Why the Hell is Columbus Day still being celebrated? Settler Colonialism and ongoing Indigenous Resistance – Part II
“And the Biden administration is just sitting by and watching it happen. I mean, I’m watching river after river get frac-outs on them in northern Minnesota. These are pristine river systems. You know, I’m watching things get destroyed as Enbridge ravages through our country. And then I’m watching hundreds of people get arrested trying to protect our water and to stop the climate disaster that Enbridge’s Line 3 represents.”
Winona LaDuke on Democracy Now 7/23/2021
In Part I we looked a bit at the historical legacy of Settler Colonialism, particularly in West Michigan. In Part II, we will explore issues around contemporary Settler Colonialism, specifically oil pipelines, Climate Justice, the disappearance & murder of Indigenous women/girls, and the brutal legacy of so-called Boarding Schools.
Confronting the Black Snake
The real resistance to all the fossil fuel pipelines (what Native people refer to as the Black Snake) that are happening in North America, is being led by Indigenous communities and organizers. What we saw at Standing Rock, what we are seeing by the Wet’suwet’en Nation territory, and the Indigenous-led resistance to Enbridge pipelines in Minnesota (Line 3) and Michigan (Line 5) are the result of people having a direct relationship with the land that is being threatened by extractivist practices and multinational corporations.
For those of us who are white, we need to 1) follow the lead of Indigenous communities when it comes to pipeline projects that directly impact their ancestral lands, and 2) we need to fully support – with financial contributions, with education/awareness, and by participating in direct action campaigns – to shut down any and all fossil fuel pipeline projects.
In a recent report entitled, Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon, it states:
Indigenous resistance has stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one-quarter of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.
This is the meaningful and concrete types of resistance that we need to support, because it actually is making a difference. For white people, we need to stop wasting our time appealing to politicians and to support Indigenous-led campaigns opposing pipelines.
As we said early, much of this resistance has to do with Indigenous peoples relationship to the land. This gets back to our Part I posting, which talks about Settler Colonialism.
What Indigenous people are saying and writing about, is one simple fact. Decolonization of Indigenous lands is essential to the future of humanity. The authors of the book, The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth, make it clear that decolonization of Indigenous lands is a major part of future of Climate Justice. If white people are serious about fighting for Climate Justice, then we have to see that decolonization of Indigenous lands is absolutely necessary in that fight. And it must be stated that the current New Green Deal proposal does NOT include the decolonization of Indigenous land. As white people, we need to demand the decolonization of Indigenous land if we are serious about Climate Justice. See the GRIID interview with Joe Cadreau, a local Indigenous activist who was part of the resistance to Line 3.
Another major issue that plagues Indigenous people in this hemisphere, is the disappearance and murder of Indigenous women & girls. The U.S Department of Justice found that American Indian women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average. These are alarming numbers, but Indigenous people are not content with leaving the data up to Settler Colonial entities like the DOJ. In fact, the group Data for Indigenous Justice states:
Our most important value is to do this work in a good way with and for our community. Our goal is to be self-determined and have sovereignty over our MMIWGS2 data in order to inform research, policy and systemic change at local, state, and federal levels and in solidarity with all Indigenous peoples. We are doing what we know is needed to strategically create change. Decolonizing data is having sovereignty over our own data. We are utilizing our data as a resource for true systemic change led by Indigenous people. We seek justice on every front.
It is instructive to note that one significant aspect of the assault and murder of Indigenous women/girls, is the relationship between fossil fuel pipeline workers and the violence against Indigenous women. An article in The Guardian from this past June states:
“Before Minnesota approved the pipeline, violence prevention advocates warned state officials of the proven link between employees working in extractive industries and increased sexual violence. Now their warnings have come true: two Line 3 contract workers were charged in a sex-trafficking sting, and crisis centers told the Guardian they are responding to reports of harassment and assault by Line 3 workers. Johnson said VIP, a crisis center for survivors of violence, has received more than 40 reports about Line 3 workers harassing and assaulting women and girls who live in north-western Minnesota.”
The Indigenous-led resistance to Line 3 in Minnesota had documented this fact a few months before The Guardian, even including an Enbridge document that demonstrates the Canadian Corporation’s anticipation in pipeline workers assaulting Indigenous women, stating:
The assaults and reports of harassment were described in a request for reimbursement from Enbridge’s public safety fund, submitted last month by the anti-violence and anti-human trafficking nonprofit Violence Intervention Project. State permits for pipeline construction stipulated that Enbridge had to create the fund to cover some law enforcement costs and anti-human trafficking efforts associated with the project.
Just as corporations consider environmental degradation a form of collateral damage, the brutalization of Indigenous women is anticipated and expected while corporations engage in “resource extraction.”
For those of us who are white, we need to condemn the relationship to extractivism and the brutalization of Indigenous women/girls, then support whatever demands the Indigenous community has around this issue.
Boarding Schools as Genocide
When people think of genocide, they often think it means the outright slaughter of a group of people. While this does constitute genocide, there are numerous other things that can result in genocide. According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The history of so-called Boarding Schools in the US and Canada was fundamentally about forcibly transferring Indigenous children to government run or christian schools. In other words, it was a form of genocide.
