Reverend Pinkney-How I became a political prisoner

Rev. Pinkney and his wife Dorothy. Rev. Pinkney was held as a political prisoner for 21⁄2 years because he led the community’s
challenge to a corporate backed mayor in Benton Harbor.

 

 



TBR-BENTON HARBOR, MI —  I am Reverend Edward Pinkney, a national and community activist, who tragically, became a political prisoner in the state of Michigan on December 15, 2014.  I was sent to prison with absolutely no evidence a crime was ever committed. The Berrien County trial court and Judge Sterling Schrock, along with prosecutor Mike Sepic, stole 30 months of my life.
On July 26, 2016 the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected my appeal. The three-judge panel, Kelly, O’Brien, and Hood, better known as the three blind mice, stated Rev. Edward Pinkney must have told somebody to change the dates on the recall petitions. This was ridiculous. There was absolutely no evidence to support their theory. I was convicted by an all white jury that was motivated by something other than the truth, but it is bigger than that. The powers that be will crush anybody who stands up today. It’s me today, and you tomorrow.
I have already completed the 30 months that was forced on me as the result of a Jim Crow trial that accused me of altering dates on a recall petition against the puppet Mayor James Hightower, who lost the last election by a landslide.
The prosecutor and judge formed a partnership and instructed the all white jury to convict me without any evidence. I am an innocent man tried, convicted and sentenced to die in an effort to isolate and silence me against the power of the land grabbing, job out sourcing, criminal Whirlpool Corporation, with its headquarters in Benton Harbor. This is a company who refuses to pay taxes or hire Benton Harbor Black residents. My unusually harsh sentence was imposed by Judge Schrock.
I appealed the judgment of the Michigan Court of Appeals with the Supreme Court on Sept 3, 2016. On May 17, 2017, the Court asked two questions about the case, (but refused to ask about the insufficiency of evidence.) The questions are about whether the Berrien County trial court violated the Michigan Rules of evidence, the first amendment and due process for allowing “evidence” against me to be admitted under 404b based on the prosecutor’s allegation that I was politically and socially motivated (indicated by my political and social activity, which was 100% legal). The allegation was that it was likely I committed the illegal act of forgery because it promoted my political goal of having the election recall go forward. This was nonsense.
Question number two was whether I was ever charged with a crime. The only statute that was the basis of the felony counts (168.937) set forth a penalty provision for forgery that is prohibited by other sections of the election code and does not set forth a substantive crime that can be the basis of a prosecution.
The scale of Lady Justice is imbalanced, especially against people of color. We must continue to fight against this grave imbalance to ensure a humane, just future for people of color, the homeless, the poverty stricken, for the whole weary and for the beaten populace of America. All across our country, we must continue to speak truth to power. We must demand that justice be served for all people.

5 Misconceptions About Economic Bubbles And People Who Warn About Them



 

TBR-Jesse Colombo , Forbes Contributor; I'm an economic analyst who is warning of dangerous post-2009 bubbles. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
 

In my experience with warning about economic bubbles - both last decade's U.S. housing bubble and post-2009 bubbles - I have come across a significant number of misconceptions about bubbles and people who warn about them. The public's belief in these misconceptions is strongest when bubbles are in the final stage of their inflation, which is when excessive greed, euphoria, and delusional thinking take over. People who are caught up in a bubble gravitate to these misconceptions because they justify and confirm their beliefs while trivializing the warnings of skeptics.
Here are five common misconceptions about bubbles and people who warn about them:
1) Early bubble warnings are wrong
This is one that I find particularly irritating, and it's one of the most common. This misconception assumes that skeptics who warn that a bubble is forming years before it pops are wrong or bad forecasters for doing so, even if they are right in the end. This argument makes little sense to me because I believe that bubbles need to be warned about as early as possible to help prevent their inflation and the ensuing damage that occurs when they pop. In addition, early bubble warnings give the individuals who take heed time to prepare for an economic crisis or to limit their exposure to the bubble.
Major, economy-destroying bubbles typically take at least several years to form and can be spotted early on in their development. For example, the reckless debt buildup and asset price inflation that occurred during last decade's housing and credit bubble was identifiable as early as 2002 to 2004, even though it took until 2007 and 2008 to cause a crisis. People who believe that early bubble warnings are wrong are basically implying that the U.S. housing and credit bubble only became a bubble immediately before it popped.

