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Detroit protesters vow ‘civil disobedience’ in opposition to city’s emergency manager
Daily Caller ^ | 03/17/2013 | By Patrick Howley

Posted on 03/18/2013 9:34:24 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd

Hundreds of well-organized demonstrators vowing “civil disobedience” will greet Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s visit to Cobo Hall in Detroit Monday for an economic summit in order to protest Snyder’s selection of a powerful “emergency manager” to save the city of Detroit from bankruptcy.

On Thursday, Snyder appointees on a three-person panel confirmed African-American lawyer Kevyn Orr as the city’s “emergency manager,” a powerful position that gives him authority to restructure the city’s finances and change labor contracts while the all-black elected city council sits on the sidelines. The move, facilitated by Snyder, has sparked charges of racial animus and “anti-democracy” against the governor.

“It’s obvious that race played into this decision,” Rev. Charles Williams III, the head of the Michigan affiliate of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, told The Daily Caller. “There may be some voter suppression behind it.”

“We’re going to educate and also escalate,” Williams said about the planned protest. “Between us and all the people from UAW [United Auto Workers], there should be hundreds. There’s going to be action, and escalation around some civil disobedience.”

“You won’t even know it until it happens,” he continued, when asked what kinds of civil disobedience Snyder should expect. “There are plenty of people committed to going to jail. We’ve been doing traffic slowdowns. We’re going to push that up and go ahead with a full traffic stop.”

Williams confirmed that Sharpton has been very involved in his group’s efforts in Detroit. Williams met with protest organizers Saturday at Detroit’s King Solomon Baptist Church on 14th Street, where, he pointed out, Malcolm X delivered his 1963 “Message to the Grassroots” speech criticizing non-violent civil rights groups.

“Maybe we won’t take it to the level of the ’60s riots, but this thing is escalating,” Williams said.

While supporters of the emergency manager say that Orr’s appointment is the “only option” for a city racked last year with a $327 million budget deficit and $14 billion in long-term liabilities, others see it as a civil rights issue.

“Obviously [Orr] is a black proxy for the governor,” Williams said. “Detroit is 84 percent African-American, and this is an obvious opportunity for Snyder to utilize this man as an Uncle Tom, quite frankly.”

Orr previously served as a partner at the Jones Day law firm, resigning last week to accept his appointment with the city of Detroit. Snyder declared Detroit to be in a state of financial emergency March 1. Though the City Council appealed Snyder’s decision on March 12 in an effort to enact its own recovery plan, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing did not join the appeal and consented to the appointment of an emergency manager.

Bing announced last Monday that the city had hired Jones Day, Orr’s firm, as restructuring counsel.

At the Michigan state capitol in Lansing, tensions are high between Republicans who support Snyder’s emergency turnaround plan and Democrats who fear Orr’s wide-ranging power.

“We had our meeting with the treasurer before it was announced. We said we hear [Snyder is] interviewing people. If the decision hasn’t been made about whether you’re going ahead with an emergency manager, why is he interviewing people?,” Democratic state Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who represents part of Detroit, told TheDC.

“At this point, it’s out of the hands of the legislature, the city council, and the mayor,” Tlaib said.

Orr’s success or failure will likely rest on his own judgment and decisions alone, given the power usually afforded emergency managers.

“[Synder's] treasurer Andy Dillon said ‘we have a tendency not to micromanage emergency managers,’” Tlaib said.

“When I had an issue with the Detroit public schools, which was under emergency management, I presented it to the emergency manager of the Detroit schools, and they were not responsive. I contacted Andy Dillon and he said, ‘we don’t micromanage the emergency managers, we stay out of all that.’”


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“Maybe we won’t take it to the level of the ’60s riots, but this thing is escalating,” Williams said.

Perhaps they won't take it to the level of the '60s riots since there is nothing left in that turd world hell-hole left to burn.

 

1 posted on 03/18/2013 9:34:24 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

There won’t be any rioting and there won’t be any FReepers admitting to being wrong about it.


2 posted on 03/18/2013 9:38:00 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Too many minorities are totally dependent on all the city government jobs-for-life money. It’s how Dems have been buying their votes, for decades.

Using Benton Harlem as an example, I don’t think this ends well.


3 posted on 03/18/2013 9:40:04 AM PDT by tcrlaf (Well, it is what the Sheeple voted for....)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I’ve seen downtown Detroit . . . there ain’t too many stores, building, or shops to loot or burn down . . . so what’re they gonna’ do?


4 posted on 03/18/2013 9:41:01 AM PDT by laweeks
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Just put a fence around the place already !


