My city, Detroit. My friend, Baba Baxter Jones.
How I Met Baba Baxter Jones
I am a member of the Disability Committee of the 13th Congressional District of the Michigan Democratic Party. In mid May, I worked on a disability project for that committee with the vice-chair, Baxter Jones, a wheelchair user. I had spoken with him several times before that meeting and learned that people call him Baba1. During a couple of hours of creative planning and discussion of ideas, information, experience, and perspectives on disabilities, this gentle, forthright, dedicated, and full-of-life activist became my friend.
In addition, I remember seeing an African American gentleman at a protest in downtown Detroit in 2015 following Michael Brown’s death. I remembered a middle-aged military-fatigues-wearing man in a wheelchair whom many people approached, greeted, and hugged. I had not met him yet, but he recently confirmed to me that he was indeed at that protest, and even spoke to the crowd after the march. At that time in 2015 he was in the middle of a 140-day hunger strike for justice (#Hunger4Justice).
Baba’s Backstory
Some time ago, a reckless driver rear-ended Baba’s car, causing his disabilities. That collision damaged his spine and battered his brain. Baxter can use his hands but not his legs. He has trouble breathing. He gets headaches, and he has pain throughout his body all the time. However, he was able to continue working as a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools System.
Baxter is a well-known activist in Detroit. Years after his auto accident, and after being fired from his job as a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools System by Detroit's Emergency Manager, when he was deeply under water on his mortgage, Baxter's house was sold out from under him. That is a long story; however, as an activist, he gained a lot of community support.
Eclectablog told that story in detail here:
"During the eviction proceedings, Jones was able to cobble together $60,000 through friends and volunteers, and made an offer to purchase the home outright. Since Trott & Trott listed the value of the home in court documents at $58,000, this seemed like a possible solution. However, Trott & Trott responded that they wouldn’t take a penny less than $254,000 and refused his offer. They later resold the home for a mere $100,000, less than 40% of the $254,000 they demanded from Jones."
(Yes, that was the execrable, profiteering-from-pain ratfucker Dave Trott, elected to the House to represent the congressional district just north of Detroit.)
The Press Conference
At the end of my meeting on May 17 with Baxter, he asked for my support for a press conference and community gathering on Friday, June 2, called “#BabaDon’tTakeNoMess, a play on the James Brown song, “Papa Don’t Take No Mess.” Later, at the press conference, I learned that he had been injured and terrorized by Detroit police officers and that he was suing the City of Detroit for brutality and noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Baba Baxter, his attorney, and four other activists spoke at the press conference.
The lawsuit is based on the following incident: Baxter was one of nine people arrested at a water protest in Detroit. The City of Detroit did not have appropriate transportation for him, so instead, officers manually lifted his wheelchair into a regular van, and they pushed his head down, as you see officers do on television, to prevent him from hitting his head. In addition, the low ceiling of the van forced him to ride with his neck bent forward and in constant contact with the ceiling. But Baxter had a pre-existing spinal injury! The van also had no means of locking the wheels of the chair to the floor, so an officer wedged his foot in front of the wheel, and the chair rocked and rolled and bounced during transit to the jail. They brutalized and terrorized him: Baba Baxter feared for his life and feared that he would sustain further damage. As it turned out, that van trip DID increase his long-term injuries.
Baba Baxter speaks eloquently of his experience for 7 minutes, beginning at 9:40. His lawyer speaks immediately before him, and she begins at about 1:40. The video is 27 minutes long.
(Transcript of Baba Baxter’s testimony in the comments.)
The Basis of the Lawsuit
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires accommodation of people with disabilities. Baxter's disabilities were not properly accommodated during his arrest, and his injuries were therefore compounded by this neglect.
“In addition to damages for emotional and physical anguish sought by Jones' lawsuit against Detroit, his attorneys are asking a federal judge to order the city and police department to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by appointing a compliance officer, training police, and purchasing vehicles appropriate for transporting prisoners with wheelchairs.” (Source)
Baba’s Lawyer Julie Hurwitz said “It's too early to say whether the injuries were caused by negligence, incompetence, or malice.” (Source)
Action Steps
My city hurt my friend, and I am angry. Often during these abnormal days, we get angry and can do nothing. But for Baba Baxter, we can act to express our anger. Will you please join me and the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders as we support Baba Baxter Jones by all possible methods of social media?
At this time, we don’t yet know the roads we will travel to support Baba Baxter Jones. We are as yet unaware of donation pages, petitions, or letters-to-the-editor campaigns. If you have any questions or want to join us, please let us know. We will keep you updated. Please watch for announcements in our regular Friday night Support the Dream Defenders 8 p.m. ET stories.
Note: [1] The honorific "baba" is a multicultural (Indian, Malaysian, Nigerian, Persian, South Asian, Turkish, West Asian, Zimbabwean, and American) and multireligious (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Sufi) term of respect and endearment which implies father, grandfather, wise old man, sir, priest, holy man, and saint. [Wikipedia]
This is a community diary.
Power with, not power over,
William 2thanks
Update June 17, 2017
Two Links and a Quote
Baba Baxter Jones’s FaceBook page.
The FaceBook page of Advocates for Baxter.
“Are you an advocate for Baba Baxter Jones? What does that mean?
It means you are in the struggle for meaningful JUSTICE. It means you recognize that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Whether your struggle regards racism/white supremacy, classism, decolonization, gentrification, water, food, housing, emergency management, police brutality, mass incarceration, the school-to-prison industrial complex, immigration, religious persecution, environmental pollution, ableism, or other oppressions.” (Source)
#Justice4Baba is the current and most recent project of Support the Dream Defenders.