MWRO Protests Censorship by WHPR

As reported in the Michigan Citizen, MWRO has ceased its weekly television and radio broadcast on WHPR-TV 33, 88.1FM in Highland Park, Michigan.

On Tuesday, April 21, 2009, the station owner, RJ Watkins, informed Marian Kramer and Maureen Taylor, co-hosts of the popular, "Ask Welfare Rights Show," that they would not be allowed to criticize former Highland Park Emergency Financial Manager, Arthur Blackwell--a friend and investor of Mr. Watkins.

The previous night, Marian Kramer attended the City of Highland Park City Council meeting where Mr. Blackwell and his supporters tried to distract from the firing of Mr. Blackwell who paid himself nearly $300,000 from the city--after agreeing to oversee finances for his native town for $1 per year!

MWRO and other community shows on WHPR pay an hourly fee for broadcast and production assistance. Following this censorship, the Michigan Citizen interviewed Mr. Watkins as saying that MWRO could talk about Mr. Blackwell "at home or on the telephone, but I have a right to say they don't talk about it on the air."

Marian Kramer retorted: "Maybe that is so, but it is our right to stop people from supporting the station."

Read Marian Kramer's full story about these incidents at the People's Tribune. Ms. Kramer is consulting with an attorney about reporting the matter to the proper authorities, and possibly boycotting the station.

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization broadcasted the "Ask Welfare Rights Show" on WHPR for over eight years. It provided regular updates and information about available public assistance benefits, "Know Your Rights" facts, and commentary on issues pertaining to low-income and poor people in southeast Michigan.

For more information or to voice your concern, call the MWRO office at (313) 964-0618.

(Image from MWRO)

Bail Out The People — Not The Corporations

(reposted from the People's Tribune, March 2009)

Over the past year, more than 2.2 million homes have been lost to foreclosure, a record number. Some four million jobs have vanished, and jobs continue to be lost at the rate of about 650,000 a month. One American in three has suffered a job loss or a pay cut in their household. Those once stably employed are becoming destitute, and those who were already destitute are dying.

The question on everyone’s lips is, what is our government doing to stop the ongoing economic catastrophe that threatens us all? What should it do? Where do the interests of the people lie?

As this issue of the People’s Tribune goes to press, President Obama has signed an economic stimulus bill which, we’re told, will create or save a few million jobs and expand public assistance to the unemployed, among other things. The government is also pondering how best to bail out the banks, arguing that helping the banks will restart the flow of credit and help get the economy going again. And the administration announced a $75 billion foreclosure-prevention plan that it says could help up to nine million homeowners keep their homes.

We should be on guard. We should ask ourselves, what actually needs to be achieved? The end result of the government’s intervention should be to guarantee the necessities of life for anyone who is doing without them. If this isn’t happening, then we need to demand that the government do what is right.

The underlying cause of the crisis is that more and more production is carried on with less and less labor, because of the introduction of labor-replacing technology into the economy. This technology has wiped out jobs and driven down wages for those still working. Because people with low wages or no jobs buy less, the market for goods and services is being wiped out. As the market has been undermined, the economy was kept going with debt – the massive extension of credit to workers and businesses. Credit was also used to fuel a huge orgy of speculation in stocks, bonds, credit default swaps, mortgage-backed securities and all sorts of exotic financial instruments that really had no value. On a temporary basis, this speculation brought huge profits to the financial sector.

This house of credit, debt and speculation has been standing on a “real” economy that has been hollowed out by labor-replacing technology. Eventually the debt-based bubble had to burst, and now that it has, the real economy is falling to its true level.
In the short term, what is needed is to nationalize large parts of the economy, such as the banking system, in the interest of the people, not the corporations. We should be nationalizing the assets of the corporations—not their risks—and putting those assets to work in such a way as to guarantee every person has access to housing, health care and the other necessities of life.

In the longer term, we are going to have to decide whether we’ll have a society that serves the majority of the people, or a society organized to serve only the wealthy few. Either the people are going to have to take the corporations over and run them in society’s interest, or the privately owned corporations will decide whether the rest of us live or die. This is the ultimate question we must answer.
(Image courtesy of the People's Tribune)

Wild Man Wiley on Berrien County Bench

Read this extraordinary report about Berrien County Judge Wiley's bond hearing for BANCO's Rev. Edward Pinkney. Although we don't have a photo to share of Judge Wiley, this is what we imagine him to look like!

[Reposted from Benton Harbor BANCO]

Rev. Pinkney's Bond Hearing, Thursday Dec. 18, 2008

The hearing was to set bond and allow for Rev. Pinkney's release as he appeals a 3-10 year prison sentence for violating his probation for writing an article which was published in the Peoples Tribune. peoplestribune.org

Obviously furious and out of control emotionally, Judge Dennis Wiley was like a crazy man with hair standing up. Literally. For people who had traveled from afar, it was a rude shock to hear Judge W announce that the 10am hearing was being postponed until 3pm.

