Betsy DeVos, election deniers and campaign contributions: How she doesn’t give a damn about setting an example for children, not when it comes to power
Last week, Betsy DeVos was at the Gerald R. Ford Museum, talking about her new book with the Executive Director of the museum, Gleaves Whitney. DeVos loves this kinds of forum, since she knows that she will not be challenged by the likes of Whitney, who was the former speech writer for Gov. John Engler.
During the Q & A, DeVos was asked about the January 6th riot. According to MLive, this was response from DeVos:
“It was a very tough day,” she said. “I was in my office in the morning, and I could see the Capitol right in my office. I ultimately resigned because I didn’t feel the president … I didn’t feel he did what he needed to do to stop what was happening.”
She added, “I thought about kids watching what was happening on TV and their confusion around that, and just the kind of example that adults were setting in that case or not setting.”
Betsy DeVos sent the Trump Administration a letter of resignation two days after the January 6th riot, on January 8th. Here is what she wrote in that letter:
What is instructive about her comments from her resignation letter was the sentence, “There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation.”
Now, considering what DeVos said in her recent talk at the Ford Museum and what she wrote in her letter of resignation – where both statements make former President Trump complicit in what happened on January 6th – why would she and her family members provide significant campaign funding to candidates in the current election cycle, candidates who have publicly stated that they believe the 2020 Election was stolen from Donald Trump?
We know that the GOP Candidate for Governor stated in May that she believed the 2020 Election was stolen from Donald Trump. However, in recent months, Dixon has been more hesitant or even evasive in her response to questions about the 2020 Election. As we reported just after the Primary Election in early August, the DeVos/Prince family had collectively contributed $164,450 to Dixon, even though that number will likely go up after the October 25th campaign finance filing deadline before the November 8 Election.
You can check who Betsy DeVos has directly contributed to in the current election cycle, by going to this link on OpenSecrets.org, then compare that to an article from Michigan Advance that appeared on October 9th, with the headline, Here are the election deniers running for the Michigan House and Senate on Nov. 8.
It’s unfortunate that journalists who were at the Betsy DeVos Ford Museum talk, didn’t press her on the matter of her and her family’s financial backing of candidates who believe that Trump won the 2020 Election. When Betsy DeVos stated at that speaking engagement at the Ford Museum, “I thought about kids watching what was happening on TV and their confusion around that, and just the kind of example that adults were setting in that case or not setting.” Do you think Betsy has thought about the kind of example that her and her family’s campaign contributions to election deniers will have on children? In the end it doesn’t really matter to DeVos or anyone else with that kind of political or economic power, they could care less about setting an example for adults or children.
Earlier this week the national organization Roots Action held demonstrations in numerous cities across the US. The topic of those demonstrations was to pressure the Biden Administration and members of Congress to stop holding nuclear war rehearsals with NATO.
Roots Action also provided an online petition, with the following language:
NATO is rehearsing for nuclear war: flying B-52 long-range bombers from North Dakota to Europe, flying pretend bombing flights over Belgium, the North Sea, and the United Kingdom, and engaging in what NATO calls “a range of realistic and simulated events which can be found in a conflict.” The danger is of provoking an actual nuclear conflict.
The petition also included excellent links to background information, which was listed at the bottom of the petition page. Roots Action director Norman Solomon was also interviewed on Democracy Now! talking about the campaign.
I filled out the petition, since there was no organized action in Grand Rapids, which meant that my petition went to the Biden White House, Rep. Peter Meijer, along with Senator’s Peters & Stabenow.
On Wednesday, I received an e-mail response from Senator Stabenow, which said:
Thank you for contacting me about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Your concerns are very important to me as our nation debates how to best address this challenge.
Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has created a dire humanitarian crisis. The U.S. has provided over $5 billion in humanitarian assistance to internally displaced Ukrainians and those seeking refuge in neighboring nations. I will keep working to ensure that Ukrainians have the resources they so desperately need during this horrific time.
As one of the Senators who voted against going to war in Iraq, I strongly believe that we must be very thoughtful and deliberate whenever considering the commitment of resources, both financial and military. I will continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine and keep your views in mind whenever considering related legislation in the U.S. Senate.
First, the most glaring thing about the response from Senator Stabenow, is that it completely ignored the text of the petition message, which was centered around the US/NATO nuclear war games.
Second, Senator Stabenow decides to make her response about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, thus not taking any ownership of the role that the US has played in this conflict to date.
Third, while Senator Stabenow acknowledges the US financial commitment to supporting Ukrainians who have been displaced by the war, she completely ignores the larger amount of money the US has provided to the Ukrainian government for weapons, which she has voted for.
Fourth, Senator Stabenow then wants to present herself as an anti-war voice, citing her initial opposition to the US war/invasion of Iraq in 2003. While it is true that Senator Stabenow did vote against that war/invasion initially, she voted for the ongoing US military action in Iraq throughout the rest of the Bush years between 2003 – 2008. This meant that Senator Stabenow voted for more US military spending as the US occupation of Iraq continued, along with the fact that the US was supporting torture at Abu Ghraib and the ongoing funding of US Private Military contractors, who were also guilty of human rights violations.
