Detroit’s Pastors Unite to Oppose Emergency Manager Appointment

By Karen Hudson Samuels/Tell Us Detroit

DETROIT (Tell Us Det) - The Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit has come out in fierce opposition to the appointment an Emergency Manager for the city calling it an “assault on the constitutionally protected rights of the people the law purports to benefit.”

The President of the Council, the Rev. Dr. Michael Andrew Owens, spoke on behalf of dozens of pastors who flanked him during a Tuesday morning press conference to explain their position.

Owens said there was no denying that a state of emergency exists in Detroit pointing out that the Council of Baptist Pastors supported the Consent Agreement implemented last year, however he said the model should have been given more time and sincere effort to prove itself.

“Whatever the negative evaluation of the progress achieved by Consent Agreement, we will not support a hostile takeover of the City of Detroit by the State of Michigan” said Owens.

The City Council was commended by the Baptist pastors for going to Lansing with a plan to halt the appointment of an EM; however, harsh criticism was leveled against Detroit’s mayor. Owens said “We decry the sheepish surrender of Mayor Bing who refused to join those final efforts because was all to ‘happy’ to have the Governor’s appointee as his new partner and teammate.”

Close to 100 church pastors are members of the Council of Baptist Pastors, an organization that has a history of advocating for justice and speaking truth to power. Owens, in his statement said that given the current political climate of voter suppression and intimidation of African American voters, Detroit can ill afford to be a success story for those forces determined to disenfranchise and disregard voting rights.

The Council says they will partner with the NAACP, AFSME, the UAW and other organizations that have launched or have plans to undertake legal action to challenge the Emergency Manager Law. If all efforts fall Owens said there would be wiliness to work with the Emergency Manager.

The Council of Baptist Pastors is planning a mass Rally for the Resurrection of Hope on April 9th at 6:00p.m.