Perpetuating structural racism in Kent County: Questioning the process for COVID relief funding and the limits of electoral politics in The Diatribe case
There is no question that structural racism exists in Kent County. BIPOC residents and neighborhoods where BIPOC residents are most concentrated have higher levels of poverty, are disproportionately more food insecure and are more impacted by the current housing crisis than their white counterparts.
Todd Robinson, author of the book, A City within a City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan, refers to structural racism as managerial racism. No matter what words we use to describe institutional racism in Kent County, the harsh reality is that it permeates every institution, including businesses, social service agencies, non-profits, religious institutions, financial institutions and local government.
A recent article in the Michigan Advance, entitled, ‘Just not The Diatribe’ – How partisan politics intentionally left out a Grand Rapids Black and LGBTQ+-run nonprofit from receiving COVID-19 relief funding, speaks to the issue of structural racism in Kent County, particularly with the Kent County government.
The Michigan Advance article does a good job of investigating an issue that has been public for several months now, mostly because of the work done by The Diatribe to make it public, as is evidenced in this video and this interview with The Diatribe’s Marcel Price, who is the organization’s Chief Inspiration Architect.
What the Michigan Advance article did, which was not part of much of the previous coverage, was to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for access to e-mails and other communication between Kent County Commissioners and Kent County Administrative staff. The communication around the issue of which organization(s) should receive federal COVID-19 relief funding through Kent County is instructive and demonstrates not only a lack of understanding of structural racism, but almost a complete denial of the fact that it even exists in Kent County. This is in part based on who was bank rolling some of the Republican Commissioners featured in the FOIA documents, specifically Commissioner’s Green, Stek and Brieve. Here is a list of their large contributors from our research during the 2022 Election:
Ben Greene (R)
Total raised: $28,858.08
Largest contributors:
- Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce – $3500
- Realtors Political Action Committee of Michigan – $2000
- TGIF Victory Fund – $2000
- JC Huizenga, National Heritage Academies – $1050
- Dan Hibma, Land & Company – $1000
- Terri Land, Land & Company – $1000
- Joel Langlois, Delta Properties – $1000
- Michael Jandernoa, 42 North Partners – $1000
- Susan Jandernoa, homemaker – $1000
- Lee Anne Langlois, Retired – $1000
Stan Stek (R)
Total raised: $24,927
Largest contributors:
- Kent County Republican Committee – $2500
- Miller Canfield PAC – $2000
- GR Chamber of Commerce – $1500
- GRAR Commercial Real Estate PAC – $1500
- Dick DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Betsy DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Pamela DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Dan DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Suzanne DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Doug DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Maria DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Steve Ehmann, RDV Corp – $1050
Emily Post Brieve (R)
Total raised: $23,286
Largest contributors:
- Realtors PAC of Michigan – $3000
- GR Chamber of Commerce PAC – $2000
- Terri Land, Land & Company – $1050
- Dick DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Betsy DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Pamela DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Dan DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Suzanne DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Doug DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Maria DeVos, RDV Corp – $1050
- Steve Ehmann, RDV Corp – $1050
- Michael Jandernoa, 42 North Partners – $1000
- Susan Jandernoa, Retired – $1000
Another important aspect of the Michigan Advance article states, ”On Nov. 17, Republican commissioners started looking for connections between The Diatribe and the Black Lives Matter organization or the defund the police movement, according to texts.”
The article goes on to say. “The defund the police movement aims to reallocate or redirect funding away from the police department to other government agencies funded by the local municipality, like mental health services. It is often misinterpreted by conservatives as an effort to abolish police departments.
In April, Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr, who is white, fatally shot 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, during a traffic stop. For months, residents protested in the streets of downtown Grand Rapids, calling for the police department to change their policies and reform their policing of Black residents. In June, Schurr was charged with one count of second degree murder.
Brieve texted Greene and asked if he found “any defund the police stuff on the Diatribe site/social.”
This is the point where I begin to take issue with some aspects of the Michigan Advance article. While it is clear that Kent County Republican Commissioners – which disproportionately represent more of the rural parts of the county, were wanting to fund projects that would benefit their districts – the partisan take on the issue of defunding the police is simply not accurate.
During the last election cycle, GRIID documented several instances where Democrats running for office were trying to use the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya to their own benefit and presenting themselves as pro-police in their campaign statements.
