Benton Harbor, MI is 10,235 population town. 85.5% of the residents are African-American. The per capita income is among the lowest in the state: $10,235.

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently castrated the city government of the struggling town, using his controversial “Emergency Financial Managers” law. The law, as Raw Story previously reported, allows Snyder to “take over municipalities that don’t pass a financial stress test.”

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On Tuesday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow made the case that Snyder, Whirlpool (global headquarters in Benton Harbor), Harbor Shores (a developer) and assorted political cronies are using the newly enacted law to grab prime beachfront property deeded to the city’s residents in 1917 in order to develop it into a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course and luxury “signature” homes.

Watch the segment below, which originally aired on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show on April 19, 2011.

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