The Police continue to con churches and communities groups that they promote safety: Faith & Blue 2025 in West Michigan
Last year I wrote about the national event called Faith & Blue, where cops and churches partner on event. In my article from last year I wrote:
The Faith and Blue mission, “was launched to facilitate safer, stronger, more just and unified communities by directly enabling local partnerships among law enforcement professionals, residents, businesses and community groups through the connections of local faith-based organizations.” The partners involved in the Faith and Blue campaign are a few Christian groups, but mostly state, regional and national law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
We should see the Faith and Blue campaign simply as a desperate attempt by cops to win over public support and as an opportunity for some clergy to cash in on the funding that is being offered by such programs.
Last year there were several events in Grand Rapids, but this year there are at least 4 separate events across Kent County, which you can find at https://faithandblue.org/events/.
- Faith and Blue Basic Food Needs Drive in Grandville, hosted by the Grandville Police Department on October 11.
- Grand Rapids Police Department, West Grand Neighborhood Organization & Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church are hosting a community crime awareness and prevention fair on October 11th at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church.
- Blessing of the Badge event hosted by the Lowell Police Department. The event description says: During our morning service we will have a special time of prayer for law enforcement members. Following the service we will have refreshments and a time of informal interaction between law enforcement members and church community. The event takes place at Alton Bible Church.
- Pumpkins with Police is an event with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department, Graff Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram & Algoma Baptist Church in Roickford, MI. The event description says: JOIN US FOR A FREE FALL CELEBRATION WITH PUMPKIN DECORATING, TRUNK OR TREATING, CIDER & DONUTS, PHOTOBOOTH, COLORING CONTEST, AND MORE! EXPLORE A POLICE ARMORED VEHICLE, MEET A K9, AND TALK TO DEPUTIES. DRESS UP IN YOUR HALLOWEEN COSTUME AND BRING SOMETHING TO COLLECT CANDY IN!
The enforcers of state violence, the cops, have been scrambling for years, especially after the creation of the Movement for Black Lives, to present themselves as a social benefit.
The world is truly a strange and contradictory place, where you have pastors collaborating with cops with the intent of promoting community safety. The clear contradiction is in the clergy’s failure to understand the history of policing (See Kristian Williams’ book – Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America), along with the fact that cops have been disproportionately killing Black people at a very high rate.(See https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/)
If your church works with cops you should organize fellow members to put a stop to this sort of hypocrisy, or you could simply end your membership and while existing make a big stink about collaborating with state violence workers.
Why is Rep. Scholten celebrating a DeVos created charter school?
Recently, Rep. Hillary Scholten posted a picture of herself in front of the West Michigan Aviation Academy, which is located next to the Gerald R. Ford Airport.
The photo of Scholten in front of the DeVos created school is accompanied by these words:
“At a time when aviation professionals are needed more than ever, the West Michigan Aviation Academy is a huge asset to our community and our nation. It’s a launching pad for high schoolers interested in the aviation field, allowing them to SOAR to new heights. Always great to pay a visit to the students and instructors there!”
Some people might say that since Scholten is on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure she should meet with institutions that are connected to transportation. This would be nothing more than a weak apologetic argument that doesn’t reflect the real context in this case.
Dick DeVos created the West Michigan Aviation Academy in 2010. Dick and Betsy DeVos have been at the forefront of the anti-public education movement for more than four decades. They both embraced the Heritage Foundation’s effort to undermine the public school system, which began during the Reagan years.
In 2000, Betsy DeVos led a campaign to put the issue of school vouchers on the ballot in Michigan. That ballot initiative failed, but DeVos did not give up. Betsy made the decision to diversify the kind of tactics that the so-called School Choice movement would use in the years to come. These tactics included financially backing candidates at the state and federal level, candidates who would push for an anti-public education platform, creating new anti-public education front groups like the Great Lakes Education Project and attacking teacher unions across the country.
This is why it is so egregious for Rep. Scholten to engage in a photo op in front of the West Michigan Aviation Academy. Scholten knows exactly who runs and funds this school, which is the same family that has helped get Donald Trump and other Republicans like him elected to office locally, across Michigan and at the federal level.
