Posts tagged detroit
Cumulative notes for the Zōon Politikon
Police ‘cleaning up’ Detroit by kidnapping the homeless, stranding them in other cities
April 22, 2013Imagine that you are homeless in Detroit. You have an area where you know you are safe, where you can find food and shelter if you ask. Now imagine that a cop grabs you from the street, throws you into a van, drives you to the edge of the city or even a suburb and then kicks you out. That’s what the ACLU is accusing the Detroit PD of doing.: they filed a complaint with the Justice Department against the DPB this week.
The complaint comes at the end of a year-long investigation into claims that the department routinely drove homeless people to areas unfamiliar to them, leaving them to get back on their own. They will approach homeless people, especially in tourist areas like Greektown, force them into vans and drive them miles away, the complaint alleges. Sometimes the officers would even take what little money they had, leaving them with no recourse but to walk back to the city. Sometimes the homeless victims would even be left in neighboring towns and suburbs like Dearborn and River Rouge.
Speaking for the ACLU of Michigan, staff attorney Sarah Mehta told the local CBS affiliate:
“DPD’s practice of essentially kidnapping homeless people and abandoning them miles away from the neighborhoods they know – with no means for a safe return — is inhumane, callous and illegal. The city’s desire to hide painful reminders of our economic struggles cannot justify discriminating against the poor, banishing them from their city, and endangering their lives. A person who has lost his home has not lost his right to be treated with dignity.” (source)
The ACLU was contacted by the St. Peter and Paul Jesuit Church Warming Center, a homeless shelter. They told the organization about several homeless people who were “taken for a ride” by DPB officers. One such story came from Andrew Sheehan, a 36-year-old who used to be homeless but is now working at a grocery store:
“I had my back turned to him and I did not see him approaching, and the first thing he did was he kicked me. He didn’t identify himself as an officer and he kicked me and told me to get up. I asked him if I was free to go. He told me no.” (source)
The organization has published the stories of five homeless people who were kidnapped and harassed by Detroit police. According to the ACLU’s complaint, some of the homeless who were taken had to walk many miles to get back to downtown shelters. This puts them in danger from a variety of sources, especially in the middle of winter.
The ACLU has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the allegations. They have also asked the city to issue a directive to police officers to desist this practice immediately.
This is unconscionable, but it’s not new. Removing the vagrants and undersirables from where the “regular” people might be upset by them is an old practice, according to Samuel Walker, a police accountability expert:
“This is a familiar story with a long history in policing. You do wonder what did this Police Department learn from the consent decree experience?” (source)
Detroit’s Chief of Police, Chester Logan, declined to comment, saying that he had not yet seen the complaint. The AP was also unable to get comments from Mayor Dave Bing or the city’s emergency manager, Kevyn Orr. Not surprising.
This bad economy has seen an uptick in the homeless situation. Yes, it makes some of us uncomfortable to see them, perhaps because we see more of ourselves in them than we would care to admit. But ignoring the problem won’t solve it and taking these people to the edge of town and exposing them to danger is not the way to handle it. Detroit’s police need to look inside and find their better nature before they get someone killed.
(via queennubian)
Jorge joined about 125 people, including state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, at a rally outside Cesar Chavez Academy on Waterman Street. Demonstrators called for Detroit ICE Enforcement Director Rebecca Adducci to quit. The call follows allegations that immigration agents are patrolling near schools and stopping residents on their way to drop off or pick up their children, a practice ICE national director John Morton pledged to end a year ago. “ICE has broken its promise here,” said Juan Martinez, principal at Cesar Chavez Academy.
Activists cite ‘broken’ promises, urge Detroit immigration official to quit | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com (via mmmightymightypeople)
Do you know how many kids stop goin to school for fear they may come home to find their parents gone forever.
(via bad-dominicana)(via bad-dominicana)
text in image:
MISSING
TAMALA WELLS: DETROIT, MICHIGAN
9/10/2012: Tamala Wells (33) of Detroit, Michigan hasn’t been seen or heard from since 8/6/2012 and the white, four-door Pontiac Grand Prix she was driving was found abandoned on Coventry Street, between Lantz Avenue and Emery Street. At the time of her disappearance, the mother of two was living with her boyfriend who claims Tamala was “just going out to take care of some business.” Tamala’s brother, Ricardo Wells, said he talks to or sees his sister usually 5 times a week and says it’s totally uncharacteristic of her not to contact anyone. Tamala is 5’6” and 150 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and jean shorts. Anyone with information on Wells’ whereabouts is asked to call the Detroit police at 313-596-5240 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
facebook.com/seeking.thelost.newsvia the Help Find Kalisha “Mocha” Madden facebook page (post link)
Come on, yall! Plano was able to mobilise over a thousand people by nightfall the day one woman went ‘missing’ up here earlier this/last year.
BOOST.
No one wonders what advantages accrued to Mitt Romney, a man who spent his early life ensconced in the preserve of malignant and absolutist affirmative action that was metropolitan Detroit. Romney’s Detroit (like most of the country) prohibited black people from the best jobs, the best schools, the best neighborhoods, and the best of everything else. The exclusive Detroit Golf Club, a short walk from one of Romney’s childhood homes, didn’t integrate until 1986. No one is skeptical of Mitt Romney because of the broader systemic advantages he enjoyed, advantages erected largely to ensure that this country would ever be run by men who looked like him.
(via robot-heart-politics)
Michigan GOP candidate allegedly siphoned off 95 percent of charity’s money
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer dropped a bombshell this morning that may have obliterated Republican Clark Durant’s campaign for Senate.
Brewer alleges that he has uncovered documents that show a charity run by Durant funnels 95 percent of its funds – more than $600,000 a year – to the Durant family, particularly the candidate’s daughter, Hope Durant Loomis.
Brewer is calling for an IRS investigation into the Genesis Foundation, a nonprofit Durant formed in 1991 to help Detroit children secure a private school education. The charity is connected to Detroit’s Cornerstone Schools, a charter school group which Durant founded.
“Clark Durant claims to be a ‘rebel with a cause,’ but it turns out he’s siphoned off almost $1.4 million from a charity originally created to help Detroit kids afford school. It’s clear the only cause Durant cares about is his own,” Brewer said.“A man who unlawfully abuses charities and foundations for personal gain is not the kind of ‘rebel’ Michigan families need.”
Brewer’s own political investigation was sparked by a recent story in the Detroit Free Press that found Durant’s $500,000 salary at Cornerstone, a relatively small organization that educates 1,500 students, exceeded the pay received by many university presidents and CEOs of national charter school networks.Oh yeah.
Wish I could believe this would “obliterate” the guy’s campaign.
