Herald, served with the four defendants in the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division and became involved with the militia. Pauley said the group believed it had been betrayed by Roark, who left the Army two days before he was killed, and decided the ex-soldier and his girlfriend needed to be silenced.
Burnett testified that on the night of Dec. 4, he and the three other soldiers lured Roark and York to some woods a short distance from the Army post under the guise that they were going target shooting. He said Peden shot Roark’s girlfriend in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. Salmon, he said, made Roark get on his knees and shot him twice in the head. Burnett said Aguigui ordered the killings.
“A ’loose end’ is the way Isaac put it,” Burnett said.
Roark’s mother, Tracy Jahr, told KOMO-TV her son died “for standing up for what he knew was right.”
She said her son told her last fall he had met someone with a lot of money.
“My mom’s radar went up just a little bit and I said, ’Well, who is this person? Where is he from? Where does he live? Tell me more about him,’” Jahr told KOMO.
She said the situation eventually prompted him to leave the Army in December. He was killed two days later.
“It’s not real because it can’t possibly be your child that’s been killed. It was devastating. It was devastating,” Jahr said.
Also charged in the killings is Salmon’s wife, Heather Salmon. Her attorney, Charles Nester, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In a videotaped interview with military investigators, Pauley said, Aguigui called himself “the nicest coldblooded murderer you will ever meet.” He used the Army to recruit militia members, who wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol, she said. Prosecutors say they have no idea how many members belong to the group.
“All members of the group were on active duty or were former members of the military,” Pauley said. “He targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned.”
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition-control point, and members talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said.
In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said the Army has dropped its own charges against the four soldiers in the slayings of Roark and York. Military authorities filed charges in March but never acted on them. Fort Stewart officials Monday refused to identify the units the accused soldiers served in and their jobs within those units.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based organization that tracks hate groups in the U.S., said Aguigui’s father, Ed Aguigui, had “no clue” as to the location of the land in Washington state that reportedly was purchased by his son and members of his militia group. “I served my country for 20 years and I honor that, take pride in that,” said Ed Aguigui, a veteran.
According to The Wenatchee World, Isaac Aguigui represented Washington state in the American Legion Boys Nation held in July 2008 in Washington, D.C. The American Legion Boys Nation is a weeklong citizenship and government program in the nation’s capital that is designed to instill in each participant a deep loyalty to America while providing practical insight into the operation of the federal government, officials say.
The newspaper also reports he was among 21 Republicans who gathered in Wenatchee in October 2008 for the third and final presidential debate.
“When Obama outlined his health care plan,” the newspaper reported, “17-year-old Isaac Aguigui of Cashmere said, ’That makes absolutely no sense.’”
2012-08-28 "'Anarchists' accused of murder; broader plot against government" from "CNN"
[http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/28/justice/georgia-soldiers-plot/index.html]:
(CNN) -- This much is clear: Four U.S. Army soldiers based in Georgia are accused of killing two people.
Beyond that, a Georgia prosecutor and federal authorities are offering differing responses to a possible plot by the group to overthrow the government and assassinate President Barack Obama.
"As far as the evidence has shown, the motive for the murders was the overthrow of the government," District Attorney Tom Durden said.
"This wasn't barroom talk," Durden said, describing the men as part of an anarchist militia. "They amassed a good bit of weapons and explosive materials."
A law enforcement official said the men had legally purchased at least 18 rifles and handguns in Washington and Georgia. The official said uncompleted pipe bombs were also found, and were comprised of store-bought materials. No sophisticated military grade-explosives were involved in their construction.
However, several agencies called into the investigation because of the accumulation of weapons -- including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- made scant mention of any alleged assassination plot or government overthrow attempt.
One official described it as a murder case and said no federal charges had been filed.
On Monday, Pfc. Michael Burnett laid out the elaborate plot, telling a southeast Georgia court that he was part of what prosecutors called "an anarchist group and militia."
Dressed in his Army uniform, he spoke in a Long County court about the group of Army soldiers and its role in the December deaths of former soldier Michael Roark and his teenage girlfriend, Tiffany York. Roark, he said, was killed because he took money from the group and planned to leave.
"I don't know how it got to the point where two people got murdered," Burnett said in court.
He talked about how he and three others accused -- Pvt. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Anthony Peden and Pvt. Christopher Salmon -- had begun getting together, "just going out shooting guns, just guy stuff."
"And then Aguigui introduced me to 'the manuscript,' that's what he called it, a book about true patriots," the soldier said.
The four men became part of a group that aimed "to give the government back to the people," according to Burnett, who said that revolution was its goal. They called it FEAR -- Forever Enduring Always Ready -- and spent thousands of dollars buying guns and bomb parts.
The government needed a change, Burnett told the court. "I thought we were the people who would be able to change it."
It is not clear how capable the group was of carrying out the goals Burnett laid out.
Assistant District Attorney Isabel Pauley said it was "unknown" how many others belonged to the group. She identified Aguigui as the leader of what she described as "an anarchist group and militia" that included active and former troops.
"Defendant Aguigui actively recruited new members at Fort Stewart (in southeast Georgia) and targeted soldiers who were in trouble or disillusioned," she said.
At the time of their arrest, group members had plotted a number of "acts of domestic terror," the prosecutor said.
These included "forcibly taking over the ammo control point of Fort Stewart to take the post, bombing vehicles of local and state judicial and political figureheads and federal representatives to include the local department of homeland security, (and plotting) to bomb the fountain at Forsyth Park in Savannah."
Days before he died, Roark had been discharged from the army, according to Pauley.
Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend were killed because Aguigui felt the couple was "a loose end," Burnett said.
"Sir, if I could have stopped this from happening, I would have," the soldier told the judge about the couple's killings.
Burnett admitted being at the scene of the crime, including watching as a soldier "checked (York's) pulse and then shot her again."
York's sister, Tiffany, told CNN affiliate WTOC that she hoped York "didn't have to beg, or suffer."
As part of an agreement with prosecutors, Burnett pleaded guilty to manslaughter -- instead of murder, thus avoiding a possible death sentence -- and other charges. He also agreed to testify against the three other soldiers accused in the case.
All four soldiers had also been charged by the military in connection with the two killings. But as their case proceeded through civilian courts, the Army dismissed its charges, according to Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson.
The military's Criminal Investigative Division (CID) probe is ongoing, though it is not believed there are any "unknown subjects" -- or people besides those four men -- tied to these crimes, Larson said.
In a statement Monday, Larson insisted that Fort Stewart and its affiliated Hunter Army Airfield do not have "a gang or militia problem."
"Any suspicions of gang activity are actively investigated by CID, (which) recognizes the obvious concerns with the combination of gangs and military-type training," he said. "That is why CID monitors and investigates gang and extremist group association with criminal acts in the Army so closely. We believe the reason we are able to maintain a low gang criminal threat status is because of the awareness of and focus on the threat."
Fort Stewart, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, is home to the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
Tens of thousands of troops, their dependents, civilian personnel and contractors live and work on the base, which encompasses 280,000 acres and includes parts of five counties, including Long County, which has about 14,500 residents. Hunter Army Airfield is in Savannah but is officially part of the larger Fort Stewart complex.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks what it characterizes as "hate groups" nationwide, spoke to Aguigui's father Monday night.
"I served my country for 20 years and I honor that, take pride in that," Ed Aguigui told the center, according to the center's Hatewatch blog. "I don't know what my son's views are, and where they came from."
Anti-Fascism: People’s Power Assemblies
A N A T I O N A L C A L L
To Create, Build & Multiply People’s Power Assemblies:
Things are already bad — and they are about to get a lot worse!
The people must prepare to defend ourselves against the life-threatening and ever-intensifying economic and social misery that Wall Street and its politicians are imposing on us, including endless war.
Contact: [Solidarity Center 55 West 17 Street, #5C, New York, NY 10011] [212.633.6646] [Occupy4jobs.org] [info@occupy4jobs.org]
Click HERE to download PDF flyer for distribution [http://occupy4jobs.org/ppcall_m.pdf]
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, propose to all who are concerned about defending the economic, social and political rights of the 99%, that this period, starting with the conventions of the major parties at the end of the summer, through the elections and into 2013, be dedicated to the convening of People’s Power Assemblies, at the local and regional level, and when ready, at the national level.
Reverend Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the Baltimore Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said at a rally in Maryland for Trayvon Martin: “The political establishments, both local and national, have proven to be bankrupt; they have done virtually nothing to protect or serve the people. It’s time for the people to organize themselves and to build people’s power.”
He was speaking not only of specific circumstances in Sanford, Fla., that allowed George Zimmerman to walk free for more than 40 days after killing Trayvon Martin, but of the fact that politicians and other officials at every level of government have failed to defend the interests of working people in this country, especially the most affected, most of whom are people of color.
There is a dual crisis at play. One aspect is the crisis of the economic system, which is global. More than merely a crisis of the financial markets, it is of the system of capitalism itself. And it is the workers who suffer acutely, for workers are thrown out of the workplaces, from their homes, and left destitute. From Greece and Spain to Detroit and Los Angeles, the banks’ demand for more and more money is crushing the lives of workers and poor people, especially young people. Funds for weapon systems, however, and continuing or new wars such as in Syria and Iran, are guaranteed.
The other crisis is political. The cold and brutal truth is that no matter who wins the 2012 Presidential Election, cutbacks, wage cuts, and unemployment are going to get 10 times worse in the future. So-called “democracy” as practiced in the U.S. has never been more meaningless than now. The word is little more than a cover for the dictatorship of the big banks.
No major institution or government entity is protecting workers, especially the most disenfranchised, Black, Latino/a, Native and other workers of color who have faced historical oppression. Both political parties go along with cutting back programs that address important social needs. Both are attacking public- and private-sector unions, allowing foreclosures to continue at a rapid pace, closing and privatizing schools, continued destruction of the environment, deporting undocumented immigrants at an unprecedented pace, and sitting back while youth of color face rampant police brutality and a jobless, uncertain future.
What is to be done then? Regardless of what button or lever is chosen in the elections, the primary factor in ensuring change is action and struggle. The eight-hour workday, Social Security, Civil Rights, the right to vote, unionization, Unemployment Insurance — every progressive law or right was won and secured through struggle in the streets. In this period, the Occupy Wall Street movement opened the door, but it’s just the beginning. More is necessary to widen and sustain the rebellion against the 1%’s “take no prisoners” war on the rest of us.
A higher level of organization is called for: a block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, state to state, region to region approach; a national network of People’s Assemblies — assemblies designed to empower at every level, that take up the interests of working people, especially the most disenfranchised, assemblies that defend our rights and fight for real democracy, assemblies where the least of us is made whole by a deepening social contract that puts working people’s needs and rights before the interests of the wealthy, corporations and financial institutions.
Such an organization would be the highest expression of democracy. The People’s Power Assemblies are the vehicles through which we struggle, whether it is defending a home -owner from eviction, occupying a school from being closed, seizing vacant property, fighting against racism, sexism or LGBT oppression.
Let the PPA be what the government has failed to be. Onward.
Build People’s Power Assemblies!
[signed]
* Rep. Cynthia McKinney, 2008 Green Party Prez Candidate
* Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, Brd. Chair Baltimore SCLC
* Chris Silvera, Secty. Treas., Teamsters L. 808
* Sharon Black, Baltimore Peoples Assembly
* Victor Toro, La Peña del Bronx
* Clarence Thomas, Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union L. 10
* Larry Holmes, Occupy for Jobs
* Bryan Perlmutter, NC State Univ., SDS
* Walter Smith, Pres., Nat’l Postal Mail Handlers Union, L. 334 Charleston, SC
* Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services - CLUPJS
* Committee to Stop FBI Repression
* Eddie Oquendo, Nat’l Postal Mail Handlers Union SC L. 334
* Philippine Forum Baynihan Community Center NYC
* Zaina Alsous, UNC Chapel Hill Student Action w/ Workers
* Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March Movement
* Pam Africa, Int’l Concerned Families & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
* Deloyd Parker, Exec. Dir., Shape Center Houston
* Larry Hales, PPA Staff Organizer
* Delbert Jackson, Occupy Houston, Occupy the Hood
* Leon Purnell, Pres., Baltimore SCLC
* Jersey City Peace Movement
* Ramona Africa, MOVE Organization
* John Parker, Steering Com., Soouthern Calif. Immigration Coalition
* Moratorium On Foreclosures NOW
* Lucy Pagoada, Coordinadora, HondurasUSAResistencia
* Sara Flounders, Int’l Action Center
* MECAWI-Michigan Emergency Coalition Against War & Intervention
* Messiah Rhodes, NYC Unemployed Council
* Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition; IMA
* Parents to Improve School Transportation - PIST
* Puerto Rican Alliance Los Angeles
* Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement
* Bob Carter, Founder, Justice for Palestinians
* Chelsea Coalition on Housing
* Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement
* Rev. Luis Barrios, IFCO/Pastors for Peace
* Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Center
* Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St Francis of Assisi, CCA, Brockton, MA
* Women’s Fightback Network, Boston
* Rhode Island People’s Assembly
* Ed Childs, Chief Shop Steward, UNITE-HERE L. 26, Boston, MA
* Steve Gillis, Vice President, USW L. 8751 Boston School Bus Union
* Steve Kirschbaum, USW Organizer & Chair, Grievance Committee, USW L. 8751
* Brian Shea, Disability Rights Activist, Boston, MA
* Jim Grant, Human Justice Coalition, Wilson, NC
To Create, Build & Multiply People’s Power Assemblies:
Things are already bad — and they are about to get a lot worse!
The people must prepare to defend ourselves against the life-threatening and ever-intensifying economic and social misery that Wall Street and its politicians are imposing on us, including endless war.
Contact: [Solidarity Center 55 West 17 Street, #5C, New York, NY 10011] [212.633.6646] [Occupy4jobs.org] [info@occupy4jobs.org]
Click HERE to download PDF flyer for distribution [http://occupy4jobs.org/ppcall_m.pdf]
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, propose to all who are concerned about defending the economic, social and political rights of the 99%, that this period, starting with the conventions of the major parties at the end of the summer, through the elections and into 2013, be dedicated to the convening of People’s Power Assemblies, at the local and regional level, and when ready, at the national level.
Reverend Cortly “C.D.” Witherspoon, president of the Baltimore Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said at a rally in Maryland for Trayvon Martin: “The political establishments, both local and national, have proven to be bankrupt; they have done virtually nothing to protect or serve the people. It’s time for the people to organize themselves and to build people’s power.”
He was speaking not only of specific circumstances in Sanford, Fla., that allowed George Zimmerman to walk free for more than 40 days after killing Trayvon Martin, but of the fact that politicians and other officials at every level of government have failed to defend the interests of working people in this country, especially the most affected, most of whom are people of color.
There is a dual crisis at play. One aspect is the crisis of the economic system, which is global. More than merely a crisis of the financial markets, it is of the system of capitalism itself. And it is the workers who suffer acutely, for workers are thrown out of the workplaces, from their homes, and left destitute. From Greece and Spain to Detroit and Los Angeles, the banks’ demand for more and more money is crushing the lives of workers and poor people, especially young people. Funds for weapon systems, however, and continuing or new wars such as in Syria and Iran, are guaranteed.
