“The Detroit Public Library is the last independent city institution in Detroit,” says Russ Bellant, president of the Detroit Library Commission. But Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Roy Roberts seems to be trying to change that. Roberts had previously asserted financial control over Detroit Public Schools, which appoints DPL commissioners, while the Detroit Board of Education maintained control of ...

Politicians, preachers, presidents, activists and other purveyors of word banging love to speak of family values and helping American families. Yet, the plight of single moms is given a hopeless-like shrug and is rarely mentioned in the mega prayer missives fired by mega churches with very deep collection plates navigating the satellite and cable broadcasting realms. ...

This week, Detroit’s emergency manager (EM) firmed up the foundation of his operation. After reinstating the pay of elected City Council members, the EM announced the Council is welcome to meet, but he has the final say. All decisions are his alone. A few days later, a consulting firm recommended that the City Council be reduced to part time and cut its staff. ...

“A local issue but a national struggle,” is how National Action Network president and MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton described Michiganders’ fight against the state’s emergency manager law, Public Act 436. Sharpton joined Detroit, Flint and Pontiac residents March 28 at a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse in downtown Detroit, to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit that claims the law ...

“No Justice, No Peace!” The activist chant echoes from the first to the 13th floors of the Coleman Alexander Young building, through the streets, in front of the banks and in church meeting halls around the city. ...

Mind snacking while watching Michigan (’77) demolish Florida on the way to B-ball’s Final Four, one of those military commercials dominated the screen as we were assured that our fighting men and women were defending liberty and democracy worldwide — UooRah! Man, that was a patriotic feel-good moment! Then a Detroit mind snack nano Unlike. Hey. we need you guys in Detroit — now — because democracy has taken ...

Are you actively resisting the appointment of emergency managers? “I am not resisting actively, because I thought we voted not to have an emergency manager. How can the governor just appoint an EM after we said no? I voted on it, but I am not doing anything else.” ...

Gov. Rick Snyder has stepped up his campaign to convince people that the appointment of an emergency financial manager (EFM) in Detroit is a good thing. He has released a series of YouTube clips, including comments by former City Council member Sheila Cockrel, various “young professionals” and Rev. Jerome Warfield, chairman of the Board of Police Commissioners. All echo the same theme that city services fro ...

Cha-ching! is the sound of banks registering the new revenue coming their way the very moment Gov. Rick Snyder put Detroit under an emergency financial manager (EFM). “Who knows what the city has paid? The same stick-up men that went through the neighborhoods (with the foreclosure crisis) are now at city hall,” said Jerry Goldberg, attorney for Moratorium Now. ...

The city’s hip hop community is protesting Detroit’s new status under emergency management in its own unique way. Will Copeland, a community activist and emcee who performs under the name Will See, has recently released a song with a heated message to mobilize citizens against the state’s takeover of Detroit through an emergency manager. The song “Emergency” is a powerful example of hip hop as a tool of res ...