Hello Activists!

Below is a little piece about now, the nation and Detroit. For all who lived this history and those longtime warriors who fought before this, this period of time now is especially full of pain and horror...you just have to say it all again and add in some hope and concrete plans. 

Jean Vortkamp

Lifelong Detroiter and Co-Producer of the film series Looting Detroit http://www.lootingdetroitthemovie.com

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A Letter from Detroit to the Nation

Detroit has suffered for decades at the hands of the 1%. The most glaring example of this was the Detroit bankruptcy. It was driven by a few billionaires and right wing think tanks to further their agenda and enhance their bank accounts. All the while the manipulated media and people who never involved themselves in Detroit cried, “That is just Detroit. Always mismanaged.” Yes, by the 1% and THEIR politicians. 

We pleaded for help from every government official – Democrat and Republican - and advocacy organizations. We objected in kangaroo court, finding a way for hundreds of people to write objections in just a few days. We watched as the bankruptcy judge would oddly run to his chambers before so many decisions. 

Watching the country now go through this coordinated far right take over is pretty ho hum for Detroiters. We have been through this before. City workers who had retired early lost the health insurance they were promised - some DIED. Many city workers -majority black - lost part of their pension. As the city went forward there was EVEN more investment in billionaire pet projects and pensioners never got THEIR money back. Many city services were privatized to the detriment and cost of Detroiters, just as the far right Mackinac Policy Center had dreamed of. 

In Detroit, the unelected "emergency manager" from Jones Day who was put in to lead the bankruptcy told one of the retirees - to his face - at a protest, "We should have taken it all". Why didn’t they? We stood up as Detroiters. Fought back. Alone. Where were you America? 

They made a deal with the police and fire - and in a not astounding surprise they showed no solidarity with the sanitation workers and other city workers. They took the deal. The 1% needed them to keep “order” and to protect their property. 

A key part of the takeover of Detroit was “electing” a mayor who would sign off on the bankruptcy. And they did with thousands of ballots in the same handwriting which we saw in the weeks of the 2013 recount. He “won” the write in campaign far and wide - wildly impossible for a write-in campaign. Like Detroiters do, we FOIAed the ballots, told everyone on every level about this, hired lawyers. Crickets. 

How is it now America? What is it like to have chaos and no one listening? Everything you have and built at stake? Your community, your pension, your job? Do you believe us now? Do you see the unbridled cruelty of the 1%? 

They shut off people's water here because their plan was to privatize the water department. Some of the most impoverished children in the country did not have water to drink in their homes in Detroit. In Flint pipes for a 1% water project laid next to our protest path but there were no pipes for Flint. Indeed, many say they took Flint off our water to make the Detroit Water Department look worse off financially to control it. 

We were all invisible. In the way. Our health, our mortality, was in the way of those with lots of money and their crazed dominionist anti-community dreams and entitlement. 

Our lesson to share is that the 1% and THEIR elected officials do not care. We have to save ourselves. 

This is the community versus greed showdown, my fellow Americans. It has been growing and growing. Here is the crescendo. Detroiters will fight, like we always do. But we are exhausted from decades of this same fight in our own city. Everyone - even the exhausted and burned out like many of us - must step up, stand up, and get him to step down, be removed or exiled as soon as possible. Every day is damage. Once he is gone, if we do not do the steps below, it is wasted effort. Then lets build a better world for everyone. Including Detroiters. 

But how?

1. Change campaign finance laws to having all campaigns government funded. This would stop ALL politicians from being corporate and 1% stooges. Have strict rules with harsh felonious consequences for taking funds, gifts and services. Then Citizens United disappears because who cares if corporations are people in regards to campaign finance if even individuals cannot contribute. Checkmate creepy Robert Mercer. Good-bye PACS, SuperPACs and all of it. Let the DNC and RNC collapse. Time to take out the trash America.

2. Hand counted paper ballots, clear ballot boxes, audited, all across the country. We need to watch democracy every minute. Computers are out of OUR control. This way If you want to stay from when polls open to inspect the box, to polls closing and the count, you can. 

3. A complete forensic investigation of Detroit's voting system and all involved since 2009 (or even before). The legacy many of us would like to leave is a fair voting system for future generations. 

I leave you with a little song of resistance and love. Allison Russell - Superlover ft. Annie Lennox