Lastly, where was Rep. Scholten in recent weeks when the teachers from the Grand Rapids Public Schools were showing up in big numbers to demand better pay? Rep. Scholten didn’t show up for public school teachers in Grand Rapids, she chose to engage in a photo op at a charter school created by the DeVos family.
Community forum will share stories of how ICE is impacting the immigrant community, and an opportunity to discuss sanctuary policies in Grand Rapids
On Saturday, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are hosting an event entitled, How ICE does harm to families in Kent County: A Community Forum. The event description says:
This forum is specifically designed for two reasons. First, we want to create a safe space for people who have been impacted by the harm that ICE/La Migra has done in Kent County to talk about the fear they experience and the trauma of having family members abducted by ICE. In addition, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have invited Grand Rapids and Kent County Commissioners to attend, listen to what the affected community is experiencing, and to have a conversation about the sanctuary policies that have been presented to City and County Commissioners since the beginning of 2025.
Hearing from members of the affected community is vitally important, not only to know how people are being impacted by ICE repression, but these stories can also act as a catalyst to move people to want to become involved.
Movimiento Cosecha invited the Mayor of Grand Rapids, all 6 six City Commissioners, along with the 21 Kent County Commissioners, all of which would benefit from hearing stories of those most affected by ICE repression.
During the late July Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, several commissioners said that they were open to having a conversation about the sanctuary policies being put forth by Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE. However, some commissioners thought it was “unfortunate” that the immigrant justice activists didn’t stick around after the commission meeting to further the dialogue. I’m not sure if the commissioners were even paying attention, since after roughly 50 people urged the city to adopt the sanctuary policies Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE, the activist engaged in a disruptive action. The Mayor of Grand Rapids then instructed GRPD officers to arrest activists if they didn’t leave. Thus, the commissioner’s comments about people not sticking around had to do with the fact that they did not want to get arrested at that time.
In addition, Cosecha organizers did not want to have a conversation about sanctuary policies and ICE repression in Grand Rapids behind closed doors with specific commissioners. Cosecha’s approach to being in conversation with local elected officials is to invite them to a public forum where people can hear each other openly, rather than meeting behind closed doors, which limits accountability.
As a reminder, here are the sanctuary policies that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are wanting the City and the County to adopt:
- Policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants.
- Policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status.
- Policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law.
- Policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention;
- Policies preventing immigration detention centers from being established in Grand Rapids.
- A policy that will not allow the GRPD to share Flock camera images or any other information gathered by the city of Grand Rapids with ICE or any other law enforcement agency seeking to arrest, detain and deport immigrants.
These policies are vitally important, especially now when the $170 billion of addition funding for immigration enforcement is being spent throughout the country. These additional funds for ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies will mean more ICE agents and more resources, such as the recent news about ICE looking to rent additional office space in Grand Rapids, which I wrote about earlier this week.
We are at a critical juncture right now, so it is vitally important that we do whatever we can to be in solidarity with immigrants in this community and not succumb to fear.
The Cosecha hosted community forum begins at 12:00pm, this Saturday, September 27. The forum will be held at the SECOM Resource Center located at 1545 Buchanan Ave. SW, Grand Rapids. Members of GR Rapid Response will be there as Crowd Safety to prevent ICE or police repression.
“Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall recently praised the WMPF and Board Chair John Kennedy for backing House Republicans’ focus on core needs—like fixing roads and protecting pensions—while cutting red tape and rejecting tax hikes.”
The quote above was taken from the Facebook page of the West Michigan Policy Forum. In fact, in a video clip what was included in the WMPF Facebook page, Republican leader of the Michigan House said the West Michigan Policy Forum is, “the most respected policy organization in the State of Michigan.”
So, why would Rep. Matt Hall make such a claim about the West Michigan Policy Forum? It could be because Rep. Hall has been the recipient of campaign funds from several board members of the West Michigan Policy Forum since 2017.
However, I believe that the reason the current Speaker of the Michigan House praises the West Michigan Policy Forum is because they are the best policy organization in the state. To be clear, when I say the West Michigan Policy Forum is the best policy forum in the state, I mean that they have had the largest impact on state policy since they were founded in 2008.
