The following post was written by Rebecca Ramaswamy. Rebecca is a civil rights attorney at Equal Justice Under Law, and one of the attorneys on the Fowler v. Benson case in Michigan. The Litigation Long Game As a Michigan native, I was excited when my D.C.-based civil rights organization, Equal Justice Under Law, decided to bring a lawsuit against my […]

The following essay was written by my friend Krystle DuPree, a member of the Washtenaw County Democratic Party Executive Board (among many other roles she has) of which I am the Chair. It is in response to an article posted on MLive.com titled “Ann Arbor area’s cost of living jeopardizes veteran’s efforts to escape poverty“. Since the article was published, […]

Recently, I spent the day observing two student teachers. Both were teaching instrumental music in middle and high schools, and each was assigned to an experienced, master teacher. But that’s where the similarities end… One of the student teachers was placed in an urban school and the other in a rural school. The differences between these two schools were stark, […]

There is no legal or moral obligation to be a child-centered society. Most of U.S. history largely ignores children because, well, they don’t make much history until they become adults. Up until the middle of the last century children were expected to be “seen and not heard.” They went to school and then took jobs, the key to transitioning into […]

Because the poor simply haven’t been screwed over enough already, right?

Two bills passed by the Michigan House of Representatives this week have the effect of punishing one group and one group only: the poor. One bill, House Bill 4118 would force Michiganders applying for a renewal of their welfare benefits to undergo drug testing if they are “suspected” of being on drugs. The other, House Bill 4388, would kick families off from welfare if they have a child who skips school.

As egregious as this legislation is, what’s worse is that Democrats aided and abetted the Republicans in the passage of both bills.

Details await you after the jump.

I have been writing pretty intensively about the dismissal of the Benton Harbor City Commission by the Emergency Financial Manager, Joe Harris. Like many of you, I am incensed at this draconian step being taken, a disenfranchisement of the residents of Benton Harbor and an abridgement of what I think most of us understand as democracy. Taxation without representation is […]

From the Recommended List at Daily Kos. Something happened in Detroit on Wednesday this week that flew beneath the radar of many Americans. Nearly 35,000 Detroiters converged on Cobo Hall to get one of the 5,000 applications for federal aid to people in poverty. Via the Detroit News: They came by foot, wheelchair, bicycle and car. About six left by […]