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The Michigan Socialist | News |
Michigan News
Little-league fascists deface Joe Louis
monument
 THE
RACIST BACKLASH against Detroit, resulting from the deaths of the
two cops on Feb. 16, took a decidedly ugly turn one week after the
incident.
On Feb. 24, two little-league fascists snuck into
the City and defaced the bronze monument commemorating the
world-famous boxer, Joe Louis.
Louis, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of
all time and a well-known fighter against racism, grew up in Detroit
and regarded it as his adoptive hometown.
The men, both from Superior Township in nearby
Washtenaw County, used mops to smear gloss white paint all over the
24-foot long sculpture of Louis’ right arm, and left the pictures of
the two dead police officers at the scene.
On the back of the pictures, the two fascists
wrote, “Courtesy of the Fighting Whiteys.”
Romulus police arrested the two men after a
Detroit limousine driver spotted the two after committing the crime
and followed them out of the City.
The driver called 911 and kept them informed of
their movements.
One of the men charged for defacing the monument
is Brett Cashman, a member of the Superior Township Parks
Commission. When he was arrested, Cashman told the cops: “We did it
for you guys.”
Both Cashman and his roommate, John Price, posted
bond after being arraigned and are confined to house arrest by
electronic tether.
At the arraignment, lawyers for the two fascists
tried to say that their clients were only making a “political
statement” about crime in Detroit.
Magistrate Steve Lockhart, who oversaw the
arraignment, didn’t buy it. “This is definitely not a prank,” said
Lockhart. “This is a threat. This is the same as a cross burning.”
Cashman and Price face felony vandalism and
malicious destruction of property charges, which could result in up
to five years in prison.
The defacing of the Joe Louis monument is only a
more brutish expression of the attacks the City of Detroit has faced
over the last period.
The actions of Cashman and Price cannot be
separated from those taken by suburban municipal governments or the
legislators in Lansing.
The only difference between them is that Cashman
and Price were more honest about their motivations than are
politicians like Republican State Rep. Julian, who is pushing to
bring the death penalty to Michigan (or his personal cheerleader,
Detroit News columnist Pete Waldmeier) or Democratic Mayor
Kilpatrick.
Many residents of Superior Township have since
made public statements denouncing what Cashman did, and saying that
the people who live there do not condone the kind of fascistic
politics and actions he holds.
We of the Socialist Party hope to further test
that contention this November, in the Superior Township Parks
Commission elections.
Martin Schreader
See related articles:
Welcome to the police state
Why is there no death penalty in
Michigan?
A 'democratic' outburst in a sea
of repression |