Governments and Christian churches are now scrambling in the face of newly uncovered evidence of the common practice of murdering Indigenous children while attending so-called Boarding Schools. In the fact of this, the Indigenous community is exposing and pressuring these institutions for the role or their complicity in such crimes, as was highlighted in the action that the local Indigenous community organized in 2021 to confront the role of the Catholic Church in Grand Rapids.
Unfortunately, the Missing & Murdered Indigenous People rally that was held in Grand Rapids in 2022, was less confrontational and even featured a Grand Rapids City Commissioner at their event. See our interview with two Indigenous activists responding to that event.
So what do White people do in this case? Again, we need to follow the lead of Indigenous communities and provide whatever support they are asking of us. In addition, we need to be challenging Christian Churches to come clean with their role in the history of so-called Boarding Schools, allow Indigenous people access to documentation and spaces where so-called Boarding Schools existed, pay reparations and put an end to any ongoing Christian-run schools for Indigenous children.
Lastly, if those of us who are White, are going to engage in this kind of work, then it is important for us to always grapple with our own privilege. An excellent resource for White people to read on this theme, is an Indigenous-created zine entitled, Accomplices Not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex. This resource should be required reading, along with the fact that we, as White people, should always center the voices of Indigenous people and follow their lead when it comes to matters of doing anti-Settler Colonialism work.
Why the Hell is Columbus Day still being celebrated? Settler Colonialism and ongoing Indigenous Resistance – Part I
As Native American peoples in this red quarter of Mother Earth, we have no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused the demise of so many of our people, and is still causing destruction today.”
Suzan Shown Harjo – Creek & Cheyenne
Why in the world is Columbus Day still being celebrated throughout the Americas? Celebrating Columbus Day in the Americas would be like Europeans celebrating Joseph Goebbels Day. Both Columbus and Goebbels were given orders to implement policies and take action to improve the economic condition of their respective countries and to expand their land base.
For decades in Latin America, there have been organized efforts to do away with Columbus Day, whether through pressuring governments to direct action like dismantling statues of Columbus and his accomplices. In 1992, I was in Guatemala doing accompaniment work and was asked to attend the Hemispheric Indigenous gathering against 500 years of Genocide & Slavery, which was held in Quetzaltenago, Guatemala. There were Indigenous people First Nations all throughout the Americas at that gathering, with the primary goal of building collective Indigenous power and to dismantle Settler Colonialism throughout the hemisphere. This was 30 years ago.
Today, the US government still recognizes Columbus Day as a federal holiday and has not replaced it with Indigenous People’s Day. Federal employees and many state and local employees will get the day off because the federal government still designates today as Columbus Day.
Last year the Biden Administration released a proclamation on behalf of Indigenous Peoples Day, but it is a weak and patronizing statement that does little in terms of Tribal Sovereignty and fails to acknowledge the historical and ongoing Settler Colonialism that the US government practices and benefits from.
Releasing proclamations is a meaningless gesture, when Sovereign Native nations are demanding things like an end to oil pipelines, the end to the murder and disappearance of Indigenous women/girls, along with justice & reparations for the horrendous history of so-called US Boarding Schools.
Challenging the legitimacy of Columbus Day is an important anti-racist act, but it must be seen in the larger context of challenging White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism.
It is increasingly imperative that we come to terms with the function that Columbus played in the European conquest/colonization of the what we now call the Americas. Columbus was commissioned by the Spanish Crown and sanctioned by Catholic Church (through a 1493 Papal Bull) to conquer new lands and extract resources to benefit Spain. Therefore, Columbus not only is the primary symbol of the 500 years of genocide and slavery that has plague the western hemisphere, he is the symbol of political, religious, social and cultural imperialism that continues to the present by a White Supremacist system of Capitalism.
Grand Rapids was founded on Settler Colonialism – As a foundational framework, it is vital that we come to terms with the fact that Grand Rapids, like virtually all US cities were founded on what Native scholar Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz calls Settler Colonialism. Settler Colonialism in West Michigan is the result of a larger White Supremacist strategy that included legal means (treaties), forced relocation, spiritual violence (role of churches) and cultural imperialism, most radically seen with the policy of putting Native children in boarding schools with the goal of, “Killing the Indian, Saving the Man.”
We know that hundreds of Native children from the Three Fires Nations were taken and put into boarding schools by settler colonialists, many of which were run by christians. In these instances Native children were denied the right to speak their own languages and practice their own spiritual traditions. Most of the removal of Native children from their communities happened in the later part of the 19th Century and first half of the 20th Century.
However, on the matter of christian missions attempting to make converts of Native communities in the 1820s and 1830s along the Grand River, it is less clear on whether or not this could be defined as a form of genocide. How much free will did Native people have on choosing another religion? Was the adoption of christian beliefs a form of assimilation into the dominant culture and was it tied to larger socio-economic issues like food and land?
It should come as no surprise that right after the 1821 Treaty of Chicago was signed, the first christian missions came to what is now West Michigan. The Baptist Church established a mission in 1824, under the leadership of Isaac McCoy, and Catholic missions were begun in 1833 by Fr. Frederic Baraga.
