A group of Michigan citizens from around the state plan to commemorate MLK Day by marching from Parker Mill Park to Governor Snyder’s mansion in Superior Township in protest of Public Act 4.
The event was organized by several civil rights groups including, but not limited to, Rainbow Push, Occupy for Democracy and King Solomon Baptist Church of Detroit.
Reverend Charles E. Williams II, counselor of King Solomon Baptist Church, explained that his organization had been protesting the Act since 2010 and they’ve come to believe that the Act’s implementation has a startlingly racial impact.
“We’d been fighting against this [in Benton Harbor] and then we came to find that more cities had been affected,” Williams said. “Then we found out…[that the affected cities] were predominantly what we would consider minority cities; cities where 50% or over 50% of the population has an African American base.”
Politicians who support the bill have dismissed any claims of racism, stating the bill was drafted exclusively for economic purposes.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger supported the Act, saying the legislation will protect Michigan citizens from financial crises.
“Cities in emergency financial distress face the prospect of not being able to cover payroll
checks and not providing basic services like police and fire,” Bolger said. “The result of a few irresponsible politicians defaulting on a city’s debt is that all Michigan citizens will be faced with those consequences. We cannot abandon the citizens of any city nor stand by and watch every other citizen in Michigan be saddled with enormous debt.”
Shannon McEvilly, an activist associated with Rainbow Push, argued the intentions behind the bill are immaterial in light of the racial ramifications of its implementation.
“This law is going to completely disenfranchise over half of the state’s black population.
Even if it wasn’t intended to be racist law, in practice it is. Therefore, it is a racist law,” McEvilly said. “All of this [talk] about ‘It’s just a coincidence. It’s just an unfortunate, unintended consequence,’ at a certain point the motivations don’t matter anymore. It’s got to be the results and the result is that this is an extremely racist law once implemented.”
Organizers say the effect of this bill on African American communities in Michigan was a factor in leading its organizers to choose MLK Day for the march, however, Zachary Steve, a junior studying political science at EMU and a member of Occupy for Democracy, argued that the issue transcends race.
“It’s un-American. It essentially appoints dictators…They are the legislative body and the executive body for the local community. It completely takes people out of the process,” Steve said.
“We really are trying to continue the fight of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We believe everyone should be treated equally, everyone should have a voice, and their voices should be heard.”
McEvilly agreed that there was no better way to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy.
“I don’t think there’s any better way to honor Reverend King than to do what he would
probably be doing today which is to march and demonstrate against injustice,” McEvilly said.
Protestors will leave Parker Mill Park at 8:00 a.m. Parking is available at Washtenaw Community College.