2) Bubble warnings are immediate "sell" signals
This misconception is closely related to the first one, and is a common argument that is used as an attempt to discredit people who warn about bubbles. This fallacy assumes that people who warn about an economic bubble are also calling the bubble's top at the same time. By extension, this fallacy implies that the person making the warning is saying to sell the asset in question immediately and often go short. Though someone who is warning about a bubble may be doing it to inform the public and to prevent a crisis, they often get criticized for "missing the rally" as the bubble inflates.
This argument is wrong because people who warn about a bubble may also realize that the bubble is likely to inflate for several more years, creating gains for anyone holding the asset until the bubble pops. For example, in early-2012, I warned that the global economy could be on the verge of a massive new bubble that would create the illusion of an economic recovery (or what I call a "Bubblecovery") and a bull market in many financial assets. Though I was fully aware that the new bubble could continue to inflate for years, I still believed that it was important to try to fight or prevent it.

3) Bubble skeptics are "permabears"
This belief assumes that people who are aware of a bubble or warning about it cannot acknowledge or trade shorter-term bullish signals in the asset that is inflating. On the contrary, I frequently spot bullish tactical signals in stocks and other assets that I believe are experiencing a bubble that will end disastrously. Analysts and traders who use "trend-following" trading systems can capture gains during a bubble even if they are skeptical of the long-term fundamentals behind the trend. Of course, actually taking advantage of these bullish signals may present a moral dilemma for someone who is warning about a bubble.

4) A global, system-wide bubble cannot happen
For the last few years, I've been warning about numerous post-2009 economic bubbles that are forming in China, emerging economies, Canada, Australia, U.S. stocks, global bonds, tech startups, and more. Common criticisms that are leveled at me and other like-minded skeptics include, "you call everything a bubble!" and "there's a bubble in people calling bubbles."
The problem with these criticisms is that they imply that national economies and individual assets exist in a vacuum instead of being highly interconnected due to globalization. We now live in the era of the global economy rather than national economies (as was the case in the 20th century and earlier), so the possibility of a truly global bubble economy is not far-fetched at all.

How can a global economic bubble form? It's quite simple, really. For the past seven years since the Global Financial Crisis, major central banks around the world have held their interest rates at record low levels (as I discussed here) while flooding the global financial system with over $10 trillion worth of liquidity in the form of QE. These highly stimulative conditions have helped to inflate the valuations of assets such as equities, bonds, commodities, and property. Ultra-low borrowing costs have enabled a borrowing spree by governments, corporations, and households alike in many countries - particularly those that were least affected by the Global Financial Crisis.

5) Strong economic growth means that there is no bubble
This one is downright laughable, but is a fallacy made frequently by so-called "sophisticated" economists, business and political leaders, and financial journalists. The idea behind this fallacy is that a booming economy that is creating jobs and corporate earnings growth is on a sustainable path and, therefore, not experiencing a bubble. This argument is being made about the current U.S. economic recovery. Here is the problem with this logic: economists were saying the exact same thing about the U.S. economy in 2005, 2006, and 2007, which were the prime housing and credit bubble years.

intellectual property of Jesse Colombo

Stop the Raids!

 

TBR-Op-ed, www.RootsAction.org

RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act of 1970) laws were initially designed to prosecute powerful organized crime syndicates like the Mafia. Over the past few years, RICO has been used to excessively charge young people of color from low-income neighborhoods as if they were gangsters.

Click here to sign this petition to Congress:

STOP THE RAIDS, REFORM RICO AND END OVER-PROSECUTION OF OUR COMMUNITIES.

We are asking you to act now to #ReformRICO and stop prosecutors from using these federal laws, originally designed to take down the Mob, to score easy convictions against poor communities of color. Innocent teens and young adults are often forced to take plea deals when faced with first-degree conspiracy counts on which they can face a maximum of 25-years-to-life in prison.

The overwhelming majority of those charged never see trial. RICO laws are disastrous and have ruined lives, torn apart families and contributed to the enormous racial inequities we have come to expect with mass incarceration.

Click here to add your name.

Trump's inaugural pledge for "law and order" is coded messaging to law enforcement agencies, both local and federal, that will empower them to continue their abusive, racialized policing. This will mean more arrests and more incarceration at a time when America should be moving away from needless punishment of Blacks and Latinos.

Collaboration between local police departments and federal law enforcement in large, military-style "gang" raids have been cheered on by sensationalized media reports. The reports describe these young men as all being dangerous and part of organized criminal enterprises -- which they were not.

