We recently received 46 pages of a FOIA document that provides some insight into the arbitration submitted by the Grand Rapids Police Command Officers Association (GRPCOA), in their attempt to get Captain Kurt VanderKooi vindicated of any wrong doing for his role in contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Jilmar Ramos-Gomez in late 2018.
Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a former Marine and US citizen was arrested on November 21st, 2018, at Spectrum Hospital where he trespassed on the helipad after damaging a keypad. This all took place around 8:30am on November 21st.
At 7:40pm that same day, WOOD TV 8 ran a story about this incident involving Jilmar Ramos-Gomez. GRPD Captain Kurt VanderKooi was watching the WOOD TV 8 story while off duty, but contact an ICE agent in West Michigan to “check on his immigration status.” The ICE agent contact Captain VanderKooi two days later to tell him that he interviewed Ramos-Gomez at the Kent County Jail, stating, “he is a foreign national illegally in the U.S. Thank you for the lead he will be coming into our custody when he is released from his criminal case. Let me or Derek know if you ever have any other good leads.” Jilmar Ramos Gomez was then taken to an ICE detention facility, until it was discovered that the indeed was a US citizen. You can read about the details of this case from ACLU and Michigan Immigrant Rights Center documents, which these two organizations obtained from their own FOIA request.
The immigrant-led movement, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE then began a campaign to get Captain Kurt VanderKooi fired from the GRPD for his role in calling ICE, which led to Jilmar Romas-Gomez being sent to detention.
In late February of 2019, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE, attended a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to demand that VanderKooi be fired, but when it became clear that the City would not act, people protested and shut down the meeting.
A month after the protest at the City Commission meeting, an Internal Affairs (GRPD) investigation was conducted and determined that Captain Kurt VanderKooi did nothing wrong in this matter.
The ACLU and MIRC pushed for this case to go before the Civilian Appeals Board, which it did in May of 2019. After a contentious meeting, the Civilian Appeals Board voted 6 – 2 in favor of overturning the decision by the Police Department’s Internal Affairs.
In November of 2019, several news sourced reported that the City of Grand Rapids paid $190,000 to Jilmar Ramos Gomez because Captain VanderKooi called ICE on Mr. Ramos-Gomez. A spokesperson for the ACLU said the City, “did not include an apology or an admission of guilt by the city.”
However, it should be said that the Grand Rapids Police Command Officers Association (GRPCOA) filed a grievance just after the May 2019 Civilian Appeals Board decision, which had overturned the Internal Affairs decision. Then, from September 25 – October 19 of 2020, there was an arbitration hearing between the City of Grand Rapids and the Grand Rapids Police Command Officers Association (GRPCOA). Both parties were represented by legal council and here is a link to the FOIA document.
The first thing that is noticeable in the FOIA documents regard the arbitration case, is that there are a fair amount of pages with redacted content. For example, you can see that on page 40 of the FOIA document, there are only a few words on the page, which was discussing the Civilian Appeals Board meeting from May of 2019. (Seen here on the right.)
In other instances where there is clearly redacted content, it appears that much of the redacted content is testimony given by people who were part of the proceedings, like City Manager Mark Washington. People will often say that content is redacted to protect privacy, but there seems to be too much redacted content in this 46 page document. What are they hiding in this instance and why can’t the public see exactly what local government officials are saying about something that not only involves the GRPD, but something that clearly impacts the community?
This FOIA document once again confirms that the GRPD police union has too much power and that the City of Grand Rapids is in no way interested in transparency. The public pays the salaries of the police and Grand Rapids government officials, yet we continue to be told that we do not have access to information concerning public matters. The redacted parts of this document should be viewed as protecting certain city officials from potential public backlash, and it should make people question what other information are City Officials and the Grand Rapids Police Department withholding from us?
Today, marks the 66th day since Officer Christopher Schurr shot and killed Patrick Lyoya. Schurr has been on paid leave since he shot Lyoya in the back of the head, but word is the he is not staying at his home and might be out of town.