The West Michigan Policy Forum was an outgrowth of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, with the intent of working to influence state policy in Michigan. Their Leadership Team and their Board of Directors are pretty much a who’s who of the wealthiest people and most politically powerful in the area. If you look at their list of achievements it is an impressive list of ways they have won policies at the state level, policies that benefit their ideological, political and economic interests.
GRIID has been tracking the West Michigan Policy Forum since they first hosted their massive policy conferences in 2010. Since then, I have written over 50 articles on the organization that House Speaker Matt Hall praises because they have had a tremendous impact on economic policies at the state level, on taxes, public education, environmental regulation, development issues, labor unions and wages. The West Michigan Policy Forum is also an integral part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and is one of only a handful of groups that wield tremendous power in this city.
I rarely agree with politicians regardless of the party they belong to, but I agree with House Speaker Matt Hall that the West Michigan Policy Forum is the most effective policy organization in the state. And this point should scare the shit out of us, or at least those of us who care about collective liberation. Whatever social movements we are part of, whatever organization we are part of, and whatever autonomous groups were are involved in, we cannot afford to ignore the role that the West Michigan Policy Forum plays in state politics.
Movimiento Cosecha organizers call out Senator Slotkin for not responding to their requests and for not challenging the Trump Administration’s immigration policies
On Monday, the immigrant-led group Movimiento Cosecha organized a rally just outside the federal building in Grand Rapids.
They gathered there to call attention to a fellow Cosecha comrade, who is currently sitting in an ICE detention facility in Texas. In a Press Advisory that Cosecha sent out they wrote:
Last week, an immigration judge confirmed that Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago cannot be deported because she is protected under DACA. Yet, instead of releasing her, ICE continues to keep her detained in El Paso while it appeals the case. Meanwhile, Senator Slotkin has not responded to repeated community appeals for her leadership.
While Cosecha members were leading a small rally, two people who were not at risk of being apprehended by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) went into the federal building to deliver a stack of letters that people from this community had written to Senator Slotkin to use her power as a Senator to get Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago released from detention in Texas.
You can watch the video that Cosecha took regarding the rally at this link.
The two people who delivered the letters to Senator Slotkin’s office let everyone know that the Senator was not in and the office looked pretty dark. However, one of Slotkin’s staff members came to the door, took the letters and said that the letters would be “processed” and that the messages would be given to Senator Slotkin.
You see, there was no back and forth, no commentary from the Senator’s staffer about the issue of ICE and immigrants in detention, nor the specific case of Catalina “Xóchitl” Santiago, or the fact that Senator Slotkin has failed to respond to this issue or Cosecha’s requests.
For the immigrant-led group Movimiento Cosecha the failure of Senator Slotkin to fight for immigrants or to even respond to immigrant demands is not surprising. Movimiento Cosecha organizers are used to unresponsive politicians and politicians who don’t fight for immigrant justice, both Republicans and Democrats. Let’s talk about the reason why.
Last week I noted in an article entitled, When rhetoric and voting records don’t match up: Sen. Slotkin on immigration and ICE, that the Michigan Senator doesn’t a great track record regarding immigration policies and immigrants. In fact, if you go back and look at her voting record while she was a representative, Slotkin didn’t have a problem with the several million immigrants that were deported during the Biden Administration, plus she voted for funding to further militarize the US/Mexican border.
We have to come to terms with the fact that Republicans and Democrats have pretty consistently voted against any real progressive immigration policies, as I noted in an article earlier this year. This is also the point of Daniel Denvir’s book, All-American Nativism: How the Bipartisan War on Immigrants Explains Politics as We Know It.
It doesn’t matter if there are lots of voters who oppose repressive immigration policies, members of Congress have not voted to adopt an immigration justice platform. One difference between the Biden and Trump Administration’s is their rhetoric. The Democrats use less xenophobic rhetoric, while the Republicans are very up front about hating on undocumented immigrants. However, the practice of both parties on immigration has been very similar.