Over the past few years we have seen the emergence of a bipartisan consensus for criminal and civil justice reforms. Movements are growing across our nation urging legislators to change unfair laws that hurt families and communities of color. A wasted $80 billion a year spent on prisons actually dehumanizes inmates, many of whom are detained in inhumane conditions, some tortured in solitary confinement and denied visits or communication with their families.

Sign this petition, spearheaded by family members of those charged with RICO.

After signing the petition, please use the tools on the next webpage to share it with your friends.

This work is only possible with your financial support. Please chip in $3 now.

-- The RootsAction.org Team

P.S. RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Frances Fox Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many others.

  www.RootsAction.org

 

 Blowing The Whistle On Drones
TBR-Op-ed, info@rootsaction.org

As one of the very few drone whistleblowers in the world, Cian Westmoreland needs and deserves our support.

Cian is the first recipient of the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship. In the past he was a U.S. Air Force technician who worked on the drone program. Now he takes to heart a statement by Martin Luther King Jr. that remains crucial in 2017: “Those who love peace must learn to organize as effectively as those who love war.”

Please support the work of Cian Westmoreland by making a tax-deductible contribution to the Drone Fellowship Program of the RootsAction Education Fund.

Speaking clearly about compelling moral issues, Cian offers a blunt perspective on the U.S. drone war: “In this war on terror, we have become terror. Drones are heartless by design, and the act of killing through them can become routine and bureaucratic.”

Cian reports: “I have been connecting, speaking, writing and helping where I can all over Europe.” He has put in a lot of time in Germany, which hosts U.S. military bases directly involved in the drone war.

When Cian speaks out, he is educating activists, journalists, elected officials and the general public. In early winter, for instance, he spoke to 3,000 “hackers and hacktivists” from around the world at the huge Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg. There he addressed “the Global Assassination Grid.”

At the Hamburg conference, “I spoke of the various layers of dehumanizing elements in the drone program to include the structural, political, and psychological. It was not only understood but well received. A professor of mathematics at Cambridge University approached me afterward and said that he’s noticed the problem of students not connecting their work to real life, and that my talk inspired him to go back and show my speech to them.”

It’s far from easy, living out of a suitcase, far from home, doing this kind of work. The pressures are severe, and the resources are thin. Please help Cian Westmoreland keep going with a tax-deductible donation to the Drone Fellowship program.

It’s vital for Cian to be doing what he’s doing at this time. As he explains: “Germany is now getting prepared for Trump’s world, and Germans are now at a point where they are discussing the need to take a normative stance against Trump’s stance on Muslims and the brutal war strategy of annihilation that the Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, is promising.”

Cian adds: “It appears that Germany is now deciding how they will work with the United States. Will they be compliant or will they resist?”

Meanwhile, Cian is also engaged in public outreach elsewhere in Europe, most crucially in the U.K. and Italy where two other critical pieces of the global drone infrastructure are based.

We hope that you’ll keep supporting Cian Westmoreland’s important work as a drone whistleblower. You can show support now by making a donation to the Drone Whistleblower Fellowship.

For Cian, stepping forward as a whistleblower has been very difficult -- and morally imperative.

Now, your tax-deductible contribution -- in solidarity with Cian Westmoreland’s whistleblowing work -- is needed to support the first Drone Whistleblower Fellowship.

The Hidden Dimension-An Inside View On The Reality Of Inner City African America

TBR-Steve B. Lofton, contributor
If Hillary Clinton wins the upcoming Presidential Election the Black underclass is doomed! Just like Hillary Clinton our Black Democratic Leadership also has no respect for our laws from President Barrack H. Obama all the way down through the local level. Is this a Nation of laws or not? Yet and unfortunately this phenomenon also holds true for our Black middle-class like Clarence Thomas, Dr. Ben Carson, and talk show host Larry Elder etc. who express their views from the right side of the political spectrum without an understanding.The result is a lawless inner-city African America headed toward its own total self destruction.

     I studied at the Los Angeles University of Hard Knocks for almost a lifetime. The courses heaped upon me there forced me to finally accept the truth about the nature of my own African-American leadership; political, social, and religious despite my great unwillingness to do so and the facts. It may be the reason many black people remain poised to cry racism at every turn. I come from both a unique and odd experience. Yet I have no criminal record which is a rarity when it comes to black men although I've been jailed many times. Our almost entirely Democratic Party affiliated African-American leadership has attempted to resolve all of our problems through the welfare system for the past half-century.