The other crisis is political. The cold and brutal truth is that no matter who wins the 2012 Presidential Election, cutbacks, wage cuts, and unemployment are going to get 10 times worse in the future. So-called “democracy” as practiced in the U.S. has never been more meaningless than now. The word is little more than a cover for the dictatorship of the big banks.
No major institution or government entity is protecting workers, especially the most disenfranchised, Black, Latino/a, Native and other workers of color who have faced historical oppression. Both political parties go along with cutting back programs that address important social needs. Both are attacking public- and private-sector unions, allowing foreclosures to continue at a rapid pace, closing and privatizing schools, continued destruction of the environment, deporting undocumented immigrants at an unprecedented pace, and sitting back while youth of color face rampant police brutality and a jobless, uncertain future.
What is to be done then? Regardless of what button or lever is chosen in the elections, the primary factor in ensuring change is action and struggle. The eight-hour workday, Social Security, Civil Rights, the right to vote, unionization, Unemployment Insurance — every progressive law or right was won and secured through struggle in the streets. In this period, the Occupy Wall Street movement opened the door, but it’s just the beginning. More is necessary to widen and sustain the rebellion against the 1%’s “take no prisoners” war on the rest of us.
A higher level of organization is called for: a block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, state to state, region to region approach; a national network of People’s Assemblies — assemblies designed to empower at every level, that take up the interests of working people, especially the most disenfranchised, assemblies that defend our rights and fight for real democracy, assemblies where the least of us is made whole by a deepening social contract that puts working people’s needs and rights before the interests of the wealthy, corporations and financial institutions.
Such an organization would be the highest expression of democracy. The People’s Power Assemblies are the vehicles through which we struggle, whether it is defending a home -owner from eviction, occupying a school from being closed, seizing vacant property, fighting against racism, sexism or LGBT oppression.
Let the PPA be what the government has failed to be. Onward.
Build People’s Power Assemblies!
[signed]
* Rep. Cynthia McKinney, 2008 Green Party Prez Candidate
* Rev. C.D. Witherspoon, Brd. Chair Baltimore SCLC
* Chris Silvera, Secty. Treas., Teamsters L. 808
* Sharon Black, Baltimore Peoples Assembly
* Victor Toro, La Peña del Bronx
* Clarence Thomas, Int’l Longshore & Warehouse Union L. 10
* Larry Holmes, Occupy for Jobs
* Bryan Perlmutter, NC State Univ., SDS
* Walter Smith, Pres., Nat’l Postal Mail Handlers Union, L. 334 Charleston, SC
* Community-Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services - CLUPJS
* Committee to Stop FBI Repression
* Eddie Oquendo, Nat’l Postal Mail Handlers Union SC L. 334
* Philippine Forum Baynihan Community Center NYC
* Zaina Alsous, UNC Chapel Hill Student Action w/ Workers
* Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March Movement
* Pam Africa, Int’l Concerned Families & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
* Deloyd Parker, Exec. Dir., Shape Center Houston
* Larry Hales, PPA Staff Organizer
* Delbert Jackson, Occupy Houston, Occupy the Hood
* Leon Purnell, Pres., Baltimore SCLC
* Jersey City Peace Movement
* Ramona Africa, MOVE Organization
* John Parker, Steering Com., Soouthern Calif. Immigration Coalition
* Moratorium On Foreclosures NOW
* Lucy Pagoada, Coordinadora, HondurasUSAResistencia
* Sara Flounders, Int’l Action Center
* MECAWI-Michigan Emergency Coalition Against War & Intervention
* Messiah Rhodes, NYC Unemployed Council
* Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition; IMA
* Parents to Improve School Transportation - PIST
* Puerto Rican Alliance Los Angeles
* Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement
* Bob Carter, Founder, Justice for Palestinians
* Chelsea Coalition on Housing
* Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement
* Rev. Luis Barrios, IFCO/Pastors for Peace
* Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Center
* Bishop Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St Francis of Assisi, CCA, Brockton, MA
* Women’s Fightback Network, Boston
* Rhode Island People’s Assembly
* Ed Childs, Chief Shop Steward, UNITE-HERE L. 26, Boston, MA
* Steve Gillis, Vice President, USW L. 8751 Boston School Bus Union
* Steve Kirschbaum, USW Organizer & Chair, Grievance Committee, USW L. 8751
* Brian Shea, Disability Rights Activist, Boston, MA
* Jim Grant, Human Justice Coalition, Wilson, NC
2012-08-28 "The American War on Sidewalk Chalk"
by Julie M. Rodriguez [http://www.care2.com/causes/the-american-war-on-sidewalk-chalk.html]:
We’ve reported on the police arresting protestors for “vandalizing” property with sidewalk chalk in the past – mainly in California. This happened just this summer with members of Occupy LA [http://www.care2.com/causes/police-attack-and-arrest-la-residents-for-using-chalk.html]. And in one 2009 case, 4 animal rights activists passing out leaflets and writing anti-animal cruelty slogans on the ground were actually arrested under terrorism charges [http://www.care2.com/causes/fbi-arrests-4-animal-activists-for-leafleting-protesting-chalking-on-sidewalk.html]!
While these charges are clearly political (chalk, after all, washes off sidewalks harmlessly) – a scary article from Mother Jones reported recently that at least 50 people have been arrested across the US in the last five years for drawing on sidewalks.
Many of these aren’t political protestors. They’re the parents of four and six-year-old children engaging in fun and harmless summer activity. One mom in Richmond, Virginia was arrested and sentenced to 50 hours of community service for letting her child draw on rocks in a local park – and reports that her daughter is now “very nervous around cops” and “very scared of chalk.” [http://moms.today.com/_news/2012/08/06/13145473-chalk-wars-mom-ticketed-for-childs-chalk-drawing-in-public-park?lite]
Another mom was slapped with a $300 fine for letting her six-year-old draw on the stoop outside her Manchester, New York home. And one “family friendly” Denver HOA is trying to enforce a blanket ban on all chalk art – saying some residents have complained that it’s offensive and disturbing [http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/06/07/sidewalk-chalk-art-against-the-rules-in-stapleton/].
In a case outside of Philadelphia, the police explained their motives for arresting two teenage offenders by citing the “broken window theory.” [http://newtown-pa.patch.com/articles/should-drawing-on-the-sidewalk-be-a-criminal-offense-d3f882b2] The idea is that a building with a broken window or two will attract further vandalism – and possibly a break-in. It might even lead to squatters or arsonists entering the building. By harshly punishing mild acts of vandalism, the police hope to prevent more serious crimes [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/4465/].
Of course, that raises the question – is chalk art in a public space really vandalism? The dictionary definition of the word states that vandalism is “Action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.” It’s hard to imagine any situation in which chalk could actually damage or destroy a building, sidewalk, or street. Even in the worst case, the chalk easily washes off with a hose or a rainstorm. It’s not in the same realm as spraypaint or a smashed-in window. Should the law treat it the same way as other acts of vandalism that cause more permanent damage?
Chalk lovers shouldn’t despair too much – while this is a troubling trend, it’s also a “crime” that’s largely going unpunished apart from a few unfortunate cases each year. Mother Jones has compiled a helpful map to let readers know if chalk art could be a problem in their area [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/war-chalk-arrests].
What do you think? Should art or slogans scribbled in chalk be considered graffiti? Or is this a case of law enforcement going too far?
We’ve reported on the police arresting protestors for “vandalizing” property with sidewalk chalk in the past – mainly in California. This happened just this summer with members of Occupy LA [http://www.care2.com/causes/police-attack-and-arrest-la-residents-for-using-chalk.html]. And in one 2009 case, 4 animal rights activists passing out leaflets and writing anti-animal cruelty slogans on the ground were actually arrested under terrorism charges [http://www.care2.com/causes/fbi-arrests-4-animal-activists-for-leafleting-protesting-chalking-on-sidewalk.html]!
While these charges are clearly political (chalk, after all, washes off sidewalks harmlessly) – a scary article from Mother Jones reported recently that at least 50 people have been arrested across the US in the last five years for drawing on sidewalks.
Many of these aren’t political protestors. They’re the parents of four and six-year-old children engaging in fun and harmless summer activity. One mom in Richmond, Virginia was arrested and sentenced to 50 hours of community service for letting her child draw on rocks in a local park – and reports that her daughter is now “very nervous around cops” and “very scared of chalk.” [http://moms.today.com/_news/2012/08/06/13145473-chalk-wars-mom-ticketed-for-childs-chalk-drawing-in-public-park?lite]
Another mom was slapped with a $300 fine for letting her six-year-old draw on the stoop outside her Manchester, New York home. And one “family friendly” Denver HOA is trying to enforce a blanket ban on all chalk art – saying some residents have complained that it’s offensive and disturbing [http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/06/07/sidewalk-chalk-art-against-the-rules-in-stapleton/].
In a case outside of Philadelphia, the police explained their motives for arresting two teenage offenders by citing the “broken window theory.” [http://newtown-pa.patch.com/articles/should-drawing-on-the-sidewalk-be-a-criminal-offense-d3f882b2] The idea is that a building with a broken window or two will attract further vandalism – and possibly a break-in. It might even lead to squatters or arsonists entering the building. By harshly punishing mild acts of vandalism, the police hope to prevent more serious crimes [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/4465/].
Of course, that raises the question – is chalk art in a public space really vandalism? The dictionary definition of the word states that vandalism is “Action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.” It’s hard to imagine any situation in which chalk could actually damage or destroy a building, sidewalk, or street. Even in the worst case, the chalk easily washes off with a hose or a rainstorm. It’s not in the same realm as spraypaint or a smashed-in window. Should the law treat it the same way as other acts of vandalism that cause more permanent damage?
Chalk lovers shouldn’t despair too much – while this is a troubling trend, it’s also a “crime” that’s largely going unpunished apart from a few unfortunate cases each year. Mother Jones has compiled a helpful map to let readers know if chalk art could be a problem in their area [http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/war-chalk-arrests].
What do you think? Should art or slogans scribbled in chalk be considered graffiti? Or is this a case of law enforcement going too far?
Monday, August 27, 2012
Anti-Fascism in North Carolina: Charlotte City Workers' Demand Basic Workers' Rights!
[http://www.southernworker.org] [actioncenter@organizerweb.org]
Tell the City of Charlotte and the Democratic National Convention: Support the City Workers’ Demands for Basic Workers’ Rights!
Click HERE [http://southernworker.org/charlotteworkersrights/] to sign the online petition for wokers rights for Charlotte City Workers and to sign and send a message to the Charlotte City Council, the Obama administration, the Democratic National Convention Committee and others, telling them you support the City of Charlotte workers' demands for a city ordinance enacting a City Workers Bill of Rights.
Support the City of Charlotte Workers' Demands for a city ordinance enacting a City Workers Bill of Rights calling for:
* Equal across-the-board raises for all workers, not "merit" raises
* An End to unfair disciplines
* Payroll union dues deduction
* Meet-and-confer with union representatives
* Collective bargaining rights
ATTEND THE SOUTHERN WORKERS' ASSEMBLY, MONDAY SEPT 3, 1-5 PM, Wedgewood Baptist Church, 4800 Wedgewood Dr, Charlotte, NC!
Go to [http://southernworker.org] for more info.
Southern unions, workers organizations, civil/human rights groups, immigrant rights groups, unemployed, young workers, faith and community will gather in a Southern Workers Assembly on September 3, the opening day of the DNC to uplift our on-the-ground actual workers’ rights struggles in the US South and challenge denial of basic human rights and Federal Right-to-work (for less) laws that make it difficult to organize unions for fairness and dignity.
MORE STORIES
[http://www.wcnc.com/news/City-Workers-to-continue-protests-through-DNC-166844766.html]
[http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/21/3468421/city-workers-well-protest-through.html]
2012-08-13 photographs showing the picket line in Charlotte:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968 standing with striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN demanding basic union rights. Yet, still today, workers in North Carolina are denied the basic right to collective bargaining. Charlotte City workers have been forced to work 12 hour days 6 or 7 days a week in preparation for the Democratic National Convention and are given harsh disciplines for minor infractions such as running over a curb. Meanwhile, the City Manager recently gave himself a hefty 2nd raise for the year, totaling over $20,000.
The attack on collective bargaining that was observed this past year in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and beyond was an outgrowth of the unsolved battle against Right-to-work (for less) laws that still plague the US South. Now the Democratic National Convention is being hosted in the least unionized state. Charlotte is also home of more banks than anywhere outside of New York, this is why organizers are calling it the Wall Street of the South. Yet, this rich city cannot find enough money to give the workers a decent raise or recognize their demands for a City Workers Bill of Rights.
In lead up to DNC, Charlotte City Workers Picket to Demand Fairness and Recognition of Human Rights -
Over the past few weeks in the lead up to the Democratic National Convention, Charlotte city workers have been picketing city council demanding recognition of their basic worker rights. As the City of Charlotte uses its status as host of the DNC to boast that it is a world-class city, the rank-n-file workers that keep the city clean and safe are being denied their basic rights at work. UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union has released the below open letter to the Obama Administration, Charlotte City Council and state elected officials to honor and enact a Municipal Workers Bill of Rights ordinance and to follow through on the ruling of United Nation's International Labor Organization ruling to repeal ban on collective bargaining for public employees.
"The hard work we do is vital for this city to function, so we are asking the City Council to address our needs and rights as workers and to establish a system of meet-and-confer with us to discuss how to keep the city running smoothly through the convention," stated Al Locklear, a sanitation worker and President of UE150 chapter of Charlotte City Workers Union. "When we saw that the city manager received two raises this year totaling over $20,000 yet we hardly didn't get anything, we realized that our hard work is not recognized."
City workers are are campaigning for the adoption of a City Workers Bill of Rights so that they have decent working conditions and be paid a decent wage for their hard work. UE150 union members are also requesting representation in grievance hearings and also voluntary payroll deduction for workers that choose to join the union. The United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) found North Carolina's ban on collective bargaining to be in violation of international labor standards. In that decision the ILO called on the United States government to promote the establishment of a collective bargaining framework in the public sector in North Carolina and called specifically for the repeal of NCGS ß 95-98. The City of Charlotte does have the authority to meet-n-confer with the union and grant other basic union rights such as pay roll deduction, as is done in at least three other cities across the state and for all state employees.
"We are sick and tired of being given 30 day suspensions without pay for minor infractions, this can be devastating to a worker's life" stated Barbara Edgecombe, who is a sanitation worker and Secretary-Treasurer for the City Workers Union chapter of UE150. "Then when we get suspended, we are not even given the basic right to representation to give us a fair chance to defend ourselves on the job."
Charlotte City Workers Union chapter along with the statewide UE150, NC Public Service Workers Union and dozens of other unions and workers organizations from states across the US South will be participating in the Southern Workers Assembly on Monday, September 3 on Labor Day, the opening day of the DNC to continue to raise their demands for recognition of a Workers Bill of Rights. The Southern Workers Assembly is asking for other national unions to endorse and send support for their efforts to organize the South and build a long-term Southern Labor Alliance.
More information can be found at [http://southernworker.org]
2012-08-24 "Charlotte (N.C.) City Workers: 'We'll Protest Through the DNC'; 'They Want to Run Us to Death!'" by Josh Eidelson [http://www.salon.com/2012/08/24/they_want_to_run_us_to_death/]:
Josh Eidelson is a freelance journalist and a contributor at The American Prospect and In These Times. After receiving his MA in Political Science, he worked as a union organizer for five years.
