Once again Grand Rapids City officials are unwilling to be part of a global movement for justice in Palestine

Last night, between 50 – 60 people came out to a vigil for the nearly 20,000 Palestinians who have been killed from the Israel assault on Gaza and the West Bank that began after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. 

People came to show respect to the lives lost, to listen to speakers and to then go up to the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to further push a set of demands from the City, demands that were first presented to them on Tuesday, November 14. These demands were crafted by a coalition of grassroots community groups that has generated nearly 5,000 electronic messages to City officials. Here are the three demands:

1. Make a public statement in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank as specified by UN General Assembly’s Resolution made on October 27th, 2023.
2. To contact Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, along with Rep. Hillary Scholten, to demand back the tax money that leaves Grand Rapids to fund Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land and the current assault on Gaza. That money should stay in Grand Rapids so we can fund critically urgent community needs.
3. To communicate with the public what kind of a response you received from Peters, Stabenow and Scholten.

Several dozen activists in solidarity with Palestinians spoke during public comments to push these demands, many of which pointed out to Grand Rapids City officials that since that City Commission meeting on November 14th, there have been at least 4 municipalities in Michigan that have publicly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. Those municipalities are – Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck and Detroit. This further proves that local municipalities can take a stance on these matters, especially when community members make demands.

Grand Rapids City Officials have taken a stand on US foreign policy matters in the past

The response that this is “outside” of the work that City Commissioners are tasked with is simply false. In the early 1980s, when community members who were working on an South African Anti-Apartheid campaign approached the City, they were able to get the City of Grand Rapids to divest funds from the bank the City had their money in and move it to a different bank, since the bank they had been doing business with was profiting from South African Apartheid. You can read the resolution that was adopted by Grand Rapids City officials at this link, pages 33 – 35, plus all the community organization letters endorsing the effort that follow.

In addition, it is worth noting that beginning in 2003, community members had demanded that the City take a stance against the US invasion/occupation of Iraq. The City never fulfilled that demand, but they did hold several listening/discussion sessions on the matter, thus demonstrating once again that if the community engaged them to act around issues that were outside of City business, that they listened to the community.

Grand Rapids Commissioner maintained their unwillingness to act against genocide in Gaza

Despite all of the impassioned pleas from activists and organizers, several of which were Palestinian Americans living in Grand Rapids, City officials refused to take a stand and meet the demands that were presented to them. The refusal on the part of Grand Rapids City officials to meet the demands, begs the question as to why?

Passing a resolution that would call for an immediate ceasefire would demonstrate that City officials do not condone the murder of nearly 20,000 Palestinians, which includes over 7,000 Palestinian children. Such a resolution would signal to the mostly young activists that elected officials can be swayed to do the right thing and be part of a global movement that is also demanding an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

The 2nd demand was to merely request that Grand Rapids City officials have a conversation with Rep. Scholten and Senators Peters and Stabenow, primarily around the idea that of the of the federal taxes that leave Grand Rapids on an annual basis – $2,815,720.00 – goes towards the $3.8 billion that the US provides to Israel in military aid. These kinds of conversations are critical, since it means that members of Congress have to think about how local communities, like Grand Rapids, are impacted and how that amount of money could go directly to things like the current housing crisis that plagues this city. These kinds of potential conversations are what we need Grand Rapids City officials to have with members of Congress, since that amount of money, which is currently being used to murder Palestinian civilians, could meet the concrete needs of so many people right here in Grand Rapids. 

Despite the unwillingness of Grand Rapids City officials, activists and organizers who are committed to being in solidarity with Palestine will continue to organize and speak out until there is a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. For updates on actions and events go to https://www.facebook.com/PalestineSolidarityGR.