Monday, October 31, 2005

Radio Interview

1. To listen to a short radio interview of Dorothy
and Rev. Pinkney, (approx. 10 min.):

http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/7409.php

2. As in a bygone era when racism was the norm and police oppression considered business-as-usual, Benton Harbor cops and Berrien County sheriffs are blanketing the city for witnesses who will agree to give false testimony against Rev. Pinkney. Tax payer money is funding the effort as officers spend their days driving from homes to apt. complexes to soup kitchens, trying to coerce residents into lying on the stand at Rev. P.'s upcoming frame-up trial. (no date yet)

This is all going on without any outcry or action from social justice groups, the ACLU, NAACP, Dept. of Justice, or anyone in Lansing..... just a renegade county system doing it's thing to ruin lives. Right here in the state of Michigan, people and organizations in power look on without blinking their eyes.

Donations, no matter how big or small, needed for my defense fund. Make check payable to:

BANCO

1940 Union St.
Benton Harbor, MI 49022

THANK YOU in advance.
--Rev. Edward Pinkney, 269-925-0001

Sunday, October 23, 2005

WHIRLPOOL STEALS THE CITY OF BENTON HARBOR

The former chairman and chief executive officer of Whirlpool Corp. said there is one reason the Harbor Shores development was proposed, and that is to take over the city of Benton Harbor and not to improve the quality of life for the residents of Benton Harbor.

Before David Whitwan retired as Whirlpool's CEO last year, he was in favor of transferring most of the jobs out of Benton Harbor. He is now chairman of the Alliance for World-Communities, part of Whirlpool and Cornerstone Alliance. At a recent Benton Harbor City Commission meeting, Whitwan said he understands Benton Harbor residents' skepticism, but, "trust me," he said, "often Whirlpool lied and promised things that did not happen. Trust me." The former chief executive of Whirlpool, who was in favor of transferring most of the jobs out of Benton Harbor, said, "trust me, I understand your skepticism, trust me." Also in attendance was a Mr. Chaney who is white. He charged Mr. Whitwan to be honest and stop lying. "This is going to be a all white community," Chaney said. Whitwan, stop lying.

The proposed 530 acre Harbor Shores development project is a collabortive venture between Benton Harbor, St.Joseph, Whirlpool Corp, the Alliance for World-Class-Communities, and Cornerstone Alliance. It is common knowledge in this county that Whirlpool Corp.,the World Class-Communities, Cornerstone Alliance and St. Joseph are all the same people.

The project Harbor Shores would be a residential and commercial development roughly bounded by Benton Harbor lake front on beautiful lake Michigan land. Most of the land is in Benton Harbor, a small portion is in St. Joseph.

PUBLIC ACT 425 allows for the temporary transfer of the small portion of St. Joseph land to the city of Benton Harbor for 20 years. After Benton Harbor has paid off the 89 million dollars or more infrastructure cost, all the land becomes the city of St. Joseph until the world ends.

The infrastructure is to include roads, storm sewer, gas and water service, and environmental clean up. An 89 million "gift" from Benton Harbor to St. Joseph. A forced gift.

St. Joseph city commissioners unanimously approved the transfer of land. We can gain an awful lot if this development happens. It is a really great thing for the city of St. Joseph.

I, Rev Edward Pinkney, must admit this is a really great thing for the city of St. Joseph and St. Joseph only.

The recall election was very important to the Whirlpool dream project. The project needed the Benton Harbor city commissioner-at-large Glen Yarbrough, a know drug user and bully who gets his way through intimidation.
They needed six votes to steal the land and make this project a reality; without Yarbrough it could not be done.

When the recall was sucessful the Whirlpool dream project was about to go down the toilet, so the group came up with a plan to claim voter fraud. Judge Paul Maloney, Prosecutor James Cherry, Benton Harbor city manager Mitchell, and Yarbrough gave the Herald Palladium's Julia Swidwa, well known racist, the story. Everything she write's is questionable. The group knew this plan would work. Yarbrough was bribed with a five year offering to fund the summer youth work program, a man who has a history of stealing from the youth program.


My question is who has the power to make his or her acts legitimate? In the County of Berrien, the State of Michigan, the United States, that power is invested in the hands of the "haves" and it makes their acts legitimate. We must start to think about a world-wide boycott of Whirlpool products. When does it stop?

Monday, October 17, 2005

Swida's Courtroom Coverage Questionable

The following is a letter sent to the editor of the Herald-Palladium by Gaurav Jashnani of Detroit, Michigan:

Editor,

I attended Rev. Pinkney's hearing last Tuesday. For you to lead with the testimony of Brenda Fox, the prosecution's star witness, without mentioning its numerous contradictions, was disappointing.

Fox wrongly identified the date of the recall election and of the alleged violations of the law. She claimed that she took two groups of five absentee voters into the city clerk's office, where she stood over their shoulders and instructed that they mark "yes" for the recall; she said the clerks did nothing. Yet, the previous witness, Deputy Clerk Kimberly Thompson, testified that no absentee voters were present in groups that day.