---
In two weeks, Democrats will gather in Charlotte, N.C., and pledge once more to strengthen the right of workers to join unions and negotiate with their bosses. But the convention's success depends on the work of the city's sanitation workers, who are banned by law from exercising that right. As the party readies its platform pronouncements, those workers are asking for more concrete help.
Wednesday, leaders of a North Carolina union released a letter appealing to President Obama and the Democratic National Committee for support in their efforts to win union rights. "Despite the added work and dangers for Charlotte City workers in preparation for and in the aftermath of the DNC, and the fact that $50 million in federal funding has been allotted to the City of Charlotte to host the DNC," the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 150 wrote, "the City of Charlotte refuses to address the needs and rights of the City workers."
"The workers are working like dogs," said garbage driver Al Locklear, the president of Local 150's Charlotte chapter. "They want to run us to death."
UE says that sanitation workers have been working up to 15 hours a day and up to seven days a week due to pre-convention pressures, inadequate staffing and high turnover. Locklear says the mandatory overtime hours are exacerbating already unsafe conditions: When workers point out potential safety issues with the trucks they're supposed to drive, he alleges, some managers "have told them to take them on out anyway." Locklear charges that many of the trucks, including the one he drives, also lack working air conditioning: "It is hotter on the inside of that truck than it is on the outside." "The longer they work, mistakes are made, more accidents happen," said UE organizer Ashaki Binta.
The restrictions on public workers' union rights in Charlotte are even greater than those signed into law by Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Some reports on Democrats' choice of Charlotte for their convention have mentioned North Carolina's right-to-work law and exceptionally low unionization rate. Fewer have noted that the state is one of only two in the country to ban all levels of government from negotiating any contracts with public employees' unions, regardless of how many workers support the union (some other states restrict which public employees can bargain collectively, or what they can negotiate over, or bar strikes). The ban "really is a slap in the face to public employees here," said MaryBe McMillan, the secretary-treasurer of the state AFL-CIO.
Asked about UE's criticism of Obama, McMillan said, "It would have been helpful if Democratic officials would have been more outspoken about their support for collective bargaining rights for public employees," including North Carolina officials. "Ultimately, though," she added, "I mean, President Obama and the DNC can't change the law here. It's the voters that can do that Š that's really our focus right now with our members."
Before agreeing to hold the convention in Charlotte, said Locklear, national Democrats should have said, "You want us to come down, we recognize unions and you don't. Y'all got to change." "I don't understand people like that," he added. "If they believe in unions and stand for the unions Š [why] they don't say that's wrong." Instead, he said, "It's about money now, regardless who it is."
UE's Binta said that the president and the DNC have a responsibility to back the workers' campaign: "If you're going to meet here in Charlotte, then you should be respecting the rights of the workers who are on the front line of providing for the Democratic National Convention."
In 2010, North Carolina's Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue signed an executive order instituting a procedure for state agencies to "meet and confer" - but not negotiate - with a public sector union. At the same time, Perdue told the News & Observer, "Employers know I'm against collective bargaining." (Perdue's office did not respond to a request for comment.)
In other words, some public sector union members have a venue to raise concerns and make suggestions to management. But they're still barred from having negotiations or contracts. And while some cities have chosen to institute "meet and confer" with their own employees, others have declined to - including Charlotte.
In the absence of collective bargaining, Local 150 members are still using collective action and advocacy to try to improve their conditions. But absent a union contract, Locklear says that disciplinary rules are unreasonably strict, and often enforced selectively as an excuse to fire activists. "Some of the departments are telling them, you better not get in that union - you can lose your job," said Locklear. Workers also say they were told by management that they're not allowed to wear their work uniforms when they appear at City Council to protest about their work conditions.
Overturning North Carolina's collective bargaining ban would require a new state law, a daunting proposition given Perdue's resistance and the Republican control of the state House and Senate. UE's more immediate goal is to pass a "Municipal Workers Bill of Rights" ordinance through Charlotte's City Council, which would include "meet and confer," staffing and safety standards, higher wages and the option for workers who want to pay union dues to have them deducted automatically from their checks. Under such an ordinance, said Locklear, workers would at least have the opportunity to "sit down and talk with [management] about what's going on with these trucks" and say, "This is unsafe."
In Wednesday's letter, UE leaders "implore" the Obama administration and Democrats to support such a Bill of Rights for Charlotte workers, as well as the overturning of the state ban. UE members have also been holding weekly vigils outside the City Council chambers, and they plan to raise the issue when the council meets on Monday.
The body has a 9-2 Democratic majority. Binta said UE is "close to having a majority" for a narrower ordinance to require "meet and confer" and dues deduction, both of which Charlotte's city manager has "refused to implement" on his own. But she said members face "a lot of pressure" from the Chamber of Commerce to oppose even those measures.
Democratic City Council member John Autry told Salon he would support such a bill, because "all work has value, and the people who perform that work are valuable." Reached over email, Democratic Council member Beth Pickering said, "I support the concerns of our public workers," including "meet and confer" and dues deduction, but added that the issues "require serious consideration and in-depth analysis."
In response to Salon's inquiry to the mayor's office regarding the union's safety allegations and proposed Bill of Rights, Charlotte City Attorney Robert Hagemann emailed that the city offers "a fair and competitive compensation and benefits package" and "To the extent that employees will be required to work overtime - and those will be mostly public safety employees - they will be compensated in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act." Hagemann wrote that while bargaining is illegal, the city recognizes "the right of its employees to belong, or not to belong, to a labor union."
Asked whether anti-union laws should have cost Charlotte the chance to host the DNC, the AFL-CIO's McMillan said, "I don't know if I would say Charlotte was the best choice, but from our perspective this convention is giving a lot of union members jobs Š that's also a good thing." She added that the convention could be "an opportunity for us to highlight the struggles of workers in North Carolina."
Locklear was less optimistic: "I know it's going to benefit the city, all this money they're going to be getting. But us workers, what are we going to get? Nothing but work, work, work."
* * * * * * * * * *
AN OPEN LETTER TO:
President Barack Obama
Governor Beverly Purdue and the North Carolina General Assembly
The Democratic National Committee
The North Carolina Democratic Party Committee
The Charlotte Democratic Party Committee
The City of Charlotte
August 22, 2012
Dear National, State, and Local Officials,
As the Democratic National Committee continues its preparation for the National Democratic Party Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, starting September 3, 2012, thousands of public sector workers, first responders, and other public service providers in Charlotte (and throughout the state of North Carolina are being denied basic and fundamental worker's rights. They are also denied important areas of cooperation by the City of Charlotte administration and management.
Unjust working conditions are part of the daily life of city workers in Charlotte. Unfair disciplinary actions such as 30 day suspensions for minor mistakes or infractions are a regular occurrence which many workers have complained about only to have their concerns ignored by management. City policies are not uniformly implemented and applied at the whim and biases of supervisors department by department. Reports of health and safety problems are routinely ignored by management. Wage increases for City workers are kept low or nonexistent while managers and supervisors have been granted thousands of dollars in pay increases and benefits provided by the city.
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will convene in the City of Charlotte despite the fact that the State of North Carolina has been cited by the United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) for its violations of international labor standards due to North Carolina General Statute 95-98, the law that prohibits the right to collective bargaining for public sector workers in this state.
Despite the added work and dangers for Charlotte City workers in preparation for and in the aftermath of the DNC, and the fact that $50 million in federal funding has been allotted to the City of Charlotte to host the DNC, the City of Charlotte refuses to address the needs and rights of the City workers.
As the largest city in the state of North Carolina, including being a major financial center for the Southern Region, Charlotte's policies and practices on worker rights is an important trendsetter for the entire state.
Moreover, conservative forces in the NC General Assembly recently eliminated the right of payroll dues deduction for members of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), the union for teachers and education workers. The City of Charlotte administration, following this conservative line, has refused to allow payroll dues deduction for it's City workers who belong to unions and worker associations, and to set up a system of meet-and-confer that allows workers and management to meet, discuss, and resolve issues affecting the workers and the services we provide.
The right to clear, just, and fair policies in the workplace, fair and just working conditions, and regular "meet and confer" sessions between workers and their representatives with state and local administrators and managers are clearly a need in the state of North Carolina for public sector workers. We are calling for the adoption of a "Worker's Bill of Rights" for public sector workers at the local and state levels to recognize, codify, and protect our rights and interests as public employees.
We implore the Obama Administration, the national, state, and local Democratic Party, Governor Purdue, and state elected officials who support fairness and justice, to contact officials in the City of Charlotte and strongly urge them to honor and enact a Municipal Workers Bill of Rights ordinance.
We implore the Obama Administration to call on the State of North Carolina to repeal NCGS 95-98, thereby coming into compliance with international labor standards that the US government is obligated to uphold by its membership in the International Labor Organization of the United Nations.
Sincerely Yours,
Southern Workers Assembly
Al Locklear, president
Charlotte Chapter,
UE Local 150
Richard Petway, president
Municipal Council,
UE Local 150
Angaza Laughinghouse, state-wide president UE Local 150,
The North Carolina Public Service Workers Union
UE Local 150 *
The North Carolina Public Service Workers Union
PO Box 46263
Raleigh, NC 27620
919-580-1009
For more information on the Bill of Rights call 704-241-9856; 203-379-7711
* * * * *
Tell the City of Charlotte and the Democratic National Convention: Support the City Workers’ Demands for Basic Workers’ Rights!
Click HERE [http://southernworker.org/charlotteworkersrights/] to sign the online petition for wokers rights for Charlotte City Workers and to sign and send a message to the Charlotte City Council, the Obama administration, the Democratic National Convention Committee and others, telling them you support the City of Charlotte workers' demands for a city ordinance enacting a City Workers Bill of Rights.
Support the City of Charlotte Workers' Demands for a city ordinance enacting a City Workers Bill of Rights calling for:
* Equal across-the-board raises for all workers, not "merit" raises
* An End to unfair disciplines
* Payroll union dues deduction
* Meet-and-confer with union representatives
* Collective bargaining rights
ATTEND THE SOUTHERN WORKERS' ASSEMBLY, MONDAY SEPT 3, 1-5 PM, Wedgewood Baptist Church, 4800 Wedgewood Dr, Charlotte, NC!
Go to [http://southernworker.org] for more info.
Southern unions, workers organizations, civil/human rights groups, immigrant rights groups, unemployed, young workers, faith and community will gather in a Southern Workers Assembly on September 3, the opening day of the DNC to uplift our on-the-ground actual workers’ rights struggles in the US South and challenge denial of basic human rights and Federal Right-to-work (for less) laws that make it difficult to organize unions for fairness and dignity.
MORE STORIES
[http://www.wcnc.com/news/City-Workers-to-continue-protests-through-DNC-166844766.html]
[http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/21/3468421/city-workers-well-protest-through.html]
2012-08-13 photographs showing the picket line in Charlotte:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968 standing with striking sanitation workers in Memphis, TN demanding basic union rights. Yet, still today, workers in North Carolina are denied the basic right to collective bargaining. Charlotte City workers have been forced to work 12 hour days 6 or 7 days a week in preparation for the Democratic National Convention and are given harsh disciplines for minor infractions such as running over a curb. Meanwhile, the City Manager recently gave himself a hefty 2nd raise for the year, totaling over $20,000.
The attack on collective bargaining that was observed this past year in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and beyond was an outgrowth of the unsolved battle against Right-to-work (for less) laws that still plague the US South. Now the Democratic National Convention is being hosted in the least unionized state. Charlotte is also home of more banks than anywhere outside of New York, this is why organizers are calling it the Wall Street of the South. Yet, this rich city cannot find enough money to give the workers a decent raise or recognize their demands for a City Workers Bill of Rights.
In lead up to DNC, Charlotte City Workers Picket to Demand Fairness and Recognition of Human Rights -
Over the past few weeks in the lead up to the Democratic National Convention, Charlotte city workers have been picketing city council demanding recognition of their basic worker rights. As the City of Charlotte uses its status as host of the DNC to boast that it is a world-class city, the rank-n-file workers that keep the city clean and safe are being denied their basic rights at work. UE local 150, NC Public Service Workers Union has released the below open letter to the Obama Administration, Charlotte City Council and state elected officials to honor and enact a Municipal Workers Bill of Rights ordinance and to follow through on the ruling of United Nation's International Labor Organization ruling to repeal ban on collective bargaining for public employees.
"The hard work we do is vital for this city to function, so we are asking the City Council to address our needs and rights as workers and to establish a system of meet-and-confer with us to discuss how to keep the city running smoothly through the convention," stated Al Locklear, a sanitation worker and President of UE150 chapter of Charlotte City Workers Union. "When we saw that the city manager received two raises this year totaling over $20,000 yet we hardly didn't get anything, we realized that our hard work is not recognized."
City workers are are campaigning for the adoption of a City Workers Bill of Rights so that they have decent working conditions and be paid a decent wage for their hard work. UE150 union members are also requesting representation in grievance hearings and also voluntary payroll deduction for workers that choose to join the union. The United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) found North Carolina's ban on collective bargaining to be in violation of international labor standards. In that decision the ILO called on the United States government to promote the establishment of a collective bargaining framework in the public sector in North Carolina and called specifically for the repeal of NCGS ß 95-98. The City of Charlotte does have the authority to meet-n-confer with the union and grant other basic union rights such as pay roll deduction, as is done in at least three other cities across the state and for all state employees.
"We are sick and tired of being given 30 day suspensions without pay for minor infractions, this can be devastating to a worker's life" stated Barbara Edgecombe, who is a sanitation worker and Secretary-Treasurer for the City Workers Union chapter of UE150. "Then when we get suspended, we are not even given the basic right to representation to give us a fair chance to defend ourselves on the job."
Charlotte City Workers Union chapter along with the statewide UE150, NC Public Service Workers Union and dozens of other unions and workers organizations from states across the US South will be participating in the Southern Workers Assembly on Monday, September 3 on Labor Day, the opening day of the DNC to continue to raise their demands for recognition of a Workers Bill of Rights. The Southern Workers Assembly is asking for other national unions to endorse and send support for their efforts to organize the South and build a long-term Southern Labor Alliance.
More information can be found at [http://southernworker.org]
2012-08-24 "Charlotte (N.C.) City Workers: 'We'll Protest Through the DNC'; 'They Want to Run Us to Death!'" by Josh Eidelson [http://www.salon.com/2012/08/24/they_want_to_run_us_to_death/]:
Josh Eidelson is a freelance journalist and a contributor at The American Prospect and In These Times. After receiving his MA in Political Science, he worked as a union organizer for five years.
---
In two weeks, Democrats will gather in Charlotte, N.C., and pledge once more to strengthen the right of workers to join unions and negotiate with their bosses. But the convention's success depends on the work of the city's sanitation workers, who are banned by law from exercising that right. As the party readies its platform pronouncements, those workers are asking for more concrete help.