One of the things that lured missionaries to the area after the signing of the Treaty of Chicago, was a provision in the treaty which allowed funds for people to work as teachers of blacksmiths amongst the Native people along the Grand River. The government treaty called this, the “civilization fund,” a phrase that underscores the settler colonial mentality.
Isaac McCoy first arrived in 1823, only to discover: “Many Odawa were drinking and few responded to his call for a council. After some inquiries McCoy learned that the majority regarded the 1821 treaty as fraudulent and viewed his visit as an attempt to trick them into ratifying it.” (pg. 7, from Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Its People of Faith)
Such a statement reflects not only that the Native people along the Grand were not in support of the government imposed treaty, but that many Natives were negatively impacted by alcohol. Alcohol was introduced by French fur traders, particularly Louis Campau and should be seen as another tool used by settler colonialism to control Native people.
McCoy, however, was not deterred from his initial observations and continued to use all means at his disposal to “win over” the hearts and minds of Native people. In 1826, McCoy set up the Thomas Mission on the westside of the Grand River. McCoy’s greatest contribution during his time along the Grand River was his relationship with Native leader Nawequageezhig, whom the white settlers call Noonday.
Noonday was one of the few Native leaders who signed the 1821 Treaty of Chicago and was viewed by many as a traitor or collaborator with the settler colonialists. Noonday went as far as to be baptized by McCoy’s successor, Rev. Leonard Slater in the summer of 1827. Another Native leader in the area, Kewwaycooshcum, also known as Blackskin, did not sign the 1821 treaty, but did develop a relationship with the catholics through his connection to Campau. It is hard to know from the limited documentation of that time, whether or not the Native people were using the tensions between the various christian factions to their benefit or if the christian were using Native compliance with the government as a means to an end. One gets a sense of the christian rivalry in a comment from Fr. Baraga, who said, “Mary, to who it is given to root out all heresies of the world……to destroy the false [Protestant} teachings with which some of the poor Indians were already infected, and suffer on His gospel to reign everywhere.” (pg. 12, from Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Its People of Faith)
However, whatever tensions existed, they were most useful in pushing Native people out of the area as more white settlers colonialists came to the area. This increase in settler colonialists, along with greater desire for land and settler colonial expansion, resulted in a new treaty being drawn up, the Treaty of Washington in 1836. This treaty turned over an additional 13,837,207 acres of land to settler colonialism’s expansionist desires.
It seems that all along, the goal with relations of Native people along the Grand were to take the rest of their land. Whether or not there was direct complicity with the early christian missions to this land takeover is not relevant, the fact remains that they did nothing to resist such an effort.
The end of chapter one from Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Its People of Faith, states of the fate of Native people in West Michigan:
Keeping title proved difficult, however, as fraud, inexperience, and incompatibility of family farming with tribal tradition took their toll.
It indeed took its toll, but the authors of Gathered at the River do not call it land theft or settler colonialism or even acknowledge the role that early missions played here in the ongoing genocidal policies of US expansionism. The plight of Native people is not addressed in the rest of the book, which simply goes on to celebrate the history of christian churches in Grand Rapids. However, it seems apparent to this writer that the history of christianity in West Michigan is founded on genocide and settler colonialism.
In Part II, we will explore issues around contemporary Settler Colonialism, specifically oil pipelines, Climate Justice, the disappearance & murder of Indigenous women/girls, and the brutal legacy of so-called Boarding Schools and what Indigenous people are doing about these issues in the Grand Rapids area.
Some Resources:
The Canary Effect (film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD7x6jryoSA
An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, by Winona LaDuke
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, by Gord Hill
Custer Died for Your Sins, by Vine Deloria Jr.
A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present, by Ward Churchill
This is the sixth 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 Grand Rapids chapter of Right to Life. The Grand Rapids Right to Life is the main boots on the ground anti-abortion organization in Grand Rapids. This organization provides mis-education resources, a speakers bureau, does a great deal of work with churches and targets youth to recruit them into their hatred for bodily autonomy.
The Grand Rapids Right to Life group sends people to harass and intimidate those who go to clinics and are seeking an abortion, plus they harass and intimidate those who are there to defend reproductive justice. The GR Right to Life group also sends people to Lansing and Washington, DC on an annual basis to participate in marches and to pressure legislators to criminalize abortion.
In addition, GR Right to Life produces a newsletter that goes out to thousands of households, and they have a Facebook page, a twitter and instagram account, along with a YouTube channel, all of which are weapons they use to spread propaganda and misinformation.
The Grand Rapids Right to Life is also the recipient of money from thousands of families in the Grand Rapids area, including some of the families we have highlighted in previous Wanted posters.
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 Grand Rapids Right to Life. Their headquarters are located at 2340 Porter Street SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49519. It would be a great place for an action!
On Wednesday, MLive posted a story entitled, Grand Rapids wedding venue owners who say they won’t host LGBTQ marriage events get civil infraction.
Apparently, the City of Grand Rapids has decided that the refusal by the owners to serve the LGBTQ community is a violation of the City’s Human Rights Ordinance.
