Netroots Nation 2014 is in Detroit this year. It is fitting that on my way back to the hotel immediately after registering for the conference, I ran into Michael Doc Holbrook. After stopping at the waterfront at Hart Plaza to take in the view, Holbrook rode up on his bike and we had a pleasant conversation. It wasn't long before I realized we shared a lot in common. He is a political activist, and I immediately asked him for an interview. He was kind enough to say yes.
Talking to Holbrook was made more relevant due to an the water problems Detroit is facing. MSNBC recently had an interview with Detroit reporter Hank Winchester and Maureen Taylor, a community activist and state chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, who discussed how the water department in the city is shutting off the water to residents owing $150 or more. Interestingly, corporations owing thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of dollars have not suffered the same fate. The water department was willing to shut off the water of the poor and the needy at the rate of over 3,000 people a week while leaving the "golf course's" water on.
Jump below the fold for more.
Taylor went ballistic when Winchester said some of the residents would rather pay their cable bill than their water bill. While that statement may be true for some residents in any community, the dog whistle was clear.
After writing about the interview in a blog post at Daily Kos and at my website, the post went viral. Winchester took a lot of incoming flak from many local Detroit blogs, and he contacted me and accused me of editing the video out of context. The edits were made like any other edits—to take out superfluous and duplicated information in order to make it shorter for the viewer’s limited time.
Suffice it to say, talking to Holbrook about Detroit’s woes was educational and informative. Unlike having a reporter misrepresent the plight of Detroiters, Holbrook is someone from the community, an activist embedded in the realities of the city.
Holbrook spoke about a city with an infrastructure to support 2 million people with a population now trimmed to 700,000 because of the deindustrialization of the area that started in the 1950s. He said corrupt politicians are using Detroit's economic situation to acquire properties now considered lucrative from poor owners.
"This is the only city in America," Holbrook said. "where poor people ever had property on the riverfront. And they are taking that away now." He said Detroit’s real problem is the lack of leadership. The city is currently run by an omnipotent emergency manager appointed by the governor. Holbrook said that emergency manager Kevyn Orr, Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan went to law school together. "You figure it out," Holbrook said. "How this came to be."
Holbrook participated in a large protest of over 1,000 Detroiters and Netroots Nations attendees that originated at the COBO Convention Center in downtown Detroit where Netroots Nation 2014 is taking place. Maureen Taylor participated in both the protest and a panel titled "Fighting for Democratic Practices after an Emergency Manager Takeover in Michigan: Report from the Trenches."
One wonders if when the choice was made to have Detroit host Netroots Nation 2014 whether it was known that the event would take part in an ongoing movement in a city trying to find its way like many cities throughout the country. One wonders if the media and high-powered politicians attending the conference will play a part in elevating the plight not only of Detroit but of other major urban areas into the national discourse.
It is time that it does. It should. It must.