Wednesday, leaders of a North Carolina union released a letter appealing to President Obama and the Democratic National Committee for support in their efforts to win union rights. "Despite the added work and dangers for Charlotte City workers in preparation for and in the aftermath of the DNC, and the fact that $50 million in federal funding has been allotted to the City of Charlotte to host the DNC," the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 150 wrote, "the City of Charlotte refuses to address the needs and rights of the City workers."
"The workers are working like dogs," said garbage driver Al Locklear, the president of Local 150's Charlotte chapter. "They want to run us to death."
UE says that sanitation workers have been working up to 15 hours a day and up to seven days a week due to pre-convention pressures, inadequate staffing and high turnover. Locklear says the mandatory overtime hours are exacerbating already unsafe conditions: When workers point out potential safety issues with the trucks they're supposed to drive, he alleges, some managers "have told them to take them on out anyway." Locklear charges that many of the trucks, including the one he drives, also lack working air conditioning: "It is hotter on the inside of that truck than it is on the outside." "The longer they work, mistakes are made, more accidents happen," said UE organizer Ashaki Binta.
The restrictions on public workers' union rights in Charlotte are even greater than those signed into law by Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Some reports on Democrats' choice of Charlotte for their convention have mentioned North Carolina's right-to-work law and exceptionally low unionization rate. Fewer have noted that the state is one of only two in the country to ban all levels of government from negotiating any contracts with public employees' unions, regardless of how many workers support the union (some other states restrict which public employees can bargain collectively, or what they can negotiate over, or bar strikes). The ban "really is a slap in the face to public employees here," said MaryBe McMillan, the secretary-treasurer of the state AFL-CIO.
Asked about UE's criticism of Obama, McMillan said, "It would have been helpful if Democratic officials would have been more outspoken about their support for collective bargaining rights for public employees," including North Carolina officials. "Ultimately, though," she added, "I mean, President Obama and the DNC can't change the law here. It's the voters that can do that Š that's really our focus right now with our members."
Before agreeing to hold the convention in Charlotte, said Locklear, national Democrats should have said, "You want us to come down, we recognize unions and you don't. Y'all got to change." "I don't understand people like that," he added. "If they believe in unions and stand for the unions Š [why] they don't say that's wrong." Instead, he said, "It's about money now, regardless who it is."
UE's Binta said that the president and the DNC have a responsibility to back the workers' campaign: "If you're going to meet here in Charlotte, then you should be respecting the rights of the workers who are on the front line of providing for the Democratic National Convention."
In 2010, North Carolina's Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue signed an executive order instituting a procedure for state agencies to "meet and confer" - but not negotiate - with a public sector union. At the same time, Perdue told the News & Observer, "Employers know I'm against collective bargaining." (Perdue's office did not respond to a request for comment.)
In other words, some public sector union members have a venue to raise concerns and make suggestions to management. But they're still barred from having negotiations or contracts. And while some cities have chosen to institute "meet and confer" with their own employees, others have declined to - including Charlotte.
In the absence of collective bargaining, Local 150 members are still using collective action and advocacy to try to improve their conditions. But absent a union contract, Locklear says that disciplinary rules are unreasonably strict, and often enforced selectively as an excuse to fire activists. "Some of the departments are telling them, you better not get in that union - you can lose your job," said Locklear. Workers also say they were told by management that they're not allowed to wear their work uniforms when they appear at City Council to protest about their work conditions.
Overturning North Carolina's collective bargaining ban would require a new state law, a daunting proposition given Perdue's resistance and the Republican control of the state House and Senate. UE's more immediate goal is to pass a "Municipal Workers Bill of Rights" ordinance through Charlotte's City Council, which would include "meet and confer," staffing and safety standards, higher wages and the option for workers who want to pay union dues to have them deducted automatically from their checks. Under such an ordinance, said Locklear, workers would at least have the opportunity to "sit down and talk with [management] about what's going on with these trucks" and say, "This is unsafe."
In Wednesday's letter, UE leaders "implore" the Obama administration and Democrats to support such a Bill of Rights for Charlotte workers, as well as the overturning of the state ban. UE members have also been holding weekly vigils outside the City Council chambers, and they plan to raise the issue when the council meets on Monday.
The body has a 9-2 Democratic majority. Binta said UE is "close to having a majority" for a narrower ordinance to require "meet and confer" and dues deduction, both of which Charlotte's city manager has "refused to implement" on his own. But she said members face "a lot of pressure" from the Chamber of Commerce to oppose even those measures.
Democratic City Council member John Autry told Salon he would support such a bill, because "all work has value, and the people who perform that work are valuable." Reached over email, Democratic Council member Beth Pickering said, "I support the concerns of our public workers," including "meet and confer" and dues deduction, but added that the issues "require serious consideration and in-depth analysis."
In response to Salon's inquiry to the mayor's office regarding the union's safety allegations and proposed Bill of Rights, Charlotte City Attorney Robert Hagemann emailed that the city offers "a fair and competitive compensation and benefits package" and "To the extent that employees will be required to work overtime - and those will be mostly public safety employees - they will be compensated in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act." Hagemann wrote that while bargaining is illegal, the city recognizes "the right of its employees to belong, or not to belong, to a labor union."
Asked whether anti-union laws should have cost Charlotte the chance to host the DNC, the AFL-CIO's McMillan said, "I don't know if I would say Charlotte was the best choice, but from our perspective this convention is giving a lot of union members jobs Š that's also a good thing." She added that the convention could be "an opportunity for us to highlight the struggles of workers in North Carolina."
Locklear was less optimistic: "I know it's going to benefit the city, all this money they're going to be getting. But us workers, what are we going to get? Nothing but work, work, work."
* * * * * * * * * *
AN OPEN LETTER TO:
President Barack Obama
Governor Beverly Purdue and the North Carolina General Assembly
The Democratic National Committee
The North Carolina Democratic Party Committee
The Charlotte Democratic Party Committee
The City of Charlotte
August 22, 2012
Dear National, State, and Local Officials,
As the Democratic National Committee continues its preparation for the National Democratic Party Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, starting September 3, 2012, thousands of public sector workers, first responders, and other public service providers in Charlotte (and throughout the state of North Carolina are being denied basic and fundamental worker's rights. They are also denied important areas of cooperation by the City of Charlotte administration and management.
Unjust working conditions are part of the daily life of city workers in Charlotte. Unfair disciplinary actions such as 30 day suspensions for minor mistakes or infractions are a regular occurrence which many workers have complained about only to have their concerns ignored by management. City policies are not uniformly implemented and applied at the whim and biases of supervisors department by department. Reports of health and safety problems are routinely ignored by management. Wage increases for City workers are kept low or nonexistent while managers and supervisors have been granted thousands of dollars in pay increases and benefits provided by the city.
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will convene in the City of Charlotte despite the fact that the State of North Carolina has been cited by the United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) for its violations of international labor standards due to North Carolina General Statute 95-98, the law that prohibits the right to collective bargaining for public sector workers in this state.
Despite the added work and dangers for Charlotte City workers in preparation for and in the aftermath of the DNC, and the fact that $50 million in federal funding has been allotted to the City of Charlotte to host the DNC, the City of Charlotte refuses to address the needs and rights of the City workers.
As the largest city in the state of North Carolina, including being a major financial center for the Southern Region, Charlotte's policies and practices on worker rights is an important trendsetter for the entire state.
Moreover, conservative forces in the NC General Assembly recently eliminated the right of payroll dues deduction for members of the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), the union for teachers and education workers. The City of Charlotte administration, following this conservative line, has refused to allow payroll dues deduction for it's City workers who belong to unions and worker associations, and to set up a system of meet-and-confer that allows workers and management to meet, discuss, and resolve issues affecting the workers and the services we provide.
The right to clear, just, and fair policies in the workplace, fair and just working conditions, and regular "meet and confer" sessions between workers and their representatives with state and local administrators and managers are clearly a need in the state of North Carolina for public sector workers. We are calling for the adoption of a "Worker's Bill of Rights" for public sector workers at the local and state levels to recognize, codify, and protect our rights and interests as public employees.
We implore the Obama Administration, the national, state, and local Democratic Party, Governor Purdue, and state elected officials who support fairness and justice, to contact officials in the City of Charlotte and strongly urge them to honor and enact a Municipal Workers Bill of Rights ordinance.
We implore the Obama Administration to call on the State of North Carolina to repeal NCGS 95-98, thereby coming into compliance with international labor standards that the US government is obligated to uphold by its membership in the International Labor Organization of the United Nations.
Sincerely Yours,
Southern Workers Assembly
Al Locklear, president
Charlotte Chapter,
UE Local 150
Richard Petway, president
Municipal Council,
UE Local 150
Angaza Laughinghouse, state-wide president UE Local 150,
The North Carolina Public Service Workers Union
UE Local 150 *
The North Carolina Public Service Workers Union
PO Box 46263
Raleigh, NC 27620
919-580-1009
For more information on the Bill of Rights call 704-241-9856; 203-379-7711
* * * * *
Benton Harbor in Michigan is under a Fascist regime
Benton Harbor is a city within the USA where Fascism has been implemented, under an unelected dictatorship which enacts the will of the monopolist corporations.
A simple web search for "Benton Harbor Whirlpool" will show you exactly what is happening.
Their law is governed by judges acting criminally to increase their personal profits.Message from Rev. Edward Pinkney:
Boycott ! Boycott! Boycott!
Whirlpool steals money from the people!
Whirlpool Corporation will not pay anywhere near the U.S. statutory tax rate of 35% on those profits. Its effective rate is 0%.
Whirlpool has stock more than $ 500 million in tax credits. remember U.S. Rep Fred Upton who is the heir to Whirlpool fortune is the chair to the U.S.Energy committee.
The firm get a production tax credit of up to $200 per refrigerators, $225 per washer and dryer and $75 dollars per dishwasher.
Think of these energy efficiency tax carve out as a version of the earned income tax credit for corporate America. Except Whirlpool Corporation is not poor.
The deal gets sweeter. Those credit can be carried over from one year to the next for up to 20 years. Whirlpool is collecting so many credits that it may not have to pay a dime of corporate income tax for years and years. The lost revenue alone from Whirlpool far exceeds the 78 million revenue cost over 10 years that Congress's joint committee on taxation predicted for the credit...
Special favors like these also create a business constituency against tax reform that would benefit the overall economy. Whirlpool carries its $5oo million of unused tax credit as an asset on its balance sheet, so cutting tax rates shrinks the book value of that asset. This is why so many companies actually oppose lowering tax rates say Scott Hodge, president of the tax foundation.
The White House claims to want to reduce corporation tax rates in a neutral way by closing loopholes. Yet it is hard to take that committment seriously when its new budget propose to extend the green-credit windfallfor another year. Whirlpool is one case study in the case for corporate tax reform.
Whirlpool has destroyed so many lives around the country with tainted hazardous chemicals. The residents and property owners in Ohio filed two more lawsuits to bring the total over 30, against Whirlpool. Whirlpool has partnership with NAACP to take over the city city of Benton Harbor. The NAACP has sold out to the Whirlpool corporation.
We must boycott all Whirlpool products! June 1 2013 will start the international boycott of all Whirlpool
products and Kitchen Aid. Whirlpool was built on racism. Whirlpool is the authur of the Dictator law,Public Act 4, which is now Public Act 436. The Dictator law in Michigan!
2013-05-22 "The Dictators and Billionaires Take Control"
by Rev. Edward Pinkney:
The Whirlpool Corporation has unveiled a plan to completely gentrify downtown Benton Harbor, Michigan. This is being accomplished with the aid of the new Emergency Manager, Tony Saunders, who has a shopping list of things Whirlpool wants completed. The last Emergency Manager failed Whirlpool’s test. Whirlpool went to the governor to have him removed. Saunders was put in his place.
The Whirlpool Corporation designed the Harbor Shores project, hailed by the media and the white business community as a revitalization of the city of Benton Harbor. They told the community that the project would bring jobs. It was really an unprecedented opportunity to make a lot of money at the expense of an impoverished community.
The city of Detroit is facing the very same problems with their new dictator. The city of Benton Harbor and Detroit are under a vicious fascist attack by Governor Rick Snyder and his rich buddies, known as the billionaires.
Dan Gilbert, the multi-billionaire owner of Quick Loans, and a member of the Business Roundtable, has been meeting with Detroit’s new Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr under Public Act 436, which gave Orr total control. Gilbert also owns a number of sports teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has plans to transform several Detroit streets and thoroughfares into pedestrian walkways with shopping districts around 22 buildings Gilbert has purchased. Several of the buildings are historic. All were purchased at bargain prices. Gilbert’s company also is providing seed money for digital companies. Detroit is seen as a major future home for that industry. Such companies hire very few workers.
An Emergency Manager has also been placed in six cities and three school districts across Michigan. None of the Emergency Managers work for the citizens. They only work for the corporations.
For example, the Benton Harbor Public Safety officer and Chief Roger Lange reduced the Benton Harbor Fire Department down to three full time firefighters from ten. Recently Lt. Doug Bell was severely burned in an early morning fire at 1034 Jennings Ave. Bell was the only firefighter on duty when the call came in. How can one person put out a fire? The standard procedure is for two fire fighters to be inside a burning structure and for two to be outside monitoring the scene. The fire department has been destroyed by the cuts. In addition, Benton Harbor city workers saw more benefits cuts, including 12 holidays. Their insurance contribution was trimmed and Saunders is promising more cuts in a series of emergency financial orders.
People need to stand up and fight. A new world is possible.
For more information, or to show solidarity:
Contact the good Rev. Edward Pinkney, former President of "Benton Harbor Twin Cities NAACP", "BANCO" National Organizer, producer of "Pinkney to Pinkney" at Blogtalkradio.com, every Sunday at 5pm [269-925-0001] [http://OccupyThePGA.wordpress.com].
"Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO) [www.bhbanco.org] [banco9342@sbcglobal.net], of which there are currently four branches is starting new branches across the USA.
ATTENTION: NAACP works for the plutocracy, and are easily taken over by big money!!!
Whirlpool Corporation's money is turning the national NAACP into a cat's paw against the grassroots civil rights movement, mainly by attacking NAACP chapters which are protecting the People whom they serve!
"The NAACP is no longer relevant" messages from Rev. PinkneyThe NAACP is doing very little to organize and help the African-American community. They are living in the past and reaping the benefits of our ancestors. Our ancestors have been betrayed by a group of greedy and dishonest middle class African-Americans. The majority of them are concerned about material things and fronting for the status quo.
Too many African-Americans have been forced out of the NAACP, ignored by the NAACP, expelled from the NAACP, and labeled by mainstream media because they work to achieve the NAACP goals. The NAACP is not operating in good faith. The NAACP is robbing the Black community. The NAACP is misrepresenting the Black community.
We demand Corporate America and other institutions to stop giving money to the NAACP with the intent of helping African-Americans. We demand the NAACP publish the names of institutions and the amount of money received from corporations during the past two decades.
We demand corporations in all states publish the amount of money given to the NAACP at the local, state, regional and national levels.
We demand the NAACP stop putting money before the needs of members and African-Americans.
Now is the time to change the rules of the game to ensure that African-Americans understand how the NAACP operates.
NAACP lost influence by allowing corporate dollars to control them. NAACP no longer supports the communities. THE NAACP IS NO LONGER RELEVANT.
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BURN BABY BURN! BURN YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD TO THE NAACP!!
Spread the word!