The lawyer defending the couple responded to this decision from the City of Grand Rapids, by stating, “We’re going to vigorously oppose this. They’re totally unspecific here of what it is they’re claiming my client did, but the bottom line is we’re going to oppose any claim we committed any wrong here. Obviously, based on their First Amendment rights, that trumps any ordinance (claiming) discrimination here.”
The lawyer representing the wedding venue couple, is David Kallman, with the Kallman Legal Group, something the MLive article failed to mention. In fact, this was not the only omission on the part of MLive, when it came to Kallman, a lawyer who has a history of representing and supporting far right organizations and issues throughout Michigan.
If MLive were to scratch the surface a bit more on who David Kallman is, they would not have to look very hard to find out that he is one of the preferred lawyers for those in the far right camp. For instance, this is not the first time that Kallman has defended people or organizations that are anti-LGBTQ.
David Kallman is also legal counsel for the Great Lakes Justice Center, which has a long history of defending religious groups that are anti-LGBTQ. GRIID wrote about the Great Lakes Justice Center in 2020, when they sued Gov. Whitmer for the Stay at Home orders. At that time we wrote:
The Great Lakes Justice Center, which filed the lawsuit, has a long history of defending religious groups that actively discriminate against the LGBTQ community. A Lansing-based news source, City Pulse, reported on one example and the ACLU has documented other cases against the Great Lakes Justice Center. The Great Lakes Justice Center is part of group Salt & Light Global, which was founded by William Wagner. Salt & Light Global embraces a far right political and religious worldview. The “Resources” section on their homepage is a who’s who of far right religious groups, including the Federalist Society, Hillsdale College, Wall Builders, the Discovery Institute and the Acton Institute.
Kallman has represented numerous businesses that sought to challenge the Stay at Home orders that were put in place as a response to the COVID 19 pandemic, beginning in late March of 2020, cases that are sourced here.
In The Center Square article sourced in the previous paragraph, Kallman is standing with a business owner in front of a backdrop put up by the group Stand Up Michigan. Stand Up Michigan has been a group that came into being in response to the COVID 19 pandemic and believes that, “COVID was weaponized to rip away our constitutional liberties, close our businesses and fundamentally alter our psyches.”
Some of the leadership of Stand Up Michigan host a podcast known as Live with Stand Up Michigan. Here is a sample of one of their shows where David Kallman was the guest.
The last important piece of background information on David Kallman, the lawyer defending the couple who refuse to serve members of the LGBTQ community at their wedding venue, is the issue of abortion. MLive should have easily picked up on this matter and included it in their story about the wedding venue, especially since MLive posted a story about the fact that David Kallman was representing two Republican County Prosecutors in Michigan regarding the 1931 Abortion Ban law that the courts have said are not enforceable. An MLive article from August 16 states:
Oakland County Circuit Judge Jacob Cunningham quashed the subpoena and David Kallman, a Lansing lawyer representing prosecutors Jerard Jarzynka of Jackson County and Christopher Becker of Kent County, appealed to the higher court. Becker and Jarzynka previously said they would charge providers under the law, which makes procuring a miscarriage illegal except to save a mother’s life.
The fact that Kallman is representing Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, should have been included in this article about the couple who is refusing to allow LGBTQ people from using their wedding venue on religious grounds, not just because Becker is the Kent County Prosecutor, but because the abortion issue is such a critical issue in Michigan right now.
While we have come to recognize that MLive often falls short of providing more robust coverage on the critical issues of the day, that standard should not be tolerated. It is unacceptable for news agencies to not inform the public about a lawyer who has a long history of defending individuals and organizations that embrace far right politics, a politics that not only does real harm to people, it threatens public health.
New Documentary takes on Militarism, Heteronormativity and White Supremacy: Behind the Shield: The Power and Politics of the NFL
Editors note: Behind the Shield: The Power and Politics of the NFL is a must see documentary that you can watch for free until October 15th. Just go to this link to watch.
There was a time when I thought that watching sports or discussing sports was a waste of time. As I matured in my political thought and continued to read people like Dave Zirin, I came to realize that sports was no different than any other institution when it came to where people can resist White Supremacy, militarism, homophobia, Capitalism and gender discrimination.
Zirin has written numerous books on politics and sports, such as a People’s History of Sports in the United States: 250 Years of Politics, Protest, People, and Play, or The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World. In addition, Zirin has produced several documentaries over the years, specifically through the Media Education Foundation. I was excited to see his posts on social media about Behind the Shield: The Power and Politics of the NFL, so much so that I felt it was important to do a post on GRIID about this important work.
Ten years ago, I did an interview with Dave Zirin and great Dr. John Carlos, who was one of those trailblazing athletes that used his platform to make a powerful statement about sports and politics. These two men were speaking at GVSU about their new book, The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World.
After watching Behind the Shield, I was blown away. The film is not only well done, but it provides a powerful deconstruction of one of the most beloved institutions in American culture, the game of football.
This documentary provides some insight into the evolution of the game, particularly the push to use the game to make men tougher at the beginning of the 20th Century. The forces in society that want to maintain systems of power and oppression, like patriarchy, are always pushing back against efforts to create a more justice and equitable society. The push to make football a sport to toughen up men, was a direct response to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, which was not only organizing to win the right to vote for women, this movement sought to dismantle male domination is all of its forms.
