GRIID end of the year in Review: Part IV – Documenting Social Movements in Grand Rapids

The function of journalism should be to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable!

It’s time for our annual year in review, where I look at GRIID reporting on the far right in West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Power Structure, and our reporting on social movements in Grand Rapids. On Monday, I posted Part I of GRIID end of the year in Review: Monitoring the Local News Media, and in Part II, GRIID posted a review of the articles I have done on the Far Right in West Michigan. And in Part III, we provided a review of the numerous articles I wrote in 2023 focusing on the Grand Rapids Power Structure.

Today, in Part IV, I will provide a summary of the documentation GRIID has done on the various social movements in Grand Rapids. Reporting on social movements is part of what I have been doing for the past 30 years in Grand Rapids on GRIID and other Indy media platforms. Documenting the history of social movements in Grand Rapids is also the focus of my recent book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids. I have been documenting social movements in Grand Rapids, because I believe, as did Howard Zinn when he wrote, A People’s History of the United States, that social movements is a more powerful and less compromising way to make the changes we want to see in the world. 

Documenting Social Movements in Grand Rapids

There are numerous social movements that have been active in Grand Rapids this year, some that have existed for several years and some that are newer. One of the newer social movements involves, students, parents, teachers and community members who are working to have more accountability with the Grand Rapids Public Schools. In June, they organized a rally, then went to the GRPS School Board meeting to present a list of demands. In September, when the GRPS was working to get support for a bond vote in November, the Public Education movement held their own protest/media event at the same location that the GRPS bond committee was at, in order to pressure the school administrators to include some of the demands into the new bond vote.  In late October, I interviewed one of the organizers in this movement, which was encouraging people to vote for the GRPS bond, but to also get people to make sure that if the bond vote was passed that  some of the money would fund their demands. 

2023 also saw that there was ongoing organizing to get Justice for Patrick Lyoya. In March, I interviewed someone with the Comrades Collective, which has been at the forefront of the Justice for Patrick campaign.   For the 1 year anniversary of Patrick’s murder at the hands of the GRPD, the Comrades Collective organized an action in the neighborhood where Patrick was killed. One additional rally/march was organized in early September.  There was also a campaign involving several grassroots groups, to oppose the GRPD’s effort to use public funds to purchase drones. That campaign lasted for a few months, with a public hearing, where the majority of those who spoke opposed the drones purchases. Unfortunately, Grand Rapids City officials sided with the GRPD and ignored public opposition.

Movimiento Cosecha continued to organize around winning driver’s licenses for undocumented  immigrants. They held numerous actions in Lansing, specifically targeting Senator Brinks in March. In preparation for their annual May Day action, GRIID interviewed someone from Movimiento Cosecha, and reported on the May Day action as well.

In June of 2023, Cosecha activists made a trek to the southeast part of the state to hold an action outside the home of a Democratic member of the MI State House, someone who would not endorse their effort to win driver’s licenses. In September, Cosecha activists went back to Sen. Brinks’ office to demand that she push for a public hearing that could lead to a vote on driver’s licenses. There was increased pressure to win driver’s licenses in 2023, since 2024 would be an election year and politicians usually avoid adopting policies that might alienate large donors and voters. However, Cosecha was still determined to win driver’s licenses and held a three day encampment in Lansing in early October.  There last action in early November, was an office occupation of Sen. Brinks’ office, despite her ongoing unwillingness to put the issue to a vote.

As we noted in Part III, the housing crisis was something that the GR Power Structure was trying to insert themselves and promote market-based solutions. The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union had other ideas, but they also were involved in efforts to support and organize tenants that were facing eviction or exploitation at the hands of landlords or Property Management Companies. 

In January, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union kicked off a boycott campaign for downtown Grand Rapids. The boycott campaign was in response to the GR Chamber of Commerce proposed ordinance and the support that received from numerous downtown businesses.  In mid-march, the Tenant Union supporter a protest at Orchard Place Apartments, where the company was trying to get away with exploiting tenants. In July, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union kicked off a Housing Not Jail campaign to oppose the City’s ordinance proposals, proposals that were very similar to the one that the GR Chamber of Commerce was pushing in late 2022. The Housing not Jail campaign got lots of people involved in resisting the proposed ordinances, with another public hearing that saw a majority of those speaking in opposition. 

Lastly, after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, the Israeli military initiated a brutal assault on Gaza that as of today had killed roughly 20,000 Palestinians. Several groups have organized numerous actions since October, such as a campaign to get the City of Grand Rapids to call for a ceasefire and to pressure members of Congress to stop sending so much money to Israel, since the needs in this community are so great. The first action to pressure the City of Grand Rapids was in mid-November, with a follow up action in mid-December.

Other Palestine Solidarity action were a die-in held at the Downtown Market,  a march that led to a protest outside of Rep. Scholtten’s home, and a protest outside of the Kent County Democratic headquarters, because they have also failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

I am always so amazed and inspired by all the energy, passion and commitment people demonstrate to organize and mobilize people to resist oppression and fight for collective liberation.