- On April 11, just one week after Patrick Lyoya was murdered by the GRPD, only one elected official out of 47 had responded to thousands of messages that were sent by one of the coalition groups, Together We Are Safe, that is part of the Defund the GRPD campaign.
- On April 14, we posted an article after State Senator Winnie Brinks released a statement after the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya.
- On April 15, we posted an article after then Kent County Commissioner Phil Skaggs (who was running for State Representative, had released a statement after the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya.
- On April 19, we posted an article after Michigan Governor Whitmer had her picture taken with Patrick Lyoya’s parents and made some remarks.
- On July 5th, we posted an article showing bi-partisan support for more funding for police from State officials, including Rep. David LaGrand. Kent County Commissioner Phil Skaggs was part of LaGrand’s staff last year.
- On August 14, we posted an article entitled, Despite public perception, the Democratic Party is equally committed to supporting and increasing funding for the police.
I include these previous posts to make it clear that the Democratic Party in Kent County, not only hasn’t been in support of the Defund the GRPD movement, they have demonstrated over and over again their commitment to increasing the funding for policing.
The Limits of Electoral Politics
The other main issue I take with has to do with how Kent County officials made decisions on what projects received funding is about the process. Actually, not so much the process that Kent County officials used, but what they didn’t do.
During the process of rating and negotiating which projects would receive COVID relief funding, none of the Democratic Commissioners cited in the Michigan Advance article made any effort to make what they knew publicly. I don’t mean simply making a post on their Facebook page or tweeting about it, I mean making an effort to contact people and organizations in the community to apply the necessary pressure to make it impossible for the Republican commissioners to exclude The Diatribe or any other project that truly serves to Benefit the Black community. I never received notices about what was happening in the process to use federal COVID relief funding.
Taking it a step further, the Democrats could have demanded that the county government use a participatory budgeting model, to allow the community to vote directly on the how these federal dollars would get used, using a ranked voting system of say the top 5 or top 10 choices.
Taking it even further, instead of having Black organizations compete for the same dollars, how about a Black community coalition, which would craft a platform for what the Black community needs and demand that all of it gets funded, whether we are talking about federal, state, county or city funding. Why should we leave how communities receive necessary, quality of life funding, in the hands of partisan politics?
We should be advocating for more Direct Democracy, instead of leaving it in the hands of politicians who are more interested in their image and getting elected, than they are in truly representing the interests of the people, particularly the most marginalized in the county. I for one am tired on how partisan politics is all about blaming and never about radically imagining a better way to engage in transformative politics.
In Part I of our series looking back at the 20th anniversary of the public resistance to the US invasion/occupation of Iraq in 2003, we focused on early organizing efforts to build an anti-war movement before the US war on Iraq even began. In Part II, we will look at the plans to protest President’s Bush’s visit to Grand Rapids the day after his State of the Union address, the protest and the GRPD’s response during that protest. 
With just a few days notice, it was announced that President George W. Bush would be coming to Grand Rapids the day after his State of the Union address in late January of 2003. Bush chose Grand Rapids since he believed that his ultimatum against Iraq would be welcomed in West Michigan. Bush’s father made the same mistake in 1991, choosing to come to Grand Rapids to celebrate July 4th, just a few months after the US bombed Iraq “back to the stone age.”
Organizers had just a few days to begin planning an action to confront Bush when he would be in town. The announcement said he would first be at Spectrum Hospital and then take the motorcade to DeVos Hall. The plan was to line up on both sides of Michigan Street, from just west of Spectrum Hospital, all the way down to the Federal building. The GRPD was told that the demonstration would then move down Michigan Street and turn left onto Monroe. However, organizers had a different plan, which was to turn left on Ottawa, then right on Lyon St and go directly to DeVos Hall.