Lastly, it is worth pointing out that since Senator Stabenow said that the US must be very thoughtful about US military aid, but this ignores the fact that Senator Stabenow has voted in favor of the Defense Department’s military budget every year while being a member of the US Senate. This mens that Senator Stabenow has voted to continue to provide over $3 Billion to the Israeli Apartheid regime, weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, US military action in Syria, Yemen & Afghanistan, and support for repressive military regimes in places like Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, along with supporting the ongoing US blockade of Cuba.
It seems that Senator Stabenow doesn’t want us to know about her support for US militarism abroad and she definitely doesn’t want to do anything to even acknowledge the US nuclear war games that are taking place right now with NATO. In fact, it seems clear that Senator Stabenow is in no way concerned about the threat of nuclear war and how that puts every living thing at risk.
On October 10th, there was some media buzz claiming that Grand Rapids was the “safest” city in Michigan.
A few radio stations in West Michigan did a brief news story, which was based on a Media Release coming from the group WalletHub. In an October 10 posting, WalletHub wrote:
No one can avoid all danger, however, and we take on a certain level of risk based on where we choose to live. Some cities are simply better at protecting their residents from harm. To determine where Americans can feel most secure — in more than one sense — WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 42 key indicators of safety. Our data set ranges from the percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated and assaults per capita to the unemployment rate and road quality.
The City of Grand Rapids noted the WalletHub study on their Facebook page on October 11. The post provides a brief summary of the WalletHub finding, then the City’s Social media person writes, “You know what? We agree and based on their analysis, we’re 59th in the Country and #1 in Michigan!” The post also includes some commentary by the City’s Economic Development Committee, which writes, “Grand Rapids is a great place to live, enjoy and do business!”
In the WalletHub survey of 180 cities, Grand Rapids ranks 59th safest city in the US and number 1 in Michigan. The survey looked at three major categories – Home & Community Safety, Natural Disaster Risk, and Financial Safety. WalletHub provides a link to the methodology they used for this survey, which includes numerous points for each of the three categories. The Methodology is near the bottom of the page that the rankings are on, just below the list of experts involved in making this determination.
Some things stood out when reading the points for each of the three categories listed in the Methodology, which I think are worth mentioning. First, in the Natural Disaster Risk category, it looks at things like flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes, but completely omits a larger issue, which is the role that Climate Change is playing on issues like flooding and other extreme weather dynamics. It is pretty common knowledge that Climate Change is a major cause of extreme weather. For example, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions states:
One of the most visible consequences of a warming world is an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. The National Climate Assessment finds that the number of heat waves, heavy downpours, and major hurricanes has increased in the United States, and the strength of these events has increased, too.
A measure of the economic impact of extreme weather is the increasing number of billion-dollar disasters, which is shown below. The map shows all types of weather disasters, some of which are known to be influenced by climate change (floods, tropical storms) and some for which a climate influence is uncertain (tornadoes).
In the Financial Safety category, while there is a measure of poverty, the survey tends to look at averages and ignores how poverty impacts some populations more in the cities WalletHub looked at. Grand Rapids has the highest Wealth Gap in Michigan, and the cost of rent compared to income demonstrates that there are thousands of families not earning enough in wages to afford the average cost of rent in Grand Rapids. There is also an omission about the racial dynamics of poverty and how BIPOC people have higher rates of poverty than white people do.
In the Home & Community Safety category, the only reference to policing is, “Law-Enforcement Employees per Capita.” The WalletHub survey completely ignores anything about how local police departments target certain populations or what the public thinks about the role of policing in their community.
This is interesting, especially since the GRPD has been claiming for the past two years that they are understaffed and that crime rates are out of control. Even the pro-police group, Voice for the Badge, commented on the WalletHub story, saying that the article about Grand Rapids being the safest city in Michigan was dangerous and it puts the GRPD at risk. Our take is fundamentally different, since we would measure how many people, especially in Black and Brown communities, do not feel safe around the GRPD. In fact, there are numerous groups like Defund the GRPD, LineUp, the NAACP and the Urban Core Collective that have also been pointing out the disproportionately high number of BIPOC residents who have been harassed, intimidated and beaten by the GRPD, along with the more recent police murder of Patrick Lyoya.
Like most of these sort of national studies, they do not include the lived experiences of people in the cities being studied, particularly the most marginalized in each community. The notion of safety is too narrow, especially since it doesn’t look at safety in a more comprehensible way, which would include race, gender, LGBTQ, those with disabilities, immigrants, the unhoused, religious minorities or things like incarceration rates.
These studies also tend to look at averages and do not take into account structural issues like racism, economic disparities, and other long-standing historical factors that would more accurately determine the health and well being of cities, but more specifically the most marginalized communities within cities.
More public money for policing: Private company will produce recruitment videos for the GRPD
On Tuesday, Grand Rapids City Officials adopted a resolution to pay Epic Productions LLC up to $200,000 to provide digital recruitment services for the Grand Rapids Police Department.
