Editor’s note: This photo story is exclusive to the Belleville Area Independent website and doesn’t appear in this week’s print edition.
Activists hosted a joint protest of a proposed data center in Van Buren Township and a University of Michigan and Los Alamos computing center in Ypsilanti Township from noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 5 along Rawsonville Road at the Huron River Bridge.
The group also hosted a “Boycott Blue” apparel donation event in nearby North Hydro Park where residents were encouraged to donate their U-M apparel rather than burnt it or throw it out in protest. The clothing will be donated to an Ypsilanti-based mutual aid organization, Ypsi Peace House.
Organizer Courtney Brady said she put the event together because she is an Ypsi Township resident who lives on Martz Road near the border with Van Buren Township and noticed that there’s been a lot of talk about both efforts, but activists in opposition to each haven’t necessarily been working together.
“It felt right to bring the communities together to have those discussions,” she said.
She said about 100 people showed up over the course of the event, with about 75 protesting on Rawsonville Road at the peak.
Photos courtesy of Courtney Brady.
Good pm, just wonder if any protest schedule coming, thanks