Doug DeVos exposes his class privilege in video talking about “How to Help Everyone Thrive and Prosper”

In August, I wrote about the group called Thrive and Prosper, where I said the group is a concrete manifestation of West Michigan Nice. I went on to say:

Therefore, the label of West Michigan Nice could aptly be given to the recently created group known as Thrive and Prosper. Yes, Thrive and Prosper. Sounds like a get rich quick scheme or a cult or just simply the logical outcome of how Grand Rapids deals with everything.

More recently, in a conversation I was having with a local religious leader, they were saying that Thrive and Prosper was essentially a DeVos front group. This sentiment was confirmed when I had looked at Doug DeVos’ podcast page called I Believe. On the page it was promoting a mini-series of videos from the, “Believe in Our City” event that was organized by Thrive and Prosper in the summer.

There are a total of 7 episodes, with numerous speakers, but the 3rd episode features Doug DeVos speaking about, “How to Help Everyone Thrive and Prosper.” 

The video with Doug DeVos is about 22 minutes long, which you can watch here, but I will provide you with some highlights so you don’t have to sift through the bullshit.

One theme that DeVos spoke about was what he called the Abundance mentality. For DeVos, abundance mentality means that we don’t have to stop something from happening when looking at what else is happening that is problematic.He said that just because there are problems in some parts of the city, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t build up other parts of the city. 

Of course this is hypocritical, since the DeVos family has primarily been about building up the downtown area of Grand Rapids, while other parts of the city are neglected. Doug DeVos has spent millions in the Boston Square neighborhood and then set up the AmplifyGR project to impose the DeVos family values on an entire neighborhood, which GRIID has written about since AmplifyGR went public in 2017.

DeVos then went on to talk about how as a city we are often unsettled. The Amway CEO explained what he meant by be unsettled, stating, “We saw that in our own community, about 4 years ago. We saw that here, very unsettled. We started experiencing some of the mob, some of the rioting and some of the lawlessness that don’t really comport with a civil society.” 

These comments from DeVos clearly demonstrate his class privilege, since what happened with the uprising in 2020 was rooted not only in how the police murder and repress Black communities, but how there is deep seated structural injustice and exploitation that people like DeVos are removed from and responsible for. The DeVos family is the best example of the growing wealth gap in Grand Rapids, where a small number of people are benefiting from the labor and suffering of the majority of the population. 

Doug DeVos further demonstrated his class privilege by saying of the 2020 uprising in Grand Rapids, “Certainly protests are fine, but peaceful.” It is instructive how those with political and economic power are always preaching that our outrage and our frustration with systemic oppression is only legitimate when it is peaceful. The irony of this is that when those with private power or the state use force against those protesting, it is always necessary and reasonable. Violence that flows down from the top is legitimate, but when violence flows from the bottom of society it is always condemned.

The billionaire DeVos continued to reflect on how you deal with being unsettled, by sharing a story from the 1990s. DeVos talked about the Plaza Towers, which were not constructed well and was deeply problematic. He said there were two options, tear it down or rebuild. Jay Van Andel was at a meeting where the fate of the Plaza Towers were being discussed where he said, “we don’t blow things up, we build things up.” DeVos was using this story to say when there is a problem, you don’t blow up the institution or throw it away, you reform it and work from within. Sage advice from billionaires.

Another theme that DeVos wanted to stress was the need to come up with a vision. In this case, the Amway executive talked about downtown Grand Rapids, turning it around took vision, a vision that was nurtured by Grand Action. Of course Doug DeVos would say this, since his family has been the primary beneficiaries of the downtown development projects. 

There were also references to the Amway business model, but through a top down view, nothing remotely honest about the Amway business model being a pyramid scheme.

Amway business model, independent business owners – pyramid scheme, it’s your vision.

There were other fluffy statement and glittering generalities, but Doug DeVos then wrapped up his comments by asking, “What are you going to do? That is your homework? What are you going to make it better in this city?” 

Such sentiment is of course code for – how can you build wealth and then expand your wealth over a lifetime? Once you have begun to build wealth, use some of that money to buy politicians who will push public policies that benefit the Capitalist Class while hurting everyone else. The next step is to start a foundation and give a small amount of your wealth to promote individual responsibility and assist people who are struggling because of the economic and political policies that you benefit from. Your charity wins you PR points and shields you from being scrutinized for helping to create the social and economic problems to begin with.

This is just one of the videos from the Thrive and Prosper gathering in the summer of 2024. GRIID will deconstruct others in the coming weeks.