Friday, January 7, 2022
2011: Financial dictator robs Detroiters of their vote
Financial dictator would rob Detroiters of their vote
by: John Henry(Charles Brown)
March 22 2011
tags: economy, African Americans, jobs, civil rights, Michigan
DETROIT - A receivership or appointment of an "emergency" financial
manager by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is hanging over this city's head,
based on the phony claim that its deficit poses an "emergency" for the
public health, welfare and safety. The financial manager could usurp
the powers of the mayor, City Council, pension board, and the City
Charter. The essence of this would be profoundly un-American and
undemocratic. It would be a violation of Detroit residents' right to
self-determination.
In the larger historical view, the financial power structure that
controls Detroit's economic investment and development is responsible
for the long-term economic depression that has afflicted Detroit as it
has become a majority Black, and proud, and disproportionately poor
urban location. There has been a financial and investment blockade on
Detroit by the private sector.
Now the same financial power structure that for the last 35 years made
Detroit what it is economically stands in the shadows as certain
mouthpieces of money in Michigan state government threaten that the
city may have to submit to receivership.
Detroit did not become overwhelmingly Black because Black people
planned to take it over. No, it was by default, from the long-term
process, confirmed by social science experts, of out-migration of many
whites to Detroit's surrounding communities. (See Thomas Sugrue's "The
Origin of the Urban Crisis" and Coleman A. Young's "Hardstuff.") To
this day, at least one official in Oakland County, north of the city,
holds office based on opposition to integrating greater Detroit 40
years ago.
My point is, it has not been Black people who made the Detroit
metropolitan area the most segregated in the country (according to the
last Census).
The out-migration of economic wealth and investment by the financial
power structure has created this out-migration, or "flight," of the
population of this area. People must have jobs in our society. There
is no other way to survive. People follow the jobs. People in Detroit
need jobs and income. Detroit's fiscal stresses are rooted in the job
deficit and the business deficit.
The people of Detroit also have the right to the democratic election
of their own leaders. This principle was proven in the election vote
on ending the state takeover of the Detroit Public Schools board
several years ago. America owes the majority Black population of
Detroit equality of citizenship, which means the right of
self-determination and self-governance, especially with regard to the
financial matters of its city government. This is irrefutable, given
the history of the struggles of Black people in the civil rights
movement in America.
Drawing on this historical context, Detroiters demand that any
accounting of their own government, any assessment of the city of
Detroit's fiscal health, be made based on the following issues:
* Down through the years, returns to city residents in public services
and funding do not equal the federal and state taxes Detroiters have
paid. We say federal and state governments owe Detroit because we have
not gotten full value for taxes paid to them.
* We think the tax breaks given to municipal bondholders on Wall
Street should be shared with Detroit, which sold them the bonds,
providing the tax breaks based on Detroit's municipal status. This
must now be given back to Detroit in a substantial forgiveness of
current bond debts.
* Finally, the state of Michigan, under former Governor John Engler,
made a deal with Detroit under former Mayor Dennis Archer: Detroit
would reduce its income taxes in exchange for revenue sharing from the
state to the city. The state has not lived up to its end of this
bargain. It has cut revenue sharing to Detroit. This reversal has hurt
Detroit's fiscal situation.
Declaring a public emergency because of a fiscal deficit is a fraud. A
fiscal deficit does not endanger the public health, safety and
welfare. The powers-that-be are using this lie as a cover for robbing
the people of Detroit of their vote and their assets, and robbing city
workers of wages, benefits and pensions.
In a protest rally at the state Capitol in Lansing this month, state
Sen. Coleman Young quoted founding father Patrick Henry, saying, "Give
me liberty or give me death." United Auto Workers President Bob King
said the struggle against the tea-Republican Party attacks on the
people of Michigan will be responded to by a struggle all the way to
November 2012. We in Michigan will follow the lead of our brothers and
sisters in Wisconsin.
Photo: The famous sculpture of Joe Louis' fist, in downtown Detroit.
The photographer calls it "a symbol of the strength of Detroit and its
people." ktpupp CC 2.0
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