Making the Capitalist Class in Grand Rapids uncomfortable: Econ Club event featured war criminals and a celebration of the DeVos family

The Econ Club hosted their annual dinner last night in Grand Rapids, with the featured speakers being former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In addition, the Econ Club gave an award to the DeVos family because of their “leadership” in this city.

There were several grassroots groups that had planned to protest the event last night, such as Together West Michigan, Kent County Indivisible, Grand Rapids Opponents of War, and Palestine Solidarity GR and Signs Against Fascism.

Most of these groups stayed on the east side of Monroe across from the DeVos Center, but several of us made the decision to be on the side of the DeVos Center, since those attending the Econ Club meeting were lining up to get in the building.

The event had been sold out for weeks, which is why those in attendance were waiting in lines outside of the DeVos Center. We took this opportunity to confront those going in the hear two war criminals and celebrate the DeVos family oligarchs. We also wanted to make these people uncomfortable, so we blew whistles, we chanted, but most importantly we yelled at people waiting to go inside because they were going to hear two war criminal presidents speaker and to watch the DeVos family receive an award.

I wrote about this event when it was first announced about a month ago, with details of what happened under the Clinton and Bush administrations. I discussed war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia. I also noted oppressive domestic policies such as the implementation of NAFTA, the end of welfare, the Crime Bill and the increase of mass incarceration under Clinton, along with the domestic war on terror, the passage of the USA Patriot Act, the creation of ICE, and No Child Left behind under Bush. Those in our group were addressing some of these points, but also talking about how Bill Clinton is in the Epstein files.

We also talked about the DeVos family, how their use their wealth and how they have a long history of attacking the LGBTQ community, public education, unions, opposing an increase in minimum wages, and trying to imposed their brand of Christianity in civil society.

Our point was to shame these people for spending a lot of money to get dressed, roll up in their expensive cars and pay hundreds to purchase tickets for this event. We did just that and clearly there were people who were annoyed, some yelled back, while others tried to look away or attempt to take selfies with us in the background. In fact, many of those in attendance did what we expected, to give us looks of contempt, which is exactly what members of the Capitalist Class do when confronted for their wealth and privilege.

I noticed several members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure there, specifically Autocam CEO John Kennedy and several executives with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce. I also saw former Mayor Bliss and current Mayor David LaGrand. Our group gave LaGrand an earful.

There were also a few clergy there, which in some ways was bizarre, along with numerous Executive Directors of local non-profits, which included two civil rights organizations. Why people from these organizations would attend such an event that is designed specifically for members of the Capitalist Class is puzzling to me, but then again this is West Michigan and more often than not religious leaders and non-profit directors rely on funding from those who run this city.

Some of the other groups did come across the street to interact with those attending the Econ Club event, but some of the groups only came in numbers after everyone was inside for the event. If people had been on the west side of Monroe the whole time it would have made those attending even more uncomfortable and it would have provided some protection for those of us who were in their faces.

Also after everyone who had tickets for the event went inside, the groups that remained and were protesting were using a bullhorn. One of the speakers was then cited by the GRPD for using a bullhorn and was told to expect something in the mail. The GRPD purposely waited until those attending the Econ Club event were out of site to crack down on protesters, even though there were other people using bullhorns earlier and they did not receive a citation.