As was already mentioned, Behind the Shield deals with the economic power of owners and other class dynamics, along with heteronormativity, and militarism, which began during the US domestic opposition to the war in Vietnam, but escalated after 9/11 and the US War on Terror. However, the other major theme in this film is how deeply entrenched White Supremacy is within the game and how the game amplifies structural racism based on the response by owners, the league, the news media and the fans alike.
The film takes a close look at the league and public responses to Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the National Anthem. Kaepernick’s decision was based on his desire to challenge business as usual around the increasing number of Black people who were being killed by cops. Kaepernick was punished for such defiance, but his actions exposed how deeply racist the American culture is. However, Zirin argues that Kaepernick’s protest was vindicated when millions took to the streets in 2020, after the police murdered George Floyd.
Behind the Shield is a film that is about the power of resistance, and it is a film about how sports have always been space where systems of oppression meet the struggle for justice. This film is intersectional and engaging. Watch it Now, while if is free, or join an effort to organize a public screening to further this important public conversation.
Massive corporate welfare package in Michigan, supported by both Republicans and Democrats
Last week, the Michigan Legislature voted to approve $846.1 Million to “attract new business.”
The Strategic Outreach and Attraction (SOAR) Fund passed in the Michigan Senate by a vote of 25 – 8 and in the House 76 – 28, thus demonstrating once again that when it comes to economic policies both the Republicans and Democrats embrace NeoLiberal Capitalism (Gov. Whitmer signed off on these funds on October 4th). To be more specific, in this case, the majority of the $846.1 Million will go to a number of corporations, which means that the State of Michigan voted to give massive subsidies/welfare to corporations.
Maybe the best story written about this vote, came from The Bridge Magazine. When I say the best, I mean that The Bridge did publish how the Michigan Legislature voted, along with some information about which corporations will benefit from the $846.1 Million of public money.
The Bridge article cites a few politicians, but they primarily cite Business Associations, such as the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Citizen Research Council of Michigan (which is essentially made up of corporate representation who are technically citizens), and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (also dominated by representatives of political and economic systems of power).
There was one dissenting voice from the non-corporate world, Fund MI Future, which is a coalition of labor, environmental and social justice groups. The Fund MI Future spokesperson was quoted as saying, “Lawmakers continue to send hundreds of millions of dollars to wealthy corporations without ensuring layoffs aren’t right around the corner.”
This comment from Fund MI Future, while important in a reformist way, essentially condones and embraces this form of State Capitalism, which essentially turns public money over to the corporate world. The problem with this position, is that it doesn’t address a more fundamental dynamic of why the public should be providing massive subsidies to corporations in the first place. In addition, it ignores the fact that the public had no say in how their money is being spent. However, the previous quote from the Fund MI Future coalition is not that surprising, considering that it is really made up of mainstream NGOs, who rarely, if ever, question the function of Capitalism in Michigan.
Lastly, it is worth mentioning that the bi-partisan support from the $846.1 Million package – mostly corporate welfare – was supported by Democrats from West Michigan, including Senator Winnie Brinks and Representatives David LaGrand and Rachel Hood.
A critical look at the DeVos Family Foundation $1 Million contribution for hurricane relief: What the MLive story doesn’t tell you
On Friday, MLive posted a story with the headline, DeVos Family Foundation donates $1 million to Florida hurricane relief.
The article is based solely on a Press Release from the DeVos Family Foundation, with talking points about the amount of money being donated and how it will be spent. According to the MLive article/DeVos Family Foundation Press Release, $500,00 will be donated to the United Way Hurricane Relief Fund, another $250,000 will go to the statewide Florida Disaster Fund touted by Casey DeSantis, wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and the remaining $250,000 will be reserved for future rebuilding efforts as needs come to light.
It is rather unfortunate, although completely expected, that MLive (and most commercial media sources) do not provide additional information, sources or a critical examination when the most powerful family in West Michigan makes a charitable contribution. There are several angels to this story, beyond acting as a stenographer for the DeVos family, where any serious journalist might take this story. First, there could have been a more serious look at the Florida connection for the DeVos family. Second, MLive, or any other news source that relied on the DeVos Family Foundation Press Release, could have provided a link to the entire Press Release, then look at how other news sources used the talking points provided in the Press Release. Third, there could have been a more critical look at how the $1 million contribution was being spent. Lastly, why are journalists not asking the question, why is this even a news story?
The DeVos/Florida connection
The DeVos family doesn’t make philanthropic contributions for no good reason. The most powerful family in West Michigan always uses their money in very calculated ways, even strategic. It is no surprise that the family would contribute $1 million to the Florida for post-hurricane needs. The DeVos family owns numerous homes in Florida and spends a great deal of time there. They fly to Florida on a regular basis in their private planes when staying at their Florida homes. In addition, the DeVos family has owned the Orlando Magic for several decades now, which means they also have a major financial interest in Florida, particularly in Orlando. Then there is the issue of influencing political outcomes in Florida. For example, the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation donated $100,000 to the Florida4Marriage campaign in 2008, to defeat a campaign to get marriage equality in Florida. A more recent example has to do with the fact that the DeVos family has collectively contributed nearly a half a million to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, beginning in the 2018 campaign and in the current election cycle.