After Fox said that she could not remember anyone by name, Assistant Prosecutor Vigansky fed her names for her to single out as individuals paid to vote. She contradicted herself while describing details about why Rev. Pinkney allegedly paid her and when they were next in contact. Her testimony seemed clearly contrived, and there is no way that Ms. Swida, your reporter, could have failed to notice these improprieties.

Fox was only one of many witnesses lacking credibility. Many stated that they "think" or "believe" certain things, without having actually witnessed anything, and most of them seemed confused and led on by the prosecutor. One witness admitted to regular cocaine use now and at the time of the election. Another, Rosie Miles, has a son who recently faced charges after a drug raid at her house. Since she has become a witness for Rev. Pinkney's prosecution, her son's charges have been mysteriously reduced to a violation of probation.

On top of all this, the prosecution's witnesses sat in the hallway with an incongruous air of festivity. This is after specific allegations have been made (and an affidavit signed) that Yarbrough has paid witnesses to concoct lies, and that the city is cutting deals on other people's charges (or their children's) and the police are applying pressure in exchange for exaggerated or false testimony.

To say the least, your coverage of the story seems questionable. The sort of bias present in Wednesday's story by Ms. Swida leaves me baffled--but then, I don't know the politics of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. It seems that a lot of powerful people have a vested interest in locking up Rev. Pinkney. Judging from your coverage, it seems that some of them may have an ear at the Herald-Palladium office.

Gaurav Jashnani
Detroit, Michigan

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Statistical Information about Crime and Race

Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings

"I'm so glad someone was able to pull together the statistics about race and crime and make the point that Bill Bennet's comments were not egregious because they called for hypothetical genocide, but rather that they wrongfully forwarded the notion that African Americans are a criminal race:

The better question for public debate is this: do the actual government statistics bear out the claim that Blacks contribute disproportionately to the crime rate? Or is this largely a stereotype, which is driven by the disproportionate rate of ARRESTS and CONVICTIONS of Black people? And does the over-focus on Black crime conceal an alarmingly high crime rate within the white population?"

Thursday, October 06, 2005

BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN: THE NEXT NEW ORLEANS?

I have been told that in 1965, during Hurricane Bessie, the city of New Orleans dynamited a levy, diverting the water to the have-nots living in the lower 9th WARD TO PREVENT FLOODING IN THE EXCLUSIVE FRENCH QUARTER. Many bodies were found floating in this year of 2005, many Katrina victims say the levy was dynamited and the water was diverted to the 9th ward once again. Many, many bodies were floating in the water.

Like most residents of New Orleans, Sandra Moore from the 9th ward, thought hurricane Katrina was a usual storm just passing through. But she awakened in total shock to see her neighorhood submerged in water. "We have nothing now! No jobs, no homes, no schools, no hospitals - we have nothing but floating bodies everywhere," said Ms Moore. She rescued her drowning grandmother, mother, and aunt, all who were unable to swim to safety on their own. Ms Moore, with her six-month old baby wrapped under her arm headed for higher grounds in hope of receiving help. That hope turned into hell, frustration, and long hours.

I, Edward Pinkney, the executive director of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (B.A.N.C.O.), one of the largest activist organizations in the midwest, located in Benton Harbor, Mi, was part of a caravan that brought people out of the gulf area and placed more than 20 families in homes. We brought two truck loads of donations and were turned away by the national guard inside New Orleans. We found a large group of people in a store parking lot where we distributed relief items: cleaning supplies, aspirin and other over the counter drugs, bottled water, canned goods, hygiene supplies, baby formula, diapers, wipes, pedialyte, sterile gloves, and batteries from AA to watches and and hearing aids batteries.

We visited many outlying towns and villages in Mississippi and Louisiana, places that the Red Cross and FEMA hadn`t visited. I spoke with a nurse who said a New Orleans doctor told her how she prayed for GOD to have mercy on her soul - she ignored every tenet of medical ethics and ended the lives of many she had fought to save. Her heart rending account has been corroborated by a hospital orderly and by local government officials. Those who had no chance of making it were given morphine and laid down in a dark place. Euthanasia is illegal in Louisiana. I also heard doctors were acting on instructions from the federal government.

What happened after Hurricane Katrina was shocking and awful. There was a total non-response of the federal government for four days. The world was left to see pictures of tormented black faces; relief was nowhere to be seen for the poor and the have-nots, U.S.citizens, and immigrants.

This could easily have been Benton Harbor, as long as we have Whirlpool, Cornerstone Alliance, and Berrien County Commissioners, who are racist. The Berrien County Courthouse that practices racism every single day and that has destroyed more families than Katrina. And let`s not forget about the four corrupt black families that run the city of Benton Harbor and have given the city away.

With these people and institutions in place, there would be no relief for Benton Harbor in the face of such disater.