The Justice4Patrick movement has been demanding that Christopher Schurr be arrested and tried for murder. The Kent County Prosecutor, Chris Becker, who has refused calls for his recusal in this case, has yet to make any decision on what the fate of Officer Schurr is.
There have been some who are suggesting that when this much time passes that the likely outcome will be that Christopher Schurr will not be charged with murder. No one really knows if this is the case, but we do know that the way that the law is written around “use of force”, sides with the police. Here is what the law in Michigan says about use of force:
OBJECTIVELY REASONABLE USE OF FORCE
- Under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, a law enforcement officer may only use such force as is “objectively reasonable” under all of the circumstances. The standard that courts will use to examine whether the use of force is constitutional was first set forth in Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), and expanded by subsequent court cases. The reasonableness of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable law enforcement officer on the scene at the moment the force was used, rather than with 20/20 vision of hindsight. The reasonableness must account for the fact that law enforcement officers are often forced to make split-second judgments – in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving – about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.
- Reasonableness will be determined by balancing the nature and quality of the intrusions with the countervailing governmental interests. The question is whether the law enforcement officer’s actions are objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the officer. Objective factors will determine the reasonableness of force including, but not limited to, the severity of the crime, whether the suspect poses an immediate threat to the safety of the law enforcement officers or others, and whether the suspect is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest by flight.
- Enforcement members shall only use force which is objectively reasonable under the totality of the facts and circumstances to overcome a subject’s resistance, to make an arrest, or maintain proper custody of a prisoner, when a resisting subject de-escalates his/her resistance, the enforcement member shall also de-escalate the amount of force used proportionately.
We know that the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association, which released a statement on April 26, believes that Officer Schurr was justified in his use of force, stating:
“we feel a thorough review of this entire situation will show that a police officer has the legal right to protect themselves and community in a volatile dangerous situation such as this, in order to return to his/her family at the end of their shift.”
Then there are the four major FOIA documents regarding this case, documents obtained by WOOD TV8, which are all documents based on the GRPD reporting from April 4 when Officer Schurr shot and killed Patrick Lyoya. The language of these documents suggest that Schurr followed “proper procedure.”
In addition, there have been people cited in local news stories about the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya, which have also justified Officer Schurr’s use of force. In late May, an article posted on MLive, cites John Riley, the founder of Gentle Response Conflict/De-escalation Training, who said, “he believes Schurr followed his training properly and did everything he could to try to de-escalate the situation, including telling Lyoya to stop resisting several times.” In fact, Riley had posted three separate opinion pieces about the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya on his website.
The first entry is a lengthy argument that Officer Schurr did follow de-escalation protocol, stating:
Argue, debate, and pontificate whether or not the shooting was righteous and justified, but do not dare say the officer did not try to successfully and effectively de-escalate and control the situation, first verbally and then physically. Mr. Lyoya’s significant contributing factor to this tragic incident was his own behavior and actions, which guided, lead and turned what would have been a ticket and a few hours in jail into a fatal shooting.
In the second blog post, John Riley is talking about misconceptions of what de-escalation is, stating:
2 misconceptions from the tragic OIS in Grand Rapids. I point out and emphasize in my seminars that there are no magic words or phrases that will just “de-escalate” a person or situation. The other person MUST be able to allow themselves to be de-escalated, and in this tragic incident was a man who clearly did not want to de-escalate, though that officer frantically, then desperately tried very hard to.
In the third, and finally blog post from Riley, where he continues to blame Patrick Lyoya for his own death, he states:
In this sad, tragic incident, an intoxicated driver, whose judgement and decision making abilities are further affected by the amount of alcohol he consumed, chose to physically resist lawful authority. The officer is legally obligated to make an attempt to detain the driver because it’s his job, and can be heard on his body cam saying 7 to 8 times, “Stop!”. Had Patrick Lyoya simply stopped, and surrendered to lawful authority, like his record shows he has done so in the past, the officer would not have found himself in a situation where he believed he was in danger of great bodily harm or death.
