Steve Neavling
Bailiffs and movers forcibly remove protesters who were protecting Taura Brown from being evicted in Detroit.
Wayne County bailiffs and their movers violently removed housing activists who had locked arms to form a human wall on Tuesday to defend a Black woman from being evicted from her home in Detroit.
The men punched activists in the face, pulled them to the ground by their hair, and kicked them during several clashes that were occasionally broken up by police. One of the men, who was a mover for the bailiffs, pulled out a knife and threatened a protester.
The bailiffs and movers arrived shortly after 9 a.m. to evict Taura Brown, who has stage-five kidney disease and lost a two-year legal battle to stay in her home that is part of a community of unique tiny houses in the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood.
Cass Community Social Services (CCSS), a nonprofit that designed the homes for lower-income Detroiters, received a court order to evict Brown, even though she had paid her rent on time.
Brown and her supporters say she was evicted in retaliation for blowing the whistle on problems at CCSS. She accused the nonprofit and its director, Rev. Faith Fowler, of fraud and micromanaging residents. She also alleged CCSS never intended to provide permanent homes for tenants.
When the bailiffs arrived, activists gathered at the front and back doors of Brown’s house to prevent her eviction.
“No slumlords, no cops, all evictions got to stop,” protesters chanted.
Before bailiffs and nearly two dozen movers confronted protesters, one of them announced, “Either you leave now or someone’s going to need to call EMS.”
During a handful of the confrontations, police intervened and ordered the bailiffs and movers to back off and “act professionally” after some of them were seen throwing punches and shoving women and an elderly man to the ground.
Bailiffs are getting violent as they try to evict a terminally ill Black woman from her home in Detroit. One of them pulled out a knife, and others punched home defenders. Police keep stopping them, saying they are acting “unprofessionally.” pic.twitter.com/wJeE0oOq7E
— Steve Neavling (@MCmuckraker) April 4, 2023
But eventually police backed off, and the bailiffs and movers pushed through the human wall and kicked in the back door of Brown’s house to remove her several hours after they had arrived.
Movers then bagged up Brown’s belongings and carelessly tossed them from the porch to the lawn, breaking some of her possessions.
When Brown moved into her house in early 2020, CCSS promised that tenants who pay rent for seven years will receive the deed to their home, mortgage-free. The goal was to break the cycle of poverty and create a path to homeownership.
Marcy Hayes, a spokeswoman for CCSS, was outside the house and declined to comment. When an activist asked her about the violent confrontations, Hayes responded, “She should have moved.”
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