CHICAGO, IL — May Day, May 1, 2016 marks the 503rd day that Rev. Edward Pinkney has spent in jail for a crime he did not commit. No evidence against him was presented in court. Witness testimony that should have exonerated him was ignored. Based on the “evidence” presented, it seems clear that no crime even took place. The real crime is what has been happening to the people of Benton Harbor, MI, for the past three decades.
Like other Rust Belt cities, Benton Harbor was once a thriving community full of jobs. The Whirlpool Corporation, the main employer in the area, began cutting back assembly line production in the 1980s, making Benton Harbor the poorest city in Michigan. Police terrorized the community and the people rose up in rebellion.
The governor promised to address the city’s problems but instead sent in an emergency manager dictator who cut corporate taxes and sold off the city’s assets for pennies on the dollar. Whirlpool is now attempting to kick out the poor people it created and turn Benton Harbor into a haven for the rich.
It is Rev. Pinkney who has been a consistent and courageous voice for the growing poor in Benton Harbor and against the corporate dictatorship. He was the first to warn the American people about the dangers of the emergency manager system. His message has been that if they can do it to the African American town of Benton Harbor first, then it won’t be long before they’re doing it to the rest of the working class, no matter what color you are. That warning came true in Flint.
The facts in the Pinkney case speak for themselves; trumped up charges, a SWAT team sent to his house to arrest him, no evidence, a prejudicial judge, a rigged jury none of whom were African American or from Benton Harbor and felony time for a misdemeanor crime. Bond has been denied to Rev. Pinkney while he appeals his conviction. He has been moved from jail to jail, put in solitary confinement and cut off from the outside world. These are the lengths the fascist merger of corporations with government in Michigan will go to in order to silence a message and messenger whose time has come.
The persecution was only the beginning of the attack on those who stand up to the Michigan dictatorship. Now those who stand up for water rights for the poor in other cities are under attack too. Join the fight to Free Rev. Pinkney as part of the fight for democracy for all. Contact bhbanco.org or justice4pinkney.com/