All of this is to say that there is a strong possibility that Officer Christopher Schurr will not be charged with murder by Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker. However, even if Schurr does go to trial, there is also the strong possibility that he will not be found guilty. These are possibilities that the Justice4Patrick Movement needs to come to terms with and to begin to develop strategies and tactics that will be necessary if the GRPD gets away with murder.
There is a possibility that Officer Schurr could be charged with murder and later found guilty of that charge. If this happens, then it will bring some relief to the family of Patrick Lyoya and possibly lead to some healing in the larger community. However, even if this is the outcome, the response from the GRPD and Grand Rapids City Officials has been deplorable and oppressive. We should see their response as a normative practice when responding to public demands. This too should inform our movements moving forward and should cause all of use who are on the side of liberation and abolition to reflect and reformulate how we move forward in our efforts to radically imagine the kind of community we want to live in.
According to the data provided by the Action Center on Race & The Economy (ACRE), Grand Rapids has the largest percentage of their city budget going to policing, compared to other urban communities throughout Michigan.
If you go to this link https://costofpolice.org/, you can write in Grand Rapids, where it says Enter a City. You read that the 2023 Grand Rapids City Budget comes to $155,955,117, with a police budget of $62,318,226. This means that 40% of the City’s budget is going towards policing.
In many ways this data is astounding, not only because Grand Rapids is constantly promoting themselves as a “great place to raised a family,” but also because of the fact that there has been increased GRPD harassment, intimidation, arrest and violence directed at members of the BIPOP communities in recent years, culminating in the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya on April 4th.
The 40% of the Grand Rapids City Budget, is well over the City Charter mandated 32% that was the result of a ballot initiative in 1995, where most City officials and the Grand Rapids Police Department were endorsing. You can read all of the source documents for this campaign, which can be found on the Grand Rapids People’s History Project site.
So, Grand Rapids is 8% over the City Charter mandated level, which is fairly substantial. In fact, 8% of the total Grand Rapids City Budget, rounded up to 156 Million, would be $12,480,000. Imagine if nearly $12.5 million were invested in the Black community, which is exactly what the Defund the GRPD and the Defund the Police movement nationally have been asking for……a Divest/Invest strategy.
The data on the Action Center on Race & The Economy also shows that Grand Rapids has the highest percent of their budget going to policing, compared to other urban communities in Michigan. If you go back to the link https://costofpolice.org/, then click the View All button, you can see the breakdown of police funding in states across the country. Here is the breakdown for Michigan, which shows that Grand Rapids is slightly higher than Sterling Heights and Warren, but 11% higher than Detroit.
The Justice4Patrick Movement, along with Defund the GRPD and many other community-based groups in Grand Rapids, having been calling for a reduction in GRPD funding since the May 30th uprising in this city. It is scandalous that Grand Rapids spends so much of the community’s money on policing, especially since the City of Grand Rapids is facing significant resistance after the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya. #DefundtheGRPD #Justice4Patrick
DeVos-led Amphitheater Project will likely receive $30 Million in State public money, with no public input
On Friday, MLive posted a story with the headline, Grand Rapids leaders ‘very hopeful’ state budget will include $30M for riverfront amphitheater.
The MLive article basically includes comments from a number of the players involved in the 12,000 seat outdoor amphitheater project, all of which are celebrating the fact that the State Budget includes $30 Million for this project.
The first source cited in the article is that of Birgit Klohs, former CEO of the Right Place Inc., and now the vice chair of the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority (CAA). Her comment was , “The amphitheater is the next big placemaking project in Grand Rapids.”
The rest of those cited in the article are two representatives of Grand Action 2.0, State Representative David LaGrand and Thomas Albert, along with State Senator Mark Huizenga. Each of those cited offer up pleasantries about the amphitheater project without any real evidence. Rep. David LaGrand even makes the claim, “I think this is the opposite of pork. I think this is an investment in the community. This is not quick giveaways. This is making Grand Rapids a better place to live and work.”