This leads us to the reality of why Senator Slotkin and many other Democratic politicians will not fight for immigrant justice, because they know that Democratic voters will continue to vote for them. Democratic voters will continue to vote for people like Senator Slotkin because they are not as evil as the Republicans. Therefore, there is no incentive for Democratic politicians to fight for immigrant justice, since they only need to be the lesser of evil when it comes to immigration and immigrants.
This is exactly why Movimiento Cosecha does not engage in partisan politics, or as they say, they don’t dance with politicians. Movimiento Cosecha believes in social movements and the power that comes with organized resistance. Putting our faith in politicians is a dead end, since they only time they do the right thing is when they are forced to by organized resistance. This is essentially the history of the US regarding how change happens, which is so well documented in Howard Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States.
Where is Senator Slotkin on the issue of immigrants and immigrant justice you ask? She is doing what most politicians do, which is to maintain the status quo, which means supporting the ongoing arrest of immigrants by ICE, the detention of immigrants, and the deportation of immigrants, regardless of who sits in the White House. Slotkin is not on the side of immigrant justice.
Did property management companies or Real Estate Investment businesses lease office space to ICE in Grand Rapids recently?
Last week, the General Services Administration — the U.S. agency that manages government facilities and procurement – posted a solicitation for “as-is, fully-finished and furnished office space in support of administrative operations for law enforcement” in 19 cities across the country. The listing estimates each lease would include workstations for 70 people and notes the “unique” quick period of one week to submit bids, according to a report from NPR.
Of the 19 cities in the US that were named in the NPR story Grand Rapids is one of them.
- Cities/States: Birmingham, AL; Boise, ID; Charleston, SC; Columbia, SC; Columbus, OH; Des Moines, IA; Fort Lauderdale/Sunrise, FL; Fort Myers/Naples, FL; Grand Rapids, MI; Jacksonville, FL; Louisville, KY; Milwaukee, WI; Oklahoma City, OK; Pittsburgh, PA; Raleigh, NC; Richmond, VA; Spokane, WA; St. Louis, MO; Tampa, FL
I did a quick search for office space that was available for leasing and found dozens of listings in Grand Rapids, which included on Wealthy Street, the Beltline, Knapp’s Corners, on Monroe Center and even in the Grand Rapids Downtown Market. Most of these listing include the name of the company that ICE could rent space from, like NAI Wisinski of West Michigan.
In 2018, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE held and action and began a campaign to boycott the Edmark Development Company in Grand Rapids, which was renting space to ICE at that time.
The kind of office space that ICE wants to lease must be fully furnished and meet specific requirements, requirements you can read about at this link.
This scramble by ICE to rent office space is part of the $170 billion allocated for “immigration enforcement”, which was part of the Big Beautiful Bill Act that was adopted earlier this year. The $170 billion will be distributed to numerous immigration enforcement agencies and private entities, which the National Immigration Law Center breaks down in a recent post.
This money goes to federal agencies, with the largest amounts to Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including:
- $30 billion to detain and deport more immigrants, more quickly
- $45 billion to build new immigrant detention facilities
- $47 billion to build more border walls and other barriers
- $16 billion for increased border security, including surveillance and technology
- $14 billion for state and local agencies that participate in immigration enforcement
- $12 billion for more Border Patrol checkpoints, vehicles, and agents
An additional $11 billion goes to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Prisons for uses including immigration enforcement and detention. The Office of Refugee Resettlement gets $330 million for extreme vetting of unaccompanied children and their sponsors.
The fact that ICE has probably decided to rent office space in Grand Rapids is probably a consequence of the Grand Rapids City Commission’s refusal to adopt the Sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have been pushing for since the beginning of the year. It further demonstrates that the City of Grand Rapids puts undocumented immigrants at greater risk by not adopting Sanctuary policies that would make it harder for private entities to rent office space to ICE. Since the public cannot rely on local government to keep people safe, they should look to social movements to make that happen. If you have information on ICE renting office space in Grand Rapids recently, please contact GR Rapid Response to ICE info@grrapidresponsetoice.org.
With the increase number of ICE agents that will be operating in Kent County, there will no doubt be an increase in ICE arrests. If you want to be part of the community-based work that is resisting ICE, contact GR Rapid Response to ICE and sign up for their next training on October 21st.