This resolution came out of the Fiscal Committee and can be read in their October 18 Meeting Agenda, pages 7 – 10. According to the Fiscal Committee Agenda for October 18, it states:
The recommended investment would evolve the recruiting strategy in a way that is consistent with the City’s Strategic Plan and strategic communication plan. It will also assist in accelerating recruiting to enable the department to achieve authorized staffing by balancing on-going recruiting with future retirements. This investment will enable us to connect with a new generation of candidates, seek a larger and more diverse candidate pool and focus on students of key institutions. Today’s job seekers rank social and professional networks as the most useful job search resource. Updating our digital platform will improve our recruiting and community engagement efforts.
What this means is that the City of Grand Rapids will use $200,000 of public money to pay Epic Productions LLC to make some videos, plus create and maintain a website for the primary purpose of recruiting new people to join the GRPD.
Lack of community trust has led to a shortage of cops
In July of 2020, the New York Times reported on a Gallup poll, stating:
For the first time in its 27 years of measuring attitudes toward the police, Gallup found that a majority of American adults do not trust law enforcement.
This lack of trust in cops by Americans was further explored in a Pew Research video, which was based on a survey done at the beginning of 2022, where people were asked about their view of cops in 2020 and 2021. You can view the video survey here, regarding public trust and the police in the US.
This growing lack of trust in Americans, particularly of BIPOC Americans, has led to a shortage in recruiting and retaining cops in police departments all across the US. This is why the 2023 Michigan State Budget, has allocated millions for police retention and recruitment.
It is in this context that the City of Grand Rapids has decided to spend up to $200,000 to have Epic Productions LLC makes videos and a website to recruit more people to join the GRPD. What is instructive about the resolution to spend $200,000 of public money, was not just the decision to hire Epic Productions LLC, but the information about all of the time spent by the GRPD currently on recruiting. Here is what the resolution had to say about what the GRPD has done in the past year:
- This year alone, the department participated and shared recruitment information at 100 community events, which included partnering with Seeds of Promise, Dream Center, Pastors Picnics & Police, the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association. Recruiters also attended special events like Rock the Block, the Polish, Hispanic and Glimpse of Africa Festivals.
- Held open houses and pop-up recruiting events in all areas of the city.
- Forty-seven academy, college and university visits including Wayne County Regional Police Academy, Lake Superior State, Delta College Police Academy, Northern Michigan University, Oakland Community College, Ferris State University, Macomb Community College, and Mott Community College.
- Partnerships with Kent County Technical Center, JROTC, Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley University where GPRD employees mentor and instruct students interested in criminal justice.
- Continued connections with local military branches throughout the State of Michigan.
- Focus on the grow-our-own progression of Police Explorers, Youth Police Academy, up to and including Police Interns. Over time, the Police Explorers program has generated six police officers with another seven in the police intern pipeline. Recent recruitment for police interns has been strong with thirty-seven applications and is expected to produce a diverse class of eight new interns. Additionally, eight former interns have been hired as police officers in the last two years.
- Home-grown online recruiting fairs did not produce desired results but may be attempted again in a revised format.
- Continued exploration of a focus on recruiting by building partnerships with multi-cultural fraternities and college/university offices of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
It seems that the GRPD spends a great deal of time trying to convince people to join the police force. It is hard to completely determine how many hours all of the above items include, how many members of the GRPD were involved and how much money all of their current efforts cost taxpayers, but it seems substantial to this writer. However, Grand Rapids City Officials don’t think that all of their current recruiting efforts are enough, thus they will spend $200,000 of taxpayer money for more recruiting purposes.
Why Epic Productions LLC?
Fiscal Committee document from 10/18 cites some reasons why the City of Grand Rapids decided to contract with Epic Productions LLC. If one spends any amount of time on the Epic Productions LLC website, you can see that there are several recommendations from other police departments across the country. In fact, their website features many of the police recruiting videos they have produced for other departments, along with a YouTube channel page with a section devoted exclusively to recruitment of cops.
Lastly, it is important to acknowledge what Police Chief Winstrom has to say about the new website that Epic Productions LLC will be creating. Winstrom states:
The new platform can also play a vital role in how the community views the police department and how members of the department view themselves. It can also be beneficial in how we disseminate information about public safety, gather information about crime, and improve community relations.
Based on these comments by Chief Winstrom, it seems that Grand Rapids taxpayers will give $200,000 to Epic Productions LLC so that the GRPD can use the platform as a public relations tool – how the community views the GRPD, a propaganda tool – how to get a controlled narrative out about the GRPD, engage in counter-insurgency tactics – gather information about criminal behavior, and to improve community relations, which means they want to win back the public trust.
Look, spending taxpayer money to con us into thinking that cops actually prevent crime is a meaningless exercise. Instead, why doesn’t the GRPD stop justifying their repressive activities, their disproportionate monitoring of Black, Brown and poor white neighborhoods, their defense of an ex-cop who murdered Patrick Lyoya and their targeting of activists who are demanding Justice4Patrick and the defunding of the GRPD.
Republican Representatives introduce a vicious anti-trans bill in the Michigan State House
Last Tuesday, GOP legislators introduced HB 6454, a piece of legislation that is anti-trans and will criminalize those who in any way assist youth who are in the process of transitioning.
