Ed Rowe

Reverend Edwin "Ed" Rowe

MDEQ protest

(L-R) Kim Redigan, Jay Cummings, Pastor Emeritus, Claire McClinton and Rev. Liz Theoharis.Valerie Jean.

The event that triggered the arrests in front of the MDEQ in Lansing, MI, that blocked the doors to the building.

“We blocked all the doors (and eventually the parking lot) of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) headquarters, plus surrounded the building with crime scene tape because of environmental concerns,” said Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann, one of some 30 people arrested. Concerns included the role of the MDEQ in the Flint water poisoning, oil spill threat of Enbridge’s Line 5, and permitting the expansion by US Ecology and Nestlés in the Great Lakes.

The action was part of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. “This contributed to the largest focused and coordinated campaign of civil disobedience in US history . . . the MDEQ needs to make public health the priority, not corporate profit,” said Wylie-Kellermann.

“Some of those arrested took a ‘diversion program’ offer. Others pled ‘no contest’ to a misdemeanor. Thirteen prepared for a trial;” Rabbi Alana Alpert; Carolyn Baker; Claire McClinton; Justin Sledge; Carlos Santacruz; Baxter Jones; Rev. Liz Theoharis; Rev. Deb Hansen; Rev. Ed Rowe; Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellermann; Richard Levey; Sylvia Orduno; and Leah Wiste.

Valerie Jean December 12, 2018 ·

They are both out of jail! #Michigan #PoorPeoplesCampaign — with Lucia Wylie-Eggert, Edwin Rowe, Claire McClinton, Denise Griebler, Lydia Wylie-Kellermann, Bill Wylie-Kellermann, Greg Olszta, Tommy Tackett, James Perkinson, Eric Krawczak, Apple Rose and Sarah Rosenthal. Carolyn Baker June 6, 2018 ·

1. PoorPeoplesCampaign — with Sylvia Orduno, Kim Redigan, Claire McClinton, Alana Alpert, Edwin Rowe, Maureen Taylor, Nayyirah Shariff, Carlos Santacruz and Denise Griebler.

National Conference to Reclaim Our Cities

The Workers World Party instigated National Conference to Reclaim Our Cities was held Friday, November 11 thru Sunday, November 13 in Detroit in the Wayne State University Student Center Ballroom.

People from the throughout the state of Michigan and delegations from New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York and other cities will converge on the Wayne State University campus to develop strategies for the rebuilding of urban areas around the country. Under the theme: "Money to Rebuild New Orleans and all U.S. Cities, Not for War," this national meeting of grassroots, labor and peace activists will call for the feeding of the cities and the starving of the Pentagon.

Demanding funds for jobs, housing, Social Security, schools, healthcare and the environment, the conference will focus on the Bush administration's budget which slashed 150 domestic programs while it pushes the spending for war to over half a trillion dollars a year. Organizers of the event say that it is time to launch a struggle to win the right to healthcare, quality education, decent housing, food, utilities, and jobs at living wages.

A partial list of endorsers for this event includes: Maryann Mahaffey, President of the Detroit City Council, JoAnn Watson, member of the Detroit City Council, Donald Boggs, President of the Metro-Detroit AFL-CIO, Nathan Head, President of the Metro-Detroit Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Ed Rowe, Pastor of Central United Methodist Church, Marian Kramer, Co-President of the National Welfare Rights Organization, the Gray Panthers of Metro-Detroit and Workers World Party members David Sole, President of UAW Local 2334and Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of the Pan-African News Wire.

All day Saturday, November 12, there will be plenary sessions and workshops to discuss solutions to the urban crises across the United States and the role of the increasing militarization of both domestic and foreign policy of the national government.

This conference was open to the general public and was sponsored by the WSU student chapter of the the Workers World Party front Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice.

Moratorium NOW!

On Sept. 17, 2008, the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions sponsored a rally at the Michigan State Capitol, demanding the State Legislature enact SB 1306, a two-year foreclosure moratorium bill. Represented at the rally was UNITE HERE, Change to Win, United Auto Workers, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of Teachers, Green Party of Michigan, Detroit Greens, the Cynthia McKinney presidential campaign, Students for a Democratic Society, National Lawyers Guild, Workers World Party, Food Not Bombs, Critical Moment, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice, Michigan Welfare Rights, Call ’Em Out, Latinos Unidos of Michigan, Grand Rapids Latino Community Coalition, Joint Religious Organizing Network for Action and Hope, Adrian Dominican Sisters & Associates for Peace. The following led or spoke at the rally: Sandra Hines and Abayomi Azikiwe of the Moratorium NOW!; Kris Hamel; Reverend Ed Rowe, Central United Methodist Church; State Representatives Gabe Leland, Shanelle Jackson, Bettie Cook Scott and Steve Tobocman; State Sen. Martha G. Scott; Rubie Curl-Pinkins and her daughter Nikki Curl; Jerry Goldberg, people’s attorney and coalition leader; Juan Daniel Castro, Grand Rapids Latino Community Coalition; Linette Crosby; Larry Holmes, a leader of the Troops Out Now Coalition; Robert Pratt of UNITE HERE; and Rosendo Delgado of Latinos Unidos of Michigan.

Moratorium NOW! is affiliated with the Bail Out the People Movement and is controlled by the Workers World Party. The organization's office is located at the Central United Methodist Church and holds meetings there.

Endorsed SB 1306

As at Feb. 10, 2011, Ed Rowe, Central United Methodist Church, Detroit, had endorsed State Senator Hansen Clarke's Senate Bill 1306, "which would stop all mortgage foreclosures and evictions for two years." The bill is being supported by the Workers World Party-front, Moratorium NOW!.

2011 11th Annual Douglass-Debs Dinner

Greater Detroit DSA newsletter, November 2011

Over 200 people attended the 12th annual Frederick Douglass-Eugene V. Debs Dinner on October 1st at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn. The dinner honored Reverend Ed Rowe, senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church, and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-Michigan). Reverend Rowe was honored for his lifetime commitment to social justice, civil rights, and workers’ rights. The event honored ROC-Michigan for its recent successful campaign to improve wages and working conditions at Andiamo Restaurant. Congressman Hansen Clarke presented congressional citations to both awardees.

The dinner co-chairs were Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams and UAW Vice-President James Settles, Jr. The Bill Meyer Group provided entertainment and led the audience in singing “Solidarity Forever” and “The Internationale.” Keynote speaker was William Greider, national affairs correspondent at The Nation.

DSA National Director Maria Svart also addressed the Douglass-Debs Dinner.

References

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