“Here’s an idea: rather than all of us creating our own GoFundMe pages to collect money to provide water, filters, and medical care for people in Flint, what if we just created 1 and we all donated to it? We could call it the ‘State of Michigan government’ or something like that. #FlintWaterCrisis P.S. I bet…
Another long-term scandal with no answers from the Snyder Administration Of late, even when he’s supposed to be taking questions from the press, Rick Snyder has been assiduously avoiding certain questions, most notably, anything having to do with his culpability in the poisoning of Flint families with lead in the water. But, expectations are also…
Tijuana Morris is a pensioner, a 46-year veteran of the Detroit Police Department who has to pay $3,000 per month for prescription drugs. Fokls like Morris, who deserve to be relaxing after so many years of hard work, are instead being crushed under an unjust financial burden. Morris was one of the folks who spoke…
The killing of Eric Garner and the lack of accountability for Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who killed him, sparked nationwide protests and, I think it’s fair to say, those protests aimed to turn a tragic death into a positive movement for serious change. While that movement had positive results in parts of the country, there…
I don’t mean to downplay or disrespect the power of people who faced down police dogs, fire hoses and mob violence in the fight for civil rights and it’s not just because I’m a media jackal that I’m playing up the role of the media, but I don’t want to even try to imagine that…
The voice of the people might be the only thing standing between a young artist from West Africa and arrest and violence. Michel Mendel is gay and from Senegal, where it is illegal to be gay and where the U.S. State Department has noted widespread violence against LGBT people. Recently, a group of drummers and…
On Wednesday, April 10, a historic march will take place in Washington D.C. It will be historic in part because it’s coming on the heels of the growing momentum for serious, common sense, immigration reform. For the first time in decades, there is bipartisan agreement that the U.S. immigration system is broken and there is…
This year, Walmart is starting their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day at 8 pm to get a few steps in front of the competition. The benefits to Walmart’s bottom line will probably be marginal, while the costs to workers and their families are much greater. Walmart’s anti-worker, anti-union stance and general employee abuse are…
Earlier this summer, many of Michigan’s young people had a huge weight lifted from their shoulders. The Obama Administration instituted reforms allowing those brought to the U.S. under the age of 16 by their families to be free of the fear of deportation back to countries many barely remembered. There were other stipulations of having…
While there are certainly signs of an overall economic recovery, no one is questioning the budget woes and painful cuts that lie ahead for the Highland Park School Districts or the City of Detroit. The cash crisis is clear, but there is no good reason for the crisis to serve as an excuse to strip…