[Original call sent out 2012-08] We need one thousand calls..............call Gil Ford at 410-404-1408 at the NAACP National Headquarter.Tell him that the Rev. Pinkney will burn his NAACP membership card along with eight different NAACP branches from around the country on Aug.19th, Sunday at 5:30pm on the Pinkney to Pinkney show, blogtalkeradio.com!
Rev. Pinkney is asking every member of the NAACP to burn their NAACP membership cards. If a majority of members participated, it would send a clear message that we no longer tolerate the organization being run by corporations and people who comply with them.
A corporate looking email is circulating. It states that the newly created Benton Harbor "Leadership Caucus" endorses a state NAACP organized election to oust Rev. Pinkney. People who made calls to Rev. Atterberry of this "group" heard that Pinkney is too much of a "trouble maker." They want a new Twin Cities NAACP president. (Or, at least their overlord, Whirlpool, does.) James Atterberry is a black man who will be elected to handle the affairs of Whirlpool.
Whirlpool's Marcus Robinson has been working with the NAACP, specifically Yvonne White, Michigan NAACP president, to takeover the Benton Harbor branch and me, the president.
Two people who want to speak anonymously have reported to me that Whirlpool Corp. paid a large sum of money to the state NAACP.
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message from SUNDIATA SADIQ:
"When Ralph Poynter and I went to Benton Harbor, Mich. we saw the effects of gentrification and the firing of mostly Black folk (working class) by Whirlpool.
The sole spokesperson for police brutality land grabbing is the Rev. Edward Pinkney.
What happened in Ossining, NY is similar in terms of getting rid of the Ossining Chapter of NAACP by the NY State pres. Hazel Dukes, Former Lobbyist for the tobacco industry and now unofficially supporting the poisonous soft drink industry.
This Chapter was too much for some folk. I spoke in Benton Harbor on the history of J. Bond, Hazel Dukes, James Gee, and Ben Andrews - all charged with crimes and in some cases reappointed to the National Board of NAACP.
Benton Harbor and Ossining Chapters of NAACP committed no crimes against our folk. That is the treatment that the Ossining Chapter got after 70 some odd yrs. of service to the community.
Now the Kneegrow middle class in Benton Harbor, Mich. has decided Rev. Ed Pinkney is too militant for the bourgeois kneegrows and Whirlpool.
The "Silver Rights Leadership" have decided to move on Pinkney. They have tried to frame, jail him for 10yrs. and yet "He Still Rises" to overcome a most powerful enemy.
Corporate ameriKKKa and the "Silver Rights Leadership" of the NAACP. IT SEEMS IT IS ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS."
---
Rev, I joined the NAACP this year when I moved back to Utica, NY as a gesture of solidarity with local people active in the community. I don't agree with the undemocratic structure of the organization or its close ties with the Democratic Party, which I believe along with the GOP, does more to oppress black people, poor people, and people in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. and does nothing at all for self determination, freedom and liberation of poor people. The organization does some good work but I regret signing up and I wanted to let you know I just heard of your story and just burned my NAACP card. I haveto be true and faithful to my core beliefs and values as an anarchist and am unable to any longer associate myself with an organization that wants to share the table with the political and corporate elite. I find more inspiration from groups like SNCC, the Black Panthers, the IWW and many others and can find it now through the Occupy movement which I am a part of. I think you made the right move in creating a grassroots community group and I hope you see it flourish.
in struggle and solidarity, anon. Utica, NY
---
2012-09-21 update: "Is the NAACP relevant? NO!" by Reverend E. Pinkney:
On Sundays at 5pm on Pinkney to Pinkney radio program, we continue to hear NAACP stories from callers. Denise Johnson's son Gregory was killed at San Jose State University in the predominantly white Sigma Chi fraternity which he belonged to. Ms. Johnson asked the NAACP for help but the organization never returned one of her phone calls. Mary Neal, about to hand a flyer to Troy Davis's sister at an Atlanta rally, was intentionally shoved by NAACP president Ben Jealous.
NAACP has strayed far from any justice-oriented purpose; they act as gatekeepers by providing a LACK of service. NAACP should cease to exist. It has ceased to advance Black life. Marketing the organization as advocates for Black people, they do the opposite:
shut down chapters which engage in anti-racist activism.
The racism we encounter today is perpetuated by government and corporations, both of which support the prison industrial complex. The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.
The NAACP is selling false hope to Black communities, ie, they are pimping those communities with a license from the master.
Whirlpool Corp. took control of the Benton Harbor, Michigan NAACP branch by buying memberships to control the election outcome. Whirlpool met with Mich. NAACP pres. Yvonne White and made an offer she would not refuse: money to control the BH election. In NAACP elections members are required to show voter ID's, something the hypocritical organization is speaking out against for all other elections including the US presidential election.
Our primary goal is to stop NAACP hand-picked Black leaders from misrepresenting African-Americans and our ancestors. We burn our membership cards every Sunday during the radio program - over 1400 cards burned so far.
2012-08-16 "Benton Harbor NAACP has new leadership; Pinkney out, claims corruption" by Ryan Klund
[http://www.abc57.com/news/local/Benton-Harbor-NAACP-has-new-leadership-166487426.html]:
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. -
Pastor James Atterberry of the Brotherhood of Nations Church in Benton Harbor was elected president of the post unanimously by members.
A special election was held at the Virginia Edwards Community Center and former NAACP president Edward Pinkney was not allowed to run.
Pinkney, a controversial and outspoken NAACP leader for the past three years, claimed he was wrongfully ousted from his position and claimed votes were paid for. “We know for a fact there’s something wrong,” he said Thursday. “We know they’re trying to stack the deck.”
The NAACP got rid of Pinkney as the president of the Twin Cities branch because he failed to hold elections in 2010 and 2011.
Pinkney is best known for organizing protests against Whirlpool Corporation and the Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores. He could often be seen wearing a ‘Whirlpool commits genocide’ tee-shirt in downtown Benton Harbor.
“All these memberships were sent in without our knowledge,” said Pinkney. He claims 250 NAACP memberships were bought to control the leadership of the group and were paid for by Marcus Robinson, a former Whirlpool employee at the Consortium for Community Development in Benton Harbor.
“That statement is about as true as his tee-shirt statement,” Robinson told ABC 57 News Thursday. “There are a lot of people that joined and (spent) their own money and wanted to be a part of this because they want better leadership.”
Atterberry is the president of the Benton Harbor Leadership Caucus, a group that formed in Benton Harbor over the past year. The caucus is comprised of a group of ministers and community leaders that oppose the negativity of certain local leaders including Pinkney.
Atterberry said a grassroots effort led to his nomination as new president of the NAACP. Atterberry said many people were disappointed with Pinkney’s leadership. “And that’s why you see a surge of people saying we need to have new leadership,” he said.
Pinkney said he plans to file a civil lawsuit against the NAACP over his ouster.
This is Rev. Pinkney's response:
None of the current membership will be attending the unsanctioned election. The national office provided us the list of memberships paid by check from Whirlpool's Marcus Robinson. It includes the Benton Harbor School Superintendent Leonard Seawood, Rev. Kenneth Gavin, Rev. Melvin Burton, Ms. Alloyd Blackmon, Rev. Nat Wells, Rev. Jame Atterberry, Mr. Corey Bell, and Mr. Jerry Price. These are the people who support Whirlpool and not the community.
The election is in direct violation of the court order. Only the $100,000 law suit was thrown out because the national office did not have time to respond to activities of state pres. Yvonne White of Detroit and VP James Gill of Lansing. It's alleged that they must have this election in August to ensure that Whirlpool is given an NAACP business-of-the-year award.
The voices of the PEOPLE of Benton Harbor need to be heard. Unfortunately, the oppression has lasted for so many years, and the injustices are so profound, that the voices have been silenced. This has been the Whirlpool plan all along. Eliminate as many jobs as possible, convict and imprison as many people possible, take away as many services as possible, and people are either driven away, or stay -- in silence. Then, the land grab is easy. Instead of fighting the oppression (not too strong a word), the people who signed onto this "Call for new leadership" are playing a part in it.
God help the "Leadership Caucus" as we return to court with the membership list, the email from Whirlpool, and letters of compliance from President Jealous.
Here's the most important question people can ask about the NAACP: Is it relevant?
On Sunday August 19, 2012 more than 850 members of the NAACP burned their membership cards on the Pinkney to Pinkney blogtalkradio.com show and are no longer members.
Eight states and four branches in Michigan participated. On Sunday August 26, 2012 we will continue to burn membership cards across the country, and continue every Sunday thereafter at 5:30 pm.
My belief is that the NAACP has made itself irrelevant. By taking money from Whirlpool and other corporations it has lost influence; it is now obligated to the corporate agenda, not the social justice agenda.
* Giant Food Inc. - In Maryland, black employees sued Giant Food Inc. after several complaints of discrimination had been lodged. When the employees sought assistance from the NAACP, they were rebuffed. It was later discovered that Giant Food Inc. donated $25,000.00 to the local NAACP in a successful attempt to quash their legal involvement on the side of the black plaintiffs.* Denny's - After repeated incidences of discrimination at the restaurant chain, the Baltimore NAACP Chapter gave Denny's the corporation-of-the-year award after donations were given by the restaurant corporation. The American Directory of Certified Uncle Toms is a book which reports on this, and other instances of discrimination.* Other corporations pay NAACP - Many corporations have made large donations to the NAACP to stop the organization from suing them for discrimination. Several are Auto Zone, Wells Fargo, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and General Motors.* Voter ID laws - The head of the NAACP compared the group's fight against voter ID laws that have been passed in several states to the 1960's civil rights struggles.
What a hypocrite organization. In order to vote in any NAACP election, you must have a picture ID. What a hypocrite organization.* The NAACP is a wolf in sheep's clothing - If you have one or two minutes, please call or email the National NAACP and ask questions; for example, what is your position on vote-buying? (it just happened in Benton Harbor, MI, see bhbanco.org) Or, ask anything you can think of! [410.580.5777] [fordrevg@aol.com]2010-06-01
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"NAACP, Wells Fargo and the Road Less Traveled" [http://andersonatlarge.typepad.com/andersonlarge/2010/06/naacp-wells-fargo-measuring-the-movement.html]:
A little over a month ago, I alerted folks that Wells Fargo is a lead sponsor of the NAACP’s 101st annual convention [http://andersonatlarge.typepad.com/andersonlarge/2010/04/naacp-wells-fargo-measuring-the-movement.html].
The sponsorship came within weeks of the NAACP dropping its racial discrimination lawsuit against the subprime mortgage lender.
While patting itself on the back for getting Wells Fargo to commit to doing what the bank says it is already doing , the NAACP refuses to disclose the details of their “partnership.” [http://www.thegrio.com/opinion/naacp-why-we-partnered-with-wells-fargo.php]
A number of cities, including Memphis and Baltimore, are suing Wells Fargo for its predatory lending practices. Tellingly, Memphis Mayor A. C. Wharton Jr. announced the lawsuit in front of the National Museum of Civil Rights at the Lorraine Motel.
The New York Times reports [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/business/economy/31memphis.html]:
[begin excerpt]
Not so long ago, Memphis, a city where a majority of the residents are black, was a symbol of a South where racial history no longer tightly constrained the choices of a rising black working and middle class. Now this city epitomizes something more grim: How rising unemployment and growing foreclosures in the recession have combined to destroy black wealth and income and erase two decades of slow progress.
[…]
The mayor and former bank loan officers point a finger of blame at large national banks — in particular, Wells Fargo. During the last decade, they say, these banks singled out blacks in Memphis to sell them risky high-cost mortgages and consumer loans.
The City of Memphis and Shelby County sued Wells Fargo late last year, asserting that the bank’s foreclosure rate in predominantly black neighborhoods was nearly seven times that of the foreclosure rate in predominantly white neighborhoods. Other banks, including Citibank and Countrywide, foreclosed in more equal measure.
[end excerpt]
The NAACP should be shouting about Wells Fargo’s lending practices from the rooftop of the Lorraine Motel. Instead, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization is being sponsored by the predatory lender.
In addition to being a lead sponsor of the NAACP’s upcoming convention, Wells Fargo was a co-sponsor of the Leadership 500 Summit held last week in Florida.
The summit featured a workshop on maintaining and building wealth. I wasn’t there but it’s safe to assume the Wells Fargo representative did not acknowledge the bank’s role in destroying black wealth in Memphis and cities across the country.
While the NAACP provides Wells Fargo with a platform to try to bamboozle black folks, the national leadership continues to stonewall questions about their financial arrangement.
The NAACP must be transparent with the African American community. It should start by answering the questions posed by bloggers and others:
* How do the “fair mortgage lending principles” differ from Wells Fargo’s Responsible Lending Principles for Consumer Credit? [http://www.naacp.org/advocacy/Countering%20_Discrimination_in_Mortgage_Lending_May_2010.pdf]
* Was a formal partnership agreement signed? If so, how will it be enforced?
* How will the NAACP secure remedies for those who have already lost their homes due to predatory lending?
* Does the NAACP have the resources to examine the lending practices of the fourth-largest U.S. bank with more than 27,000 employees?
* How will the NAACP be able to manage Wells Fargo’s behavior more effectively than the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? [http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/hamp_ered_loans_8QBpCBlqZEOsHSAFg7OumM/1]
During last week’s summit, NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said the organization is moving in a new direction.
Transparency would be a step in the right direction. So far, it is the road less traveled.
2011-07-22 "The 10 Craziest State Legislatures In America: The worst things that have passed in the states, in both quantity and quality, are coming from Republican-controlled legislatures" by Kenneth Quinnell
[http://www.alternet.org/story/151712/?page=entire]
While attention was naturally focused on the changes in Congress that came as a result of the 2010 elections, an overlooked, but vitally important, consequence of those elections was the strong rightward shift in legislatures across the state. As of the beginning of legislative sessions this year, 26 states were controlled by Republicans, with only 15 in the hands of Democrats.Not surprisingly, this has meant an epidemic of right-wing legislation being proposed and passed across the country. The worst things that have passed, in both quantity and quality, are coming from Republican-controlled legislatures. Based on what they've done so far this year, here are the 10 worst in the United States.
-
10. Michigan: Michigan became the first state to pass a Financial Martial Law bill [http://www.progressivestates.org/news/dispatch/the-worst-2011-in-the-states-14-harmful-dangerous-bills-you-may-not-have-noticed], giving unelected emergency managers extensive powers to run local governments without oversight from local officials, effectively eliminating democracy in areas of the state that hit hard financial times.
The law granted sweeping new authority to appointed managers, including powers to cancel or renegotiate union contracts, sell off assets and privatize public services. In Detroit, the school district’s emergency manager, Robert Bobb, announced shortly after the passage of the bill that 8 schools would be closing and 45 others bid out to private charter operators; in April, he issued layoff notices to every teacher and staff member in the district. In Benton Harbor, manager Joseph Harris issued an executive order effectively stripping all city boards and commissions from taking any action whatsoever.
Word is if you are an orphan, Michigan isn't the place to be, since the state is cutting money to help orphaned children get clothes [http://www.michiganliberal.com/diary/17781/goat-killer-declares-war-on-clothesfororphans-program].