There were over 100 cops out in force that day in late January, 2003. When the police realized that the demonstrators took a detour, they panicked. Protestors, which numbered over 1,000, began turning right on Lyon Street, near the entrance to the building, when police cruisers jumped the curb and almost ran into the building, in order to block those demonstrating to walk any further. At the same time, dozens of police officers lined up along Lyon St, facing demonstrators, in full riot gear. For nearly 30 minutes there was a shouting match between cops and protestors. Jack Prince, who was teaching at GVSU at the time, and was at the protest, told us what had happened to him that day:
The protest in 2003 had problems from the beginning. All of the phones were shut off in the sociology and psychology department on campus as a means to thwart communication, since they knew there was talk of organizing or even discussing Bush’s visit. This was denied later, obviously. The group I was in was detained on North side of Michigan Ave in attempt to separate us from other protestors by police. After complaints we had to travel down Michigan to a point to cross. We noticed a lot of plain clothes men in suits with earplugs that were directing the local police as to what to do with shades on and dress suits. They would not interact with us and tried to be invisible but they were clearly in authority and control. As we proceeded down Ottawa south they attempted to compact us on sidewalk and when we turned West on Lyon there they had a constricted area where they made their move and began grabbing people. My daughter was grabbed and thrown on top of the hood of a car and was arrested. I became very vocal obviously at that point toward the police, but as there was a crowd forming with more witnesses they didn’t arrest me until I was walking up the steps to the ground level of a second story level by what is now the 5/3 bank building. Again in an area that was blocked from vision. My charge was: instigating a riot. A serious Felony Charge. People at GVSU, meaning the administration higher ups, saw me with a GVSU coat I had on in the news coverage and I was contacted by the Coaching department and they shared their displeasure which led to my departure from the school. After some time and organization with others who were arrested the charges were dropped. The ACLU was helping us and and really were instrumental in the charges being dropped after approximately a month.
What was not known at the time was that the GRPD had created a “Free Speech Zone,” which was something that the Bush administration had begun to use after 9/11. Free Speech Zones were fenced off areas that were designated for protestors, often a significant distance from where those protesting had intended. The same was the case on that day, with the Free Speech Zone create in front of City Hall on Monroe, nearly a block from where Bush would be speaking. Most of the 1,000 people who came out to protest the possible war with Iraq were uncomfortable with being pinned down by the GPRD on Lyon Street, so the majority of them decided to go to the designated “free speech zone.”
When protestors arrived on Monroe, just in front of City Hall, they were greeted by more cops and a few angry construction workers who were supportive of the US going to war against Iraq. There was a smaller group of people who refused to go to the “free speech zone”, choosing instead to demonstrate in the streets further south of where Bush was speaking, shutting down traffic on Division and several other streets.
At the same time the GRPD was engaged in their own PR war, sending out their own press release, which was the origin of many of the lies reported by the local corporate media in their coverage of the Bush protest. The press release describes a “large, unruly crowd” that “block[ed] streets in downtown Grand Rapids,” attempted to “overturn a commercial truck,” and tried to “attack police officers.” The press release outlines the arrests made during the day and the charges faced by the protestors, specifically highlighting the “10 year felony, $10,000 fine” some protestors faced for “inciting a riot.”
Included in the FOIA documents we received months later, it is instructive to read about the GRPD’s “notes” on the Bush protest and how they were prepared to use Chemical agents and shotguns on ant-war protestors. Lastly, in another FOIA document dated February 25, the GRPD’s Internal Affairs division determined that the GRPD’s behavior during the Bush protest was justified because the protestors refused to comply with GRPD commands.
In thinking back about the action to confront President Bush, we didn’t have enough time to plan, but we also didn’t have enough capacity to plan an action that was more confrontational and could have disrupted the President’s motorcade before he gave his speech in front of supporters. However, as the resistance grew against the US threats to bomb and invade Iraq, more people began to step forward who were willing to engage in more direct actions.
In Part III, we will look at the Women in Black actions, the global protest against the war march that took place in Lansing, along with the People’s Alliance for Justice & Change workshops on civil disobedience that were offered to a growing number of people who wanted to do more than just hold signs.
Earlier in the week, MLive reported a story about a project in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids, involving SpringGR and Amplify GR, focusing on what is being called an “Incubator kitchen.”
The story shares that there are a few “food entrepreneurs” who will now be able to use the kitchen space at Kazoo Station to prepare food that they will will sell for their budding food businesses. It’s a nice story, with commentary from the small business owners on how such a space will help them expand their businesses.
Now, I don’t begrudge people who want to start their own businesses, as my family had a business that lasted for three generations. But after reading the MLive article and thinking about the fact that the neighborhood that this “Incubator kitchen” is located in, I wanted to think about this issue through a food justice lens.
There are large parts of the urban core of Grand Rapids that are often referred to as food deserts. However, food deserts is a misrepresentation of what actually exists. More and more people are realizing that when we talk about neighborhoods that are short on functional grocery stores, community gardens and space dedicated to making sure that people have easy access to healthy, local food, we need to understand that these realities are based on policies and decisions that are often driven by capitalism. The term that more and more people are using to describe this dynamic is Food Apartheid.