Ok, but where is the evidence. How is $30 Million of public money, which is going to a project that will be managed by the Convention Arena Authority and was crafted by Grand Action 2.0 going to make Grand Rapids a better place to live and work? How?
This is the kind of shoddy journalism we have come to expect from MLive, where any and all development projects are greeted with enthusiasm, especially if they receive public funds. If we had honest journalism in this city, then it would be easy to find the common denominator in the 12,000 seat outdoor amphitheater project that has been present since this idea first became public in 2020. The common denominator has always been the DeVos family.
This whole project is projected to involve $119 million, between the City of Grand Rapids, the Convention and Arena Authority, the DeVos-owned 63 Market St LLC, and now the State of Michigan. This is a great deal of money, which demonstrates that when a multi-billionaire family, the DeVos family, wants something, they usually get it. Sure, building an outdoor amphitheater will bring more people, including more tourists to Grand Rapids, which means more money will be spent in the city. But, we must always ask ourselves who are the primary beneficiaries of such projects?
The primary beneficiary will be the DeVos family, since they own several hotels in the downtown area, a restaurant and a wine bar. The other beneficiaries will be other major property owners in the downtown area, many of which are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. Parking dollars go to the City of Grand Rapids and Ellis Parking. Most of the restaurants and bars owned in the downtown area are owned by those who own multiple establishments. It is true that all of the bars and the hotels rely on workers, but those workers will generally not see an increase in pay, which means the majority of the money will go to the ownership class, some of whom are millionaires and billionaires.
The graphic here below illustrates how the DeVos family is essentially the primary factor in making the amphitheater project a reality.
One last aspect of this project that has also not been explored by the dominant commercial news media, is the fact that $30 Million of State funds, which are public dollars, will likely go to this entertainment-project. When was the last time that state and local officials were able to easily get $30 Million that would go directly to the thousands of families in Grand Rapids that are struggling to pay rent, who have little to no health care, are food insecure and are suffering from exploitation and systemic racism in this city? Yet we are told that the Amphitheater will make Grand Rapids a better place to live and work.
Sources used for this post and graphic:
https://www.transparencyusa.org/mi/candidate/thomas-albert-can/donors?cycle=2017-to-now
https://www.transparencyusa.org/mi/candidate/mark-huizenga-can/donors?cycle=2017-to-now&page=1
Two years ago today, the Grand Rapids City Commissioners voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to protect the business interests in downtown Grand Rapids and to criminalize those protesting against the policing of BIPOC people.
On June 2nd, 2020, here is what the Grand Rapids City Commission adopted:
WHEREAS: 1. Ongoing unlawful assembly and civil disorder beginning on May 30, 2020 has result in property damage and imminent threats of substantial harm to our community; and
2. To date the City of Grand Rapids has taken numerous actions to respond and protect against this threat; and
3. On May 31, 2020 Mayor Rosalynn Bliss issued a 48-hour Proclamation of State of Civil Emergency to Further Protect Public Health and Safety; and 37 CITY COMMISSION JUNE 2, 2020
4. Pursuant to Chapter 161 of the City Code of Ordinances, a state of civil emergency may be extended by resolution of the City Commission for such additional periods of time as determined necessary.
RESOLVED: 1. That the City Commission deems it reasonable and necessary to continue the state of civil emergency in order to continue the use of emergency powers in order to expand and expedite response and resources.
2. That the state of civil emergency shall continue until 11:59 pm June 16, 2020 or until a proclamation by the Mayor that a state of civil emergency no longer exists, whichever occurs first; provided, however, that such state of civil emergency may be extended for such additional periods of time as determined necessary by further resolution of the City Commission.
3. That this resolution continues any and all authority delegated to the Mayor by any and all emergency management, public health and other pertinent laws to issue any and all oral and written directives that the Mayor, upon the advice of public safety and health and other expert officials, reasonably deem necessary to respond to and protect our community.
