The city of Detroit has launched a counter-suit against activist leaders of Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, alleging that they and the group Detroit Will Breathe conspired to cause damage to the city and its residents.
The city filed its counter-suit in September less than a month after Detroit Will Breathe, an activist group operating out of Detroit, sued the city government and its police force for allegedly violating protesters&#8217; rights during the summer’s crackdowns on civil unrest. The city alleged the activists committed “civil conspiracy” to cause mayhem throughout Detroit and harm its residents, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/12/21/detroit-black-lives-matter-lawsuit/">The Intercept</a> reported on Monday.
“Counter-Defendants illegally, maliciously, and wrongfully conspired with one another with the intent to and for the illegal purpose of disturbing the peace, engaging in disorderly conduct, inciting riots, destroying public property, resisting or obstructing officers in charge of duty, and committing acts of violence against Counter-Plaintiffs and DPD officers,” Detroit’s <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17533237/43/detroit-will-breathe-v-detroit-city-of/">countersuit</a> says.
A Detroit judge appeared to side with the activists in early September, issuing an order barring police from using non-lethal crowd-control tools such as “batons, shields, gas, rubber bullets, chokeholds or sound cannons” against “peaceful” protesters. The activists alleged that police had used excessive force to crack down on demonstrations that erupted in the aftermath of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/medical-examiner-concluded-george-floyd-likely-died-of-fentanyl-overdose-court-docs-reveal">George Floyd’s May death</a> in Minneapolis.
At the time, Detroit police chief James Craig said the restraining order would have no impact on how the police department handled protests and riots. Police officers would continue to use crowd-control tools on protests that escalated beyond “peaceful.”
As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detroit-judge-bans-police-from-using-tear-gas-batons-on-blm-protesters-even-if-demonstrations-escalate">The Daily Wire</a> reported at the time:
<blockquote>Detroit police say they have no problem with “peaceful protests,” which the judge referred to specifically in the order, but as the Detroit News noted just last week, the Detroit Police Department has had to take an aggressive stand when demonstrations turned potentially violent. They were also forced to take action to prevent an “autonomous zone” from taking shape in the city’s downtown, avoiding a situation like the one in Seattle, which resulted in the deaths of at least two people.
“Officers used force to prevent protesters from setting up a ‘Seattle zone of lawlessness’ during demonstrations that turned violent Saturday,” Detroit’s police chief told the outlet last Monday, noting that the Department has initiated internal investigations into any officer involved in a “skirmish” with protesters.</blockquote>
Craig has been an outspoken critic of the activists, asserting that they have been pushing for “total anarchy” and that their violent demonstrations have never been about race. In a September interview with Fox News, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/total-anarchy-detroit-police-chief-slams-elected-leaders-for-folding-to-protest-pressure-not-supporting-police">Craig slammed political leaders</a> in other cities for ceding to the demands of often violent activists.
“This is total anarchy, and what’s obvious is there’s political leadership, I’ve said it before, who, not in all cities [but in] some cities, who are standing by and saying nothing in fear that they may then be attacked,” Craig said. “But the problem is they’re being attacked anyway, so you gotta understand what the true agenda is. It’s certainly not about race. It’s something much deeper than that, and we just need to start talking about it, and we need to stand up and call it what it is: total anarchy.”
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Detroit Counter-Sues Black Lives Matter Protesters For ‘Inciting Riots,’ Attacking Police

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The city of Detroit has launched a counter-suit against activist leaders of Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, alleging that they and the group