Food apartheid is a system of segregation that divides those with access to an abundance of nutritious food and those who have been denied that access due to systemic injustices, such as the shift from local grocery stores to chain stores, families that do not make a living wage, structural racism, etc.
The new “Incubator kitchen” is located in a part of Grand Rapids that is experiencing food apartheid, and while the “incubator kitchen” will benefit a few people who have food businesses, it will not address the community’s food insecurity.
A spokesperson for Amplify GR was quoted in the MLive article, stating that the “Incubator kitchen” came out of community conversations that were being had as part of the Amplify GR effort to re-develop the Boston Square neighborhood. Now, GRIID has written a great deal about the Doug & Maria DeVos-created organization, Amplify GR, which you can read at this link. One of the themes were have addressed since AmplifyGR was created in 2017, is the fact that the DeVos family promotes the notion of entrepreneurs, which can benefit some people, but it does not address the massive wealth gap that exists in Grand Rapids, nor the longstanding impact that structural poverty has been imposed on communities like Boston Square Neighborhood.
A question I would ask about this process that need to the decision to create the “Incubator kitchen” would be, “were there other options presented about address food insecurity in that neighborhood, like the idea of a community kitchen.” A community kitchen is fundamentally different that an Incubator kitchen, since a community kitchen is more of a cooperative model designed to address food insecurity, food apartheid and build community. The function of a community kitchen is to have a collective space that is owned by the community, where people can cook meals together, send food home with families, share recipes, and provide skill sharing like how to preserve and prepare food.
Imagine what it would mean to have a community kitchen that took this approach, how often it would be utilized and how many people who have greater access to healthy & nutritious food on a daily basis. In addition, to food sharing and community building, it could provide an opportunity for people to have deeper conversations about the existing food system, a system that does not benefit most people. Here is a link to content that I created over the years when doing Food Justice workshops.
The mLive article says that people who have food businesses can rent the kitchen space for $20 an hour for their food businesses. I have to believe that the space will sit empty for good parts any given week, so why not allow the community to use the space – rent free – as a community kitchen, which could benefit the while community instead of just a handful of business owners?
Meijer family members spread out their wealth to get a lower ranking on the Forbes 400 list
For years, Hank and Doug Meijer would combine their wealth, which made them the wealthiest family in West Michigan.
People might think that the DeVos family is the wealthiest, and they probably are, but the DeVos family has diversified their wealth to such a degree that it is hard to determine what they are worth collectively. Add to their diverse wealth portfolio the fact that they are not big on transparency, and you end up with the Meijer family having the higher ranking on the Forbes 400 list for several years in a row.
However, the Meijer brothers have also decided to separate their wealth, so that Hank, Doug and Mark Meijer want the public to see their wealth as diminished and separated.
In looking at the most recent Forbes 400 list from 2022, we discover that Hank, Doug and Mark Meijer are tied for the 202nd spot on the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans, each with $5 Billion to their name. This of course means that they are collectively worth $15 Billion, which is a disgusting level of wealth.
I say disgusting because they have made their wealth off of the labor of their employees and people who work in the agricultural sector, along with those who work in the manufacturing sector. Whether we are talking about people who pick the food sold in Meijer stores, those who make the non-food products sold in Meijer stores, those who stock the shelves or work the cash registers at Meijer stores, all of them give their labor to the Meijer family. Plus, all of these people who give their labor so that Meijer can sell products in their stores, the vast majority of them do not make a livable wage. In fact, many of the make the minimum wage or less, especially those that pick the food sold in Meijer stores.
Now, over the past few years, GRIID has been tracking the wealth of the Meijer family, like when we noted that, during the first 18 months of the COVID pandemic, the wealth of Doug & Hank Meijer had grown by $6.7 Billion. We noted that this increased wealth was taking place when so many people were without work and experiencing food insecurity.
Another way that we have looked at the wealth of the Meijer family in recent years is to re-imagine how just the amount of increased wealth they made during the early part of the pandemic could benefit their employees. We noted that if Meijer paid their employees $40 an hour for a 40 hour work week, that would result in a $90,000 annual salary. If Meijer decided to pay their employees such a wage, they would still be worth BILLIONS, meaning their lives would be ridiculously comfortable. The difference is that their employees would now have a less stressful life and be able to have opportunities they didn’t have before.