DeVos Family Foundation Press Release talking points
There are no online links to the Press Release that the DeVos family sent out to generate the hoped for positive news coverage they expected, but in looking at other news sources, we can find additional talking points.
The online site for the National Basketball Association, nba.com, also posted a story about the DeVos Family Foundation’s $1 million contribution. Some of the same talking points are used in their story as compared to the MLive article. However, there were some additional talking points worth including here from the NBA’s website:
The DeVos family has a long history of helping out in times of need in Central Florida.
- In 2004, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Charley, Richard and Helen DeVos donated $1 million to relief efforts in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Volusia and Polk Counties.
- In 2020, they backed a $2 million compensation fund for hourly employees of the Magic, Amway Center, Lakeland Magic and Solar Bears while their seasons were suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak, assisting approximately 1,800 part-time employees.
- In 2016, they contributed $400,000 to the One Orlando Fund following the tragedy at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Naturally, the DeVos family wants to demonstrate their generosity with such Press Releases, as is evidenced in the information included in the NBA.com article. Again, there is no critical assessment of these charitable contributions. For instance, there is another way of looking at the $400,000 contribution in the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse Night Club shooting. GRIID wrote a piece after that anti-LGBTQ shooting took place, making the point that the DeVos family had fostered an anti-LGBTQ climate in Florida for decades, working with groups like Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and Dr. James Kennedy.
How the $1 million DeVos donation will be spent?
A third direction the reporting could have gone, would have been to look more critically at where the $1 million from the DeVos Family Foundation was being used. As was already mentioned, $500,000 was going to the United Way, but the other funds are less clear. $250,000 will go to the Florida Disaster Fund touted by Casey DeSantis, wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It is less clear how that $250,000 will be spent, plus it should be noted that the organizational chart for this fund is under the control of Governor DeSantis.
The other $250,000 will be reserved for future rebuilding efforts as needs come to light. Also, a rather vague statement. However, it is possible to think about how those funds might be used, based on the actions of various DeVos family members have used disaster relief funds over the years, in what Naomi Klein refers to as Disaster Capitalism.
Disaster Capitalism is a way for members of the Capitalist Class to use disasters to re-direct funding, often public funding, to support projects that ultimately benefit the bottom line of families like the DeVos family. In a 2017 article for The Guardian Naomi Klein wrote about Disaster Capitalism and Hurricane Katrina:
What I saw during the flooding shocked me. But what I saw in the aftermath of Katrina shocked me even more. With the city reeling, and with its residents dispersed across the country and unable to protect their own interests, a plan emerged to ram through a pro-corporate wishlist with maximum velocity. The famed free-market economist Milton Friedman, then 93 years old, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal stating, “Most New Orleans schools are in ruins, as are the homes of the children who have attended them. The children are now scattered all over the country. This is a tragedy. It is also an opportunity to radically reform the educational system.”
We know that the DeVos family, particularly Betsy DeVos, has made it a mission to undermine the Public Education system in the US. Using disasters is an effective way to push this agenda. Betsy DeVos did the same thing while she was Secretary of Education, during the 2017 Hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico. GRIID wrote about the role that Betsy DeVos played in that catastrophe and how she used it to push her privatized education agenda.
Why is the DeVos Family Foundation contribution even news?
We know that there are lots of people who have donated to the Florida hurricane relief, even some from West Michigan who have traveled there to assist those most impacted. So, why does $1 million from the DeVos Family Foundation merit news coverage? $1 million is no small amount, at least to most of us, but it is a drop in the bucket for the DeVos family. The DeVos family is collectively worth billions, so making a $1 million dollar donation is like most people contributing $20, especially when we consider what percent $20 is to the total income of say someone who makes $40,000 a year. In addition, while a $20 contribution is also tax deductible, it is different than the $1 million contribution from the DeVos Family Foundation. Wealthy people who have created foundations, create them in order to avoid paying taxes on large sums of money that are put into the foundation’s coffers.
Lastly, it is news precisely because the DeVos Family Foundation and all of their other foundations are a well oiled public relations machine, which makes it a point to tell the rest of the world how “generous” they are. As we mentioned earlier, these donations or contributions from the DeVos family are strategic and calculated, specifically to make them look good, but also because if they control the narrative through their Press Releases, then they can avoid or minimize public scrutiny.
Grand Rapids City Commission Candidates: Business as usual or collective action to radically transform this community?
Like we did for the State Senate, State House and Kent County Commission races in the August Primary Election, we want to look at the candidates for the 3 wards in Grand Rapids.
In those previous races, I made it clear that as someone who embraces an anarchist politics, I believe that elected officials need to respond to the current social movements in Grand Rapids and not allow those with deep pockets or those who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and dictate the future of this city.
In recent years there have been numerous social movements that have made known their demands and have been doing their own autonomous organizing work, along with participating in Mutual Aid projects. Some of the social movements are well known, working on issues that challenge systems of power and oppression, such as the Justice4Patrick Movement, which has been connected to Defund the GRPD, which is made up of a coalition of groups – the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, Together We Are Safe, Movimiento Cosecha GR, GR Rapid Response to ICE and the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union.
