Group fights to keep Detroit library from moving

DETROIT (WXYZ) - About two dozen members of the group By Any Means Necessary picketed outside of the now closed Lincoln Library in Detroit.

The branch has been closed since December 22, but members say they are fighting to keep the library’s contents from being relocated.

Shanta Driver says the group received credible information that led them to believe everything would be removed from the library Monday. They believe if that were to happen, there would be no hope of the branch ever being reopened, which they feel is vital to not only the community, but Detroit as a whole.

Driver proclaimed, “This library, which has been a safe house, cannot become a drug house!”

BAMN says once emptied, the library would be boarded up and would eventually end up like so many other properties that line so many of Detroit’s streets.

While Driver concedes Detroit is a city in desperate need of resources, she says closing libraries and important resource to so many, is not the answer.

“The more institutions you can keep open, the more chances there are for a revival," she say.

While representatives with the Detroit Library Commission say no date has been set to remove anything from the Lincoln branch, members of BAMN say they are determined to keep it from ever happening.