Last Tuesday, May 1, the Rev. Edward Pinkney, a longtime grassroots activist, received some good news—albeit after serving a full 30-month prison sentence on a bogus conviction for election fraud. The Michigan Supreme Court, finally reviewing his case, unanimously ordered his convictions vacated and all charges against him dismissed.
Pinkney, a leading voice against corrupt political leadership and massive corporate land grabs in many Black cities in the state, continued to organize even while in prison. Democracy works when people make it work, and work together to make it work, he says.
Leid Stories takes time to celebrate the fighting spirit of Rev. Pinkney and the people of Benton Harbor, who are in a pitched battle with major corporations wanting to drive them out and take their land.