Notice that the language that Grand Rapids City Officials used, such as imminent threats, unlawful assembly and State of Emergency. All of this language and this resolution fail to acknowledge that the thousands of residents of Grand Rapids who participated in the May 30th, 2020 uprising never harmed another individual. Yes there was property damage, but the only people who were injured that night were injured by the GRPD and the other are police departments that were deployed to put down the uprising.
It is worth noting that the Mayor of Grand Rapids had called for a State of Emergency on May 31st, 2020, because some property was being damaged, yet whenever the lives of Black residents or other BIPOC people are being treated, the Mayor of Grand Rapids is not issuing a State of Emergency. In fact, since 2017, here are some of the instances where the community was calling for a State of Emergency and calling out Grand Rapids City Officials and the GRPD for their role in perpetuating violence and practicing White Supremacist practices against BIPOC people.
April of 2017, after the GRPD pointed their guns at several Black youth, City Officials and the GRPD failed to listen to the demands of the community.
May 2017, the Black community calls on the City Commission to declare a State of Emergency because of the recent incidents of GRPD harassment, intimidation, arrests and violence directed at Black people.
In December of 2017, the GRPD points a firearm at 11 year old Honestie Hodges with no consequences.
In February of 2018, the GRPD showed up to a Press Conference that was organized by Movimiento Cosecha GR to denounce the GRPD’s treatment of protestors during a January action in downtown Grand Rapids.
February 26th, 2019, activist groups demand that the City Commission fire GRPD officer VanderKooi for calling ICE on former US Marine Jilmar Ramos Gomez.
March 19, 2019, GRPD detain two Latino youth at gunpoint for walking in the street. Police Chief says they should have obeyed police commands.
March 26, 2019, a Coalition of Grassroots groups hold press conference to denounce GRPD’s treatment of Black residents and immigrants.
March 29, 2019, dozens of Grand Rapids residents share negative experiences they have had with the GRPD during a Michigan Civil Rights Department Public Hearing.
July of 2020, thousands of people demand a reduction of funding for the GRPD to the 32% City Charter mandated minimum. Three Grand Rapids City Commissioners attempted to proposed such a reduction, but the City Manager and City Attorney stop it from happening.
April of 2021, viral video of GRPD cops repeatedly punching a Black motorist results in no consequences against the police involved.
In May of 2021, a Black man who was on his way to attend the funeral of a family member was falsely identified by the GRPD, then arrested for not obeying the cops.
September of 2021, the GRPD falsely arrests Black man outside of a McDonalds restaurant, holding him at gunpoint, then arresting him. There were no actions taken against the GRPD by the Grand Rapids City Commission.
April 4, 2022, GRPD Officer Christopher Schurr, shoots Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, resulting in his death. There have still been no actions against the cop who killed Patrick Lyoya.
During the past two years, the community has made numerous demands of the City of Grand Rapids and the Grand Rapids Police Department. None of those demands have been met. At the same time, the Grand Rapids City Commission has unanimously approved the City Budgets for 2022 and 2023, despite thousands of residents calling for defunding of the GRPD.
Since 2017, under the leadership of Mayor Bliss, the City of Grand Rapids has repeatedly ignored the community cries for justice and for holding the GRPD accountable for racist policing against the BIPOC community. The only time that Mayor Bliss has called for a State of Emergency since 2017, was in order to protect the property and business interests during the May 30th uprising. The Mayor of Grand Rapids has not once called for a State of Emergency nor an end to the War on Black people. Profits and property over people, is the legacy of the current Mayor.
Earlier today, several members of the religious community in Grand Rapids, calling themselves Grand Rapids Association of Pastors, held a press conference to denounce City Officials and the Grand Rapids Police Department over the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya.