Its consequence has been the total annihilation of the African-American family. This practice by my own leadership consequently even gave birth to the Los Angeles gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods the byproducts of broken black female led homes. The African-American so called educated middle-class has failed to pull its weight for it allowed this leadership to continue to exist unchecked making me wonder if they are functionally illiterate. Is not the purpose of education still to build your community? For the black middle-class education serves them to flee the Black community believing somehow they can solve the problems of everyone else rather than to take notice of those facing their own kind.The timing finally seems right to publish the Hidden Dimension for Americans are angered by their

 Washington based politicians on both sides of the isle where our President Barrack Hussein Obama sits center stage. The world has now gotten a glimpse of this African-American President and the same unmerited black middle-class arrogance about self that we within the inner-city have existed beneath for half a century. You just can't reach them up there in the ivory towers of government or their various offices where they have caused the total breakdown of law on the civil side of the system within the inner-city then retire to the white suburbs where they live at the end of the day.There are African-Americans within the inner-city who have asked themselves how on earth is it that we have fared so miserably beneath our own kind? My book The Hidden Dimension documents the answer to that question. At the age of 60 years old I am a first time newlywed to Estella Louise Lofton and we live within the inner-city of City of Los Angeles, California. The Hidden Dimension                

Simon Reeve, operated a ‘drone’ in breach of CAA New Zealand rules sentenced.



 

Drone sentencing a ‘beacon of awareness’

for new aviation rules – CAA

At Kaiapoi, on 5 January 2015, Simon Reeve operated a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) in a

control zone in close proximity to a helicopter conducting firefighting duties over the Pines Beach

settlement.

The helicopter pilot was not aware that the RPAS was operating in his proximity. Further RPAS

flights were carried out over a beach fire at the same location on 20 January. The Civil Aviation

Authority (CAA) decided to prosecute the drone pilot.

CAA General Manager - General Aviation, Steve Moore said CAA’s decision to prosecute three

charges was based on the following factors:

 

· Seriousness of the offending;

· Serious risk of harm;

· Breach of Section 44 of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 [Dangerous activity involving aircraft] Civil

Aviation Rule 101.13 X 2 [Hazardous Operations]

 

 

On 6 May 2015 the District Court Judge, G S MacAskill, found Mr Reeve guilty on all 3 charges. Today

Judge MacAskill sentenced Mr Reeve to make a $500 payment to charity and discharged him

without conviction on the charge of unnecessary endangerment. He was sentenced to pay a $250

fine for each of the other charges of flying a model aircraft in controlled airspace without Air Traffic

Control clearance.

“The CAA respects the decision of the court and considers that any penalty in this case, irrespective

of the conditions of the sentence, provides a very clear signal to RPA (drone) operators that they

need to follow rules that are in place to ensure the safety of all.

“These are not toys, they are a new form of aircraft and need to be treated with respect and flown

responsibly,” Mr Moore said.

Mr Moore continued “This case has become a beacon of awareness of the new RPAS (drone) rules

that came into effect last August.”

“This outcome should come as a timely reminder to all RPAS users – fly within the rules. And think of

others when your unit is in the sky.” He said.

look up RPAS (www.caa.govt.nz/rpas/)

 

Intending or new drone operators are advised to check the www.airshare.co.nz
or CAA website and Contact: Mike Richards, Manager Corporate Communications (Media phone 0800 222 697)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. Senate approved the Whistleblower Appreciation Day Resolution.

 

TBR-www.RootsAction.org

This month the U.S. Senate approved the Whistleblower Appreciation Day Resolution. But if the government had put you in prison for telling the truth about torture, you probably wouldn’t feel appreciated.

As CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou says, that Senate resolution is “no joke.” When whistleblowers reveal grim secrets that the public needs to know for the sake of democracy, the government’s goal is not only to punish -- “it's to ruin, professionally, personally, and financially.”

John served two years in prison for shedding light on the CIA’s torture program -- a steep price for telling the truth about some awful consequences of undemocratic power. NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake has also paid a steep price. They need your help!

With vindictive prosecutions, the government wrecked their personal finances. Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation now. Half of every dollar will go directly to John and Tom, while the other half will go to the Whistleblowers Public Education Campaign that they co-chair.