Palestine Solidarity Information and Analysis for the week of September 21
It has been more than 23 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
15K Gaza Students Have Been Killed. Survivors Are Denied Their Education
Housing Ethnic Cleansing: How Airbnb Legitimizes Occupation
Trump Sanctions Palestinian Human Rights Groups for Doing Their Job. Anybody Could Be Next
Analysis & History
1948: Israel, South Africa, and the Question of Genocide
Israel expands aggression across the region as it moves to obliterate Gaza City
“Perish or Leave”: Hundreds of Thousands Flee As Israeli Military Invades Gaza City
Image used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/visual/anti-palestinian-racism-healthcare/
Voting to honor Charlie Kirk and the ongoing Genocide in Gaza, Rep. Scholten demonstrates exactly what she stands for
Yesterday, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution with the title, Honoring the life and legacy of Charles “Charlie” James Kirk.
House Resolution 719 was adopted by a vote of 310-58. Michigan Representatives Shri Thanedar and Rashida Tlaib voted against the resolution, but the rest of the Democratic Representatives joined their GOP colleagues to vote in favor of it.
Rep. Hillary Scholten voted fo the resolution and even released the statement here above. Scholten’s statement is misleading and instructive, so let’s take a look at what she is claiming in that statement.
First, Rep. Scholten says she voted for the resolution in order to “condemn political violence and the killing of Charlie Kirk, and to honor his family.” Taking this position is weak, since it is merely a political move to position Representative Scholten in such a way as to claim that she does not support political violence. Rep. Scholten wants to get re-elected, so she wants to appear as moderate as possible to her constituents in the 2026 Election.
Second, Rep. Scholten said that she agreed with every word that was written in the resolution. This means that Scholten agrees with the following:
- Whereas Charles “Charlie” James Kirk, born October 14, 1993, was a courageous American patriot, whose life was tragically and unjustly cut short in an act of political violence on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk was a devoted Christian, who boldly lived out his faith with conviction, courage, and compassion;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk was a dedicated husband to his beloved wife, Erika Kirk, and a loving father to their daughter and son, exemplifying the virtues of faith, fidelity, and fatherhood;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk was a fierce defender of the American founding and its timeless principles of life, liberty, limited government, and individual responsibility;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk, at 18 years old, founded Turning Point USA in 2012, a student movement with the mission to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government”;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk became one of the most prominent voices in America, engaging in respectful, civil discourse across college campuses, media platforms, and national forums, always seeking to elevate truth, foster understanding, and strengthen the Republic;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk personified the values of the First Amendment, exercising his God-given right to speak freely, challenge prevailing narratives, and did so with honor, courage, and respect for his fellow Americans;
- Whereas Charlie Kirk’s commitment to civil discussion and debate stood as a model for young Americans across the political spectrum, and he worked tirelessly to promote unity without compromising on conviction;
- Whereas the assassination of Charlie Kirk was not only a heinous act of violence, but a sobering reminder of the growing threat posed by political extremism and hatred in our society;
- Whereas such acts of politically motivated violence are antithetical to the principles of a free republic, in which differences of opinion are to be debated—not silenced—with civility, reason, and mutual respect;
- Whereas the rise in targeted violence against individuals for their political beliefs undermines the very fabric of our constitutional democracy and chills the free exchange of ideas essential to a healthy civic society;
- Whereas leaders at every level—government, education, media, and beyond—must stand united in unequivocal condemnation of political violence, regardless of their ideology;
- Whereas the tragic loss of Charlie Kirk must not be allowed to deepen the divides in our Nation, but instead serve as a turning point to recommit ourselves to better angels, and to the timeless American principles of liberty governed by truth and the virtues of peaceful dialogue; and
- Whereas Charlie Kirk would not have us respond to his death with despair, but rather with renewed purpose—to speak truth with courage, to stand firm in faith, to seek unity while standing firm in principle, and to serve as living reminders of the values he championed: faith, family, and freedom: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives—
(1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the assassination of Charles “Charlie” James Kirk, and all forms of political violence;
(2) commends and honors the dedicated law enforcement and emergency personnel for their tireless efforts in finding the suspect responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk and urges the administration of swift justice to the suspect;
(3) extends its deepest condolences and sympathies to Charlie Kirk’s family, including his wife, Erika, and their two young children, and prays for comfort, peace, and healing in this time of unspeakable loss;
(4) honors the life, leadership, and legacy of Charlie Kirk, whose steadfast dedication to the Constitution, civil discourse, and Biblical truth inspired a generation to cherish and defend the blessings of liberty; and
(5) calls upon all Americans—regardless of race, party affiliation, or creed—to reject political violence, recommit to respectful debate, uphold American values, and respect one another as fellow Americans.