Natasha Lennard, writing for The Intercept, reports that HB 6454 is a cruel piece of legislation that will criminalize those who are supporting and assisting those involved in gender-affirming care to a minor. Here is what Lennard wrote about the legal punishment people would potentially face:
The language applies not only to gender-affirming surgery — which is very rare for teens — but also to hormone treatments and puberty blockers. If found guilty, parents and medical professionals could face a maximum life sentence of 25 years for assisting a minor in obtaining care that has been deemed, again and again, medically necessary by every major pediatric institution in the country. Providing or helping with such treatment would be penalized as child abuse in the first degree, a classification more severe than those for causing intentional or neglectful harm to children.
Beyond barring the provision of new treatment, the legislation also mandates that trans teens in the state who are currently receiving gender-affirming medical care would be forced to stop their treatments and undergo compulsory medical detransition, with potentially deadly psychological consequences.
HB 6454 was introduced on Tuesday, October 11 and sent to the Judiciary Committee on the same day. The bill was introduced by Rep. Ryan Berman, who represents the 39th House District. This reactionary piece of legislation is consistent with other bills that Ryan has introduced, such as HB 6306, which seeks to ban drag shows or drag presentations in K-12 schools. When asked to give an example of drag shows taking place in K-12 Public Schools in Michigan, Berman had no concrete examples.
The co-sponsors that Rep. Berman recruited for HB 6454, are Representatives Steve Carra, Luke Meerman, Beau LaFave and Steve Marino. Last week, Rep. Carra tweeted, “Don’t let them castrate your boys and mutilate your girls without your parental consent.. and don’t consent to them doing it either!”
Not to be outdone by his colleague, Rep. Beau LaFave also tweeted on his support for HB 6454, “The idea that we would be making potentially life-altering changes to 11-, 12-, 13-, 14-, 15-year-old kids when it is illegal for them to have sex is insane. I mean, they’re not ‘responsible enough’ to smoke a cigarette until they’re 21.”
When looking at this list of Republicans who want to punish trans youth and those that support them, it is always worth looking at who financially back them as State Representatives. Those who finance these politicians are equally complicit in these policies, specifically this transphobic piece of legislation.
Rep. Ryan Berman is self-financed, according to records since 2017, but other notable supporters are House Speaker Jason Wentworth, the Chatfield Fund, Rock Holdings Inc. and Realtors PAC of Michigan.
Rep. Steve Carra has also received major campaign support from Jason Wentworth, the Michigan Laborers Political League and Michigan Realtors, according to TransparencyUSA.
Rep. Luke Meerman, according to records since 2017, has also benefited from Jason Wentworth, the Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Realtors and a member of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, John Kennedy.
Rep. Beau LaFave, has been bankrolled by the Chatfield Fund, Michigan Realtors, along with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, according to Transparency USA.
Rep. Steve Marino has self-financed, along with major support from the Chatfield Fund and the DeVos Family, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
Lastly, it is worth noting that in the article by Natasha Lennard mentioned earlier, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga, has introduced similar legislation at the federal level.
- Image used is from the Pride Foundation.
Once again, GRIID was denied the opportunity to report on the West Michigan Policy Forum Conference happening this Thursday.
It seems that those who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure do not want the presence of independent news media, particularly media that will not just act as a lapdog to power.
On Wednesday, September 21st, I submitted a request the West Michigan Policy Forum for a Media Pass to attend their 2022 Conference. One week later I received the following response – Thank you for your email. After reviewing your request, we are unable to provide you a media pass to the upcoming conference. WMPF Communications Team. I responded to this message by saying, “Can you provide me with a reason for not providing a media pass? I have attended numerous conferences in the past and was always provided a media pass.” The West MI Policy Forum Communications Team did not reply.
This was not the first time I was denied a Media Pass to a West MI Policy Forum Conference. In 2018, the same thing happened and you can read the ridiculous game they played back then by going to this link.
Of course, none of this is surprising, since systems of power and oppression do not want anyone to shine the light on their activities. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean I can’t write something about the event and the speakers they have invited. This is the first conference the WMPF has held since the beginning of the pandemic, and this year’s conference is the shortest one since they began in 2008, then it was a 2-day event.
As you can see from the image above, there is a lineup of speakers, with the theme being, Reimagining Michigan’s Failing Education System and Making Michigan a Top 10 State. Having a main theme is consistent with previous WMPF conferences and this year’s theme will address two aspects of the so-called failed education system. First, the speakers will discuss 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 are several business people speaking.
The WMPF Conference will go from 8:30am until noon. The first speaker will be Doug DeVos, talking about the WMPF’s Historic Wins for Competitiveness. DeVos will no doubt be talking about previous “victories” for the West Michigan Policy Forum, which you can read here. The list includes items like making Michigan a Right to Work state, repealing the MI Business tax, repeal of the prevailing wage mandate, Require funding for state economic development and workforce agencies to align more closely with private sector efforts in talent development initiative, etc. Always good to start out the day bragging about how those in power have imposed their will on civil society.