These social movements have been working on challenging structural racism in Grand Rapids, such as the disproportionate number of GRPD cops who patrol, surveil, harass and intimidate BIPOC communities in this city. There are also groups working on fighting for housing justice, the lack of truly affordable housing in Grand Rapids, the role of gentrification throughout the city, and how the City of Grand Rapids, using the GRPD, deals with the unhoused population. The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union is one resource that works with tenants to fight for housing justice.
There are also groups/movements working on immigrant justice, confronting the cops and other state violence actors in targeting undocumented immigrants and the intense monitoring by the GRPD of immigrant led groups.
The Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network (GRAMAN) has been an amazing response to providing mutual aid to people most impacted by the COVID pandemic, redistributing wealth and centering the needs of BIPOC residents. There are also lots of more informal mutual aid work being done in Grand Rapids, which operates outside of the non-profit industrial complex, which often polices those seeking support.
These are only some of the movements that have caught the attention of those in power, which have regularly engaged in efforts to discredit these autonomous groups, along with using state violence workers (cops) to undermine, threaten and repress those working for structural change.
It is in this context that we encourage people to look at the six candidates running for the three ward seats. There are two incumbents, Kurt Reppart and Joe Jones, plus four new candidates. Below are links to their campaign websites, along with Facebook pages. Check out where they stand on issues, their list of endorsements and how much they center those who are most marginalized in Grand Rapids. Here are questions that we would ask.
- Do these candidates support the demands to defund the GRPD, to redistribute funds that would normally go to the cops and make sure it gets into the hands of families and communities that are the most marginalized
- According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, people in Grand Rapids need to earn a minimum of $20.02 an hour to afford a two bedroom apartment in this city. Do candidates support a baseline income of $25 an hour, which would be more of a living wage for people.
- While the Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) is presented as an experiment, do candidates support allowing residents to have an ongoing say in the way that their tax dollars are used in the city. The current PBP funds allocated are $2 million, which are funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The 2023 Grand Rapids City Budget is $598 Million, thus $2 million is really next to nothing. Imagine how residents might prioritize how their tax dollars get spent, especially if there was a much larger percentage of the budget allocated for participatory budgeting?
- Where do candidates stand on matters of those with deep pockets dictating development projects in Grand Rapids? Do we really need a soccer stadium, which will use considerable public funds, and end up increasing the profits of those in the private sector? Do candidates support creating committees that are made up of those most marginalized, instead of always appointing the so-called stakeholders to influence outcomes?
- Do candidates support real climate justice policies and practices, like limiting the use of fossil fuels, make mass transit the primary source of transportation, make food growing central to land use, or see water as sacred and not a resource?
- Do candidates support the dismantling of Structural Racism, which currently means that BIPOC people disproportionately experience poverty, mass incarceration, unemployment/underemployment? Do candidates support reparations, non-cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in this city, and and end to Settler Colonial practices against the Anishinaabe/Indigenous people?
These are just a few of the larger issues that this city is confronted with, issues that have been made public by various groups and social movements in recent years. In the last week before the election, we will be posting information based on campaign finances, to see which organizations and which members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure will influence the outcome.
1st Ward
Kurt Reppart
https://www.facebook.com/Kurt1stWard
Drew Robbins
https://www.drewrobbinsforgr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/drewrobbinsforgr/
GRPOA and GR Chamber endorsements
2nd Ward
Lisa Knight
https://www.facebook.com/Committeetoelectlisaknight
Joe Jones
https://www.facebook.com/KeepJoeJones
https://keepjoejones.com/endorsements
3rd Ward
Kenneth Hoskins
https://www.facebook.com/electrevken
Kelsey Perdue
Wanted for funding the criminalization of Abortion: The Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese
This is the firth 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 Catholic Church, specifically the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese. The Catholic Church universally condemns abortion, but since we are looking at entities in West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese makes the most sense.
The Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, like all Catholic Churches, relies on a hierarchy, which dictates church beliefs and church policy. The Catholic Church has long insisted that having an abortion is a sin. The Catholic Church uses the institutional structure to also communicate messaging around abortion, whether that is from the pulpit, in newsletters of public statements. In a statement after the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the head of the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese, Bishop Walkowiak wrote:
“The United States Supreme Court’s decision moves America one step closer to protecting human life from its earliest stages of existence. The Catholic Church remains committed to helping women and couples who are facing unexpected or difficult pregnancies. For every pregnant woman who may be unsure of what is next, the Catholic Church is here. We will continue to accompany and care for women in need of emotional, spiritual, or physical support and their child(ren), born and unborn. Support is available through Catholic Churches as well as other local organizations.”
In the November Elections, people will be able to vote on the issue of abortion, with Proposal 3. In response to this, Bishop Walkowiak wrote a column in the Catholic Diocese magazine Faith, stating:
All people should oppose this proposed amendment. I urge you to go to the polls to vote “NO” on the “Reproductive Freedom for All” constitutional ballot proposal in November.
Such advocacy is nothing new. In 2019, the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese worked with the Michigan Catholic Conference, in order to provide information on HB 4320. The Grand Rapids Catholic Church provided opportunities for parishioners to sign petitions in support of what they referred to as “partial-birth abortion and dismemberment abortion ban act,” in July of 2019. You can read a letter that Bishop Walkowiak wrote, a letter that appeared in Church bulletin all across the Diocese.
