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Tag: Sheldon Neeley

  • Flint funeral home goes quiet after judge orders release of Councilman Mays’s body

    Flint funeral home goes quiet after judge orders release of Councilman Mays’s body

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    City of Flint

    Flint City Councilman Eric Mays.

    A judge ordered a funeral home to release Flint City Councilman Eric Mays’s body to his only son Monday, but that didn’t happen.

    Mays’s son Eric HaKeem Deontaye Mays arrived at the Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home in Flint on Monday evening with a hearse, expecting to move his father to a new funeral home in Saginaw.

    But no one was at the Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home, and its attorney refused to comply with the order, Mays’s lawyer Joseph Cannizzo tells Metro Times.

    A man who answered the phone at the funeral home declined to comment Tuesday morning.

    Mays’s son filed a lawsuit last week against the funeral home and his four siblings last week. The lawsuit accused the funeral home of holding Mays’s body “hostage” by refusing to turn it over to the son. The lawsuit also alleged Mays’s four siblings conspired to seize control of Mays’s body and profit from “their fraudulent scheme” by soliciting donations from the community for funeral services.

    Judge Brian S. Pickell of Michigan’s 7th Circuit Court said the son, as next of kin, had the right to make funeral arrangements, not Mays’s siblings.

    After the ruling, Mays arranged for the body to be transferred to the Paradise Funeral Chapel in Saginaw.

    Mays, a passionate and sometimes combative councilman and TikTok sensation, died at his home on Feb. 24 but didn’t leave behind a will, according to the suit.

    The suit alleged that two of Mays’s siblings lied to the Genesee County Medical Examiner’s Office by saying the councilman had no children. A third sibling, who is an employee of the funeral home, falsely claimed that he had legal authority to authorize the release of the body, the suit claimed.

    Mays’s son also filed a lawsuit against city officials on Friday, claiming they engaged in “a cruel act of retaliation” by withholding information about his father’s insurance benefits.

    Flint officials countered that the city could not turn over the information because Mays did not list a beneficiary with the city’s insurance companies. When no beneficiary is designated, “the policy is payable to the Employee’s estate,” Flint Human Resources Director Eddie Smith said in a statement, citing the city’s benefit policies.

    City officials said they are awaiting a probate court to designate a personal representative of Mays’s estate.

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    Steve Neavling

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  • Flint mayor Neeley warns Democrats of Black voter exodus

    Flint mayor Neeley warns Democrats of Black voter exodus

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    Michael A. Naddeo/City of Flint

    Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley.

    Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley is sounding the alarm on the Michigan Democratic Party, saying it’s alienating Black Democrats and taking African American voters for granted.

    The longtime Democrat, who previously served as chair of Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and is the current chair of Black Mayors of Michigan, says the party “needs to have a courageous conversation” about disenfranchisement.

    “It’s really leading into the original sins of this country of exclusion and oppression,” Neeley tells Metro Times. “It looks different but it feels the same. This is the sentiment that I know is being spoken about in Michigan.”

    Polls show an increasing number of Black voters are pulling away from the Democratic Party. Among Black voters nationwide, the Democratic Party’s advantage over Republicans in party preference has dropped by nearly 20 percentage points over the past three years, a recent Gallup poll found.

    In Michigan, 92% of Black Michigan voters cast a ballot for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, according to exit polls. But Biden’s support among Black voters has fallen to just 62% in a January EPIC-MRA poll.

    That could spell serious trouble for Biden as it becomes increasingly likely that he will face Donald Trump in the November general election.

    Biden is also hemorrhaging support from Michigan Muslims and Arab Americans because of his refusal to call for a ceasefire as Israel continues to massacre Palestinians. A campaign called “Listen to Michigan” is urging voters who disapprove of the Biden administration’s backing of Israel’s war in Gaza to select “uncommitted” on the ballot to pressure Biden to push for a ceasefire.

    It’s no wonder that a recent poll showed Biden trailing Trump in Michigan by four percentage points.

    In an op-ed in the Michigan Chronicle on Wednesday, Neeley laid out his concerns that the Michigan Democratic Party was taking Black voters and leaders for granted.

    “It seems a glass ceiling has resurfaced to block experienced and well-qualified Black Democratic candidates from reaching elected office at the federal level,” Neeley wrote. “This translates to Black voters feeling taken for granted and ignored by the Democratic party. At this critical juncture in our country’s political trajectory, far too many qualified Black elected officials are being boxed out of elections for higher office and left wondering whether they still have a place in this ‘big tent party.’”

    Neeley pointed to wide support among Democrats for newly drawn state legislative districts that diminished the influence of Black voters. A panel of federal judges recently ordered Michigan’s redistricting commission to redraw more than a dozen Detroit district lines because they weakened the political empowerment of Black voters.

    Neeley also said the Michigan Democratic Party failed to engage Black elected leaders when U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee announced he won’t seek reelection in 2024 for a seat that covers Flint and Saginaw, two cities with a large African American population. While the open seat is a good opportunity for a Black leader, the party isn’t showing a desire to elect an African American, Neeley said.

    The only Black member of Congress from Michigan is a Republican.

    “These developments should serve as a wakeup call to all Democrats,” Neeley wrote. “Instead, it increasingly appears as though some in the party are choosing to ignore these glaring warning signs that the Black electorate is being ignored and disrespected.”

    Sam Riddle, political director of the Michigan National Action Network, a civil rights organization led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, says Black Democrats are becoming more dissatisfied with the party.

    “I have spoken with Mayor Neeley and share the mayor’s concerns,” Riddle said in a statement. “I have been involved in Michigan and national campaigns for more than fifty years. I have never seen more dissatisfaction with Dems other than the Vietnam War Era.”

    Riddle added, “President Biden’s unwillingness to force a ceasefire in Gaza and the racist arrogance of Michigan Democrats is a perfect storm for Dems losing Michigan in November.”

    Neeley said the party has to begin addressing concerns among Black voters.

    “If we keep doing what we are doing, we risk losing the support of talented elected leaders of color, and soon, the voters who supported them,” Neeley wrote. “The Democratic Party must not squander the trust of loyal Black voters and the candidates they trust to represent them.”

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    Steve Neavling

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