Since April 30th, this association had crafted a statement, which begins by saying:
We, ministers of Christian churches in Grand Rapids, call for accountability for the killing of Patrick Lyoya. Black residents of Grand Rapids, and all people of color in this community, need to feel safe. To that end, actions must be taken. We stand with our colleagues in the Black Clergy Coalition, and echo the NAACP, the ACLU, Urban Core Collective, A Glimpse of Africa, and other leaders who represent those most impacted by this incident in the following:
The statement also comes with a list of demands listed here:
- A prosecutor outside of Kent County, who does not work regularly with the GRPD, must be appointed to handle this case, as is legally required in many states and is widely acknowledged to be best practice;
- A federal investigation must be immediately launched into this killing along with the history and culture of the GRPD;
- The community must have a seat at the table in the ongoing negotiations over the GRPD police union contracts, which have for far too long shielded officers from accountability and which do not reflect the community’s priorities for how to achieve public safety in our City;
- Both the Civilian Appeal Board and the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability must be given the authority, resources, and funding to provide true civilian oversight and be able to affect real change; and
- The City and GRPD must respect the constitutional right of all people to protest this tragedy and exercise their freedom of speech without violence, threats, or intimidation.
While I think that some of these demands are important, they still rely too heavily on a political system that has demonstrated over and over again that they do not listen to the community and that they will above all protect the image of Grand Rapids and business as usual. What follows are a few things that I learned from today’s Press Conference:
- One of the Congolese pastors who spoke pointed out that in their culture, which is the culture of Patrick Lyoya, that running away from the police is a sign of respect. To stay put and engage a police officer is considered offensive.
- One of the members of the Executive Team of the Grand Rapids Association of Pastors is Rev. Nathaniel Moody, who is also a Grand Rapids City Commissioner. Rev. Moody’s name is not listed as being one of the 70 pastors who have endorsed the statement. How is it that a core member of this group has not signed on, and more importantly, how is it that he has resisted the countless demands from those showing up to City Commission meetings for years, especially since the May 30th uprising in Grand Rapids?
- When asked about the small percentage of Churches who have signed on to the statement, particularly white Churches, the response was (from white pastors) that they need to do better.
- Several of the pastors stated that they are meeting with City and County Commissioners, as well as other elected officials behind the scenes to address their concerns. First, these meetings have not been very public. Second, despite these meetings both the City and County Commission have not met any of the demands coming from the community. Also, meeting with elected officials behind closed doors historically has not resulted in making the kinds of structural changes necessary for racial and economic justice. Elected officials have only ever responded to the demands for justice that come from the community when they are pressured and force to meet those demands. Until there is sufficient pressure, which involves various forms of direct action, will those holding political power take action.
- I asked if the Grand Rapids Association of Pastors would be willing to participate in a campaign of Civil Disobedience, which has been consisted within the Black Freedom Struggle for decades. No one responded who spoke publicly responded that they would be willing to take that kind of action.
While I think the statement from the Grand Rapids Association of Pastors is a good first step, it needs to move beyond a reformist approach to social change and embrace a more abolitionist framework for creating a just society. As the Abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore says, “The limit to any reform is the system itself: Reform tends to strengthen institutions, especially those geared to social control.”
Michigan Senator Gary Peters proposes more funding for cops during National Police Week
Last week, during National Police Week, Michigan Senator Gary Peters re-introduces The Strong Communities Act.
The proposed legislation, which was initially introduced in June of 2020, is actually a bill that would amend the 1968 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, which was the Johnson Administration’s response to “urban unrest.” The history of that legislation, which is included in Elizabeth Hinton’s important book, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s.
What Senator Peters’ proposed legislation does is to provide more taxpayer money to “incentivize police recruits,” by funding their education/training to become a police officer, if they agree to serve in the communities they are from. According to the Press Release from Senator Peters’ office:
Many communities across the country are facing both a law enforcement recruitment and a trust crisis. The Strong Communities Act aims to help to facilitate improved relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. By recruiting from within the communities, these recruits will know the people they are working to protect.
