Last week 13 people were arrested in a plot to kidnap and kill Governor Gretchen Whitmer. They also planned to blow up bridges and kill specific law enforcement people. They intended to storm the State Capital and to incite a civil war.

This week the Detroit City Council voted to approve a two year $220,000 contract with DataWorks Plus to continue the use of facial recognition software in the city. This vote came after a contentious public hearing where the vast majority of speakers objected to the use of facial recognition technologies and to the extension of the contract. Councilmembers Mary Sheffield and Raquel Castaneda-Lopez, who have been reliable critics of police practices, voted against the expenditure.

This week Chief James Craig was openly endorsed by President Trump. After watching the Chief on Fox News, Trump called the Detroit Chief “terrific.” The Chief parrots Trump’s assertions that the national demonstrations against police brutality and the killing of black people by police are organized by “outsiders,” “professionals,” “anarchists,” “leftists” and people advocating a “Marxist ideology.”

This week, Chief Craig made national news, appearing on Fox News program “Town Hall.” This is a program that frequently promotes Donald Trump and right wing propaganda. It is the network favored by Trump and his supporters. It turns out, Chief Craig is one of them. Or at least he is saying the very same things that Trump is saying. 

This week the calls for an independent investigation into the Detroit Police Department’s response to demonstrations in the city were given support from popular, elected officials. In a strong letter written by U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, State Senator Stephanie Chang, Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Mary Sheffield and City councilwoman Raquel Castenada-Lopez, the Mayor and Police Commission were called to establish an investigation into the “use of excessive force against (protestors), legal observers and journalists during recent demonstrations.”

As the Detroit Police have accelerated their brutal attacks on demonstrators, calls for the resignation of Chief Craig are gaining momentum. This week, these calls were given greater legitimacy by U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Michelson. Judge Michelson granted the request of Detroit Will Breath to restrain the Detroit Police from using excessive force. This decision was part of a lawsuit against the Detroit Police, Chief Craig, Mayor Duggan and the city, indicting the use of force against people in the streets.

Over the last few weeks, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Detroit Police Department routinely uses deadly violence and excessive force as a normal part of their operations.  This week Detroit Will Breathe filed a federal lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit documents the use of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, chokeholds and beatings, all without cause as people demonstrated to protest these very tactics and the white supremist culture that produces them.

The desire to “return to normalcy” is palpable. It swirled through the Democratic Convention. While much of the programming was deeply moving and surprisingly fresh, the theme of returning to predictable, certain times was woven throughout the events. The New York Times summed up the desire, noting, “The party has offered Mr. Biden, 77, less as a traditional partisan standard-bearer than as a comforting national healer, capable of restoring normalcy and calm to the United States and returning its federal government to working order.”

The 75th anniversary of the dropping atomic bombs by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki passed with little notice. The bombs killed 210,000 people and tens of thousands more were to die of radiation poisoning, minutes, days, weeks and months later. For many others, death came more slowly, after lifetimes of illness and pain. Many of the few remaining survivors continue to advocate for a nuclear free world.

Last week the Detroit News published the results of the autopsy report on the killing of Hakim Littleton. The News asserted in its headline “Autopsy backs Detroit police in shooting.” This is simply not true. But the article demonstrates how much the corporate media is dedicated to supporting the police perspective at the expense of the lives of people.

This week a strong community-based coalition brought together by Detroit City Council President Pro Tempore, Mary Sheffield and Council member Raquel Castaneda-Lopez introduced a Detroiters’ Bill of Rights that they want to see included in the revisions to the City Charter.

A group of community organizations banded together to demand an independent investigation of the Detroit Police Department and the killing of Hakim Littleton. The group recognizes a pattern of excessive force against the community by the Detroit police. In calling for an independent investigation the organizations dispute the characterization of the killing as justified. They produced a counter-video explaining, “members of the community are left with many questions, not the least of which is whether the death could have been avoided altogether if officers had used the law enforcement profession's best practices and employed de-escalation techniques.”

As people across the country struggle with the question of whether or when to open schools, a new study from South Korea was released, raising serious concerns. The study documents the likelihood that reopening schools will trigger an increase in Covid-19 cases. Many people have been counting on the fact that children under 10 appear to transmit the disease much less often than adults. This latest study, however, points out that, while this is likely true, the risk is not zero. Moreover, children between 11 and 19 can spread it at about the same rate as adults.

The police killing of Hakim Littleton is reverberating in our community. Within hours of Mr. Littleton’s death, Police Chief James Craig released body camera images of the shooting, saying it was essential to provide facts to counter mis-information being spread on social media. The slow motion video appears to show Mr. Littleton raising his arm and shooting at a police officer. It then shows Mr. Littleton falling to the ground and officers moving toward him, shooting. In the space of about 5 seconds, Hakim Littleton was dead.

This week many people around the country watched members of the Detroit Police Department drive their car into a crowd of peaceful protestors, causing serious injuries. This has prompted renewed criticism of the Detroit Police, Chief Craig and Mayor Duggan, especially after their heavy-handed responses in the first days of action after the killing of George Floyd.

This week the debate against surveillance technology in the hands of police took a deeply human turn. The ACLU of Michigan filed a complaint against the Detroit Police Department on behalf of Robert Williams, who was wrongfully identified, arrested at his home in front of his wife and daughters, and held in police custody for 30 hours. He was accused of stealing five watches from Shinola. He was released on bail, and ultimately the County Prosecutor, Kym Worthy, offered an apology saying, " This case should not have been issued based on the DPD investigation, and for that we apologize. Thankfully, it was dismissed on our office’s own motion. This does not in any way make up for the hours that Mr. Williams spent in jail.”

Mayor Duggan and some members of the City Council are out of step with the majority of the people of Detroit. Increasingly, the Mayor and some on the Council are sounding like Donald Trump in the face of growing protests against racism and police brutality. They are accusing protestors of “terrorism” and refusing to look seriously at the issues being raised by people on the streets.

As protests mount in streets, people across the country are engaging in unprecedented efforts to rethink what it means to create safe communities. At the same time, the ordinary machines of governing continue to function, moving from the mundane to outright evil.

As protests continue globally to express outrage over the police killing of George Floyd, the conversation is shifting from reform to abolition. This is a critical shift, raising the possibility of creating real community safety, provided by community members who care for one another.

One week ago, we tried to grasp what it means to have lost more than 100,000 people in a little more than 100 days. How do we comprehend the depth of this horror? The sheer enormity of the pain and suffering of people makes it difficult to absorb.  How do we grasp the stark racism carried daily in numbers reflecting the death toll in African American communities far outstripping those in white, wealthier areas? Many of us felt our hearts could hold no more anguish.