Watch this video from the Rachel Maddow Show:
There are two separate problems I'd like to address separately, beginning with Catherine Ferguson. I'm not going to lie, I teared up when I saw the video of the girls being arrested. This is one of the only schools in the country that gives a care at all if you're poor and have to support a child all while trying to graduate from High School. That school is giving them a future. But Robert Bobb is threatening to take it away to make budget cuts? That is disgusting. Of all the schools that could have been singled out to be demolished, it had to be that one. They have a future ahead of them that may be destroyed if they do not have that school. But the state of Michigan, its governor, and Robert Bobb do not care. If they want Detroit to improve as a city, destroying one of the few schools that help poor young mothers get an education is not going to do that. It not only has a 90% graduation rate, but a 90% graduation rate for teenagers with children. It's not a dysfunctional school, it is working.
The second issue is about Benton Harbor, which also was assigned a.. I don't even know the proper title, overseer?.. to replace the city's elected officials. This one decided that it was best to sell the city's public beach park to a private business to develop a golf course. A very expensive golf course, that probably nobody in the city of Benton Harbor can afford. You may so, oh well, it can provide more jobs, boost business. But you have to ask what businesses will move in, if any. It won't be a business that is developed by a citizen of Benton Harbor, it will be a chain business with a financial sector somewhere else, maybe even out of the state. So these businesses will only take money out of Benton Harbor while hiring citizens for minimum wage. This decision isn't being made for the interest of the people of Benton Harbor at all. And this seems to be a common problem with Imminent Domain, though I recognize this is different. But in both cases, the land that is meant to be for the public good is privatized. The government removes residential areas and then sells it to private business, stating that its for the common good because it will provide jobs and increase revenue for the city. But in the meantime the poor people are evicted from their homes. Homes that will be demolished to build a mall. Yet, without it urban development may be extremely difficult, and it does bring in revenue and does benefit the city. But it benefits people disproportionately. Rich people will not be removed from their homes, only poor areas where the houses can be paid off for cheap. Houses that are often rented or under mortgage still, and even if the government pays market value people may still end up on the streets unable to afford new housing.
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