DETROIT, March 23 (UPI) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson says the appointment of an emergency financial manager violates Detroiters’ right to elect their own leaders.
Jackson joined JoAnn Watson and Brenda Jones, both members of the City Council, and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., for a small rally Friday at City Hall, the Detroit Free Press reported. Jackson urged residents to engage in non-violent protest against the appointment and promised to join in a civil lawsuit against the Michigan financial manager law.
Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, named Kevin Orr, a Washington bankruptcy lawyer, as the manager last week.
“As opposed to having a City Council that’s democratically elected and a mayor, you’ll have a plant-ocracy, a plantation-ocracy, replacing a democracy,” Jackson said.
Mayor Dave Bing’s office refused to comment on the rally.
“The governor encourages citizens to come together to be part of the solution to move Detroit forward towards everyone’s goal of a creating a vibrant, thriving city,” Snyder’s office said in a statement. “Continued litigation and organized disruptions will only delay the revitalization process and cause the eventual solutions to be more difficult.”
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