As you can see from this resolution, there is so much misinformation about who Charlie Kirk really was and how much he specifically contributed to far right political movements in the US through the work of Turning Point USA, which was referred to by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
Voting for Genocide while condemning political violence
This resolution to honor the life of Charlie Kirk is riddled with complete lies and so much standard propaganda about what the history of the US government, it would take pages and pages to deconstruct. The one main point that I would make about this resolution is that both the Republican and Democratic Party have engaged in political violence since the founding of their respective parties, especially when looking at the policies they have adopted. Political violence is central to the history of the US, from the genocidal policies imposed on Indigenous people, to chattel slavery, to Jim Crow policies and countless policies since that have primarily benefited those with economic power while punishing the most marginalized communities throughout the country.
For Rep. Scholten to vote for this resolution is in many ways a vote to whitewash the deeply white supremacist political violence that is part of the very fabric of this country’s 250 year history. I for one am not surprised by Scholten’s vote to honor the life of Charlie Kirk, since she has consistently voted to support the genocide in Gaza, US imperialism and militarism, along with the criminalization of immigrants since she took office in January of 2023.
Community Historians Workshop provided a fabulous opportunity to hear directly from people who attended GRPS schools in the 1960s
Editors note: Images used in this post are from Grand Rapids Press articles and a WOODTV8 editorial from that period, all of which can be found here.
Last Saturday was the first in a series of workshops that explored the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools. The workshop was primarily led by GVSU Professor Leanne Kang, which I interviewed about this series on September 2nd.
The focus of last Saturday’s workshop was on what was happening in the Grand Rapids Public Schools during the 1960s and 70s. Dr. Kang began with some important contextual comments, stating:
The 1960s and 1970s was a breathtaking period in American history, socially, politically, and culturally, because through people’s protest, many of whom were students, it challenged cultural norms of all sorts of hierarchies that had been established over the 20th century. The 60s marked the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and other movements branching from it – the Chicano Movement, the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Asian American Movement, the Third World Liberation Front, Women’s Liberation, Gay Liberation, the Environmental Movement……and the federal government responded, passing critical federal legislation (such as the Civil Rights Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), many of which are under attack now.
When it comes to the history of US public education specifically, the 1960s and 1970s is also incredibly pivotal or consequential. The 1960s was a period of mass protest against segregated schools that forced the federal government to respond, followed by backlash and retrenchment in the 1970s.
There was not a large turnout for the event, but at least half of those in attendance were students at either South High or Ottawa Hills High School during the 1960s. Their first hand experience was an invaluable part of the conversation.
It was instructive to hear from those who attended Ottawa Hills High School that they were unaware at the time of what was happening at South High and that racial tensions were not anywhere near the level of what was happening in regards to what was taking place at South High, especially around the issue of the imposing a dress code that profoundly impacted Black students, in what later became known as the Mustache affair.
Those in attendance that went to South High talked a great deal about what went down during that period and how it has continued to impact public education and the Black community since. Several of those who were students tin the 1960s talked about how the impact of the closure of South High and how it ties to the way the Grand Rapids Public School district has evolved, especially with the two-tiered system, where some schools, like City High, cater to students from privilege, while other students are often taught by substitute teachers, with fewer resources, along with lower expectations for the students who attend Union or Ottawa Hills.
In addition, several of those who attended South High are involved with an effort to reclaim and maintain this critical part of history in Grand Rapids. This group has lots of in person meetings, functions and events, along with having their own Facebook page.