At 8:36am, people will hear from Christopher D. Lloyd, with McGuireWoods Consulting LLC. McGuireWoods Consulting LLC is a firm that assists groups like WMPF on how to work with – read manipulate – government agencies. Lloyd specializes in site selection and economic development incentives negotiations, which is essentially how to get governments to use public money to underwrite or subsidize private development projects.
At 8:55am, Dr. Stan Veuger, Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute will address the conference crowd. Veuger will be talking on the theme of, “What’s Keeping Michigan From Being a Top 10 State.” Based on Veuger’s work, this will no doubt be about how the business class can leverage government to use public money to bolster the private sector and attract more talent, making Michigan more appealing for members of the professional and business class.
At 9:30am, there will be a panel of three business people, who will respond to what Veuger had to say. This panel will be moderated by Doug DeVos and will include: Matt Haworth, Haworth, Inc., Randy Thelen, The Right Place, and Chelsea Keeton, with Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing. Haworth is a Vice Chair of WMPF and is a major contributor to the Republican Party and Republican candidates. Randy Thelen, with the Right Place Inc, which works with West Michigan municipal governments to attract businesses, often at the public expense. The Board of Directors at the Right Place Inc. consists of many of the same people who sit on the Board of the West MI Policy Forum. Chelsea Keeton is a senior marketing and public relations leader at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing. Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing recently received $120 Million in funding from the US Government, along with a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Defense.
At 10:35am there will be a presentation entitled, A Game Plan for K-12 Transformation in Michigan, Next steps for Education Transformation in Michigan. This presentation will be 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 11:05am, there will be another panel to react to the comments by Don Nielsen. The panel will consist 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 three weeks ago 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. This underscores their decision to not allow me to attend this conference as media.
Wanted for supporting the criminalization of Abortion: Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
This is the seventh in a series of WANTED posters, looking at individuals, families and organizations in West Michigan that have contributed significantly to the criminalization of abortion and the undermining of reproductive justice.
Today’s focus is on the Far Right Think Tank, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Unlike some of the other entities that have garnered Wanted Posters, the Acton Institute does not fund anti-abortion groups and they do contributed to anti-abortion candidates. What the Acton Institute does, is provide an ideological framework to individuals, businesses, candidates and organizations who are actively or leaning towards an anti-abortion position.
The Acton Institute was a strong ideological supporter of Amy Coney Barrett in the summer of 2020, when she was first nominated for the US Supreme Court. Barrett was one of the majority that voted to overturn Roe v Wade.
As a Catholic institution, the Acton Institute has followed the Catholic hierarchy’s stance against abortion and has discussed this position repeatedly in articles and podcasts on their website. The Acton Institute has also invited numerous people to speak on abortion, primarily at conferences, even though abortion is not the main focus of the organization, Capitalism is.
Lastly, the Acton Institute has been supported by many of the other individuals and families in West Michigan that have donated millions to anti-abortion efforts. In fact, most of these same families and individuals have sat on the board of directors of the Acton Institute since it was founded in the early 1990s. Past board members that have contributed to the criminalization of abortion are Rich DeVos, Else Prince, and Betsy DeVos. Current board members that take the same position are John Kennedy and Rick DeVos.
We encourage you to share this poster and consider directing some of your rage at the recent US Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v Wade towards the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, which is located in downtown Grand Rapids, at 98 E. Fulton Street, at the corner of Fulton & Sheldon SE.
Republican candidates demonize, while Democrats undermine the Defund the Police Movement in Grand Rapids and across the country
In May of 2020, the largest, spontaneous protests erupted all across the US, protests that were rooted in a collective outrage about policing in the United States.
In Grand Rapids, there were thousands of people who had gathered during May 30th, to march and to protest against the police murder of George Floyd, but also to protest the abuse by the GRPD of several African Americans living in Grand Rapids. We documented that action in 2020, how the Grand Rapids City Officials and the GRPD sought to control the narrative about what had happened and how a massive call to Defund the GRPD had emerged out of the May 30th uprising.
It is instructive to read the demands of the Defund the GRPD Coalition, which were presented during their Press Conference in late June of 2020. Those demands included:
- The GRPD has a long history of intimidation, harassment and violence against the Black community in Grand Rapids. Those of us who are part of this coalition have experienced this harm and have heard from countless others who have been victimized by the GRPD. There have been numerous efforts to reform the GRPD, but we know it is now time to DeFund the GRPD.
- We are demanding that the City of Grand Rapids hold an emergency meeting by June 30 to adopt a Defunding the GRPD position, wherein the police budget will be reduced to the 32% City Charter mandated level for the upcoming fiscal year.
- We are also demanding that the money from this budget cut should be refunded to the Black community and the Black community should have complete control over how this money will be used.
- DeFunding the GRPD and Refunding Black Communities must happen if there is to be any trust built with the Black community. It is one of the few things that will work to actively promote equity in the Black community, which is so desperately needed.
- The DeFund the GRPD Campaign Coalition believes that there are better ways to practice community safety and that Grand Rapids needs to begin the process of having deep conversation about how to practice community safety that does not rely on policing.