The Michigan legislature also doesn't seem to like LGBT people much, as it tried to punish universities that give benefits to same-sex domestic partners [http://www.michiganliberal.com/diary/18136/goat-killer-and-partner-relentlessly-pound-away-at-homosexuality].
[ ... ]
"Community Fascism" takes place in Michigan, where the Whirlpool Corporation and it's allies have taken outright control over an entire municipality (!) by placing an unelected bureaucrat into a position of power through State Executive Fiat (!!), and attempting to takeover the local NAACP!!!
2012-07-26 "Whirlpool merges with government: Fascism in Berrien county, it has Whirlpool finger prints all over it" [http://www.bhbanco.org/2012/08/whirlpool-merges-with-government.html]:
Mlive and the Herald Palladium report that Benton Harbor/St. Joe power players are doing some fanagling and switching places [http://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/local/harris-senses-he-may-be-replaced/article_08f6e6a1-4179-5351-8c95-6f63158b369f.html]. Facism can be a delicate business at times.
Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph Harris says he is in the dark about the state's plan for his job. Will the town move back to local control, or will someone new be appointed and the emergency manager law remains in place?
Harris said he's being forced out by political adversaries at Whirlpool. But for the past 2 years, Harris has been working with Whirlpool against the community. He told Mlive.com that a meeting of five Benton Harbor area "community leaders" took place in Lansing and sparked the state's desire for transition.
Attending the meeting were:
* James Hightower, Benton Harbor Mayor
* Dave Whitwam, retired Whirlpool CEO
* Al Pscholka, State Rep.
* Jeff Noel, Whirlpool vice-president of communciation and public affairs
* Marcus Robinson, then-president of the Consortium for Community Development, recently fired by Whirlpool (word on the street)
It was a stark example of fascism: government and corporate interests making public policy decisions.
Each of them gave a slightly different reason for the meeting's purpose:
*Pscholka confirmed that he attended the meeting, but said, "That meeting and the fiscal accountability act (emergency manager law) is really not about politics and personalities."
*Whitwam said the meeting was about trying to understand the transition process to return the city to local control.
*Noel said, "For me, the discussion was more around what can be done to help the city, how do we rebuild the city, create partnerships, etc., for the city to be self-sufficient."
*"My impression was that it (the meeting) was about...being the new mayor, we needed to discuss how to reset," Hightower said.
*Robinson said the Lansing meeting was about bringing the city back to local control, but that wasn't a reflection on the job Harris has done.
EM Joe Harris said Lansing has not brought him into the discussion. He stated that it was "interesting" that Rep. Al Pscholka went to Lansing with Jeff Noel and Dave Whitwam and that "Whirlpool's finger prints are all over this." Who does Harris think his boss has been for the past 2 years?
Harris questions why, if the meeting was about a transition plan back to local government control, he was not included in the meeting.
"I am not accusing anybody of anything," Harris said, "I am trying to figure this out." Right. As if you're just now waking up to what's been going on in Berrien County (for decades.)
One would have to be living in a cave for the past fifty years (or more) to be unaware of Whirlpool's control of city and county government, and that they are one of the major corporate players dominating state of Michigan policies and laws.
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Facebook comment from Kelly Weaver: It proves that keeping the spotlight on these little dictators works. The more we keep it up the harder it is for them to conduct their backroom deals.
2012-05-27 "A Sad Week for Benton Harbor Police Dept" by Pinkney Freddie:
During the week of Occupy the PGA, Benton Harbor Police chief Roger Lange attempted to push Rev. Pinkney into a confrontation.
On Friday May 25 at approximately 7pm, Pinkney and 10 others were refused access to a public sidewalk near the Harbor Shores golf course. They were surrounded and escorted by 15 police officers (thugs for Whirlpool). Lange said they needed a ticket to walk on the (public) sidewalk.
Pinkney's group stood up for their rights as best as they could, and the situation became heated. It was clear that the police were hoping for confrontation.
Pinkney, losing all respect for Lange, will no longer support him. Pinkney says that the police are no longer working in service of the people, and he will not speak to residents on behalf of the police dept.
Their behavior was shameful and disrespectful of the residents.
One person was given a ticket for sounding a bicycle horn in Jean Klock Park.
Pinkney plans to file suit against Lange, BH Police Dept., the PGA, Whirlpool, and KitchenAid.
Every sunday at 5 pm Blogtalkradio.com / pinkney to pinkney show.
2012-05-11 "Whirlpool hostile takeover fails again"
On Thursday May 10 Rev. Edward Pinkney, President of the Twin City branch of the NAACP, and atty. Elliott Hall again fought off a hostile takeover by Whirlpool's Marcus Robinson, Nate Wells, Kevin Gavin, Hames Hightower, Melvin Burton, Anthony Jett, L. Cedwood, and the Whirlpool Corporation.
The Detroit court ruled that the Twin City branch will resubmit a formal complaint to the national NAACP if it does not reply to communications. The Twin City branch will be able to return to court at no cost and refile the lawsuit.
Judge Sullivan wanted the issues to be resolved internally. State NAACP President Yvonne White worked with the group listed above who were offering free memberships to anyone agreeing to vote against Pinkney in a special election the state would hold in Benton Harbor.
Whirlpool Corporation and Marcus Robinson circulated an email stating that the NAACP, state and national, wanted to reorganize the branch with the specific intention of revitalizing the leadership and members should contact Robinson instead of President Pinkney. Robinson, Whirlpool, and White were spearheading this unsuccessful hostile takeover.
The judge ruled that there will be no election until this matter is resolved. Another major victory for the people of Benton Harbor.
2012-04-30 "IS THE NAACP RELEVANT TODAY?" by Freddie Pinkney
The NAACP was a very powerful and historical organization which at one time maintain a degree of relevance to the black community,but the idea that we should take money and form partnerships with the highest bidder does not liberate the Africa-America community, it only further enslaves us in a capitalist society.
The most of the board members of the NAACP are fully aware that nothing black children or their parents can learn about leadership from Whirlpool, Harbor shores, PGA these clowns serve to undermine the purpose for which the NAACP was founded.
Whirlpool Corporation has declared the takeover of the Benton Harbor, Michigan Twin City Branch of the NAACP. It is stunning, shameless, and unreal.
Marcus Robinson president of Consortium for Community Development, a component of Cornerstone Alliance with ties to the Whirlpool's Corporation is working on behalf of Whirlpool, with big bucks.
A large amount of Corporate dollars have been promise to the State and National office of the NAACP to undertake the reorganization of this, Benton Harbor Branch with specific intention of revitalizing the leadership and membership body, to please the corporation Whirlpool.
WE URGE EVERYONE TO CONTACT THE NAACP! President Yvonne White, Vice-President and National President Ben Jealous
2012-05-09 "Occupy the PGA Issues Demands of the 2012 Senior PGA" by "Occupy the PGA"
Benton Harbor, Michigan, May 9, 2012 — Occupy the PGA—a coalition of Benton Harbor residents, community groups, and allies from around the country and the world—issued a letter today asking the 2012 Senior PGA to transfer 25% of its profits to the city of Benton Harbor. The group plans a demonstration from May 23 to 27, concurrent with the golf championship in Benton Harbor.
The group also demanded a public acknowledgement at the tournament of the “theft of public park land for private profit”, referring to the lease of 22 acres of dunes on Jean Klock Park for transformation into three holes of the Harbor Shores golf course at which the Senior PGA Championship plays later this month. The letter links the transfer of parklands to the “complete undermining of democratic structures” via the installment of the Emergency Financial Manager in Benton Harbor in December 2010.
Accompanying the demand letter is a lengthy summation of community grievances against the Harbor Shores development, ranging from the taking of the park land to unfulfilled promises of significant jobs and tax revenue for Benton Harbor residents. The packet, including maps illustrating the transformation of Jean Klock Park, also analyzes the failures of state and federal agencies to protect the public interest, the unpermitted use of public water resources by the private development, and the origin of the Emergency Financial Manager bill. The group also demands that the packet be distributed to all 2012 Senior PGA participants.
Spokesperson Rev. Edward Pinkney of the local community group BANCO said, “Benton Harbor continues to be a city under seige. The mishandling of public trust couldn't be more massive, unjust, inhumane, and unconstitutional. The Senior PGA needs to hear our voice. It's time to stand up and fight for what's right.”
2012-05-09 letter from "Occupy the PGA" to the "PGA of America"
c/o David Charles, Senior Director, PGA Championships [100 Avenue of the Champions, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410], Senior PGA Tournament Director with the Golf Club at Harbor Shores [400 Klock Rd., Benton Harbor, MI 49022]
---
To the 2012 Senior PGA Tournament Director and The PGA of America:
As concerned citizens of Benton Harbor, Michigan, with support from our allies around the world, we protest the exploitation of the community of Benton Harbor by Harbor Shores Golf Club, Kitchen Aid/Whirlpool, and the PGA of America. The Harbor Shores development came about only through the undermining of democracy, political pressure on public agencies, the theft of public land for private profit, the destruction of rare ecologies, the theft of water from the public, and the continuing destruction of the very fabric of the predominantly Black community of Benton Harbor, which is already politically disenfranchised and economically impoverished.
In April 2010, the City Commissioners of Benton Harbor passed a resolution withdrawing support from the
Harbor Shores development, but the Senior PGA chose to ignore this voice of a democratically-elected body and proceed with the upcoming tournament. We demand cancellation of the tournament in Benton Harbor. Failing that, we hereby make the following demands on the 2012 Senior PGA:
1) Transfer 25% of the 2012 Senior PGA profits to the citizens of Benton Harbor as partial rightful compensation for stolen land and water and for the purpose of meeting budget deficits and building affordable housing for the people of Benton Harbor.
2) Distribute the attached press kit to all 2012 Senior PGA participants. We call on each of them to hear the grievances of the people of Benton Harbor and either withdraw from the tournament or show their support for the demonstration planned for May 23-27, Occupy the PGA.
3) Acknowledge in an announcement at the Senior PGA event that the people of Benton Harbor have been exploited in numerous ways, detailed in the attached information, including the theft of public park land for private profit and the complete undermining of democratic structures by the installation of an Emergency Financial Manager.
A failure to address these grievances and demands publicly at the event will reflect the collusion of the Senior
PGA with the ongoing hypocrisy and exploitation of Harbor Shores and Whirlpool Corp. The PGA of America and the Senior PGA has an opportunity to do the right thing and stand with the people of Benton Harbor. We are tired of being lied to, and are standing up and fighting back. This is why we will Occupy the PGA.
If Kitchen Aid/Whirlpool continue to have their way, the result will be the gentrification of Benton Harbor until the majority of its current Black residents will be forced to leave and the city will become yet another vacation playground for those privileged by wealth and race. It will destroy the fabric of an entire community. Benton Harbor residents need jobs with a living wage, affordable housing, political self-determination, true democracy, justice, freedom, park lands, and a future for their children. Everyone deserves these human rights, not just the elite.
Sincerely,
Occupy the PGA 2012
Benton Harbor, Michigan
Outline of a Travesty
To understand the massive scale of the unjust and exploitive treatment of the people of Benton Harbor, Michigan, you have to understand the history of duplicity, deception, and hypocrisy of Whirlpool Corp., which is headquartered in the city and behaves as if it owns it. Whirlpool attempts to cloak its escapades for profit and for control of the city's financial, physical, political, and human resources behind a multitude of “non-profit” entities and “charitable” organizations. In reality, it's a “formula for private benefit with public funding, for a distorted form of 'development' devoid of democracy or public benefit.”1
You've heard Harbor Shores' version of the story and all of their glowing promises. Now listen to the voice of the people of Benton Harbor. We know better than to believe the deception because we have been lied to again and again, and have seen our elected leaders undermined whenever they call into question Whirlpool's actions. Here is a partial summary of Whirlpool/Harbor Shores' extortion of our city.
Historical Trajectory
* The Harbor Shores development represents the next stage of dispossession in a long history of disenfranchisement of a impoverished, predominantly Black, post-industrial city that once maintained a stable working class community.
* Whirlpool closed its major manufacturing facility in Benton Harbor in the 1980s to cut costs by moving jobs to the U.S. south, and eventually the global South, despite taking billions in local, state, and federal tax breaks and stimulus funds over the years.2
* After this economic collapse due to corporate greed, Whirlpool began planning to develop Benton Harbor as a profitable vacation land for the rich and a home for its executives.
* The city is headed towards a form of post-industrial internal colonialism, where the wealthy prey on and exploit the poor, stealing natural resources and squeezing profits out of low-paid workers.
* The Black, poor population is an obstacle to Whirlpool creating a city that will attract professionals to its new $68 million headquarter campus. They are treated as disposable.3
* Soon, gentrification due to the luxury developments will result in rising rents and property values, pushing the predominantly Black and poor residents out of the city.
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Twenty Years of Whitewash
* As early as 1992, soon after the economic collapse due in part to Whirlpool's own abandonment of the city, private plans were underway to redevelop the city as a profitable vacation land, under the guise of community development initiatives.4 These early plans included a golf course in Jean Klock Park, but when the Harbor Shores project was first presented to the public, it did not indicate any taking of the park. This proposed land theft was publicized only after City Commissioners approved the project. Nor did the Herald-Palladium accurately report on the park-taking proposal until five days after the approval, despite probing questions from the public.5
* In April 2010, the City Commissioners voted to rescind their support, after seeing through all the lies and broken promises of HSCRI.6
* Even a Harbor Shores brochure admits the development was a 20-year process, despite earlier claims that it was motivated by community concern after the racially-charged uprising in 2003.
* Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Inc. (HSCRI), Whirlpool Foundation, the Alliance for World- Class Communities, Cornerstone Alliance, Citizens’ for Progressive Change/Consortium for Community Development, and the Council for World Class Communities are all “charitable” and “community” fronts for Whirlpool, established to make it seem as though Whirlpool has broad-based community allies and only charitable intentions in its development ventures. Harbor Shores Board President David Whitwam is a former CEO of Whirlpool. HSCRI began with a $12 million loan from Whirlpool, but the “nonprofit” received a $9.2 million state tax break in 2007.7 In reality, the people of Benton Harbor are disenfranchised from decision-making and do not stand with these organizations.
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For the Poor Children
* Every community member knows the story of the gift of Jean Klock Park to the city in 1917: “Perhaps some of you do not own a foot of ground, remember then, that this is your park, it belongs to you. Perhaps some of you have no piano or phonograph, the roll of the water murmuring in calm, roaring in storm, is your music, your piano and music box... The beach is yours, the drive is yours, the dunes are yours, all yours. It is not so much a gift from my wife and myself, it's a gift from a little child. See to it, that the park is the children's.” -John Nellis Klock
* Those very dunes have now been stolen from the poor children of Benton Harbor. They are now occupied by three holes of the golf course reserved for the Senior PGA and the wealthy who can afford to play the game. The beach is encroached on by the new parking lot, and the dunes, 3.8 acres of wetlands, 8 acres of woodlands, and over 80 cottonwood trees have been negatively impacted or destroyed. This destruction occurred despite pending lawsuits.