Below are some comments from John and Tom.
______________________________

John Kiriakou:

“The United States Senate in July passed the Whistleblower Appreciation Day Resolution. No joke. Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus chairman Senator Chuck Grassley said that the resolution would designate July 30, 2016 as a day to recognize ‘the role whistleblowers play in shining a light on fraud, waste, and abuse... Workers who come forward to report fraud or misconduct in their agencies are frequently punished by their superiors for simply telling the truth. These brave citizens should not be penalized, they should be praised.’

“Somebody should tell the Justice Department. The War on Whistleblowers has been a hallmark of the Obama Administration’s judicial policy. Legitimate whistleblowers are charged under the Espionage Act, a draconian law meant to punish traitors and spies, not truth tellers. Leakers with political connections or who are friends of the President get a pass. The goal is not just to punish. It’s to ruin, professionally, personally, and financially.

“Still we went into this with our eyes open. It might sound crazy, but we would blow the whistle again. We don't need the Senate's ‘appreciation.’ What we need is for the Justice Department to respect the laws already on the books, to support whistleblowers exposing waste, fraud, abuse, and illegality.

“Over to you, Tom.”

Tom Drake:

“Congress has yet to invite John or myself in front of Congress to testify before any committee regarding our whistleblowing on torture and mass surveillance, respectively. We both came forward at great risk and to this day are the only two people who have paid a very high price for exposing government wrongdoing and criminal conduct regarding these two state-sponsored programs.

“Prosecuting whistleblowers under the Espionage Act sends a most chilling message to anybody who dares to expose critical information on government conduct vital to the public interest done in the name (and under the cover) of National Security.

“Our whistleblowing turned our lives upside down. It will take years for us to recover from the ordeal of the government criminally prosecuting both of us as vindictive and malicious punishment for exposing their criminal conduct involving torture and mass surveillance.

“We would not break faith with the Constitution. We upheld our oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic (including our own government), faithfully serving our country in the line of duty at the CIA and the NSA -- even when our agencies didn’t and wouldn’t.

“We are eyewitnesses to the dark side of history. It is the truth tellers and the whistleblowers who are key to sounding the alarm and holding our own government to account. Please support our education campaign to get the word out that informs the public and holds up a mirror to those in power who abuse power.

“Thank you for your continuing support.
                                            Background:
>  Jesselyn Radack, The New York Times: "Whistleblowers Deserve Protection Not Prison"
>  The Huffington Post: "The One Man Jailed for CIA Torture Tried to Expose It"
>  Jane Mayer, The New Yorker: Thomas Drake -- "The Secret Sharer"

www.RootsAction.org

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Grass Roots Organization RootsAction-Questions U.S. Foreign Policy

TBR-www.RootsAction.org
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States of America has systematically violated the prohibition against the threat or use of force contained in the UN Charter and the Kellogg Briand Pact. It has carved out a regime of impunity for its crimes based on its UN Security Council veto, non-recognition of international courts and sophisticated "information warfare" that undermines the rule of law with political justifications for otherwise illegal threats and uses of force.

                                    Former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin B. Ferencz has compared current U.S. policy to the illegal German "preemptive first strike" policy for which senior German officials were convicted of aggression at Nuremberg and sentenced to death by hanging.

                                    In 2002, the late U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy described post-September 11th U.S. doctrine as "a call for 21st century American imperialism that no other nation can or should accept." And yet the U.S. government has succeeded in assembling alliances and ad hoc "coalitions" to support threats and attacks on a series of targeted countries, while other countries have stood by silently or vacillated in their efforts to uphold international law. In effect, the U.S. has pursued a successful diplomatic policy of "divide and conquer" to neutralize global opposition to wars that have killed about 2 million people and plunged country after country into intractable chaos.

As representatives of civil society in the United States, the undersigned U.S. citizens and advocacy groups are sending this emergency appeal to our neighbors in our increasingly interconnected but threatened world. We ask you to stop providing military, diplomatic or political support for U.S. threats or uses of force; and to support new initiatives for multilateral cooperation and leadership, not dominated by the United States, to respond to aggression and settle international disputes peacefully as required by the UN Charter.

We pledge to support and cooperate with international efforts to stand up to and stop our country's systematic aggression and other war crimes. We believe that a world united to uphold the UN Charter, the rule of international law and our common humanity can and must enforce U.S. compliance with the rule of law to bring lasting peace to the world we all share.

This petition will be sent to all the world's national governments.