These demands were similar to what communities were demanding all across the US, demands that were particularly coming out of Black communities/organizations. These demands were somewhat solidified by the Defund the Police toolkit, which was created by the Movement for Black Lives. In fact, the Defund the Police Movement, which emerged from decades of the Black community being deceived about so-called police reforms, was a natural extension of the Black Freedom Struggle, a struggle that had its origins in the Abolitionist Movement.
So, just a little over two years ago, we have the largest protest movement in US history, a movement that was calling for the Defunding of the Police, and in many cases the abolition of policing as we know it. With this context, how did the political establishment respond to one of the most powerful social movements in recent history? We know that the GOP, led by then President Donald Trump, demonized the movement and lumped them in with antifa and referred to them as domestic terrorists.
The Democrats, who were in the midst of a campaign to beat Donald Trump in the 2020 Election, responded to the Black Lives Matter/Defund the Police Movement by calling for more funding for the police. Sure, there was some rhetoric around better police accountability and more training, but one thing was consistent, the Democrats were calling for an increase in funding for the Police.
Jump to the current electoral cycle and in West Michigan, particularly the 3rd Congressional District race, State Senate and State Representative races, and we find that in virtually every instance the Republican candidates or Republican committees are accusing Democratic Party candidates of defunding the police. Those that are funding ads for 3rd Congressional District candidate John Gibbs, are accusing Hillary Scholten of wanting to defund the police or being sympathetic to rioters. The same is the case with GOP State Senate Candidate Mark Huizenga, who is accusing David LaGrand of defunding the police, and State Representative candidate Lynn Afendoulis has been making the same claims about her opponent Rachel Hood.
The fact of the matter is that in each of these three cases, the Democratic candidates are all calling for an increase in funding for the police and both LaGrand and Hood have already voted to do just that. This dynamic is underscored by a recent MLive headline, which reads, Whitmer, Dixon duel over who supports Michigan law enforcement most.
However, the facts about bipartisan support for providing increased funds to police departments get buried in the rhetoric of electoral politics. The GOP keeps claiming that Democrats want to defund the police, while Democrats consistently vote for an increase in funds and an increase in the number of police officers. GOP supporters believe that Democrats want chaos or anarchy and Democratic supporters believe that funding for cops are necessary, since without cops people wouldn’t be safe. It’s like the standard tough on crime/soft on crime claims during electoral cycles. Candidates from both parties always support tough anti-crime laws, but it doesn’t matter if the perception of people is that – fill in the blank candidate – is soft on crime.
The result of the larger electoral strategy about Defunding the Police is that Republicans get to demonize Democrats and Democrats end up trying to convince voters that they too are committed to police funding. In the end, both parties completely ignore a growing number of people who are calling for defunding of police departments, alternative mechanisms for public safety, and even the abolition of policing.
Within the last two weeks, all of the candidates running for the Grand Rapids School Board received a letter from the local group, Grand Rapids for Education Justice.
The letter, which you can read here, addresses concerns of the influence of people like Betsy DeVos, the recent US Supreme Court decision to allow religion into the public schools, the growth of Charter Schools within Grand Rapids, the failure of the GRPS to retain enough full time teachers, to adequately compensate teachers and the racial divide or two tiered system in Grand Rapids Public Schools, where BIPOC students are disproportionately subjected to low academic standards.
Again, each of the Grand Rapids School Board candidates received the letter, but not all responded. What follows are the candidates who did respond and their responses to the GREJ letter.
Amanda Bernes – Thank you for presenting your group’s concerns and reaching out to me directly. I very much agree with you and appreciate all you have done to serve this community. I am absolutely concerned about the very existence of our public schools and the future of public education funding. I aim to work with all of the stakeholders in order to find new workable solutions now, and funding to prepare for future needs. I would gladly listen to your suggestions and look forward to finding classic and new best practices as well as working with local concerned groups such as GREJ to find solutions now. We have a limited time to act and to ensure our kids receive a good public education and I’m committed to doing the work that’s needed. Thank you for all you do for our children, teachers, parents, and community.
Andrew Clausen – You highlight a number of issues in your letter. Some responses below:
Grand Rapids Public Schools have indeed been experiencing a significant decline in enrollment. I have talked to numerous families that choose other schools (including public school choice, public charter, private, and homeschool). Parents are trying to make the best decisions for their kids, and care most about a school’s/district’s academic achievement data as well as the reputation of the school within the neighborhood and the long-term choices that they can make about school options. GRPS students in nearly all schools have continued to perform poorly on measures of academic achievement (MME, MSTEP, SAT). The cause for this is complex, but likely overlapped with a poorly compensated teaching faculty leading to the vacancies you reference in your letter. I too have grave concern for the size and degree to which administration (specifically central office administration) is compensated while we lose the battle for teachers with neighboring schools. This is a major priority for me if elected to the board of education.
I believe that there are some back to basics, common sense steps that our district needs to take in order to provide a high quality educational experience to the students and families that it serves. I believe that a healthy GRPS is vital to a healthy Grand Rapids for all community members. I am confident that we have the resources and capacity to turn the tide of public opinion about our district and to see growth in the academic achievement of our students. I know this district needs people in leadership that make fiscally responsible decisions and have innovative solutions to the problems that we face.