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An anti-incarceration activist group is demanding the National Basketball Association make Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores step down from the league’s board and give up the franchise, claiming his private equity company profits off a prison industry that deliberately exploits people of color.
The call comes from a nonprofit advocacy organization called Worth Rises, which <a href="https://worthrises.org/aboutus">according</a> to its website, envisions “a society in which no entity or individual relies on human caging or control for their wealth, operation, or livelihood.”
Worth Rises ran a full-page ad directed at the NBA in the sports section of The New York Times on Sunday, asking, “If Black Lives Matter, what are you doing about Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores?”
Bianca Tylek, who founded the group and serves as its executive director, takes issue with the Los Angeles billionaire’s Platinum Equity global investment firm, which owns Securus Technologies, which provides telephone service to thousands of corrections agencies housing 1.2 million detainees.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BREAKING: Today, in the <a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nytimes</a>, we ran a full-pg ad addressed to the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBA</a>, asking what it’s doing about <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitPistons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DetroitPistons</a> owner Tom Gores. We sent Tom a demand letter in March 2019 to sell <a href="https://twitter.com/SecurusTech?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecurusTech</a> by end of 2020, time’s up. 
Visit <a href="https://t.co/FiE6RmS5iE">https://t.co/FiE6RmS5iE</a> to learn more. <a href="https://t.co/Z2cfypmiKp">pic.twitter.com/Z2cfypmiKp</a>
&mdash; Worth Rises (@WorthRises) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorthRises/status/1340655646086205443?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
She sent a <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58e127cb1b10e31ed45b20f4/t/5fdf4fc35809ae34340cc556/1608470467245/2020.12.10+-+Worth+Rises+Letter+to+NBA+Board+of+Governors.pdf">letter</a> to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league’s board of governors earlier this month asking that they “rebuke systemic racism and racist exploitation by forcing Tom Gores to sell the Detroit Pistons.”
In the letter to the NBA, Tylek wrote, “Securus charges incarcerated people and their loved ones exorbitant rates for phone calls made from prisons, jails, and detention centers across the country.” She said “the corporation routinely charges as much as $15 for a simple 15-minute phone call” and claimed that money is used to pay millions in kickbacks to sheriffs and correctional administrators.
“Put simply, he is a prison profiteer who has no place on the board of one of our nation’s favorite institutions: the NBA,” Tylek said. “The NBA cannot allow Mr. Gores to whitewash his active exploitation of marginalized communities by simply asserting that Black Lives Matter.”
As the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-12-20/tom-gores-sell-detroit-pistons-securus?_amp=true">reported</a>, Platinum Equity announced earlier this year that it had “replaced management at Securus and pledged a series of reforms, including broader ‘rate relief.’” However, as the outlet notes, “Worth Rises is not satisfied with the pace of reductions.”
More from the Times:
<blockquote>NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement that the league understands “Worth Rises’ passion for prison reform and have been in regular communication with Tom Gores regarding their concerns. Mr. Gores and his colleagues have had ongoing discussions with a number of nonprofit organizations focused on similar reform and we support their efforts to address these important issues.”
The campaign against Gores began not long after his Beverly Hills private equity firm acquired Securus for $1.6 billion in 2017. Last year, activists called on him to lower rates and sell the telecom, lobbying public pension funds to not invest in the latest buyout fund by Platinum Equity. 
In the face of the criticism, the firm still raised $10 billion, its biggest fund yet. Activists had more success this fall when they demanded Gores step down from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where he had been a trustee since 2006. More than 20 members of the Los Angeles arts community signed on to the effort, which was spurred by Worth Rises and Color of Change, another activist group that did not sign on to the NBA letter.</blockquote>
According to the Times, Worth Rising pressured New York last year to become the first major city to offer free phone calls for incarcerated people in its jails. San Francisco recently became the first county in the nation to follow suit.
Gores grew up a Pistons fan in Flint, Michigan. Forbes estimates his net worth at $5.7 billion.
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Anti-Incarceration Group Demands NBA Force Detroit Pistons Owner To Sell Team

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An anti-incarceration activist group is demanding the National Basketball Association make Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores step down from the league’s

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Detroit Counter-Sues Black Lives Matter Protesters For ‘Inciting Riots,’ Attacking Police

Anti-Incarceration Group Demands NBA Force Detroit Pistons Owner To Sell Team

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