Protesters decry Detroit's emergency financial manager

Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press | USATODAY

DETROIT -- Amid shouts of "No justice, no peace," the call to action was clear Saturday as speakers at Historic King Solomon Baptist Church denounced the appointment of an emergency financial manager for Detroit — and prepared for a battle.

The Rev. Charles Williams II, the church's pastor and president of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network, told a crowd of more than 100 at the church that federal intervention was needed immediately to stop emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr from taking office. Orr, a Washington D.C. bankruptcy attorney, was appointed to the position earlier this month by Gov. Rick Snyder.

The Rev. Williams, along with other speakers, alluded to the Civil Rights Movement throughout their speeches, generating thunderous applause.

"We fought too hard. We marched too long. Too much blood (has) been shed for us to turn around," the Rev. Williams said.

Snyder, a Republican, announced Orr last week as Detroit's emergency financial manager to address the city's cash crisis and long-term liabilities of more than $14 billion.

Plans were announced to have protesters possibly line Orr's travel route to City Hall for his first day Monday. In addition, an 11 a.m. rally is planned downtown that day, and busloads of protesters are expected to travel to Cleveland, where Orr's former law firm, Jones Day, has an office.

The speeches focused extensively on how the appointment of an emergency financial manager circumvents democratic principles.

The Rev. David Bullock of Change Agent Consortium, a social justice activist group with an office in Detroit, said he was there to "stir the pot."

"For the Christians, it's Holy Week," he said referring to week leading to Easter. "For the emergency manager, it's hell week."

Bullock told the crowd that an emergency financial manager is not there to protect the city assets but actually to take away control from Detroiters. Orr has indicated that "everything is on the table" as he looks to stabilize the city's finances.

"Don't sell your birthright," Bullock told the crowd.

Mayoral candidate and former top Detroit city attorney Krystal Crittendon said that the justification used to appoint the emergency financial manager was faulty.

"They are not going to get away with trying to put us under an emergency manager (based) on a pack of lies," she said.

Members of the media were originally invited to stay for the event but were asked to leave part-way through the event. No reason was given.

On Friday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson joined the fight against the city's emergency financial manager, calling for mass, nonviolent protests in the city to fend off what he called an attack on residents' voting rights.

Jackson and several other opponents to an EFM pledged to file a lawsuit next week challenging the constitutionality of Michigan's new emergency manager law. It takes effect Thursday and grants broad powers to Orr.

"As opposed to having a city council that's democratically elected and a mayor, you'll have a plantocracy, a plantation-ocracy, replacing a democracy," Jackson said.

Jackson was joined by Detroit City Councilwomen JoAnn Watson and Brenda Jones, U.S. Rep. John Conyers and a union representative at a rally inside city hall that drew about 100 people. He also called on the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene to protect Detroiters' rights to vote.

"We marched too long and bled too much and died too young for the right to vote to have a governor … take away the impact of our vote," said Jackson, president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Snyder's office responded late Friday with this statement: "The governor encourages citizens to come together to be part of the solution to move Detroit forward towards everyone's goal of a creating a vibrant, thriving city … Continued litigation and organized disruptions will only delay the revitalization process and cause the eventual solutions to be more difficult."