Pro-cop group Back the Blue GR was collecting signatures at GR Pride last Saturday for a local ballot initiative

Someone sent me a copy of the ballot language that is being circulated in Grand Rapids, which I am including here at the bottom. 

The Summary Ballot Language reads: The proposed Back the Blue Safety Priority City Charter Amendment, if adopted, would honor, better protect, and provide victim compensation for Fire and Police Officers, Emergency Medical Technicians and other First Responders, and their families.

What is most alarming about the ballot initiative to change the City’s Charter is point G, which reads:

“Victim Compensation. Victims have the right to pursue civil action against anyone who physically injures Firefighters, Police Officers, EMT and other First Responders during criminal acts. The perpetrator may be liable for treble damages to the injured or deceased officer or responders or their surviving dependents.”

According to Wikipedia: In United States law, treble damages is a term that indicates that a statute permits a court to triple the amount of the actual/compensatory damages to be awarded to a prevailing plaintiff. Treble damages are usually a multiple of, rather than an addition to, actual damages, but on occasion they are additive, as in California Civil Code § 1719. When such damages are multiplicative and a person received an award of $100 for an injury, a court applying treble damages would raise the award to $300. 

Equally alarming about this campaign to collect petition signatures to put it on the ballot, the campaign to change the Grand Rapids City Charter is being organized by the group Back the Blue Michigan. According to their website, Back the Blue Michigan has chapters in Warren, Sterling Heights, Warren and Grand Rapids. This is rather instructive, since the only chapter is not in SE Michigan is Grand Rapids.

The person heading up the Grand Rapids chapter of Back the Blue Michigan is Cindy Amante. Amante garnered some attention last year when she was defending Ottawa Impact member, Commissioner Lucy Ebel, claiming that the effort to recall Ebel was an “attack on the Latino community.”

The MLive article cited above also mentions that Cindy Amante is executive director of Propósito of Michigan. The Proposito of Michigan website says this about this mission:

We are working with the Hispanic community to give you the tools to get engaged in the culture war to save The American Dream. God has given us all a purpose, and we are here to encourage and support you to achieve your full potential. We work with organizations and individuals throughout the State of Michigan to offer education and activities that will develop the skills needed to succeed and build your confidence. Come join us at a local monthly meeting to see what your “Propósito” is. You don’t have to be Hispanic to be a part of the movement!

From what I can tell from the Facebook page of Proposito of Michigan, that they are proponents of numerous far right ideas – anti-Abortion, anti-Critical Race Theory, anti-LGBTQ, etc. There are also numerous links to the Republican Party, which makes sense, since Cindy Amante was a candidate for the 83rd State House District, but then dropped out a few months ago. 

In addition, someone was circulating a Back the Blue Grand Rapids ballot initiative to change the City Charter at the Grand Rapids Pride Celebration this past Saturday. What is even more insidious than an anti-LGBTQ group attending Pride, was the fact that they were misleading people when asking for signatures. The person sent me the petition language below, followed the Back the Blue Grand Rapids person for sometime and heard them ask people to sign the petition using the following talking point – “this is to stop them from killing black kids and turning their cameras off.” 

It goes without saying that you should not sign the petition to put this crap on the ballot. The Back the Blue group is run by people who are racist, transphobic a police apologists. Spread the word and tell others about this campaign, and remember ACAB!