13 Arrested at Jennifer Granholm’s office in Lansing Michigan over public education and the wicked plans of Robert Bobb and his paymaster Eli Broad, the billionaire
The Detroit News paper out of Lansing Michigan stated that two dozen demonstrators were staging a sit-in at the state Capitol today, May 12th, to protest Robert Bobb’s plans for Detroit Public Schools and Arne Duncan’s plan for the Race to the Top. They want a sit down meeting with the Governor over the issue of public education in Detroit and Robert Bobb, the Detroit Eli Broad hired gun who is closing schools faster than homes foreclose at Michigan banks.
I spoke with De’Von Burt, a high school student from Frederick Douglas, minutes before 13 students and others were to be arrested. They would not leave until Gov. Jennifer Granholm met with them. She refused and not only did she refuse, she would not send any spokesperson to speak with the mostly high school students; however one thirteen year old girl was one of the protestors and a By Any Means Necessary (www.bamn.com) lawyer, also arrested.
This was Minutes before De’Von’s cell phone went dead he told me that 15 people were committed to stay and engage in civil disobedience — to be arrested. I asked De’Von before he was cut off what the scene looked like and his feelings about the event.
“Really”, he told me, “I feel positive, very calm. I think the Governor is making a mistake. If she represents the people of this state and the city of Detroit than why won’t she meet with us? I am staying even if I am arrested.”
De’Von suffers from physical ailments but told me he was all right. He described the scene this way:
BAMN attorne, Joyce Schon, was actually driving the bus full of protestors to the Governor’s office. The students, parents and BAMN members entered the building at approximately 12:00 AM without incident. They had the consent of a local pastor to park their bus in the pastor’s oparking space so it would not be towed. They sat in a circle with blankets and some with signs demanding a meeting with the Governor. At 5:00 PM (EST) they had heard nothing from the Governor who evidently was holed up in a meeting on another floor.
De’Von told me just minutes before the phone went dead and the group of 13 were arrested that the State Police were there, security guards for the building were in formation, and the local police were on hand as well.
According to the Detroit News, Liz Boyd, the governor’s spokeswoman told the paper, said Granholm “has no plan” to meet with the group. She stated:
“We support Robert Bobb,” Boyd said. “Those who want to discuss the actions he’s taking need to take their concerns to him.”Robert Bobb has been appointed to make some very tough decisions and the governor has confidence in the work Mr. Bobb is doing in Detroit to make sure children get the public education they need and deserve. We’re not going to second guess the decisions he makes.” (http://www.detnews.com/article/20100512/SCHOOLS/5120434/1361/Group-stages-sit-in-at-Capitol-to-protest-Bobb-s-DPS-plan)
Sure, Granholm herself appointed Bobb who is a shill for Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top which demands that schools be closed that do not live up to the privatized test taking racket he is promoting to extort states so they can get their hands on part of the paltry $4.3 million dollars he says he will give those states that meet his four assurances: testing, closing schools, adopting charter schools as a game plan and implementing the ruthless No Child Left Behind Law, now renamed by Duncan as the Race to the Top.
Bobb, the district’s emergency financial manager, has been battling the Detroit School Board, the unions and parents and students for academic control of the district. At issue is the recent appeals court ruling last week that will allow Bobb to proceed with a $540 million academic reform plan that will close up to 45 schools after the end of the school year in June. He has the power now that the court overturned the earlier court decision stripping him of this dictatorial mandates. The appellate court disagreed with the lower court decision.
The issue now goes back to circuit court, according to Joyce Schon, lawyer for BAMN who I spoke with upon her release under $250 bond from jail. That’s right, they all had to post bond; none of the protestors got out on their own recognizance (OR).
The school board has vowed to appeal that ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court. And they are not alone. The protestors, their stories
Besides De’Von Burt, Lashane Green, 43, brought two of her three children to protest school closures in the troubled district. She is upset the school they attended was closed last year, and her children were transferred to another school that she says isn’t as good.
“He’s taking the rights away from the parents,” Green said. “There’s nothing wrong with the schools — there’s something wrong with the money part.”
Graduate Liana Mulholland, 22, said her beloved Cass Technical High School will be gutted under Bobb’s plan. “He plans to make Cass Tech a bare-bones neighborhood school just like any other school,” she said. “His plan will destroy our city” (ibid).
