Kent County residents rally against Democratic Party fundraiser, condemn complicity in Gaza genocide

GRIID is re-posting a statement from Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids.

Residents Temporarily Occupy Stairwell at Democratic Fundraiser, Face Physical Assaults from Party Donors

GRAND RAPIDS – On Saturday, April 27, over a hundred Kent County residents gathered at the Kent County Democrats Spring Gala fundraiser at the Eberhard Center in downtown Grand Rapids to protest the ongoing violence in Gaza and the Democrats’ support for Israel and U.S. warmongering.

Inside the venue, a dozen community members chanted for a free Palestine and an end to the occupation, temporarily blocking access to the main stairwell and disrupting the registration process. In response, Kent County Democrats reacted with physical aggression, pushing and grabbing peaceful protestors. One young community member had her hijab pulled, while another organizer was shoved against a wall and pushed into a heavy glass door. The violence perpetrated by institutionalized Democrats onto young peaceful activists is abhorrent and telling of the underlying values system that keeps them funding the genocide in Gaza.

Despite these physical assaults, the anti-apartheid protesters held strong, recited chants and relayed the message that the Democrats are failing their constituents. In the 2024 presidential primary, Grand Rapids voted uncommitted by 17%, and Kent County voted uncommitted by 13.7% in protest against Biden’s involvement in the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Democrats–especially Congresswoman Hillary Scholten–should take note of these figures that reflect the support for Palestine and for an end to U.S. aid to Israel in Kent County, a swing-county and bellwether county for the whole nation.

The disruption at the Spring Gala lasted over 45 minutes, delaying registrations and amplifying their voices until the Grand Rapids police dispersed the crowd. Despite attempts to intimidate, community members stood by their anti-colonialist values, demonstrating their refusal to comply with violence by the ruling class.

Thankfully, there were no arrests, but this demonstration highlighted two crucial points: the need for unwavering solidarity to ensure community safety when facing the police and the pervasive white supremacy culture within the GRPD, leading to unequal treatment of Black and Brown organizers and community members.

While several organizers present were white, shielding the demonstration from harsher police repression, the disparity in treatment is stark, as evidenced by the political repression faced by Black and Brown comrades, such as the ongoing incident of a protester facing felony charges for amplifying their voice at a protest against the violence and murders that the police has committed in our city and wider community.

Protesting is not a crime, and all charges must be dropped. We stand with our comrades against police brutality and the heinous murders of Patrick Lyoya and Samuel “SD” Sterling. We echo the demand by the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression for community control of the police.

As our conditions worsen, it is crucial to expose the inhumanity within our system and organize to improve the lives of our community members. That is why Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids has joined the many organizations, unions, and grassroots movements nationwide calling for a march on both the Republican and Democratic National Convention to demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel, freedom for Palestine, community control of the police, advancement on immigrant rights, and to oppose the right-wing policies both parties have embraced at the expense of our communities.

Representatives of members of the Coalition to March on the DNC speaking at a press conference in Chicago on April 13, 2024

Graphic for the anti-war contingent for the March on the RNC

PSGR is organizing a contingent to march on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15 and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19.

“The genocide in Gaza is waking people up to how the system of electoral politics in the United States works and who it’s really meant to serve,” says organizer Emerson Wolfe. “There is no lesser of two evils when they work together to fund a genocide.”