In addition, the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese has a Respect Life Ministry, which provides education, resources and other support systems to promote an anti-abortion agenda.
The Catholic Church is arguably the most powerful religious institution on the planet, so we should not be surprised that Roe v. Wade was overturned and that the Catholic Church played a major role in the criminalization of abortion. The Catholic Church can encourage their members on how to vote and to make campaign contributions to candidates that take an anti-abortion stance, thus wielding tremendous influence over public policy.
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 Grand Rapids Catholic Dioceses. Their headquarters are located on the corner of Wealthy and Division in Grand Rapids, which could be one of the stops on the march for reproductive freedom.
No Detention Centers in Michigan demands that the Biden Administration not allow a Michigan prison to be used as an ICE Detention Center
There has been an interesting dynamic happening around immigration issues in the US, especially since the transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration. While there was a great deal of public outcry during the Trump years, immigration justice organizing has faded so far into the second year of the Biden administration.
Despite this trend, there is plenty of evidence that many of the same anti-immigrant policies that was zealously embraced during the Trump years, are being continued during the Biden administration. The main difference seems to be in the rhetoric, but not the actual policy. Here are a few examples of how the Biden administration has continued Trump’s immigration policies:
- Continuing to build the US/Mexican border wall
- US Border Patrol numbers are still high and their influence is expanding.
- Immigrants are dying at a high rate when crossing the US/Mexican Border.
- The Biden 2023 Budget maintains the same funding levels as the Trump administration for ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
- Over 1 Million Asylum seekers have been removed during the Biden administration.
- The Biden administration is using private detention centers for undocumented immigrants.
This last issue, the use of ICE Detention Centers, is making the news in Michigan again. According to a Press Release, “The No Detention Centers in Michigan coalition has recently sent a letter to President Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Senator Gary Peters calling for an end to the expansion of immigration detention and for the North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin to remain closed. This letter follows a recent proposal from Michigan Representatives Bill Huizenga and John Moolenaar to repurpose the facility as an ICE detention center.”
The No Detention Centers in Michigan coalition letter has over 50 groups that have signed on to the letter, which you can read at this link.
The letter seeks to pressure the Biden Administration to keep its promise not to renew contracts with private prisons. Executive Order 14006 instructed the Department of Justice not to renew contracts with private prisons. This is a central part of the No Detention Centers in Michigan coalition’s Press Release, which states:
North Lake, a private prison owned and managed by the Florida-based GEO Group, has closed and reopened multiple times since its construction in 1999. In its most recent incarnation, from October 2019 through September 2022, the facility contracted with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to hold non-U.S. citizens convicted of federal crimes.
In keeping with the history of immigrant-only prisons run by the GEO Group, this period of less than two years has seen numerous accounts of inhumane conditions, medical neglect, and violent mistreatment endemic to the immigration detention system. Six documented hunger strikes took place at North Lake over the course of 2020, primarily led by Black immigrants demanding medical care, better food, and an end to discriminatory confinement in the Restricted Housing Unit. In May 2020, more than 45 relatives and loved ones of people incarcerated at North Lake signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons, demanding increased transparency and a recognition of the GEO Group’s mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis.
The Biden administration issued an executive order in January 2021 purporting to end the federal government’s use of private prisons, setting the stage for the facility’s closure later this month. But immigrant advocates have pointed to a pattern of similar facilities ending their BOP contracts only to reopen as detention centers, while the number of immigrants held in ICE custody has continued to rise since President Biden took office, despite campaign promises to curtail detention. Eighty percent of the immigrants detained by ICE are held at facilities run by private companies. In June, Michigan Representatives Bill Huizenga and John Moolenaar publicly requested that North Lake be converted into a detention center.
“In calling for an ICE contract to bail out the GEO Group in Michigan yet again,” the letter from NDCM affirms, “Huizenga and Moolenaar seek to capitalize on the human misery caused by the organized abandonment and exploitation of working people both within the United States and beyond its borders. […] We refuse to let ICE and GEO expand their violence further into Michigan, and we call on the Biden administration to extend Executive Order 14006 to explicitly prohibit the use of private facilities for immigration detention as a first step toward phasing out all ICE detention.”
“This prison has already caused enormous suffering and has never fulfilled GEO’s promises to the people of Lake County,” said Oscar Castañeda, a member of No Detention Centers in Michigan. “Now the federal prison contract is finally ending, but we’ve seen that GEO will exploit any opportunity to make a profit. When it comes to the immigrant detention system, the Biden administration has not kept its word. We’re not going to let ICE expand here without a fight. We want to make sure that the loopholes allowing for the expansion of detention are closed and that this time, North Lake stays shut down for good.”
Pressuring the Biden administration on this matter is critical, especially since there has been less mainstream attention to immigration issues over the past two years. Just because a Democrat occupies the White House, it doesn’t mean that immigrant justice is being fulfilled.
If you want to communicate with No Detention Centers in Michigan, you can contact them via their Facebook page, which posts regular updates.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 