In another examination of the Meijer family wealth, we wrote in August of 2021:
For the rest of us, we should be marching on the Meijer corporate headquarters at 2929 Walker Ave NW, Grand Rapids, making other demands about wealth redistribution. Imagine what $900 million could do to relieve the harm that thousands of families are currently experiencing in the Greater Grand Rapids area. $900 million would eliminate poverty, homelessness, food insecurity and provide plenty of health care funding. Demanding that the Meijer family give $900 million to be distributed to the thousands of families in this area who are experiencing poverty, systemic racism and other forms of structural violence would still leave Hank & Doug Meijer with $12.6 billion, which I’m sure they could still support their families on.
Those with tremendous wealth won’t willingly give up millions or billions of dollars, we must demand that they turn in over to the rest of us. Of course we are talking about a sustained organizing effort, a revolutionary effort that would involve tremendous risks, but if we really wanted to engage in systemic change, then such action needs to happen. I mean, look at how much money members of the Capitalist Class spend on buying and lobbying politicians to make sure that their grotesque amounts of wealth are not fairly taxed. Imagine how resistant they would be to the public demand a redistribution of their wealth. Remember, it’s not really their wealth to begin with, since they made it off of the exploitation of those who do the real work.
The West Michigan Policy Forum continues their efforts to undermine public education in Michigan
“If we want our economy to thrive, we must invest in its future: our students. We need to make it clear to our lawmakers: we need change that’s going to drive success for our students and our economy. And this year, with Michigan’s new legislative line-up, we need to be louder than ever.”
The above quote is from a recent article posted on the West Michigan Policy Forum’s website, an article from January 9th. Clearly, the WMPF has concerns about the now Democratic Party control of state government, with their point about the need to be “louder than ever” on education and the economy in Michigan.
For the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF), education policy has been a priority for years. GRIID has been documenting this dynamic over the years, such as when the WMPF helped to craft and then support legislation in 2016, which would eliminated public teacher pensions and force them to adopt a 401k plan. In 2018, the WMPF brought former Florida Governor Jeb Bush to Grand Rapids, advocating that Michigan adopt similar policies that Florida did during his tenure as the Florida Governor, policies that would undermine public education and push for more Charter Schools and Private education opportunities.
Last April, the WMPF brought in Corey DeAngelis, who is the Director of Research for the American Federation of Children, who made three issues for the future of education in Michigan:
- Michigan parents and guardians want more options for their students’ education.
- Florida students’ educational achievements have increased dramatically since the introduction of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program.
- 2021 saw increased opportunities for students in 18 states and expanded existing opportunities for education in 21 states.
Lastly, during their Fall 2022 Conference, the WMPF had a session on education, with the headline, Reimagining Michigan’s Failing Education System and Making Michigan a Top 10 State. The 2022 WMPF conference addressed two aspects of what they referred to as a failed education system in Michigan. First, the speakers discussed how to move Michigan more in the direction of what Betsy DeVos has been advocating for over the past 3 decades, a more privatized educational system with charter schools, religious schools and private elite schools. The second aspect of the education-themed conference is to discuss the need to gear education in such a way as to generate talent, specifically labor talent, which is why there were several business people speaking during that session, along with the fact that the majority of those in attendance were business people.
A morning session on education policy at their Fall 2022 Conference was entitled, A Game Plan for K-12 Transformation in Michigan, Next steps for Education Transformation in Michigan. This presentation was given by Don Nielsen, with the American Center for Transforming Education. The American Center for Transforming Education is part of the Discovery Institute, which advocates for Public Education Reform. What they mean by Public Education Reform is to push School Choice, to change education policy, make schools places that work with the business community to meet market demands through talent creation.
At the second morning session on education policy, there was another panel to react to the comments by Don Nielsen. The panel consisted of Rep. Pamela Hornberger, John Kennedy (Autocam Medical) and Kelley Williams-Bolar, School of Choice Advocate. Rep. Hornberger is the Chair of the House Education Committee, and last year she introduced a House resolution on Wednesday condemning the Michigan Department of Education’s teacher training videos on student gender orientation and reaffirming the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children. John Kennedy is part of the Executive Board with the WMPF and has been one of the most consisted WMPF members to speak out against Public Teacher Unions. Lastly, Kelley Williams-Bolar, an African American parent, went to jail for sending her kids to a highly ranked school near where her father lives, which was out of her home school district. Now, the far right is using her to push their own education agenda.
