FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
from Benton Harbor BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization)
from Benton Harbor BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization)
May 27, 2016
Contacts:
David Sole, Joe Peery [email banco9342 [at] sbcglobal [dot] net]
http://BHBanco.org and http://OccupyThePGA.wordpress.com
Contacts:
David Sole, Joe Peery [email banco9342 [at] sbcglobal [dot] net]
http://BHBanco.org and http://OccupyThePGA.wordpress.com
“Occupy the PGA” Rallies in Benton Harbor, Michigan
Benton Harbor
residents and supporters from across the region protest gentrification, racism
BENTON HARBOR—On Saturday, May 28, Occupy the PGA—a coalition of Benton Harbor residents, community groups, and allies from across the region—will hold a rally and march in protest of the 2016 Senior PGA golf tournament. The rally will begin at 11am at Benton Harbor City Hall (200 East Wall St.)
This year’s tournament
will be the third since the construction of the controversial Harbor Shores
golf course and luxury condominium development, backed by Whirlpool Corp. It
also marks the third Occupy the PGA protest. The coalition has demanded that
the Senior PGA transfer 25% of its profits to Benton Harbor, where nearly half
of the residents live in poverty and over 90% are black (http://census.gov). Occupy the PGA also indicts
Harbor Shores and the Senior PGA for its unfulfilled promises of significant
jobs and tax revenue for Benton Harbor residents.
The group also continues
to demand a public acknowledgement at the tournament of the “theft of public
park land for private profit,” referring to the lease of 22 acres of dunes on
Jean Klock Park for transformation into three holes of the Harbor Shores golf
course. The group attributes the transfer to the “complete undermining of
democratic structures” via former Democratic Governor Granholm’s installment of
an emergency financial manager in Benton Harbor in December 2010. Benton Harbor
was the first predominantly Black Michigan city in recent years to be subjected
to an emergency financial manager.
Occupy the PGA
organizers see the Harbor Shores development as a prime example of “racist
genocide by gentrification,” designed to force out Black community members who
have lived in Benton Harbor for generations. Instead of bringing jobs and
opportunities, such luxury developments at best bring only a few low-wage
service jobs for locals.
Rev. Edward Pinkney of
the local community group BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization)
said, “Benton Harbor continues to be a city under siege. The mishandling of
public trust couldn't be more massive, unjust, inhumane, and unconstitutional.
The Senior PGA needs to hear our voice. It's time to stand up and fight for
what's right.”
BANCO has lead
multiple petition drives to recall local officials as one strategy of their
campaign to promote democracy, civil rights, and economic justice in the
county. Pinkney is currently appealing a conviction for allegedly changing
dates on a petition drive to recall former Benton Harbor mayor James Hightower.
Hightower’s opposition to a city income tax that would have affected Whirlpool
Corp. resulted in the community’s effort to recall him.