Aarie Wade – There is a lot to digest in this letter. But one thing that sticks out is GRPS chartering a school within a district, a thriving school that is attracting students with a robust lottery system due to this attraction.
GRPS has to become an attractive place to learn. Not only that but an attractive place to teach as well. This to your other point, teacher pay HAS to be on the forefront of the agenda. Thriving teachers attract and produce thriving learners. The energy is different when you’re not worried about your basic needs being met, you can actually pour into the children but a lot of our educators are like empty cups. Just making it, yet they show up each day giving all of what’s left.
Paying our teachers and treating them with dignity, respect and high regard must be the priority.
The district has to be careful of the message that will be sent if we close schools. If schools close, we have given up.
Thank you for this very thought out call to action. As a parent and community member in this district I share the same sentiments. A a board member, I look forward to taking action.
Kymberlie Davis (incumbent) – After looking over your letter again, I want to let you know that the concerns that you and GREJ have are concerns that the board has as well. While I can only speak for myself, I know that many if not all of my colleagues are for public schools and against public funds being designated for private education. I know our legislative committee works to be knowledgeable of things going on at the state and federal level and as a district we take a stand on issues that directly affect public education. Can we do more, yes, of course! I would encourage you to attend the legislative committee meetings if at all possible. They are held the 3rd Monday of the month at 5:00 and are also recorded.
I have the same concerns with bussing and teacher shortages. I have heard many people in our community voice their concerns in these areas too along with the lack of custodians and cleaning in our buildings. These concerns are not being ignored. I face the same issues in the district I teach in. We are in crisis right now with vacancies all over the country. I know GRPS is working on this every day and am happy to hear of new strategies that we are taking, for instance, we will be helping to get Visas for teachers who need them in order to teach for us…
I am a teacher and I believe teachers deserve much more than they currently get. We have and will continue to advocate for pay increases.
The problems aren’t solved. I know this. The work is never ending. I want you to know that we are in it. We know the data and it isn’t what we want. We see growth but it isn’t enough and we will continue to make policy and ask questions that push for removing barriers.
I also welcome you to watch any board meetings (committee meetings as well) and let me know when you have questions OR wish I would have asked certain questions. I have gotten better at using an equity lens to inquire more from administration when we are presented with something, BUT I am only one person and I’m learning. I welcome feedback for sure.
As far as the closing and consolidation of schools goes, I would urge you to attend one of the lunch and learns on the facilities plan. We as a board really do want to make decisions that reflect what our community wants and needs and we can only do that with as much voice as possible. I also think the presentation being given by admin is very good at showing the public the data and the whys of us needing to do something.
I appreciate you for advocating for what you know is important. I welcome further conversations.
Sara Melton – The GREJ does important work for our city! As your letter articulates well, they have been at the center of decision-making, presenting data and research to help inform the direction of our district for a long time. You inform our community and are an irreplaceable catalyst for action. As an educator, I have always had my door open to the kind of accountability you are providing to the system of GRPS. Public dollars should involved public voice.
During many of the decisions referenced in this letter, I was nose-deep in teaching – not even aware of the changes that would be coming with the privatization of busing and custodians and building sales. Prior to that, the decision to include theme schools in our district made a complicated system even more so. And prior to that our city policies, transportation, and real estate practices moved our school system to segregation and inequity.
2022 should be a time when all hands are on deck, working towards equity, healing, and wholeness. I have been searching for examples of these schools since I began as a teacher in 1999. I’m driven by the hope that we can find solutions in GRPS that allow us to reflect, engage communities, work towards sustainable ways of being and organizing ourselves around the education of our children. This will naturally include a redistribution of power and compensation for staff members! This will build a better sense of belonging for staff and kids. I’m no longer nose-deep in the trenches – I’ve come up to help lead the change I believe GREJ is asking for. If I am elected as a board member of GRPS, my purpose would be to advance the individual and collective wellbeing of those involved.
Jose Rodriguez – I wanted to give some thought to your letter and to my response. I absolutely agree with the issues you brought up in your letter to the GRPS School Board. In a candidate questionnaire, I have intentionally stated that we must put our communities and GRPS families over any corporate/private partnership or political influence. I agree that we never should have had such a close relationship with individuals who are undermining public education and fighting to funnel public dollars into private schools.
If elected, I am committed to fighting for a budget that pays our teachers, support staff, and ancillary staff more money. I have been outspoken about increasing starting salary for all positions at $20/hour and I will continue that fight on the board as well. You are right in stating that we have the lowest starting salary for educators, so it is obvious why we are struggling to not only find quality educators, but retaining them from year to year.
I remember GREJ years back speaking out against the two-tiered system that was created with the addition of theme schools in GRPS and I wholeheartedly agree. I think that in order to remediate the issue, we first must address its existence and I’m not sure too many folks want to admit that we have aided in the de facto segregation that already exists within public schools.
Overall, I think all points made in the letter are valid and I am grateful that there are folks willing to bring up such crucial issues facing our district. Again, I am absolutely committed to fighting for true equity and justice within our school system and am looking forward to talking more about these issues.