* A local resident said: “It was beautiful, untouched, undeveloped. There was so much wildlife and the sounds of the winds through the trees. Now when you go there it is amazing how quiet it is. You can’t hear the birds anymore, can’t hear the wind in the cottonwood.”8
* In 2004, the city sold off 3.8 acres of the park for residential development, after settling a citizen suit by promising to protect the rest of the park forever. That promise was broken and the settlement violated only a few years later with Harbor Shores Golf Club.
* Two local citizen environmental groups launched two lawsuits against the blatant theft of our park land, but conservative judges, deception by HSCRI, failure of public agencies, political pressure, and the preemptive destruction of the dunes resulted in the park being stolen anyway. Who will donate park land in the future when the public trust is so blatantly violated?
* In his dissenting opinion, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman wrote: “… I believe that the City’s use of Jean Klock Park, by leasing portions of it for 105 years to a private commercial entity, the Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment, Inc., for its use as a golf course, constitutes a breach of faith…. Although the City prevails today, it, and other communities throughout our state, may well come out losers tomorrow as later generations of philanthropists look at the legacy of J. N. and Carrie Klock and come to question the faithfulness of government in upholding their intentions after they too have passed. I respectfully dissent.”9
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Land Swap Scam
* Even if Jean Klock Park were up for lease, which it was not given the Klocks' wishes, it could only be leased or sold in exchange for “mitigation parcels” to compensate for the park land taken. The entire process was, and continues to be, a travesty.
* The 22.11 acres of pristine, unpolluted park land was grossly undervalued in the first place, at $900,000. In 1967, the conservation value was estimated at over $1 million.10 According to values of nearby lots, it should have been valued at $12 to $16 million. Yet the city is leasing the parkland for only $30,000 per year for 35 years, with minor increments.11
* Besides this, only the beach is not encircled by golf holes and virtually inaccessible to the public, and the beach itself is encroached on by the new 4-acre parking lot, plus HSCRI did not stay within the boundaries of its approved plan. This means that nearly 45 acres of the 73-acre park has been massively transformed and taken from public control and conservation use.12
* The initial offer of 47 acres of scattered, polluted parcels was flatly rejected by the National Park Service. The next offer wasn't much better. Seven scattered parcels, mostly industrial land and all but one contaminated with heavy metal and chemical toxins, like lead and arsenic, were offered as mitigation for the precious dunes, wetlands, and woodlands.13
* HSCRI had environmental assessments indicating toxic contamination in the mitigation parcel weeks before the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board approved the plan14, but did not share the truth with them before the 3-1 vote to approve, much less with the public before the public comment period closed. In fact, the truth was only revealed through extensive research by citizens, after not only the TFB, but the National Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had all approved the swap.
* Some of the parcels already belonged to the city and were sold to HSCRI, to be “given” back to the city. Others were contaminated land belonging to Whirlpool that Whirlpool/HSCRI no longer have to clean up.15
* Tax credits will be used to ameliorate some of the contamination and the Trust Fund Board has had to investigate why the development diverged from the approved plan.16
* Now the only parts of some of these parcels safe for humans will be the boardwalks themselves, and most of the promised improvements on the parcels have still not been built.17
* A federal judge refused to look at the fact that the mitigation exchange was a blatant scam, based on who has standing to sue. If a city sells out its citizens, the citizens can do little about it in court.18
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Bait and Switch: Jobs and Other Lies -
* Why would city officials fall for such a terrible land swap deal?
* Benton Harbor is 91% Black, with a 33.2% unemployment rate, and 48.7% of residents live in poverty.19
* The community's desperation for jobs was blatantly exploited to push the project through, with inflated estimates of both temporary and permanent jobs and of small business opportunities available to BH residents.
* In 2007, it was reported that Harbor Shores would create over 4,000 jobs over five years of construction, and 2,000 permanent jobs.20 By 2010, long after the park was destroyed, HSCRI claimed 800 construction and 700 permanent jobs would be created.21 The truth remains to be seen, but the likelihood is that in the long-term poor Black residents will only receive low-wage, menial jobs with the resort and vendors profiting off their labor. For the Senior PGA itself, a few poor residents will receive “scholarships”—so that they don't have to pay to work as volunteers!
* You can't replace 5,500 family-wage jobs with mentoring, concerts, and a Boys and Girls Club. Let's face it, the “community concern” HSCRI pretends to show is just throwing a bone to a community it has abandoned and exploited, and is in the process of destroying.
* The design plans for Harbor Shores indicated local small businesses would be integrated, but after city approval the business area was removed and there are now only gated communities—another bait and switch.22
* Similarly, the promised increase in tax base was initially said to benefit primarily Benton Harbor, but by 2007 Harbor Shores' own website said less than one-third of the expected revenue was coming to Benton Harbor with the rest going to predominantly white St. Joseph and Benton Township. The numbers on the Harbor Shores “Fact Sheet” don't appear to have been updated since 2007. Why is that? The current projections probably look even less promising for Benton Harbor.23
* “City Commissioner Juanita Henry said the city will receive little revenue from the project for 15 to 20 years because of tax abatements and because the jobs it offers are mostly low-paying, like golf course maintenance.”24
* The project was supposed to include the building of affordable housing, but this has not happened either. Two-thirds of Harbor Shores' homes are expected to be second homes.
* Benton Harbor is Whirlpool's global headquarters. It pulls in $19 billion per year in sales. For three years running, it paid zero federal taxes while receiving a refund of $64 million and $500 million in tax breaks from 2005-2011. Whirlpool also took $19.3 million in state funds and $19 billion in federal stimulus funds while it continues to close its plants in the U.S.25
* In 2010, Whirlpool closed its last manufacturing plant in Benton Harbor, putting 216 residents out of work.26
* Roger Bybee summarized: “Those harmed most by past corporate decisions are treated as disposable people standing in the way of corporate-defined reconstruction. Democracy and public participation are early victims to this process. With corporate elites having shrunken government's public-interest role in planning and economic development, major 'job-creation projects' must be shaped around generating profit with the needs of the majority a negligible concern....massive public subsidies to CEOs advocating 'free enterprise' are an essential element.”27
* Few raise the question, why should Black communities be forced to choose between jobs and their environment anyway? Jean Klock Park is the only western Michigan lakefront park that predominantly benefits Blacks, but the community is denied control even of that.
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Failure of Public Agencies -
* State and federal agencies charged with protecting the public interest completely failed in the case of Jean Klock Park. As a resident wrote, “The theme of the entire approval process has been for one government agency to defer to another agency or to allow disclosure of information within the scope of the public’s right to know after the time to possibly act has passed.”28 Agencies and judges consistently took HSCRI at their word without investigating the truth.
* Since the park had received federal funds, the National Park Service had to approve the land swap and HSCRI's plan. NPS didn't produce any Environmental Impact Statement, claiming that “no major federal action that significantly impacted the environment” was happening.29 This obviously turned out to be wrong as the majority of the park has been vastly transformed (see the attached maps).
* The NPS initially rejected HSCRI's proposed land swap. Then they received a memo from U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, grandson of founders of Whirlpool. NPS approved the swap on the second round, without transparency about the extent of toxic contamination.30 Upton receives considerable campaign contributions from Whirlpool.
* The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also gave HSCRI a free pass. When citizens informed them that HSCRI had deliberately concealed their knowledge of the extent of contamination on the mitigation parcels, the Corps never responded. HSCRI continues to violate state regulations with impunity.31
* The state DNR staff relied exclusively on Harbor Shores personnel and consultants to answer questions about compliance with environmental justice requirements.32
* Among numerous conflicts of interest, attorney for the city Geoff Fields repeatedly mislead the MNRTFB, telling them there had been no opposition to the Grand Blvd. mitigation and that Jean Klark Park was 90 acres, not 73 as it was then. He also represented the city for the Grand Blvd. Development and Cornerstone Alliance at the same time. Attorney John Cameron, one of the founders of HSCRI, later joined Fields firm.33
* Whirlpool's CEO Jeff Fettig hosted a reception at Harbor Shores for the Republican candidate for Attorney General, helping him raise campaign funds. Just when citizens filed their appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court in January 2012, the newly elected AG sent the supreme court a brief instructing them not to hear the appeal. The court took his advice, denying the appeal with the only reason given: “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.”34
* Another conflict of interest came when HSCRI hired an architecture firm to review the park for eligibility for National Register of Historic Places status who was an original partner in Harbor Shores.35
* Residents wrote to Michigan Governor Granholm, begging for help with saving their park. She refused to meet with them (her office sent a letter saying it was a “local” issue). However, the state has helped save lakefront parks in mostly white, middle class communities, and in a memo to Whirlpool she promised cooperation from state agencies. In exchange, she claimed Whirlpool's headquarters as a success in her reelection bid.36
* HSCRI's website claims that the acreage converted to greens was previously used mainly for parking. The attached map of the previous parking area demonstrates this was false. The new parking lot now covers four acres of beach.
* In 2005, HSCRI claimed they would not cut into any dunes. But in reality, they deforested them, cut into the lakeshore side of the dunes to build the parking lot, and hauled out 18,000 cubic yards, or 900 truckloads of dune material.37
* An ugly drainage ditch that was not part of the approved plan has appeared near the picnic area.
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Water Theft
* Stealing land was not enough for HSCRI. When there was a break in the city's water main, it was discovered that HSCRI had illegally spliced into the water main and had stolen an estimated half a million dollars worth of water from the city to create the placid greens of the golf course. The city charged HSCRI for only one year of the stolen water, or $142,000, but even payment on this was delayed for over a year.38
* Then, HSCRI began pumping water directly out of the Paw Paw River, without a permit! In a radio interview, Whirlpool employee Marcus Robinson admitted that Whirlpool had purchased the pump for this purpose.
* Meanwhile, Benton Harbor's Emergency Financial Manager Joe Harris announced that household water rates would increase by 50 to 100%, without any justification given.39
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Democracy Derailed
* Of all these betrayals, probably the most shocking is the way democracy has been shredded in Benton Harbor for the sake of corporate benefit, at the expense of public accountability and the local community.
* Benton Harbor was the first city in Michigan to lose its constitutional rights to democratically elected representation through Michigan Public Act 4, the Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) Act. This bill was introduced by state Rep. Al Pscholka, who represents St. Joseph and Benton Harbor.
* Gov. Granholm assigned an EFM to Benton Harbor in April 2010. On January 4, 2011, the City Commissioners of Benton Harbor voted to return to a system of public accountability and strip the EFM of power. On January 5, 2011, Pscholka wrote Gov. Rick Snyder asking for re-instatement of the EFM. On Febuary 8, 2011, Pscholka introduced Public Act 4 for the entire state, giving Michigan the dubious distinction of being the only state to categorically deny citizens of certain cities their constitutional rights to a government by and for the people. The Act gives the EFM authority to dissolve elected commissions and offices, and in Benton Harbor the EFM has declared that the City Commission can make no meaningful decisions.40
* Meanwhile, Gov. Snyder also signed a budget that taxes pensions, cuts education funding, and gives corporations a $1.8 billion tax break.41
* According to Harbor Shores website, a Berrien County Circuit Court noted that “a city-controlled golf course oversight panel would oversee operation of the golf course”. However, EFM Joe Harris appointed himself Chair of the Golf Course Oversight Panel, and he is accountable to no one but the Governor and Whirlpool.42
* Even the criminal justice system is part and parcel of the derailment of democracy. Civil rights attorney Hugh “Buck” Davis characterizes Berrien County like this: “The thrust [of the county courthouse] is to physically remove and destroy families through the use of the criminal justice system. Every person they can put in jail; every person whose voting rights they can revoke with a felony conviction; every person they can cause to lose their job by putting them on probation; every person they can cause to lose the ability to pay for basic necessities through imposing ruinous court costs and probation is all part of the process. In the 1960s, it was called Negro removal. In Bosnia, it was called ethnic cleansing. It could be called genocide, the removal of the minority population for the purpose of redevelopment of the land. That’s what’s happening in Benton Harbor....”43
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The Harbor Shores website claims: “The sole motivation of Harbor Shores is to transform the community to create opportunity for an improved quality of life for all our citizens.” Ask yourself: If this were true, why would they go to such lengths and resort to such underhanded tactics to force a 20-year project onto the city? Only greed for profit and resources can explain it. Why is no mention ever made of the massive amount of money investors and Jack Nicklaus Design will make off of stolen public resources? This is not the kind of transformation we want. Occupy the PGA is here to say NO! We will support the Senior PGA if and when the crimes committed against the city of Benton Harbor by Harbor Shores are acknowledged and fair restitution given.
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Before and after, indicating that the previous parking lot was a fraction of the acreage taken for the golf course.
Scattered, non-contiguous “mitigation parcels”, mostly contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals, in exchange for pristine park land.
Bait and switch: the approved plan versus reality
NUMBERED DESCRIPTIONS OF CONVERSION ILLUSTRATION
1. The north parking lot that replaced natural areas was doubled in size and impact after the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board approval of the Conversion Proposal for Jean Klock Park
2. A fragment of sand dune that abutts to a private home’s retaining wall and patio area
3. Inaccessible land-locked section between the golf course and residential area
4. A remnant of park land that is being depicted as being outside of the boundaries of Jean Klock Park when it is within the Park’s boundaries and is now being used for a portion of the relocated Jean Drive and a golf cart path
5. The wetland area that hosts a variety of wildflowers is no longer accessible due to a new golf course drainage ditch that was constructed outside of the conversion area on public park land.
6. A significant reduction in size of the picnic area locked inside 3 holes of the golf course
7. A small remnant near the entrance
8. Two lane entrance road and parking lot that replaced wooded sand dunes and an ADA path that led to a birdwatch tower/overlook on the crest of the south dune
9. The Southwest Corridor access point that originally indicated a public ADA walking trail to the birdwatch tower
10. South parking lot that that was part of the 4 acres of asphalt that replaced natural recreational areas
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Footnotes -
1 Bybee, Roger. “When Democracy Becomes Disposable.” In These Times. December 22, 2011.
[http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12456/democracy_becomes_disposable_to_fit_era_of_disposable_people].
2 Nathan, Kathy. Benton Harbor: The Stolen Town. May 28, 2011. [http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/2011/05/great-article-oncorporate-crime-and.html].
3 Bybee, 2011.
4 [http://www.scribd.com/doc/30338620/Edgewater-Development-Strategy].
5 Street, Paul. “For the Children: Race, Class, and Late Capitalist Eco-Enclosure in Benton Harbor.” Z Net. September 23, 2007. [http://www.zcommunications.org/for-the-children-class-race-place-and-late-capitalist-eco-enclosure-in-bentonharbor-by-paul-street].
6 Goodenow, Evan. “Commission Rescinds Harbor Shores Support.” The Herald-Palladium. April 20, 2010.
7 Street, 2007.
8 Melzer, Eartha Jane. “As Federal Case Continues, Developers Rush to Finish Elite Golf Course on Public Dunes.”
Michigan Messenger. June 16, 2009.
9 [http://savejeanklockpark.org/Litigation_History.html].
10 Burch, Ann. “2 Groups Aim to Save Park from Golf Holes.” The Herald-Palladium. March 26, 2007.
11 Lam, Tina. “Benton Harbor Sees Boon, Bust in Resort Plan: It's Cash at Park's Expense.” Detroit Free Press. August 3,
2007. Also see [http://www.scribd.com/doc/79397898/Press-Release-Jean-Klock-Park-Federal-Appeal-decision-1-25-2012].
12 Kelly, Teresa. “Environmental Racism.” Michigan Citizen. September 6, 2009.
13 Kelly, 2009.
14 [http://savejeanklockpark.org/files/GannettFleming.pdf].
