“Our local government has a little more voting power now. But they [the state of Michigan] still has us under emergency managers. There’s some kind of group that oversees things. They already got everything they wanted—like the land. They were on their way to getting rid of the Benton Harbor dispatch, Fire Department, wanting to merge it with the St. Joseph Police so they could come over here and make arrests, just like the old dirty South. When you go up there [to city government] to make an issue, they try to make a joke. I am no joke. I tell them, ‘Don’t play with me, just because I’m an older woman.’ Some will try to put you down when you try to rally for justice. Because of what they did to Rev. Pinkney, they got everyone afraid. I ask, ‘What are you afraid of? Rev. Pinkney is paving the way for a lot of other people. He will reap the good.’ They have thieves in government here that steal millions and get no time when caught. They put Rev. Pinkney away for nothing. It’s all political. — Emma Kinnard, Benton Harbor
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