5 posted on 03/18/2013 9:42:47 AM PDT by llevrok (Keep your arms out. It makes it harder for them to throw a net over you.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Fundamentally no different than a swimmer in distress grabbing a rescuer and dragging both to their deaths...


6 posted on 03/18/2013 9:44:24 AM PDT by petro45acp (No good endeavour survives an excess of adult supervision)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Perhaps they won’t take it to the level of the ‘60s riots since there is nothing left in that turd world hell-hole left to burn.


Heh. Good point. It would save a lot of people some good money that would otherwise be wasted razing many of those buildings. Hmmm. Maybe you need a good riot every now and again...just to clean out the dead wood. Kinda like forest fires.


7 posted on 03/18/2013 9:45:03 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: petro45acp

True. But only them people would call the rescuer an “Uncle Tom”.


8 posted on 03/18/2013 9:47:15 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd
“Maybe we won’t take it to the level of the ’60s riots, but this thing is escalating,”

That worked so good last time to bring peace and prosperity to the city, let's do it again.

9 posted on 03/18/2013 9:47:22 AM PDT by BipolarBob (Happy Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in your favor.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

If I were Governor Snyder, I would respond,”The only reason you are protesting is I appointed a Black man. You are all racists.”


10 posted on 03/18/2013 9:49:18 AM PDT by ricmc2175
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To: Responsibility2nd

Another “reverend”. Jackson, Sharpton, wright, Williams. Much of a pattern? Fomenting violence is always in their bag of tricks.


11 posted on 03/18/2013 9:49:33 AM PDT by SueRae (It isn't over. In God We Trust.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

The idiotic comments and threats confound me, and what do they hope to accomplish by them? I’ve heard for the last couple years how the Detroit City Councel “has a plan, just need a chance for it to work, and nothing changes...

And the insults they hurl at the Emergency Financial Manager are amazing.

Tribal, just tribal.


12 posted on 03/18/2013 9:50:24 AM PDT by kevslisababy
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To: Responsibility2nd
Detroit will continue to be an unattended gangrene in the body American.
13 posted on 03/18/2013 9:50:56 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

civil disobedience will not happen in detroit it will be transported to the suburbs where they will get more effect with looting and the usual stuff. Dearborn and Wayne County are safe because the Muslims will be protected.


14 posted on 03/18/2013 9:51:19 AM PDT by hondact200 (Candor dat viribos alas (sincerity gives wings to strength) and Nil desperandum (never despair))
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To: Responsibility2nd

Rev. Charles Williams III is the Detroit version of Sharpton.
These idiots tried blocking a freeway last week, state police had to remove them. This Detroit issue along with the Detroit schools has been going on for decades. They can’t fix it, bankruptcy is in their future.


15 posted on 03/18/2013 9:53:21 AM PDT by FreedomGuru (Without Life nothing else matters.)
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To: llevrok
"Just put a fence around the place already !"

Send 'em all a copy of Escape from New York and tell them that is their future if they don't help. Of course, some of them would like that future.

16 posted on 03/18/2013 9:53:47 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: tcrlaf
It’s how Dems have been buying their votes, for decades.

“I’ll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” Lyndon Baines Johnson about the Great Society plan.

17 posted on 03/18/2013 9:53:56 AM PDT by LouAvul
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To: hondact200

Folks on my dad’s side worked in the office and on the line at Ford for generations. Fortunately, they saw this coming and got out while they had homes to sell.
There was a time when Detroit was a great place to live & work. Not any more...


18 posted on 03/18/2013 9:57:34 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (NRA Life Member)
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To: kevslisababy
And the insults they hurl at the Emergency Financial Manager are amazing.

Too bad conservatives are so busy behaving the same way. Its time to man up and do some heavy lifting for once.

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In this case, heavy lifting means lending a little moral support and an end of idiotic falsehoods. Ben Carson is speaking in Detroit next week and that's exactly the sort of thing they need on a massive scale. Its time to return hope by rebuilding the foundations of faith, family, and freedom.

Last summer it was Malik Shabazz threatening to burn the city to the ground. In the end what he did was gathered volunteers, boarded up abandoned homes, mowed grass, and picked up trash. Shabazz actually did the right thing and the city just left the trash to rot on the curb.

Conservatives can act like a bunch of 13 year old girls trying to impress each other but I'm going to stand proudly as a conservative and do what I can to restore Detroit and America.
19 posted on 03/18/2013 10:02:56 AM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: laweeks
there ain’t too many stores, building, or shops to loot or burn down . . . so what’re they gonna’ do?

There's suburbs, aren't there? What are they going to do is the big question.

20 posted on 03/18/2013 10:08:48 AM PDT by chesley (Vast deserts of political ignorance makes liberalism possible - James Lewis)
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