• Investigations
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Cartoons
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Language
    • 中文
    • русский
    • Español
  • National News
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Elections
  • Civil Liberties
  • Environment
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Media & Culture
  • MyMPN Announcements

Detroit Transit Woes Highlight America’s Broken Social Contract

March 20, 2015 By Joel Batterman 3 Comments

Millions of people around the world have heard the story of James Robertson, the 56-year-old Detroit man who walked 21 miles to work and back every day, in combination with multiple bus trips, for more than a decade. Robertson’s story is, on one level, a story about the metro Detroit region’s abominable lack of investment in a public transportation system. Yet it also brings out a much broader story about America’s broken social contract in an era of brutal inequality.

Robertson’s marathon commute to work in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills was a consequence of that city’s decision not to pay taxes for the metro region’s suburban bus system, SMART. Across the tri-county metro area, 51 municipalities make the choice to “opt out” of public transit. A few of these are rural townships with more cornfields than commercial centers, but many, like Rochester Hills, are highly populated, heavily built-up areas which contain major shopping malls, factories, and educational institutions.

The “opt-out” areas also share some distinctive common denominators. Almost without exception, they are relatively wealthy and majority-white. Detroit could hardly present a starker contrast.

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, National News Tagged With: Detroit, inequality, poverty, systemic racism, transit

Sweeping The Globe: #MillionMaskMarch Impossible To Ignore

November 10, 2014 By Endarken 1 Comment

Over 400 cities worldwide demonstrated what a REAL “Wave of Action” looks like, celebrating Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th) by congregating in major city centres the world over to spread messages of awakening to their fellow citizens and commemorate the growth of the Anonymous movement.

Becoming ever larger with each passing year, the Million Mask March (known as MMM) 2014 marks the first major penetration of the event into mainstream media coverage, despite their desperate attempt to black-out MMM in previous years. With this year’s event covered by Reuters and The Guardian, and not just RT, it does seem that the MSM worm is turning. And the BBC have now learned the hard way that if you refuse to cover thousands of protesters converging on a major city centre they may well just bring their grievances to your front doorstep, leaving you little choice but to acknowledge their presence.

A collection of the best of the event media we have seen so far is below, for your viewing pleasure.

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, Foreign Affairs, National News Tagged With: #MillionMaskMarch, Amsterdam, Anonymous, Association of International Broadcasting awards, Auckland, BBC headquarters, Belgrade, Canada, CIA, DC, Detroit, Edinburgh, Ferguson, Glasgow, GMOs, Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes Day, Halifax, Hans Up Don't Shoot, Japan, London, Michigan, Million Mask March, Missouri, MMM, Monsanto, MotherJones, Netherlands, New Zealand, Occupy, Occupy New Zealand, Occupy NZ, Occupy Wall St., Occupy Wall Street, OWS, Peru, Ray McGovern, Reuters, RT, Scotland, Serbia, STL, The Daily Dot, The Dallas Observer, The Guardian, The Independent, Truthdig, United Kingdom, V for Vendetta, Washington, Wave of Action

The file does not exist View/Post/small_loop.php

About MyMPN

MyMPN is MintPress News' community site. Anyone can participate by writing a diary and commenting on others' diaries.

Content posted to MyMPN is the opinion of the author alone, and should not be attributed to MintPress News.

MyMPN will cease publishing on January 15, 2017. Thank you for your support of our work.

  • More about MyMPN
  • Report site problems and bugs
  • MyMPN Comment Moderation

Follow Mintpress

RSSTwitterFacebookGooglePlus

Our Latest Posts

In The Age Of Trump, Peaceful Revolt Is Our Only Option

By Kevin Patrick Kelly January 11, 2017

Hafizah Geter Gives Moving Poetic ‘Testimony’ At Medgar Evers College

By José Negroni January 10, 2017

Gonzo Journalism Rejects The Myth Of The Neutral Media

By Dr. Milena Rampoldi January 9, 2017

Aleppo: How The US Manipulates Humanitarianism For Imperialism

By Steven Chovanec January 6, 2017

Why One ‘Remain’ Voter Now Supports A Hard Brexit

By Tara Lighten Msiska January 5, 2017

Hawaiian Kingdom, American Empire: An Interview With Professor Keanu Sai

By Dennis Riches January 4, 2017

War Against Rape In Karachi: Advocating For A Rape Free Society

By Dr. Milena Rampoldi December 30, 2016

What’s In A Name? From ‘Al-Qaeda’ To The ‘Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia’

By Nu’man Abd al-Wahid December 29, 2016

Popular Tags

activism Africa American imperialism Barack Obama Canada capitalism Climate change democracy Democratic Party Donald Trump Egypt election 2016 energy fracking history Human Rights inequality Iraq ISIS Islam Islamic State Israel journalism MENA Middle East mining nuclear oil Palestine police poverty prison propaganda racism Republican Party Russia Saudi Arabia Syria terrorism Texas United Kingdom United Nations Wall Street War water

Sign up for our Daily Newsletter

Copyright © 2022 Mint Press, LLC