The Race Card: Benton Harbor is 92% African American and their votes no longer count. RACISM at its

[Snoutport]

finest.

Where is the NAACP in all of this? A black community has just had its voting rights stripped away, pretty much.

If the people needed an example of how racist the Tea Party is this should pretty much clinch it. Add on to this 82% of Detroit is black and the emergency manager just started to gut the school systems and fire all the teachers. Nobody is mentioning that this makes two black communities that are the first townships to be attacked by the Tea Party. (the Detroit guy, I think, is not a Tea Party member but he is using the emergency manager position to destroy education regardless)

At what point does taxation without representation come in?
At what point does oppression of the voter come in?
At what point do the people of these towns realize they pretty much just became indentured servants? Work, pay the state, have no say in what happens to your community.

Michigan is starting to look a lot like 1870 Georgia. No slavery allowed, but a system set up to demoralize and oppress the blacks is being put into place.

I hate to say this but the Tea Party just might be trying to start a race war...they can't be totally blind to the message they are sending to the black communities.

[arcane1]

1. Indeed, watch the reaction and news coverage when people take to the streets...

and 92% of them are black.

[Snoutport]

5. WOW...do you think they are trying to do that? it makes sense....

If the Tea Party goes after the minority populations, as they are, perhaps they realize if they can get the inner city to go ballistic...then they have images of anger and violence (mostly minority) which they can then tie to anyone who is against the Tea Party. Perhaps they are hoping white Democrats in America won't join into the fray because of the violence.

I hate to be so paranoid but it seams these guys have really spent a lot of time and energy and YEARS putting this plan together...so to underestimate them taking race into the picture would be a mistake.

[Drale]

2. I know talking violence is a no no but

That is what is going to happen here, the tea party is going to have people in violent insurrection against them. People are going to die before this is all over in Michigan.

[Snoutport]

13. I fear that too. This EFM could shut down all the schools, clinics, most social services!

They just don't care about the misery they create.

When we know, for instance, that some of these cities are so economically crushed that many kids are only eating at school. You close the schools down, cut their food budgets and we KNOW that means more kids are going home hungry and sleeping on an empty belly. How in the hell do these rich people sleep at night!!?!

[Mister Ed]

3. While the Teahadis bitch about Obama administration "czars"...

..they are busy giving unelected officials dictatorial powers over whole cities.

[Snoutport]

19. yeah...amazing how they are so good at doing exactly what they say they hate

maybe they just need counseling.

[MedleyMisty]

4. As a Southerner

I have to point out that this is in Michigan, and that therefore anyone who tries to say that only the South is racist and the rest of the country is full of purity and goodness and equality is a raging racist classist prejudiced hypocrite. And because we are not anything near post-racial, because the majority of white Americans all around the country are still racist as hell, watch this story be forgotten. Watch as nothing happens. No solidarity demonstrations, no attempt to help the people of Benton Harbor get their story out, nothing. Because they aren't middle class white people. No one's going to be ordering pizza for them.

And I think a lot of us realized we were indentured servants a long time ago. Thus why so many of us don't vote and don't participate - it's not like what we do or say or think matters anyway.

[Snoutport]

7. I'm trying to get the word out by starting this discussion.

And, I know full well that the only way to combat racism is to look it in the eye, accept that it is in all of us, and then do the best we can to help overcome it...even if it is by small simple choices that individual people can make on a human level.

We elected President Barak Obama. Yes, there is still racism still embedded in much of our society, but we are evolving and learning and that is the very best I can offer to your comments.

But, I personally, do believe that people will support Benton Harbor in many different ways. Small, Big, legal, monetarily...but they will get their votes back. I believe that 100%.

[guruoo]

6. Only three google news hits so far

Benton Harbor's EFM suspends city officials' power
‎
WNDU-TV - Erin McGinn - 8 hours ago
According to The Detroit News Benton Harbor's Emergency Financial Manager has suspended the decision-making powers of city officials, and Joseph Harris may ...
Emergency manager cuts roles of Benton Harbor officials‎ - The Detroit News
Benton Harbor emergency manager strips power from all elected ...‎ - Michigan Messenger (blog)
all 3 news articles »

http://www.google.com/#q=Benton+Harbor&hl=en&biw=1600&bih=725&prmd=ivnsum&source=lnms&tbm=nws&ei=_-ipTZnBEoXhiALYr6TvDA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=4&ved=0CBoQ_AUoAw&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=6ec97dbec8138c01

[slackmaster]

8. "$100,000 in heroin seized from minivan on I-94 near Benton Harbor"

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/04/100000_in_heroin_seized_from_m.html

My power was out for a day and a half. Can someone please point me to the back story for this thread?