The next Community Historians workshop will take place on Saturday, October 25th, with details at this link.
Lastly, here is a timeline that was also share with participants.
Grand Action 2.0 has already taken the public for $80 million on the Amphitheater project
Grand Action 2.0, the organization that was created by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure to propose development projects in downtown, earlier this week announced the last fundraising wave for the Amphitheater, scheduled to open in May of 2026.
All four daily commercial news outlets ran stories on the Grand Action 2.0 update, exclusively relying on Grand Action 2.0 spokespersons and likely their Media Release. MLive ran an article with the headline, Grand Rapids amphitheater nears fundraising goal, asks public for support. WOODTV8 posted a canned video produced by Grand Action 2.0, with a spokesperson with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce praising the Amphitheater project. In the WZZM 13 story, the reporter used the following sentence, “The $184 million Acrisure Amphitheater is already more than 95 percent funded but Monday marked a new chapter — the public’s turn to help push the project across the finish line.”
While not surprising, the line from the WZZM 13 reporter is false. The channel 13 piece, like the rest of the coverage, suggests that the public now has a chance to contribute to this project. Nothing could be farther from the truth. WXMI 17 was the only news outlet that at least provided some breakdown of the funding for the Amphitheater, but even they fell short with the complete costs of the project, especially the use of public dollars.
Here is a more accurate breakdown of how public dollars contributed to Amphitheater:
- $15 million from the Hotel Tax, which was adopted by the Kent County Commission, which diverts money from the public who stays on hotels and motels in Kent County.
- $30 million from the State of Michigan through a public grant, which is from public tax dollars.
- $20.5 million from the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), which uses funds from taxes collected in the downtown area, which is also technically public money.
Then there are public costs related to the project on the front end, when the City of Grand Rapids did infrastructure work and relocated City services & departments to free up land for the Amphitheater project. The City of Grand Rapids paid $6,252,643 to relocate a sewer trunk, as well as $7,450,000 that the City paid for the 1500 Scribner Avenue NW property from the County, which I reported on in 2021.
In 2023, MLive ran a story with the headline, Making room for proposed riverfront amphitheater could cost Grand Rapids $58M. GRIID responded to that article and discussed some additional costs that MLive did not factor into what the City of Grand Rapids, which is public money, would be paying.
In June of 2024, it was reported that $2 million in federal funding would be used to construct a walking bridge that would connect the Amphitheater and the westside. Federal funding is also public dollars.
If you add up the various sources of public money, it comes to roughly $80 million. Therefore, when WZZM 13 says it’s the public’s turn to help push the project across the finish line, I call bullshit. In fact, nearly half of the cost of the Amphitheater is from public dollars. Now, if nearly half of the cost has been picked up by the public, does this mean that the public will get to use the Amphitheater for public events or attend concerts for free at significantly reduced ticket prices? Hell no!
Looking at the ticket prices for the Amphitheater events you can see that the closer to the stage seats are reserved for those with deep pockets. Tickets for the first concert in May of 2026, range from $60 a seat to $623 a seat.
Lastly, the so-called public donation period that Grand Action 2.0 is pushing, uses the term public in an elitist fashion, since it provides special perks for those that can “donate” larger sums. Here is the breakdown:
- $1000+ results in permanent recognition at the amphitheater
- The first 500 people to donate at least $2,500 can purchase two tickets before they publicly go on sale for all events in the amphitheater’s first season
- Donors who give $20,000 to $49,999 have the option to buy premium seat licenses
- Donations of $50,000 to $199,999 open options for seat licenses and on-site recognition
- The biggest prize comes for donations of $200,000 or more: the option to purchase loge seating licenses
All of the pricing opportunities excludes the majority of those who live this city and county, thus creating yet another divide between working class people and members of the capitalist class. The Amphitheater is just the latest project that Grand Action 2.0 has shoved down our throats, forcing the public to cough of at least $80 million and then charge us ridiculous prices to attend concerts. When are we going to wake up to how we are being manipulated, start resisting and demand that our money should go for housing, health care, mass transit and sustainable energy projects?
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 