If the West Michigan Policy Forum gets their way, they will radically alter education policy in Michigan and effectively undermine public education for decades to come. We all need to know about their policy work and there needs to be a significant effort, even a social movement, to prevent them from achieving their goals for public education in Michigan. Unfortunately, the work of the West Michigan Policy Forum is under-reported and operates outside of the view of the public.
Newly formed Stand with Schurr page perpetuates racist ideology, glorifies state violence and justifies the murder of Patrick Lyoya
The group that has been organizing financial support for the Christopher Schurr, the ex-GRPD cop who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, known as Stand with Schurr, now has their own Facebook page.
The Facebook page for Stand with Schurr started just one week ago and as of this writing has 12 separate postings. Some of the posting people might be familiar with, such as the recent brief filed by Schurr’s lawyers asking the court to dismiss the case, the statement from the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association from April 26th pf last year, commentary posted from the Gerald R. Ford Metro Lodge #97 – Fraternal Order of Police, and video of a GRPD Captain who testifies that Schurr followed proper training in Lyoya shooting.
The posts on the new Stand with Schurr Facebook page that people may not be familiar with are from groups that are pro-police, embrace far right 
ideologies and in varying capacities perpetuate racist stereotypes and ideologies. The three groups that the Stand for Schurr Facebook page is promoting are:
- Legal insurrection
- Before the Court, a webcast hosted on YouTube – “Before The Court aims to dramatically decrease the number of violent interactions between our citizens and the police departments who serve us.”
- Failure to Stop podcast, hosted by Mike the Cop and Eric Tansey
Reading and watching content from each of these sites is not recommended, since they are difficult to stomach, but it is necessary if we want to understand the mindset, indeed the culture of people who defend cops no matter what. It’s one thing for the Stand for Schurr group to raise money for the ex-GRPD cop and his wife, but it is another thing to promote and perpetuate racist ideology and the belief that cops are in our communities to protect and serve. Regardless of the outcome of the trial for the ex-cop that shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, we need to expose groups like Stand for Schurr and counter their glorification of state violence workers, known as cops.
Class Warfare is what the Chamber of Commerce is waging across the US, and in Grand Rapids
Recently, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case with high-stakes consequences for the US labor movement. The case at issue, Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, deals with a 2017 strike at a concrete-mixing company.
According to an article in the Jacobin, If the Supreme Court rules against the Teamsters, it could open the floodgates for corporations to sue unions for economic damages caused by strikes.
One of the groups that is lobbying the US Supreme Court is the national business entity, the USChamber of Commerce. That the US Chamber of Commerce is advocating that the Supreme Court rule in favor the corporation in question is not surprising, in fact, throughout their history, the US Chamber of Commerce has not only been anti-labor union, they have been waging a war against workers and working families.
For decades, the US Chamber of Commerce has spent millions on lobbying Congress, along with millions in campaign contributions to candidates that are anti-union. Amway co-founder, Jay Van Andel, was the chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1979 and 1980. In fact, during Van Andel’s tenure as chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, he worked on a campaign to counter the consumer-driven work of Ralph Nader and all the advocacy groups that Nader created, like Public Citizen. Under Van Andel’s leadership, the US Chamber of Commerce created chapters of Citizen’s Choice, specifically as an effort to counter the public demands of greater accountability and regulation of businesses and corporations.
Other ways that the US Chamber of Commerce has been engaged in class warfare against working people and working families, has been their opposition to things like raising the minimum wage, paid sick leave, maternity leave, improved health care benefits and progressive Climate Justice policies.
If the US Supreme Court rules in favor of corporations, then workers who chose to fight for workplace democracy will have more of their legal power taken away from them. At the local level, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is engaged in the same sort of class warfare in West Michigan.
Now, the mission statement of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce states, “The Grand Rapids Chamber continues to work toward cultivating a region that is thriving and prosperous for ALL.” This is an outright lie, especially if one examines the legacy of the GR Chamber and the kind of things they have supported over the decades, which is in step with the US Chamber of Commerce.
The GR Chamber does an annual survey to find out what its members want the Chamber to make as its priorities. Just check out this short video, which lays out the 2021 legislative priorities for the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce.
