------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 17, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
BENTON HARBOR MARCH TO PROTEST ARRESTS By Jerry Goldberg Detroit A demonstration in Benton Harbor, Mich., on Saturday, July 12, will demand amnesty for four men who face criminal charges arising from the Black community's rebellion on June 16-17 after a police chase killed Black motorcyclist Terrance Shurn. The protest will begin at 11 a.m. with a march from Benton Harbor City Hall along Main Street (I-94 Business West) and across the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph bridge to the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph, for a rally at noon. Co-sponsors of the march and rally are the South west Michigan Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality, the Benton Harbor chapter of the Black Autonomy Network of Community Organizers (BANCO) and the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality. It is endorsed by two dozen social justice organizations and individuals from throughout Michigan, including Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, President David Sole of UAW Local 2334-SCATA, and the International ANSWER coalition. William Johnson, 27, of South Haven; Larry Doolittle, 47, of Benton Harbor; and Christopher Burke, 31, of Benton Town ship have been bound over for trial on charges stemming from the rebellion. The three are charged with rioting and assault with a dangerous weapon for failing to obey police orders to stop their cars. A fourth man--Joseph Dowd, 19, of Baroda--faces a preliminary hearing on July 8 on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon. He is accused of driving through several police lines. The rioting charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years; the vehicular assault charges are four-year felonies. No charges have been brought against Benton Harbor Township Patrolman Wes Koza or Berrien County Sheriff's Deputy Dan Lundin, who are white. Their high-speed chase led to Shurn's death. Report edly, 40 eyewitnesses saw Lundin kick Shurn as he lay on the ground and saw Lundin and Koza give each other high-fives when they realized he was dead. This was the third police killing in three years in this small African American city of 12,000 in southwest Michigan. SYSTEMATIC THEFT OF CITY'S RESOURCES Recently, a study of poverty and racism in Berrien County, Michigan, was published by the S.W. Michigan Coalition Against Racism and Police Brutality and Benton Harbor BANCO. It was entitled, "Tale of two cities: Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan." It documented how, 37 years ago, the Black community of Benton Harbor rose up in rebellion against racism. After this, the white power structure essentially made a decision to initiate an economic embargo. This town, which had been the most prosperous in Berrien County, was devastated. Whirlpool Corp., the world's largest manufacturer of appliances, which is still headquartered in Benton Harbor and had been the major employer, shut down all its factories in the city. The study described what happened: "Thousands of whites left the city, apparently no longer feeling safe and in control of Benton Harbor. This did not happen immediately, but over the years they have managed to bankrupt Benton Harbor and build up the economy of St. Joseph. How did they do this? By seizing control of the county government, then diverting incoming federal and state community and economic developments funds to St. Joseph, [inducing] high levels of unemployment in Benton Harbor. In addition, St. Joseph banks systematically engaged in bank redlining and denial of business credit and loans to Blacks in Benton Harbor, creating a shortage of multiple and single-family dwellings, housing improvements, or creating new buildings. "Consider that there is only 2 percent unemployment in St. Joseph, while over 50 percent unemployment in Benton Harbor among youth and adults alike, many of whom have not had a job in years. Further, there has been a massive economic decline in basic industry which started in the 1970s, as well as a cutback in economic aid to Benton Harbor, orchestrated by Berrien County officials, which trapped the city in even deeper poverty. It is no exaggeration at all to say that St. Joseph and Berrien County officials stole the available federal and state funding, which impoverished the city of Benton Harbor to the stage where it is the poorest city in Berrien County and in the state of Michigan. They robbed the community of all wealth, the same as if they had used a gun for armed robbery. All of this made St. Joseph the dominant city in Berrien County, and one of the most affluent in that state, while Benton Harbor became a beggar city of thousands of ever younger Black people. This economic apartheid is a large factor in what led to the revolt of June 17th." This study pointed out that the Berrien County political and judicial apparatus was also moved to St. Joseph. It continued, "The court system, especially, is an openly white racist system, and it is they who judge over the Black people of Benton Harbor in all criminal offenses. Very few Black people are chosen for jury duty from Benton Harbor, because of widespread racial discrimination in the jury selection process. With the exception of one minor court judge, all the judges, prosecutors and public defenders are white. These are issues which have incited the residents of Benton Harbor for years, and they complain that they have no representatives on the bench, and are fined or sentenced to long years in prison by all-white juries." The story of Benton Harbor, intensified by the city's small size, typifies the fate of most cities across the Midwest, from Detroit to Baltimore to Cleveland. They have been victimized by corporate deindustrialization, carried out in a systematic, racist fashion to weaken the power of oppressed workers, who had become the militant center of the entire working class struggle in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Today, the U.S. government is spending billions to carry out an illegal occupation of Iraq while funds for human needs are being slashed every day. Millions demonstrated against the war. The time has never been riper to unite this growing movement against war and militarism with the fight of the oppressed at home for social and economic justice. Such a united movement would demand money to rebuild our cities, not for war and occupation. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