Click here to sign as an individual.

Click here to sign as an organization that you are authorized to sign on behalf of.

After signing the petition, please use the tools on the next webpage to share it with your friends.

This work is only possible with your financial support. Please chip in $3 now.

-- The RootsAction.org Team

P.S. RootsAction is an independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S. Senator James Abourezk, Coleen Rowley, Frances Fox Piven, Lila Garrett, Phil Donahue, Sonali Kolhatkar, and many others.

www.RootsAction.org

Reverend Pinkney: The Civil Rights Leader You May Not Know

TBR- Special to TBR, Reverend Edward Pinkney
In the struggle to preserve civilization and the rule of law, Reverend Edward Pinkney stands in virtual isolation against a very real fascist threat in the tiny lakeside town of Benton Harbor, Michigan. His ability to stand up against the fascist machine, his organizing abilities, and his endless goodwill and positivity put him in a category with civil rights heroes such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.
Pinkney will without a doubt go down in history as either a great civil rights hero who fought-off a racist and fascistic tide in America, or he will go down as the civil rights activist who warned the world that

 "fascism is coming to your town next" but whom no one listened.
Please help us keep Pinkney out of prison to continue his fight against the Whirlpool corporate takeover in Michigan. Visit bhbanco.com to help Rev. Pinkney avoid life in prison. He can't fight fascism from a jail cell!

Contacts: 269-925-001
David Sole
Joe Peery
http://bhbanco.org
Submitted by Polly Hughes: 217-638-5314

"ACLU of Michigan Supports Release of Faith Leader, Activist, in Election Fraud Case

Constitutional rights violations alleged in case of Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor"
GRAND RAPIDS—The trial of Rev. Edward Pinkney, 66, of Benton Harbor violated his constitutional rights according to a motion filed with the Michigan Court of Appeals. Supporters of Pinkney—including ACLU of Michigan who filed an amicus curiae brief backing the motion—are calling for his immediate release on bond pending appeal.
A veteran community activist from Benton Harbor, Pinkney was convicted last November on five felony counts of forgery based on allegations that he changed five dates on a petition intended to recall Mayor James Hightower. Currently in Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, he maintains his innocence and faces 30 to 120 months in prison. According to the ACLU brief, his appeal is “almost certain” to lead to the reversal of the conviction. Pinkney has already spent over seven months in prison since his sentencing last December. Visitors from around the state attempt to monitor his health and safety.
“There are so many violations of Rev. Pinkney’s rights it’s hard to believe. Three witnesses stated emphatically that Rev. Pinkney was not present when another person altered the petition,” said Michigan civil rights attorney Hugh Buck Davis. “The prosecutor in the case was allowed to use Rev. Pinkney’s community activism as evidence. This is a serious violation of the Reverend’s First Amendment rights and due process. When the defense attorney raised objections, the judge called his constitutionally-based arguments ‘emotional rhetoric.’”
Pinkney and his supporters believe his human rights activism has made him a target of political persecution by local government and business interests. According to Davis, "Given the thousands of irregularities in election petitions in Michigan every year, it's clear that this is political prosecution in retaliation for successful community and electoral organizing. They like it until it looks like you are going to win. Two-and-a-half to ten years? He's a political prisoner.”
In just one recent example, Pinkney’s arrest warrant for the non-violent charges was served by a SWAT team surrounding his home at gunpoint. Such tactics, Pinkney says, are designed to intimidate all Benton Harbor residents who speak up against Whirlpool Corporation and local officials. Supporters charge that the unjustified prosecution amounts to election fraud.
Pinkney and other members of the Benton Harbor community group, BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization), have led multiple petition drives to recall local officials as one strategy of their campaign to promote democracy, civil rights, and economic justice in the county. Whirlpool Corp. is headquartered in Benton Harbor, which is 96% African-American and has among the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the state. Mayor Hightower’s opposition to a city income tax that would have affected Whirlpool Corp. resulted in the community’s effort to recall him.
BANCO and Pinkney have protested the four emergency managers, appointed by the governor under Michigan’s controversial Emergency Manager Law, who have operated the city instead of democratically-elected officials. BANCO was also among the most vocal opponents of the Harbor Shores golf course and luxury development that appropriated lakeshore land formerly designated as a Benton Harbor city park.
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Updates at: @FreeRevPinkney
Facebook: Detroit Organizing in Support of Reverend Pinkney