The video makes it clear that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is “working to shape the policies to support a vibrant business climate.” The video states that the GR Chamber wants:
- Property tax deferment for businesses, which Whitmer has vetoed twice
- Regulatory flexibility
- A possible end to licensing fees
- Eliminate or reduce business unemployment fees
- Improve work search requirements to make people take jobs that don’t pay well
- Education testing to make sure that students are work ready. In other words, the GR Chamber sees education as talent production
- Creating more childcare options to get people back into the workforce and improve productivity
- Criminal Justice reform for the GR Chamber is about getting more formerly incarcerated people into the workforce, which the Chamber also sees as a Talent issue
- Continuation of the Going Pro Program, which transfers public money to private businesses for training purposes
- Wants more housing, but not housing justice
The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce made “big news” with their campaign contributions and endorsement of two candidates in the Grand Rapids City Commission race this past November. Of course, the GR Chamber of Commerce also contributed thousands to candidates for county and state offices as well, primarily GOP candidates.
However, it would be a mistake to think that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce only contributes to GOP candidates who are running for office in Kent County. Check out the list of Democratic Party candidates that the GR Chamber of Commerce has contributed to in recent years, which begs the question – why would candidates who claim to support working people and working families, take campaign contributions from an entity that has been waging war on working people and families since they were founded in 1887.
It’s bad enough that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce wants the City of Grand Rapids to adopt a proposed ordinance that would criminalize the unhoused, but this is completely in line with the organizations history of waging class war against working people and families in the greater Grand Rapids area.
Editor’s note: Additional sourcing for this article came from the book, The Influence Machine: The US Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life, by Alyssa Katz.
Grand Rapids has the 12th worst city in the country for Bed Bugs, not the headline Grand Rapids leaders want to share
It’s not the fun, upbeat list that Grand Rapids like to share about itself, whether we are talking about the city government or the tourism industry, but bed bug infestation is a serious problem in this city.
The pest control company, Orkin, released their annual list of the worst cities for bed bug infestation on January 9th. Not surprising, MLive picked up the story, but pretty much just used the content from Orkin’s Press Release.
Lazy journalism seems to be the norm these days, which is very unfortunate for the public, especially for something like bed bug infestation. The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union says that they receive calls regularly about bed bug infestation. However, the problem is that they can’t provide much support on the matter, both because, landlords often include language in the lease agreement, which makes tenants responsible for bed bug extermination, regardless if the bed bugs were there before the tenants. The cost of exterminating bed bugs is substantial and tenants have to vacate the premises for at least 24 – 48 hours.
Then there is the issue of there being no state policy around bed bug infestation and who is responsible for said infestation. There is legislation (HB 5412) that was introduced in October of 2021, but that proposed legislation has only been referred to Committee on Regulatory Reform, which has not discussed the matter, nor have they held any public hearings.
The failure to act by state government on this matter is not surprising, for various reasons, one of which is the fact that the Property Management Association has a PAC and makes significant campaign contributions during every election cycle, as you can see from this example from state campaign finance filings from October of 2022. The same is the case for more regional landlords, like the Rental Property Owners Association of Kent County, who made contributions to candidates running in Kent County.
In addition, MLive could have tried to contact tenants to talk about this issue, so that readers could have a better sense of the actual realities of living in a bed bug infested apartment and being forced to pay for the extermination yourself. Doing so would require that MLive would actually practice journalism and not take the easy route of just re-wording industry Press Releases.
20 years ago there was a movement in Grand Rapids to oppose the US war and occupation of Iraq – Part I
Over the next few months, GRIID will be posting numerous articles in a series that remembers and celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the organized resistance to the US War and Occupation of Iraq.
Opposition to the US government’s decision to go to war against Iraq began in September of 2002, when the group known as the People’s Alliance for Justice and Change hosted its 2nd Annual Teach-In on US foreign policy.
At that teach-in, which was held at Aquinas College, there was a workshop on resisting the rhetoric from the Bush administration about Iraq and its leader, Saddam Hussein. From that workshop, there was consensus that there needed to be public opposition to the possibility of going to war against Iraq. A protest was organized for a Saturday in October, which began at Veteran’s Park and ended up at the Federal building. This was a non-permitted protest, but most of the 400 people marched in the streets, despite the GRPD attempting to move people onto the sidewalks.
There were a few speakers at the beginning, followed by a few other when the marchers arrived at the federal building. Speakers shared actions that people could take, which included a weekly protest against the build up to the war, letter writing campaigns, workshops for those interested in doing civil disobedience and regular planning meetings to discuss upcoming actions.