This judge, true to reputation, was anything but objective, and openly displayed a lot of anger. The ACLU's win in court, resulting in the release of Pinkney, is the last thing Berrien County power players want. Judge W didn't want to hear the case, said he didn't have time for rebuttal, and tried to persuade prosecutor Vigansky who he seemed at odds with to postpone the hearing. He eventually decided to hear the case. Vigansky appeared to care about how he conducted himself, Wiley did not and behaved like a drunken sailor. He threw two people out of the courtroom for slight chuckles, shouting to "get out!"

Rev. Pinkney, appearing on closed circuit TV from Jackson prison, was represented by two ACLU attorneys, both present in the courtroom. It was obvious from their astonished expressions that they may never have been subjected to this type of "legal proceeding" in their careers. Berrien County refused to bring Pinkney to the courtroom citing bad weather.

Judge W granted Pinkney a ten-thousand dollar cash surety bond -- more than had been sought by either Pinkney or the prosecutor. "I could have set $150,000.00!," threatened Judge W.

Despite last week's one and only order by the Court of Appeals for Judge W to set the bail amount, he set a long list of (outrageous) conditions to Pinkney's bond release:

no cell phone, no pager, no speaking engagements, no preaching in church, may engage in no defamatory or harassing behavior - including through the use of print or electronic media, no election activity, must wear a GPS tether and be under 24-hour curfew, may not go near Judge Butzbaugh, may not use a credit card ("you may as well cut up your credit card"). Also, Pinkney must keep away from the Berrien County Courthouse until his day in court on the appeal. Pinkney is known for his court observer activism. Attorney Michael Steinberg said the restrictions are excessive, and some are unconstitutional.

Get the feeling they are just a little afraid of this reverend?

Read more at WSJM. (Image from Sultan Knish Blog)

MI Appeals Court Grants Bond Motion for Rev. Pinkney!

MWRO applauds the Michigan Court of Appeals for its decision to grant Rev. Pinkney a release on bond! This is great news for the Pinkney family and the hard fought efforts of Rev. Pinkney's attorneys and friends. See the MI ACLU press release below and this pre-incarceration video of Rev. Pinkney discussing charges against him and conditions in Benton Harbor.


See more videos
ACLU Praises Court Decision to Release Minister from Prison Pending Appeal

IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 11, 2008

CONTACT: Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director at 313.578.6814

DETROIT– The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan applauded a Court of Appeals decision today granting its motion for bond on behalf of a Benton Harbor minister who is serving a 3-10 year prison sentence for writing a newspaper article that harshly criticized the judge who presided over his trial.

"We are thrilled that Rev. Edward Pinkney will be home with his family celebrating Christmas instead of sitting in prison for criticizing a judge," said Michigan ACLU Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg. "The court properly recognized that serious constitutional questions are raised when a minister is thrown in prison for predicting what God might do."

Rev. Pinkney is a Baptist minister in Benton Harbor, a predominantly African American community with a troubled relationship with its predominantly white sister city, St. Joseph. Rev. Pinkney has long been an outspoken community activist and advocate, frequently denouncing injustice and racial inequality in Benton Harbor, its local government, and the Berrien County criminal justice system in particular.

In 2007, Rev. Pinkney was sentenced to probation for violating Michigan election law. But his probation was revoked and he was resentenced to 3-10 years in prison solely because of an article he wrote for a small Chicago newspaper. Quoting a passage from the Bible, Rev. Pinkney predicted that God would "curse" the judge unless he "hearken[ed] unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe [and] to do all that is right." Rev. Pinkney also expressed his opinion in the article that the judge was racist, dumb, and corrupt.

The ACLU argued in its motion for bond pending appeal that the statements Rev. Pinkney made in his newspaper editorial, while offensive to many, are clearly protected speech under the First Amendment. The ACLU further urged the Court of Appeals to release Rev. Pinkney on bond while it considers the appeal of his sentence.

In an order issued yesterday, the Court of Appeals granted the ACLU motion and has asked the Berrien County Circuit Court to set the amount of bond. A date has not been set yet for a hearing to determine the bond amount, however, the ACLU will ask for the earliest date possible. The Court of Appeals is expected to decide the merits of Rev. Pinkney's appeal in 2009.

In addition to Steinberg, Rev. Pinkney is represented by ACLU Cooperating Attorneys James J. Walsh and Rebecca O'Reilly of the respected corporate law firm Bodman LLP.

To read the Court of Appeals order, go to: http://www.aclumich.org/pdf/pinkneybondbrief.pdf.
To read the ACLU Brief in Support of Bond Pending Appeal, go to http://www.aclumich.org/pdf/pinkneybondbrief.pdf
To read Rev. Pinkney's article, go to http://www.peoplestribune.org/PT.2007.11/PT.2007.11.18.html