Freedom Lawyers of America

>Benton Harbor, A City Under Seige
>
>Benton Harbor is a poor, mostly African American city that is "being run like
>a plantation by the white power structure", as my activist friend said.
>The whites are mostly from the "twin" city of St. Joseph. An important book
>was written about the inequality of these two cities five or so years ago.
>70% of B.Harbor citizens live in poverty. A Kalamazoo College political
>science prof. told me he read it was the poorest community in America.
>
>Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor (ph: 269-925-0001 - will take calls
>anytime from anybody!) is a dynamic African American man who told me on the
>phone last week that he's on a mission. He's almost single-handedly trying
>to fight the power in BH. He goes to the court house EVERY weekday, and
>pickets every Tuesday. He held a community forum on March 15 which I
>attended and listened to horror stories for 3 hours of people being framed
>and imprisoned for life, people being treated like dirt in the workplace -
>I had tears in my eyes for 3 hours and left when I couldn't take it anymore.
> It's hard to write about what I heard that day.
>
>Rev. Pinkney told me the following:
>
>1. An FBI report states that B.Harbor men aged 12-28 are fourteen times more
>likely to be killed by police than the nat'l. average.
>
>2. Recently the police have started taking the boys/men/women/girls they
>pick up directly to jail, bypassing the police station altogether.
>
>3. Police used to run the drug ring in the area and would plant drugs in
>cars to get people convicted, therefore qualifying BH for more Federal money.
> (the money goes to towns with serious drug problems.)
>
>4. Police know the judges and lawyers are all bad, so they can do whatever
>they wish.
>
>5. Judges in BH decide who the public defenders will be - this is not done
>anywhere else. It causes the defenders to keep judges happy so they can
>continue to get their $72,000 to $420,000 salaries!!
>
>6. Rev. Pinkney invited former state Atty. General , now Gov., Jennifer
>Granholm to BH a couple years ago. She vowed she'd help him. Instead, she
>sabotaged a situation he was involved in. There is no one at the state
>level who will oversee BH, help Rev. Pinkney, act as watch dog, etc. No
>one.
>
>7. The jail now has over 500 inmates. The legal limit is 373. 80% are
>black. The bonds are higher for blacks.
>
>8. Blacks always get the maximum sentence, whites always get minimum.
>
>9. Not one case has been dropped because money from court costs and fines
>is what the power structure is after.

>At the Community Forum, each time Rev. P came to the mic to introduce the
>next speaker he said some variation of this:
>
>"So, you think it won't happen to you. You think because you have a
>Bachelor's degree or maybe a Master's that it won't happen to you. You think
>that because you've saved a lot of money it won't happen to you. Well,
>you're fooling yourself. It could happen to any of us anytime."
>
>Meaning, get picked up by the police. After hearing that over and over I
>understood why, on a beautiful warm Saturday afternoon, Benton Harbor's
>streets and sidewalks were totally empty. Residents are terrified of being
picked up and railroaded through the justice system, of being
>wrongfully convicted, and of doing a long prison term.
>
>
>Rev. Pinckney told me he needs:
>
> - $16,000 to bring in a Restorative Justice program
> - money for lawyers to get to work on the currently unjustly imprisoned
>people and other projects
> - a grant writer.
> - a website
> - a bail bonds program
>He can be called anytime at 269-925-0001. He is in need of support the way
>a dying, starving man is in need of food and water. And thats not an
>exaggeration.