Why Benton Harbor exploded
By Jerry Goldberg
Benton Harbor, Mich.
Benton Harbor, Mich., was rocked by rebellion
in mid-June, after police killed a Black man. The rebellion
brought into national focus the police brutality, racism and
economic devastation that characterize this southwest Michigan
town of 12,000 whose population is 95 percent African
American--and many other similar communities across the
country.
The Rev. Edward Pinkney spends every day monitoring racist
treatment of Benton Harbor youths by the Berrien County courts.
Pinkney led several community protest meetings against police
brutality in Benton Harbor in the past few months.
He described the June 16 police killing that sparked the
rebellion as follows. Terrance Shurn was riding his motorcycle
in Benton Harbor when a police car began bumping the back of
his vehicle. Shurn sped off to escape the police harassment.
Another police car cut him off, shunting his motorcycle into a
building.
The officer who forced the motorcycle into the building was
a white cop, Mark Lundin. Lundin belongs to the Benton Harbor
Township police force that encompasses some of the white
suburbs surrounding this African American city.
As Shurn lay dead, Lundin and the other officer present
reportedly gave each other high fives.
There are more than 40 witnesses to this event.
The alleged "crime" that led to Shurn's death was running a
stop sign.
Many in Benton Harbor believe the police are now hard at
work covering up evidence--repairing fenders, etc.
After Shurn's death, some 200 people attended a regularly
scheduled Benton Township Trustees meeting to register their
complaints about police brutality. Many said they simply can't
take it anymore. They said they hope accounts about conditions
here go out far and wide, because the experiences of the
African American community have not been fairly or accurately
reported.
Yvonne Diggs, Shurn's cousin, described how he was loved in
the community. Columbus Franklin, who grew up with Shurn, said
that his friend, like many young adults,was ready to leave
Benton Harbor because there are no jobs here. Seventy-five
percent of the population is unemployed. Shurn was planning to
move to Florida on July 1 to go to school there.
Many, many Benton Harbors seething
Shurn's death, which occurred on a Benton Harbor corner
where many young people hang out, sparked a June 16-17
rebellion by hundreds of youths. They lit fires, smashed police
cars and fought off the police for two nights running.
The comments of many Benton Harbor residents made clear that
this rebellion was not just over the police killing of Shurn.
It was over the pattern of police abuse and economic
devastation to which the African American community has been
subjected for years.
The Rev. Pinkney described how 11-year-old Trenton Patterson
was struck and killed while he stood on the sidewalk in
downtown Benton Harbor in September 2000, in another police
pursuit case that turned deadly.
Yvette Taylor, a lifelong resident of Benton Harbor, said
she has seen years and years of police brutality and "it's all
because of racism."
She told how Benton Harbor police killed Arthur Porter on
April 12. His mother had called the police due to a family
fight. The police came, put him in a choke hold and killed
him.
She told how her cousin, Antoine Osby, was recently at an
after-hours club when the Benton Township police arrived and
ordered everyone to go outside. When Osby went outside, cops
beat him viciously.
On July 19, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm came to Benton
Harbor to "investigate." Granholm, a recently elected Democrat,
never once came to Benton Harbor during her election
campaign.
At a town hall meeting, speaker after speaker testified that
the root of the rebellion was the economic devastation that
characterizes this city--coupled with the racist criminal
injustice system that swallows up the youth.
Emma Hall of the African American Arts and Culture Council
testified that the rebellion reflected the pain of
unemployment, no health care and, for many, no utilities. She
said, "Because the leaders did not take action, the people took
action themselves."
Belinda Brown told of praying for a State of Emergency for
Benton Harbor to address the poverty. She offered the following
examples: a woman who is living in a house that has been
condemned for over four years but still has to pay $400 a month
rent; a man who has not been able to find a job for seven
years, despite a high school diploma and college; a woman whose
water has been turned off in her home because she cannot pay
the $200 water bill.
The only things being built, Brown stressed, are a new
courthouse and jail "to fill up with our youth."
While Granholm promised to set up a "task force" to look
into what can be done for Benton Harbor, the fact is that
Michigan, like states across the country, is cutting funding
for social programs and education.
On June 19, Benton Harbor youths held their own town
meeting. Many brought hand-made signs protesting racism and
police brutality and demanding jobs. They wore T-shirts in
remembrance of Terrance Shurn.
Many of the youths had participated in the rebellion. They
said they were proud to have stood up and forced the
authorities and the country to take note of the devastation to
which they have been subjected to for years.
At this meeting, Kevin Hunter, a local leader in the
reparations movement, eloquently explained how Benton Harbor's
problems stem from the mindset of St. Joe. He was referring to
St Joseph--the affluent, virtually all-white city across the
bridge from Benton Harbor.
The situation is reminiscent, Hunter said, of apartheid
South Africa, with Black workers laboring for their white
bosses for starvation wages and then being sent home to
Bantustans at night.
While things have quieted for the moment, the struggle in
Benton Harbor is far from over. Despite the talk of
reconciliation by Granholm, Jesse Jackson and others, the
Benton Harbor police chief announced that the cops are
reviewing tapes of the rebellion and will be preparing
wholesale prosecutions.
This holds the potential of reigniting the struggle. The
Rev. Pinkney announced plans for more mass demonstrations and
community rallies in upcoming days.
There are many Benton Harbors across the United
States--ready to explode in the period to come.
Reprinted from the July 3, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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