During the annual Santa Parade in Grand Rapids, members of the People’s Alliance for Justice and Change handed on quarter sheets about what people could to do oppose the US war in Iraq, along with candy canes. The regular meetings were being held at the Koinonia House, but in early January of 2003, they were moved to the office of the Institute for Global Education (IGE). Unfortunately, moving the meetings made organizers and activists more vulnerable to GRPD infiltrators.
In late 2004, working with the ACLU, activists submitted a request for Freedom of Information documents. This request resulted in near 400 documents being obtained from the GRPD, which provided a paper trail of evidence that the GRPD was monitoring and at times infiltrating this anti-war movement in Grand Rapids. In one FOIA document, the GRPD admitted to sending undercover cops to an anti-war meeting at IGE. Fortunately, some activists recognized the undercover cops, cut the meeting short and even announced that there were undercover cops at that meeting, which essentially outed those who were cops. See FOIA document on the GRPD attempted infiltration.
After the meeting at IGE, we then moved it to the TV studio at the community media center, since one of the organizers worked there. Two undercover cops came, but we meet at the door by organizers who recognized them, then told them they were not allowed to enter.
The next action that was taken was held at Plymouth United Church of Christ, just days before people were departing to attend a mass rally in Washington, DC, to oppose the possible US war/occupation of Iraq.
In Part II of this series on the 20th Anniversary of the resistance to the US war/occupation of Iraq, we will look at the plans to protest President’s Bush’s visit to Grand Rapids the day after his State of the Union address, the protest and the GRPD’s response during that protest.
The Politics of Eggs and Eggs Producers: When Press Releases pass as journalism on MLive
On January 9th, MLive posted an article with the headline, Poultry farm donated 2.2 million eggs in 2022.
The article, which is short, cites a Herbruck’s family member and talks about how many eggs are donated to food pantries in Ionia. The MLive also says that Herbruck’s sent out a Press release about their eggs donation, so I decided to check their Press Release and compare it to the MLive article. It was is all to common with commercial news media, MLive pretty much just reprinted the Press Release from Herbrucks Poultry Ranch. You can compare the MLive article and the Herbruck’s Press Release, which are side by side at the bottom of this article.
It’s bad enough that MLive wasn’t honest enough with readers to tell that that their posting was essentially a slightly edited version of the Press Release, but MLive could have decided to use the opportunity to do a more investigative piece on the CAFO – Concentrated Animal Farm Operation. Doing a more investigative piece would also be timely considering that the cost of eggs has increased significantly over the past month, going from roughly $2 a dozen to more than double, at $5 a dozen. This increase in a staple food item, just adds to the already ridiculous cost of living for many families in West Michigan.
MLive also could have talked about the fact that Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch, like most large farm operations, has been the recipient of significant subsidies from the federal government’s Farm Bill. According to the Environmental Working Group, between 1995 and 2019, Herbruck’s received $583,391.74 in subsidies.
MLive also might have brought up the issue that got a fair amount of local news coverage in 2010, when the City of Grand Rapids held a public hearing on raising chickens within city limits. Most of the people who spoke at that public hearing were in support of people being able to raise chickens in their back yards, but there were a few exceptions. Here is what we wrote in 2010:
As we mentioned in a previous article, one of the largest egg producers in the state, Herbrucks was opposed to the ordinance change and 3 of the Herbruck’s grandsons addressed the commission. They all spoke about the potential for diseases in an urban setting, but mostly they focused on wanting to protect the profitability of their businesses. After members of the Herbruck’s family spoke, the vice president of production got up and painted a grim picture about avian caused diseases, even though he never cited any documentation to support his position.
Then there is the issue of what the average worker makes at Herbruck’s. Many of the workers who tend to the chickens in jobs that are referred to as crew members start off at $10.40 and hour and on average make $12.25 an hour. Considering how much rental costs are or what a monthly mortgage payment is for people people, $12.25 an hour would not cover the cost of rental fees or monthly mortgage payment. In fact, for those living in the area, they probably need to get food assistance from food pantries, maybe even some of the food pantries that Herbruck’s has donated eggs to.
This is the harsh reality for so many individuals and families in the Greater Grand Rapids area, that the cost of basic necessities, whether that is food, utilities or hosing costs are on the rise, while wages remain stagnant and woefully inadequate.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 