West Michigan Far Right Watch: Acton Institute trashes Aaron Bushnell, GR Chamber says they care about immigrants, and Doug DeVos interviews Teresa Weatherall Neal

In this edition of West Michigan Far Right Watch I want to take a look at three recent examples of far right ideology in Grand Rapids. The first is an Acton Institute podcast, where three Acton staff members disparage Aaron Bushnell for his decision to self-immolate as a protest against US complicity in the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. 

In the second example I will discuss the West Michigan CEO Council’s endorsement of welcoming immigrant business savvy as long as it fits within the current NeoLiberal Capitalist framework. Lastly, I will discuss a recent interview that Doug DeVos did on his show Believe!, where he talks with former Grand Rapids Public School Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal.

Acton Institute and character assassination of Aaron Bushnell

In the March 4th podcast of Acton Unwind, three Acton Institute staff spend about 28 minutes spouting all sorts of non-sense about Aaron Bushnell. In the narrative about the March 4 show they write, “This week, Eric, Anthony, and Dylan discuss the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell and the ethics of using his suicide to advance the Palestinian cause.” Throughout the 28 minutes all three Acton staff refer to Bushnell as unstable, that taking his own life was a waste, and that they felt sorry for him for feeling complicit in the Israeli genocide. To be clear, the Acton staff disagreed with Bushnell’s analysis of what Israel is doing in Gaza, plus they kept wanting to frame his act of self-immolation as something that wasn’t Christ-like. The audacity of these 3 privileged men talking about Aaron Bushnell in such a disrespectful and demeaning way is hard to listen to, but here is the link. As an alternative and independent understanding from some people who knew Aaron, go to this link.

Immigrant Inclusion and the West Michigan CEO Council

There is an interesting post from February 27th on the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce site entitled, West Michigan CEO Council Explores Immigrant Inclusion with Global Detroit and Local Industry Leaders.

The post makes some interesting comments, such as: “By incorporating immigrants and their diverse talents into our community and economic development strategies, we ignite growth, revitalize communities, and ensure sustained prosperity throughout Michigan,” remarked Jones. The article also mentions this, “Michigan’s nearly 34,000 international students are an incredible talent pool.”

This assessment of immigrants was shared in September of last year after the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce came out with a report on the economic impact of immigrants, which GRIID reported on. While the GR Chamber of Commerce and the other West Michigan Business leaders talk a good game about US immigration policy, the need to fill the talent pool gap, and how much immigrants benefit the economy, what they really mean is that they are the ones who primarily benefit from immigrant labor in the current neoliberal capitalist economy. Just ask yourself if the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce values migrant workers so much as to make sure they are guaranteed a living wage? 

The GRPS Superintendent that was mentored by Betsy DeVos

In the final piece of far right thinking, I want to look at the Doug DeVos podcast, where former Grand Rapids Public School Superintendent, Teresa Weatherall Neal, was DeVos’ guest.

Neal talks about her history in the GRPS and how she made it a point to promote School Choice, despite being the Superintendent of the GRPS. None of this should be surprising to those who follow GRIID, since Teresa Weatherall Neal went to Washington, DC for the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. 

In the GRIID article on Neal going to DC, we also document how Neal adopted many of the DeVos family priorities for education, which was charter schools, privatization of education and allowing religion to be inserted more aggressively in the Grand Rapids Public School system. 

At one point in the interview, Neal was talking about getting additional funding for the Grand Rapids Public Schools, specifically through the Student Advancement Foundation, an entity that is really driven by the DeVos family and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. Neal confirmed this when she said to Doug DeVos, “We came through you guys, the Student Advancement Foundation.” 

In the later part of the interview DeVos and Neal talk about her leadership, which she bragged about, with little or no humility. At one point Neal said, “no one loves the children in Grand Rapids more than I do.” 

Lastly, Teresa Weatherall Neal briefly talks about her work now with the group Thrive & Prosper, which has no information on it other than sending a message to the group. I submitted a message, so I will be curious to see if I get anything back.