There are many simple alternatives to the assault on the rights, culture, heritage, property owners and
neighborhood viability of the community including the education of children.
There was no substantial legitimate justification for the actions outlined above. Some actions may have
required real innovation; all actions to the community would be better understood by the community if those
ideas involved the community. If the community cannot trust your decisions about school children’s drop off
and pick up, their ability to have lunch, or even treat the Tuskegee Airmen we are so proud of with the respect
they are due, then it is hard to trust much else.
We believe that the actions of the State of Michigan, under Governor Snyder and his agents have had a
disparate impact on our minority population, and the disabled.
We believe we have been burdened by the State of Michigan as many members of our community are low
income and have suffered doubly by the actions of the Governor and his agents.
We believe that these actions would not have taken place in a white school district.
We believe that without the help of the Department of Justice, our suffering will continue to escalate.
As we watch our community suffer, imagine the offense when we open email called Order Number EMDE-03
which states we the elected School Board, cannot meet in the School Board meeting room, inside the building
WE TAX PAYERS were forced to pay $40 million dollars for the renovation of, and OVERPAID because the
whole building is only worth $12 million dollars, and yet while we laid down every manner of luxury such as
marble floors and chandeliers, outfitting this building to be as Versailles Palace, we still do not even own the
building, but have space on FOUR FLOORS, knowing also that someone made off with a $60,000,000 profit
from our BOND MONEY, furthermore, when we are allowed to meet, we are limited to the topics which the
carpet bagger provides to us to talk about, that we must ignore the concerns we hear, and our fiduciary
responsibility or there will be repercussions for not following the command.
"Taxation without representation" made famous by Boston lawyer James Otis in 1765, refers to the idea of
imposing taxes on people who have no recourse against or control over the taxing authority. Control and
command of our tax base, by people who wrote various laws to win that control, but who in practice ignore us
except to retaliate against us is taxation without representation.
We are a proud community of people who, while historically oppressed, moved to Detroit to work and make a
better way for ourselves, and celebrate our culture in a world that sometimes does not appreciate us. Richard
Pryor had a routine about going to a magical place where he didn’t feel like a slave, where he was made to feel
like a man. The punch line was that he had come to Detroit.
We are a people who were proud to have one of the first black Mayors, proud of our right to vote. Detroit is the
home of Rosa Parks and so many more who paved the way for our community.
We are a people who were proud to move from being maids and elevator operators to have jobs in the running
of our local government. Some politicians may have been corrupt in Detroit, but have there not been corrupt
politicians in other places in the world? We cannot claim that.
We are a people who were glad to have jobs at Ford Motor Company, at General Motors and Chrysler, a 40
hour work week, health insurance and a car in part because of the work of our unions. As union members we
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