15 [http://www.scribd.com/doc/79397898/Press-Release-Jean-Klock-Park-Federal-Appeal-decision-1-25-2012].
16 See note 15. Also: Melzer, Eartha Jane. “Controversial Golf Development Gets New Tax Credits as State Board Probes
Failed Promises.” Michigan Messenger. December 21, 2009.
17 Melzer, Eartha Jane. “Golf Developers Face New Scrutiny in Lake Michigan Park Privatization.” Michigan Messenger.
November 11, 2009.
18 [http://www.harborshoresdevelopment.org/images/stories/pdf/legal/dc_opinion.pdf]
19 U.S. Census Bureau. 2010 Census and 2006-2010 American Community Survey.
20 Arend, Al. “Golf Great Jack Nicklaus Speaks to Reporters in Benton Harbor.” The Herald-Palladium. August 13, 2007.
21 Harvey Keagle, Lauri. “Greener Greens.” Lake Michigan Shore. March 23, 2010.
22 Street, 2007.
23 [http://www.harborshoresdevelopment.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=26].
24 Lam, 2007.
25 Nathan, 2011, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLL-AxOnTk].
26 McGurk, Nick. “Whirlpool to close Benton Harbor facility, cut 216 jobs.” WNDU. June 2, 2010.
27 Bybee, 2011.
28 Weiss, Jean. 2012. [http://www.michiganlcv.org/connect-us/blog/2012-03-09/guest-blog-long-slow-demise-jean-klockpark].
29 [http://www.harborshoresdevelopment.org/images/stories/pdf/legal/dc_opinion.pdf].
30 Weiss, 2012.
31 [http://www.scribd.com/doc/29000538/Letter-to-Corps-Re-Contamination-03-06-2009].
32 [http://www.savejeanklockpark.org/files/PressRel_WeDemandJustice.pdf].
33 [http://savejeanklockpark.org/Nondisclosure.html].
34 [http://savejeanklockpark.org/Litigation_History.html].
35 Burch, 2007.
36 [http://www.savejeanklockpark.org/GovernorGranholm.html].
37 Kelly, 2009.
38 Goodenow, Evan. “Accusations Fly Over Delays in Golf Course Water Payments Delays.” The Herald-Palladium. April 29, 2010.
39 Genellie, Kate. “BH Commission Airs Suspicions with Cornerstone Alliance.” The Herald-Palladium. November 9, 2011.
40 Heywood, Todd. “Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Strips Power from All Elected Officials.” The Michigan Messenger. April 15, 2011.
41 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLL-AxOnTk].
42 [http://www.harborshoresdevelopment.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=80].
43 [http://bhbanco.blogspot.com/].
2011-12-22 "When Democracy Becomes Disposable" by Roger Bybee from "In These Times"
[http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12456/democracy_becomes_disposable_to_fit_era_of_disposable_people/]
The Laboratory for Our Future is the ominous subtitle of Charles Bowden's haunting 1998 book about Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
The seedy but highly profitable laboratory revealed by Bowden, also author of the harrowing book Murder City about narco wars in Juarez, brings together the 19th-century model of sweatshop labor with 21st-century technology to generate maximum earnings for the U.S.-owned firms while offering minimal pay under NAFTA's protections.
In 1999, for example, GE CEO Jack Welch collected $92 million in compensation, more than his 15,000 Mexican workers combined. U.S.-based corporations pay no taxes and only minimal annual fees in Juarez, so the vast majority of social costs are borne by the citizenry. As former Juarez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo explains, "We have no way to provide water, sewage, and sanitation works. Every year we get poorer and poorer even though we create more and more wealth."
But at the opposite end of the globalization process from Juarez, there's another laboratory conducting a related experiment : Benton Harbor, Mich., which once hosted jobs that have moved to places like Juarez. Like the workers in Juarez, impoverished residents of Benton Harbor—which is 92 percent African-American—have been stripped of democratic rights.
In Juarez, the prevalence of fraudulent political elections stolen and brutal repression have deprived the mostly female "maquiladora" workforce in assembly plants of any meaningful voice in either their workplaces or society.
In Benton Harbor, a unionized manufacturing workforce has been cast aside and the presence of nearly 10,000 overwhelmingly poor and black people are a potential obstacle to corporations like Whirlpool implementing a plan for redeveloping the area. Benton Harborites, too, have been rendered utterly powerless.
Thanks to Public Act 4, promoted by a Whirlpool ally and signed by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder, Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris gained expanded powers to override decisions made by the democratically elected City Council and School Board. He literally expelled the elected mayor from his own office. Harris and other managers can also negate union contracts and other city agreements.
Gov. Snyder seems to believe that a state takeover of cities is more essential to their health than providing actual financial aid, which has been reserved for Michigan corporations in the form of $1.7 billion in tax cuts. Meanwhile, in part because of state budget cuts, Harris plans to raise water rates by about 40 percent even though 20 percent of the city's residents can't or won't pay city fees.
The Whirlpool Corp., headquartered in Benton Harbor, is playing a huge role in re-shaping the city, specifically in two major projects:
* A heavily taxpayer "incentivized" new corporate campus for 4,000 professionals, as Whirlpool began off-shoring jobs in the 1980s (its Fort Smith Ark. plant is being relocated to Mexico)
* A 530-acre Harbor Shores development including a Jack Nicolaus-designed golf course, high-end shopping, and condominiums. Whirlpool is also busy promoting an "Arts District" that attracts many affluent whites but few local black residents.
Whirlpool's role is not universally praised, as the New York Times Magazine' Jonathan Mahler reports in his December 18 cover story [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/magazine/benton-harbor.html?_r=1]:
[begin excerpt]
To skeptics of the redevelopment of Benton Harbor, Whirlpool looks less like a good corporate citizen than another company manipulating the system, leveraging its power to maximize its tax breaks and taking advantage of the town's access to federal and state grant money. (It's worth noting that Whirlpool hasn't paid any federal corporate income taxes in the United States for the last three years, partly, the company says, because of losses due to the recession.)
[end excerpt]
But the recession explanation covers only a small part of Whirlpool's tax picture, according to Matt Gardner, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Losses in recent years of economic troubles in the U.S. have been offset by foreign profits.
Further, in 2007, Whirlpool reported U.S. profits of $103 million, but earned an additional $701 million abroad that will not be taxed until Whirlpool brings the money back into the United States. Moreover, Whirlpool got a federal tax rebate of $28 million that year. In 2006, $231 million in U.S. earnings were topped off by another $388 million in foreign profits.
Whirlpool's central role in the town and redevelopment plans has led many Benton Harbor residents to feel that the corporation views them as distinctly disposable and mainly a barrier to their plans. As Mahler summarizes,
[begin excerpt]
It's being converted into a resort town for wealthy weekenders and Whirlpool employees that, when all is said and done, its struggling black population will either be driven out by the development or reduced to low-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, carrying golf bags or cutting grass.
[end excerpt]
Mahler observes,
[begin excerpt]
The juxtaposition of Benton Harbor's impoverished population and its two rising monuments to wealth -- all wedged into a little more than four square miles -- make it almost a caricature of economic disparity in America.
But at the same time, it offers a window into one possible future for towns across the country, places that can no longer support their own economies or take care of their citizens and may ultimately have no choice but to turn their fate over to private industry and nonprofits. The way things are going, more and more states may start to look like Michigan, and more and more towns may start to look like Benton Harbor.
[end excerpt]
The Benton Harbor scenario is actually a familiar one for other de-industrialized cities wracked by massive industrial job loss or poor cities wrecked by natural disasters. As Hurricane Katrina tore off roofs and exposed the destroyed interiors of homes, it also peeled back the genteel veneer of elite opinion about New Orleans revealing that many top corporate and political figures viewed the majority of its residents to be essentially irrelevant, if not an outright impediment, to the restructuring of the city's devastated economy.
The flight of the city's poorest citizens was viewed openly as a chance for a fresh start. It not only removed a substantial part of the Big Easy's poor, black population for whom the city's economic leaders no longer saw as their responsibility to provide employment, but it also severely diminished their voting power and ability to have a role in determining how the city would be rebuilt.
The Arts District formula being applied to Benton Harbor has also been tried out in my hometown of Racine, Wis., a factory town of 80,000 hollowed out by the loss of well over 40 percent of its manufacturing base since 1980.
The solution: replacing more than 13,000 mostly unionized factory jobs with a new art museum and a cluster of art galleries and crafts shops. New York Times reporter Robert Sharoff fully bought into this re-invented Racine, a vision seemingly derived from the work of neo-liberal urbanist Richard Florida:
[begin excerpt]
This formerly gritty industrial city roughly 70 miles north of Chicago and 30 miles south of Milwaukee on the shores of Lake Michigan has been trying for much of the last decade to reinvent itself as an artistÕs colony and tourist destination. The efforts have included the opening of the $11 million Racine Art Museum on Main Street in 2003 and the creation of a gallery district centering on nearby Sixth Street.
[end excerpt]
This stunning premise that the museum and 12 art galleries could significantly fill in the economic Grand Canyon left by the destruction of 13,000 family-supporting factory jobs reflects the same mentality that can view the Harbor Shores development as a path to prosperity for Benton Harbor's impoverished African-American population.
Despite Mahler's moving and insightful description of a de-industrialized city being re-shaped by those who destroyed the economic base, with the victims being deprived of any voice, he fails to point out several fundamental features:
* Those harmed most by past corporate decisions are treated as disposable people standing in the way of corporate-defined reconstruction.
* Democracy and public participation are early victims to this process.
* With corporate elites having shrunken government's public-interest role in planning and economic development, major "job-creation projects" must be shaped around generating profit with the needs of the majority a negligible concern.
But despite all the rhetoric about corporations rushing to the rescue of troubled cities--whether New Orleans, Benton Harbor, or Racine—massive public subsidies to CEOs advocating "free enterprise" are an essential element.
It's a formula for private benefit with public funding, for a distorted form of "development" devoid of democracy or public benefit.
Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph Harris speaks at the MLGMA Summer Conference 2011, held on July 28 in St. Joseph, Mich., a town next door to Benton Harbor. (Photo courtesy Michigan Municipal League/Flickr)
2011-12-12 "Whirlpool Steals $14 M with Berrien County Commissioner assistance"
B A N C O [black autonomy network community organization]...working for economic and social justice in benton harbor, michigan
Rev. Pinkney, 269-925-0001, banco9342@sbcglobal.net
BANCO, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Pinkney to Pinkney, blogtalkradio.com, every Sunday, 5-6pm
---
When is EM Joseph Harris leaving Benton Harbor?
In September Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris found evidence that $168 K was missing in BH so he contacted the FBI. Big mistake. Shortly after that, Whirlpool told him he would be leaving his job. Whirlpool and it's real estate corporation Cornerstone Alliance continue to threaten him about losing his job. This is Berrien County, Michigan, after all, where corruption defines the way of life.
Berrien County Commissioners refuse to help African-American Benton Harbor residents -
Regarding the $14 million HUD grant for Benton Harbor, and Benton Harbor only, let's just say it's become another grand-sized theft by Whirlpool and Rep. Fred Upton of money desperately needed in BH. HUD rules require 25% of the 68 homes in a strategic area be "low-income" -- this is the first priority to meet the grant requirement. If the HUD NSP2* grant was being used in accordance with HUD rules, BH residents would receive housing counseling and home buying and down payment assistance. We can't think of a population more in need of this grant.
Where is the money going this time? Whirlpool and Upton agents, the Berrien County Commissioners, have divided up the grant so that roughly $7 million will go to Cornerstone Alliance for their personal use, and to build houses for upper middle class whites in Harbor Town, the resort "town" which is replacing lakefront BH.
The other $7 million goes to the Berrien County Land Bank Authority ** for acquisition "land-banking" and demolition. As 125 demolitions occur, EM Joe Harris will sell the properties to Cornerstone Alliance for $1.00 each. Yes, that's one dollar each.
For details about this gargantuan misuse of funds and phenomenal civil rights injustice, please call Rev. Pinkney, 269-925-0001.
Commissioners who are still silent:
Dave Pagel
Mac Elliott
John LaMore
Debra Panozzo
Jon Hinkelman
Zach Perkins
Bob Wooley
Mamie L. Yarbrough
Bryan Bixby
Jeanette Leahey
Cathy Thieneman
Andy Vavra
*Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2
************************
What is a Land Bank?
The short county website page - link below - states outrightly that [http://berriencounty.org/CommunityDevelopment/LandBankAuthority]:
--Benton Harbor neighborhoods are being "targeted"
--that really it's all about BH, and we know that does not mean lifting residents out of poverty and improving living situations as Neighborhood Stability Programs mandate
--that they are using federal money (NSP2 - HUD)
It's not stated, but if you follow Whirlpool's activities, you know this page is dedicated to eliminating BH residents by any means necessary to create a resort for the 1%. Long ago human suffering became a meaningless term for those in St. Joe and Berrien County who are motivated by greed. Someone, probably at WPool, came up with the Land Bank idea 2009 as another helpful eradication (genocide) tool.
A fraction of the information available on wikipedia (Land Banking) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_banking]:
Land banking is the practice of purchasing raw land with the intent to hold on to it until such a time as it is profitable to sell it on to others for more than was initially paid. Land is popular as an investment as it is a tangible asset as opposed to shares or bonds.
The intended increase in value may come from inflation, conversion for use as housing, or potential for extraction of raw materials.
Typically parcels...desirable for land banking are those that lie...in the growth path of rapidly developing cities...The...objective is to identify these parcels well in advance of the developers and wait for the value to be realized.
A...documentary, first aired on BBC...criticized the services offered by many land banking companies...suggesting that they were scamming their customers.
The UK Land Registry issued a press release...advising consumers that the Land Registry has published a guide warning against land banking investment schemes. ...Rudd said that the public were being "misled about the prospects of obtaining planning permission," with well-known banks and developers being falsely cited as partners in the project, and that in some cases forged Land Registry paperwork was being presented to suggest that planning approval existed where it did not.
2011-10-23 "JUDGE WILEY IS NOTHING BUT A CRIMINAL":
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
Justice is supposed to be blind when it come to justice.
When one think of courts,one think of justice.
The famous picture of the lady with the blind fold covering one eye,but the blindfold is starting to look like an eye patch on a pirate.
Many citizens are being robbed of their day in court specially in Benton harbor, Michigan.
Judge Dennis Wiley is openly violating the constitutional rights of minorities over 85% of the peoiple who work for Berrien County courthouse know about this judge who is a drunk and a racist.
Judge Dennis Wiley on Tuesday denied a young Mexican the right to have his criminal record expunged.
The only reason he was denied he was a Mexican.
I spoke with the young man attorney afterward .
I stated, "if your client were anything but a minority he would have been successful".
Judge Dennis Wiley is wanted for crimes against humanity.
The most crooked judge in the entire judiciary.
He has shown wanton negligence in over 75% of his cases.
His conduct among others is the subject of a criminal investigation.
Judge Dennis Wiley make Berrien County a third world country with his corruption.
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