Jennifer McFarlane – Not sure what response I should give. I agree with everything you said. Some of your topics bring up anxiety and anger. As a teacher in GRPS for over 2 decades, I’m disgusted with the policies, programs and general shadiness that our administration has been allowed to do unchecked since Dr. Taylor took over. Although I’m super excited with so many people expressing their voices during this election cycle, I often wonder where are these people during the school year? We are struggling in our classroom with no help from district or the community. Staff isn’t leaving for more money, that’s just a wonderful side effect. We are leaving grps because our administrators seem to care more about finding jobs for their family members and making connections to further their careers. Betsy DeVos doesn’t impact us, but Maria and Doug do. We had to spend countless hours working with Leading Educators staff (one of their pet projects) The program was completely useless and didn’t help a single student at my school. Our time would have been better spent planning our interventions and working with the students. We have to spend so much time doing busy work to make these awful programs look effective instead of actually educating our students.
I’m frustrated with the district patting themselves on the back for increasing student graduation rates when a simple look at the SAT test scores shines a very bright light on the fact that although our kids have a piece of paper, we are not giving them an education that will actually prepare them for anything. I’m tired of people being so caught up in their activism that they are losing site of what our schools should be doing… educating our students. I think it’s appalling that Larry Johnson gets paid an obscene amount of money, but somehow still found time to get side job at Evart Schools and Detroit Public where he pulls in more than our teaching staff and yet the board still can’t seem to find money to pay us more. I’m frustrated that making 5% student growth over 8 years is acceptable. That would be fine if most of our non theme schools weren’t still sitting at a proficient rating below 20%. Bottom line is that we aren’t doing our primary job of educating ALL students and haven’t been for over a decade. I don’t like vouchers personally. However, if our community isn’t going to stand up and fight for the educational needs of our students in public schools, maybe that’s a part that needs to be taken.
I think being in GRPS so long makes you not trust those that say they are advocating for our kids, because we have heard that for years and it never gets better..just worse. I’m only running to give one more shot at advocating for our students before I walk away like so many of my coworkers. It is an amazing district with so much talent, but is being run by people that have no business running a school district. If we want to change, they have to go.
From Grand Rapids Education for Justice (GREJ) – We thank the candidates for their responses and while it’s noteworthy to see their agreement with our salient points our past experience from GRPS leadership is one of acknowledgement minus any proaction for change.We would be more encouraged to see specific plans and implementation of action to remedy these most serious problems beyond general broad-brush agreement!
I plan to vote for Proposal 3, even though some of the messages being put out on social media are deeply problematic
I plan to vote for Proposal 3 in November, not only because I support bodily autonomy and access to abortion, but also because I like being able to vote directly for policies I support.
Ballot Initiatives allow people to engage in what many call direct democracy, since voting on a ballot initiative bypasses the dysfunctional realities of representative democracy.
Problematic Messaging
Some of the memes and other brief posts about either Proposal 3 in Michigan or other more general posts about the loss of Roe v Wade and abortion rights have been problematic to say the least. For example, the meme here on the right, with the text that says, “Hell Hath No Fury Like 167 Million Scorned Women Heading to the Polls.”
While I get the sentiment behind the meme, it is problematic in numerous ways. First, meme says there are 167 million women in the United States, which is a bit misleading. It is true that based on the 2022 US Census, there are just over 332 million people in the US, so 167 million is roughly half. However, this is a census of all people, not of all adult women who are of voting age.
In 2020, the eligible voting population in the US was 257,605,088, with roughly 128 million women eligible to vote. Thus, the 167 Million scorned women number if just not accurate. In fact, it is nearly 40 million off.
Second, the meme makes the assumption that all eligible women will vote for abortion access, meaning that all 128 million women of voting age will vote for candidates that support reproductive justice, or as in the case of Michigan, will vote for Proposal 3. Such a notion is not rooted in historical fact. If we look at what percentage of women voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, and Trump was clearly in the anti-abortion camp, then why did 44% of women vote for Trump?
Third, if we look at the racial component when talking about women scorned, then we have to come to terms with the fact that in 2020, 55% of White women voted for Trump. Let’s say that again, 55% of White women voted for Trump.
Another component of this dynamic is that BIPOC women have not been the face the renewed reproductive justice movement, at least not when it comes to how it is being reported on and how mainstream women’s groups and Democrats have been presenting the whole Roevember election. This is problematic, especially since we know that regressive and repressive abortion laws overwhelmingly impact BIPOC cisgendered women, along with some non-binary people, some intersex people, some Two Spirit people, and some trans men. However, this kind of language hasn’t been normalized within the mainstream women’s organizations nor the Democratic Party when it comes to talking about abortion rights.
If we are going to have these sorts of conversations, it is critical that the information, the talking points, etc, about abortion rights/access, is not only accurate, but that it is inclusive. We also need to come to terms with the fact that a high number of White women are voting against abortion rights/access. In fact, this last point should be an issue that we seriously grabble with, before we create campaigns, talking points and memes about abortion rights/access, especially with the upcoming election in November.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 