When the FBI announced that they were placing fugitive Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard) on the list of most wanted terrorists and that they were offering an additional $1 million for her capture, it caught most of the world by complete surprise. Assata has been living quietly in exile in Cuba where she was given political asylum for 30 years. The former member of the Black Liberation Army escaped captivity ...

(Recently) the administration informed the student body that a student, Terry Jones, was killed over the weekend while he was on his way to a gang fight. It was interesting because during my Ethics class, we were — or attempting to — have a class discussion about the recent student protest for equal education at Michigan and North Carolina universities. The class did not seem intrigued until it was announce ...

Progressive Michiganders have, in response to the proposed and imposed emergency managers, opposed the emergency manager (EM) laws as attacks on or subversions of democracy. This concern is based primarily around the emergency managers’ ability to dismiss the decision-making power of elected officials. This, in effect, removes the franchise from subject populations by disempowering those who won office by t ...

“Something is rotten in the state of Michigan!” Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, spoke these words at a press conference May 13 to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against the state’s emergency manager law, Public Act 436. The lawsuit filed by the Detroit Branch and Michigan State Conference NAACP in the United States District Court for the Eastern District is now the thi ...

At its monthly meeting May 9, the Detroit Board of Education unanimously voted to seek a federal grand jury investigation into the “unlawful use of federal funds designated for use by the Detroit Public Schools (DPS).” The Board claimed that the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), the former Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb, Emergency Manager (EM) Roy Roberts, Gov. Rick Sndyer and other state offi ...

State Rep. John Olumba, I-D, Detroit, says he wants to lead Detroit. In an interview with the Michigan Citizen, Olumba said he wants to lead the troubled city into an “age of revival.” “I’m encouraged because we’ve always shown our ability to bounce back,” he said. But he questions the record of some of the candidates. “Are we going to go with someone who’s been a part of the political establishment? Across ...

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevin Orr issued his first report on the city’s financial emergency May 13. The report was issued after Orr’s first 45 days in office. For many, Orr’s report did not reveal much new information on the city’s financial emergency. According to the report, city debt is about $15 billion. The city is spending more than it is taking in. It has a structural deficit with revenue falling e ...

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing will not run again for mayor but is considering a run for Wayne County executive. In a speech at the Charles H. Wright African American History Museum May 14, Bing said he had an “unwavering devotion” to the city and announced that he would not seek reelection but would form an exploratory committee for a county run. It is not clear if he could or would be a resident of Wayne County ...

The not so “Great Gatsby” film was a celebration of whiteness and class bias. Damn, “Gatsby” reminded me of what is happening to the city of Detroit right now. White folk are cheering and partying, flaunting the law of the land pouring ‘em down, while their minstrel Emergency Manager has the stage. Bright media driven lights bounce all around the democracy destroying event of our times as we listen to the d ...

The Office of the Emergency Manager issued its Financial and Operating Plan for the City of Detroit. It is a limited document. As predicted, it states Detroit is in financial trouble. It repeats the concern for the $15 billion in long-term debt and adds that the city was out of money as of April 26, having $64 million in cash but $226 million in obligations. It goes on to tell us that much of the city is “d ...