[Snoutport]

9. welcome back to civilization. here is a link to my post about this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x901368

[slackmaster]

12. Wow, what a mess.

Thanks!

My photovoltaic power system went live yesterday afternoon. I'm pushing almost 1.3 KW of power into the grid. I'm kind of in a daze.

[Snoutport]

21. exciting! we were just discussing doing the same!

[Snoutport]

23. GOOGLE: Predominantly Black City of Benton Harbor Taken Over By Governor Rick Snyder!

there are suddenly a bunch more results if you google it with "last 24 hours" BUT...they weren't there an hour ago!

[Snoutport]

24. GOOGLE: Entire Government of Benton Harbor, MI FIRED!

The story is really spreading fast!

[frazzled]

10. My racist experience in Michigan ...

During the 2008 election season, the Obama campaign sent the volunteers in my congressional district to Michigan. Mr. frazzled and I packed ourselves in the car with our then 24-year-old son, and two other volunteers we gave a hitch to: an oncological surgeon and a nurse. We drove for 3 1/2 hours to Jackson, MI ... about 75 miles from Detroit.

During the course of our day-long canvassing, my husband and I (working one side of the street) and son (working the other) converged and hit the last few houses together. At one we asked for a Mr. X who was listed. A man in the yard said, "That's my father, and oh boy, does he want to talk to you." We were heartened. An older man soon emerged from the house and without letting us even get in a wordlet loose with a tirade so full of vitriol and racist insults I can't even repeat it here. It was sickening. I looked over at my son, who seemed to be in shock. And I thought: I am not going to let this racist bastard cow us. And I just kept looking him in the eye as calm as I could. Knowing you are never supposed to talk back when representing a campaign in an official canvas, I didn't dare let back loose at him. But I stared him down and said in my coldest voice possible, "It's quite clear from your language that you are not going to be voting for Barack Obama. Thank you for your time." Then we all turned our backs on him and marched off.

It was one of the most dispiriting encounters I'd ever had. But in the end, the day had been worth it. After the election we discovered that Jackson, MI--an economically depressed blue-collar city that is "Birthplace to the Republican Party" -- went for Obama. I hope that man choked on his own bile.

[Snoutport]

11. Thank you for sharing that.

I fear that most people have one or two stories they could share from every state. :0(

[Angry Dragon]

14. Someone needs to file a lawsuit

claiming the law unconstitutional

[Luminous Animal]

17. The ACLU is on it.

http://michigancitizen.com/aclu-probes-em-laws-origins-p9713-1.htm

[Angry Dragon]

22. Thank you

[GKirk]

15. You are just referring to shool based elections....

...am I right?

[Snoutport]

25. NO! link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x901368

[Odin2005]

16. WTF???

:wtf:

[haele]

18. Actually, it looks to be a class war.

If I can say this, being of the pale persuasion myself, I'd like to paraphrase Malcolm X - it looks to be the house folks against the field folks.
The EMF looked to be black, but well off, and according to the few articles I can find, he's planning to get a friendly environment for big-time investments and wooing a PGA tour stop. That means funding whitewashing projects like fake development parks.
Of course, spending money on community infrastructure to help an otherwise valueless poor is off the table, because as the CEO type politicians always say "we wouldn't want to raise taxes if we're soliciting corporate investments in our community".

Haele

[Starry Messenger]

20. I appreciate what you are trying to say, but again, this has nothing to do with the Republicans.

This was a 100% Democratic party endorsed position that Bobb holds and Bobb himself is black. This is strictly a class issue that goes beyond party lines. You are spreading wrong information about the source of these attacks. Why do you think elected Democrats are not rallying around this action in Detroit? They know what is happening, believe me, and Arne Duncan is a Bobb fan.

Anyway, the organization resisting this is called BAMN, and they could use donations: http://www.bamn.com/

[Snoutport]

26. i had not seen the website. thanks! I don't quite agree with your statements

and realize that Democrats are part of the equation in all this, but it is the Tea Party pushing for these kind of controls now. It could be the Dems started it but they didn't use it as a tool to remove voter's rights. The South didn't start slavery but they certainly exploited it.

I see the Right as seeing this type of thing as a way to completely stop democratic zones of their states from being able to govern. When they start taking over Republican cities, then I'll agree with you that this isn't a Republican issue of stealing power away from the people in areas that tend to be democratic.

[Starry Messenger]

27. The tea party wouldn't have this tool to wield except that Democrats opened the way.

The Democrats have had an utterly destructive course for education & public policy for the last two years, and the threat of "teh Tea Party is worse!!1" is never going to put that genie back in the bottle. Labor needs to uncouple itself from party loyalty for either party and steer its own course.

[GKirk]

28. What precipitated this takeover?

I assume finances weren't too rosy but was their problem similar to any other city in the state that was predominately white and had no state takeover?