Steve Benkovsky, director of facilities at the Capitol building stated to the Detroit News:
“I will make an announcement at 5:30 that the building will be closed, and they will be asked to leave. If they don’t leave, I will let them know it’s trespassing, and will hand it off to the State Police. It will be up to them what happens after that point (ibid).
He said the group has been well-behaved but they will have to go when the building shuts down for the night. According to De’Von, who called me at 5:28 PM (EST), the police began to prepare for arrests. At 5:30 PM his phone went dead.
De’Von said minutes ago following the arrest, that he along with others, were chanting, “They say Jim Crow, we say hell no! Public education is a right, by any means necessary we will fight. ”
As 13 demonstrators were handcuffed and led away by 6 state police and two security guards for the building, De’Von found himself alone, chanting. He stated to me, “I sat there by myself and chanted. I did not want to be the last person there, but I was. Eight police, including two security guards told me I was the only one left and laughed at me as I continued to chant. They said ‘You are losing your voice’. I told them I wanted to be with my comrades to be with them, you know, but the police surrounded me and talked me down. I just left.”
They eventually escorted him out of the building. He called me immediately.
The protestors were taken away in state vehicles, two in each car and should be processing now at the local jail. One 13 year old student protestor was being detained in the Governor’s ‘mansion’ while being interrogated by police and security. She, as did many other students, has a guardian for this is a tactic BAMN uses for young student protestors to protect them and their parents from harassment. Joyce Schon, attorney for the group ‘By Any Means Necessary’, was arrested along with Donna Stern, spokesperson for BAMN.
Bad Move by Granholm
The failure of Granholm to meet with high school students from public schools and their parents and BAMN is going to turn out to be a mistake for many reasons. To begin with, she is now showing her true colors which she attempted to hide under liberal clothing. She is drawing a line in the sand and standing behind her appointed stooge, Bobb, for the world to see. This of course will fuel and incite more students and their parents as the 45 closures are expected to go forward and quickly, the guillotine to fall rapidly.
Unlike Charlie Crist from Forida who met with concerned parents and students in his office, Granholm neither cares about the students or their parents — she is more interested in manicuring a political career and she needs Wall Street and the billionaires to do it. Seeing Crist get mugged by his own party no doubt played into her decision.
As people of Detroit see their lives hollowed out and their public schools closed by executioner Robert Bobb, they will be looking down the barrel of the privatization gun that Arne Duncan, behind closed doors and out of the way of the pesky public, has prepared for them. This will no doubt lead to more unrest.
Secondly, now that 13 participants out of the thirty who actually sat in are handcuffed, this will certainly light a fire under the high school and middle student walk-outs that are scheduled for May 19th throughout the city of Detroit. De’Von and his student and political allies will not be talked down for this walk-out and Bobb knows this.
The demonstration was successful in lighting the wick for future demonstrations. The cowardice of Granholm is not unexpected. She represents the wealthy ruling classes of Michigan and has her own agenda for future cabinet posts in the Obama administration. She, like Bobb, knows who she works for and who butters her bread. Soon, they and the billionaires and Wall Street vulture capitalists, bent on destroying public schools in Detroit, will soon find out that there are more students, parents, and BAMN members than they can contend with without the use of police. Bobb is known to use police frequently to scare teachers and students into submission so we must keep updated as to what will happen as the heat literally and figuratively swelters in the crippled city.
Summary
We can only commend the actions of BAMN, the courage of De’Von who is now working with the press, and the arrestees who put their lives and dignity on the line to protect children from the cannibalizers, the Donner party that is Eli Broad, that is Robert Bobb, that is Keith Johnson (DFT union boss), that is Arne Duncan and that is the president of the United States that your momma calls Obama. Stay tuned for more.
In the interim you can help! We must make this story national. I have been working with press from both CBS, Fox and WDIV TV out of Detroit. Erica from WDIV TV was kind enough to call me back but the rest of the newsrooms were either clueless and are covering up the story. Her number is 313-222-0500.
Please: Call Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) or Amy Goodman or Laura Flanders of Free Speech TV and demand that this be made a national news story. The actions will accelerate state by state as the closures of schools will accelerate and the grimy plans for charter villages and Promise Neighborhoods move forward.
Detroit is leading and has led the way in resistance — we must help them by making a simple phone call to the press.
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary www.bamn.com letters@bamn.com (313) 468-3398
