BENTON HARBOR, MI — Let the truth be told by the people of Benton Harbor. The tentative agreement between Benton Harbor’s school board, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials to “save” the Benton Harbor schools, was never on the table. There was no deal.
Gov. Whitmer and the Whirlpool Corporation are working together to destroy the city of Benton Harbor. Whirlpool wants to close Benton Harbor High School and steal over 625 acres of lakefront land that the school sits on. This is nothing but a land grab.
Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Treasury indicated in May that it was planning on shutting down Benton Harbor’s only high school. A letter was sent from the Treasury Department to families stating that under a plan starting in 2020, students will be able to attend one of seven high schools in the county. All are white schools.
Even in the tentative agreement, Gov.Whitmer didn’t guarantee she would not close the high school in the future. The agreement requires academic improvement and that the city’s $18 million debt go away. That is why the compromise ought to be viewed critically. The factors triggering the threat of closure haven’t changed. I do not see dramatic and positive changes offered. And it is impossible for a system that has been abused for so long to change in just one year. Gov. Whitmer is not forgiving the Benton Harbor district’s debt, that the state helped to create by forcing the schools to accept anything the government wanted, and then pointing the finger at Benton Harbor.
“If a Republican administration were offering the kind of bitter pill that the Whitmer administration is now trying to shove down the throat of Benton Harbor, my cellphone would be filled with messages alleging all kinds of racist treatment in this poor black city. There would be no talk about personal responsibility, and all the mainstream black civil rights groups would be preparing for statewide press conferences to make the case that it is a pattern of historic disinvestment in black cities. They would cast the fight as an Armageddon battle,” said Detroit News columnist, Bankole Thompson.
Who would give a school district one year to improve or be closed down? What kind of government administration would even attempt to destroy a whole city by closing down its only high school? The question should be how can we save the city and the high school. We must stand together and fight back.
Whirlpool has taken over Benton Harbor. It has engaged in stealing land from the city for a long time. It is a sordid history that previous governors Granholm and Snyder participated in. Gov. Whitmer is under big pressure from Whirlpool and their business partners. They’re a billion dollar corporation with an abysmal human rights record. Rep. Fred Upton, the Whirlpool corporate heir, has a history of racist views and is a major player in the hostile takeover.
I guess the residents of Benton Harbor have to go on bended knees to beg the governor to not close our high school.
We must confront the evil empire, Gov. Whitmer and the Whirlpool Corporation now!
