Mother of three young children killed in Detroit house fire speaks

Sylvia Young speaks to the report-back meeting of the Citizens Inquiry into the Dexter Avenue fire on April 13, 2010 in Detroit, Michigan. The fire occurred on March 2, just hours after her gas and electricity were cut off by local utility monopoly, DTE Energy.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• House fires
• Detroit
• Dexter Avenue fire
• Citizens Inquiry
• DTE Energy

[Congest]

It's unconscionable that things like heat and electricity are not considered basic human rights. What kind of a sick system do we have here where the profits of a corporation matter more than keeping children warm in the winter? My heart goes out to Sylvia Young, her family, and all the other families that the ownership class consider so much less important than money.

Things need to change in a fundamental way.

[ebbiesart]

This is terrible. These big corporations are ripping off the poor people, and treating us like cattle. This is a prime example of what Obama should be tackling, instead of playing golf. People need help ... this country is wicked. Stuff needs to change in a dramatic way. We need to stand up for our rights, as citizens, and make the gov't stop the madness!!!!

[alease18]

o hun im so sorry this happen to you mama goodbless you and your family

[TheWaynelds]

how did the fire start?

[Jacqueline816]

I am a very long-term unemployed middle-aged woman with no income except food stamps. My husband is disabled and gets social security. We've been without our gas in Erie, PA since 2005. I have an education and I want to work. But with no recent employment references and being over age 40, plus poor credit due to poverty, I know I don't stand a chance. I have written and self-published 4 nonfiction books, the first one was Classism For Dimwits.

A lot of us in poverty tried but never got chances.