Boycott targeting businesses owned by Mayor LaGrand shifts to the other side of Grand Rapids in front of the Less Traveled Bar

Roughly 20 people gathered in front of the LaGrand-owned bar known as the Less Traveled, to continue the boycott campaign that began last month in front of Long Road Distillers on the westside of town.

The boycott campaign, which is organized jointly by Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE is attempting to impact the ability of Mayor LaGrand to make profits while he refuses to adopt sanctuary policies that both groups have been demanding since January of this year.

The City of Grand Rapids has chosen to ignore these demands, despite the fact that there have been dozens of immigrant families impacted by ICE violence. Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand has repeatedly said that he doesn’t want to give immigrants a false sense of hope, plus the Mayor has even referred to the sanctuary policy demands as “silly” and “bizarre.”

Referring to these demands as silly and bizarre reflects a clear insensitivity to the harsh realities that undocumented immigrants are facing in the greater Grand Rapids area, especially since the demands would clearly reduce the ability of ICE to target, arrest and detain more immigrants. Here are those sanctuary policies that the affected community has been demanding:

• Policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants.
• Policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status.
• Policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.
• Policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention;
• Policies preventing immigration detention centers from being established in Grand Rapids.
• A policy that will not allow the GRPD to share Flock camera images or any other information gathered by the city of Grand Rapids with ICE or any other law enforcement agency seeking to arrest, detain and deport immigrants.

The boycott on Saturday targeted the Less Traveled bar, which is part of Long Road Distillers, but branded differently in a different part of the city. People who showed up for the boycott campaign on Saturday handed out flyers to people walking along Cherry Street and those that were coming out of or going into one of Mayor LaGrand’s bars. Other people held signs and most people participated in the chants that were led by members of Movimiento Cosecha.

Several people took flyers and a few people stopped by to inquire about the boycott, with several of them unaware that Mayor LaGrand was a partial owner of these bars. Additionally, someone who works at Books and Mortar, which is just across the street from the Less Traveled bar offered to take extra flyers to have in their bookstore to let customers know about the boycott. Another reason to love independent book stores.

Some of the boycott participants also wrote messages on the sidewalk in chalk, in order to generate more attention to the campaign. People spent about 1 hour in front of the bar, but there will be lots more opportunities for people to get involved with or support the boycott as it moves forward.

Anyone wanting to get involved can contact Movimiento Cosecha or GR Rapid Response to ICE on their Facebook pages.