This will be my last report from the fascinating progressive recharge called Netroots. It has been a memorable journey especially in light of the fact it was hosted by Detroit, rebounding slowly from its economic Tsunami.
As per usual, the daily session began with at least two speakers. On this occasion, there was a total of 1 office-holder, 1 candidate and 4 progressives on the stage. The initial speech was given by a gent named Mark Schauer, who, with a working man’s background, is running against incumbent Rick Snyder. The latter was one of a torrent of new Republican faces swept into the governorship and legislature primarily through a combination of Detroit’s problems and a nine-term Democratic Congressman, Bart Stupak, calling it a day in face of harsh anti-abortion criticism after he voted for the Affordable Care Act.
Schauer set the tone for the upcoming Democratic candidate platforms. You heard the Koch name repeatedly. There were also repeated references to the huge gap between the haves and have-nots with calls for raising the minimum wage. Equality in wages for women was a popular theme and with the proximity of the Great Lakes, the environment played a major role in most speeches and conversations.
Schauer closed with a term you don’t often hear politically in telling the audience “We’re tied in the polls with a ‘tough nerd’ and we’re building a people’s movement.”
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow was next. She was the first women to be elected Senator from the state of Michigan. She concentrated mostly on Detroit’s recovery and was one of many mentioning the Koch brothers. She spent much of her speech decrying the treatment of mainly poor people who have been denied access to Detroit water for very lengthy periods of time. The numbers run into the many, many thousands who couldn’t pay their water bill.
She talked of people who are working hard and playing by the rules and still falling farther and farther behind. She also called for equal work for equal pay, protection of Social Security and a renewed commitment to public education. She ended that portion of her speech with a line I hadn’t heard before, “When the Koch brothers walk into the voting booth, they get one vote apiece.”
With John Walsh, she has introduced the “Bring Jobs Home Act.” This bill would repeal legislation that allows a company to write off the cost of moving their operation out of the country. Conversely, a company would be awarded credits for returning to America. Great bill. Chance of passing? Zip!
Her closing line was “In America, every person should have a fair shot to get ahead…period!”
Next came the speakers on the subject of Detroit’s water crisis. A law professor said the issue involved race, regionalism and reconciliation. He called the crisis black repression through and through. While 40% of Detroit’s population lives below the poverty line, the city features extremely high property taxes. Since 1986, there have been 60,000 tax foreclosures, 76,000 homes subject to foreclosure and 42,000 additional dwellings in danger of foreclosure.
All the speakers agreed that the Detroit Water and Sewer Department exhibited an extreme lack of compassion, equity and justice in their water shutoffs. It was revealed that Detroit’s population has dropped from 1.8 million residents in 1950 to the current count in the neighborhood of 700,000.
Many speakers were critical of the emergency management strategy for the city, insisting that local empowerment was the answer. The water crisis was termed particularly ironic insofar as the Great Lakes constitute 21% of the world’s fresh water according to one of the additional speakers. A nurse participant wanted a state of emergency for the city declaring that with the lack of water, bacteria viruses thrive.
In closing remarks, a fiery activist flat-out called the mayor and the head of the Detroit Water Department the elongated version of SOB’s, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd.
The last panel I attended was entitled “Reclaiming the promise of public education.” This may have been the most emotional of all the panels I visited. It was all about closing schools and the greed of the private sector. A very knowledgeable black activist said the closings are about disinvestment so quote, “whites can take over.”
It was also pointed out that it is ‘evil’ to impact innocent third-graders and that teachers are not seen or heard on the issue. Philadelphia has closed down 24 public schools. The loss of teachers and other staff is at a record level.
One panelist talked about countering ALEC. That is, of course, the American Legislative Exchange Council, bent on privatizing every public school in the country for their member corporations like White Hat. There was little reaction by either the panel or the audience. People simply do not realize the impact ALEC has on their state. They’d better start coming out of the ether.
Schools were characterized as “Still separate, still unequal.” I’m going to close with the plea from a black panelist who answered the old saw that African-Americans should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. He said the questions underlying that simplistic demand was, “Are they the same boots? The same bootstraps?”
Netroots was a feast of issues, highly informative, hard on the feet, but great for the commitment to make the world a kinder, safer, more civil and productive environment.
And it’s a great place to collect business cards and keep the momentum going.
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