Minneapolis, Minnesota. Protesters rally to stop housing evictions during the pandemic. They are calling for reforms of the bank system to assist with housing or mortgage back-payments until the economy recovers. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Up in Detroit, a situation is actively unfolding as protesters defend a Black woman with stage-five kidney disease from getting evicted from her low-income tiny home.
The Detroit Metro Times reported on the matter on Monday and noted that protesters are defending a 44-year-old woman named Taura Brown from what’s being termed as a “retaliatory eviction.”
According to Brown, she’s being kicked out in response to her accusing Rev. Faith Fowler—the director of the nonprofit that designed the homes—of fraud. We should also point out that nonpayment of rent is not a factor in this case.
While Fowler says that the decision is on account of Brown supposedly not using the home as her primary residence, the resident described the accusation as being “bulls**t.”
“At this point, we are in home defense. I’m going to fight this because this is bulls**t…I ain’t going.”
She also notes that she worries her health could be negatively impacted if she’s evicted.
“I’m lucky every day to wake up, and I take full advantage of my life because I don’t know when it will end. If I don’t get transplanted, then this could be it.”
As a result, community members have rallied around Brown, with Bob Day—a retired lawyer and housing activist— referring to Fowler as “a nonprofit poverty pimp, a white savior, a white supremacist treating people like cr*p.”
Detroit Metro Times investigative reporter Steve Neavling shared further information on the matter on Tuesday morning. Specifically, Neavling shared on-scene footage that showed “housing activists defending a terminally ill Black woman from eviction.
In the initial video, viewers can hear activists making comments like “She’s on dialysis” and “You’re gonna f**king kill her” as bailiffs try to evict Brown.
The bailiffs then began trying to knock down the door, and activists responded by physically intervening and pushing back against them. In turn, the bailiffs also began to grow more physical as well.
The scuffle continued to the point that “Detroit police told the bailiffs they were being too aggressive.”
As the bailiffs were removed, one protester notably referred to them as “cheap-shottin’ pieces of s**t.”
However, Neavling reports that the bailiffs later returned with “some more help” to “prepare once again to break through the wall of home defenders.”
He also noted, “With more help, the bailiff threatened protesters, saying, ‘Either you leave now or someone’s going to need to call EMS.'”
As time went on, another video showed the bailiffs growing increasingly “violent” against the home defenders. Steve Neavling noted, ‘Police keep stopping them, saying they are acting ‘unprofessionally.'” He also shared that a bailiff “pulled out a knife” at one point.
There are no further updates to the situation at this time.