This legislation that Senator Peters has re-introduced does two main things. First, it further legitimizes the notion of community policing as a positive way of doing policing. However, as Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing notes:
The research shows that community policing does not empower communities in meaningful ways. It expands police power, but does nothing to reduce the burden of overpricing on people of color and the poor.
In addition, the co-authors of the book, Life During Wartime: Resisting Counterinsurgency, make the argument that Community Policing is primarily about the ability of local police departments to build relationships with residents for the specific purpose of gathering information and engaging in surveillance…..thus community policing is a form of counterinsurgency, especially in response to an organized populace that is making demands of the state.
The second thing that this legislation from Senator Peters and Senator Cornyn does is offer financial incentives to recruit news cops and then have them live in the neighborhood they serve for at least 4 years. Police reform groups have long advocated that police officers should live in the communities that they serve. The group Communities United Against Police Brutality, has this response to that belief:
“Throughout our research, we have never encountered a shred of evidence that requiring or incentivizing police officers to live in the communities in which they work has any positive effect on the quality of policing,”
It is worth noting that just days before Senator Peters first introduced this legislation in June of 2020, he came out strong against the protests taking place across the US, stating:
“The death of George Floyd was a horrific tragedy and justice must be served. While I understand and respect anyone who wants to demonstrate peacefully to bring attention to this injustice, it is discouraging that what was clearly intended to be a peaceful protest quickly devolved into a riot instigated by extremists with an anarchist ideology.”
This statement from Senator Peters is rather hypocritical, especially considering that Peters sits on the Armed Forces Committee, consistently votes for massive levels of US military spending and praises US militarism abroad, such as airstrikes, drone strikes and other forces of violent tactics that often kill innocent civilians.
The last argument for seeing Senator Peters’ re-introduction of the Strong Communities Act as deeply troubling, is the fact that it has received the endorsement of the largest and oldest police organization in the US, the National Fraternal Order of Police.
The National Fraternal Order of Police has a long history of supporting police departments across the US that have a particularly brutal history, has a leadership that is all white, spends millions on lobbying Congress and endorsed Donald Trump in 2016.
In addition to receiving support from the National Fraternal Order of Police, Senator Peters’ proposed legislation was also endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO). The NAPO, which also lobbies Congress on police issues, recently came out in support of President Biden’s Executive Order on Police Reform, since it doesn’t take away qualified immunity for cops.
In the end, for those who want to see systemic change around policing, they cannot be seduced by language of community policing and the notion that cops who live in the communities where they work will make a difference. It just doesn’t matter to people who are harassed, arrested, tasered, beaten or killed by cops, that they live in the same neighborhood as the people they are oppressing.
Yesterday, Peter Lyoya, members of the Breonna Taylor family and George Floyd family, were in Washington, DC, during a ceremony where President Biden had signed an executive order on police reform.
The date was also the second anniversary of when George Floyd was murdered by Officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Both MLive and WOODTV8 reported on Peter Lyoya being in Washington, DC, along with his friend and translator, as well as the attorneys working with the Lyoya family, Ben Crump and Ven Johnson.
The MLive article did include, ““I just told the president that (Peter’s) son was killed and that (Peter) was asking for reforms and for justice,” Siku said.
So far there has been no justice for Patrick Lyoya and his family.
The WOODTV8 story says, “Lyoya’s family was invited by the White House to attend along with attorney Ben Crump, according to a Facebook post by Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack.” In that Facebook post Commissioner Womack reveals that he was asked to be on a national panel on police reform. Womack ends his post by saying:
I’m working on a national program to educate people on what safe things to do when they are pulled over by police and what rights they have. We will have better police and community relations once we all admit there is a real problem, and that we can all do better. We are fighting for the greatest country in the world to be the greatest example of how the world should treat people. We are not there yet but with your help we will get there!
There is almost too much to unpack there, but one thing that was clearly omitted was the demand to get Justice for Patrick Lyoya.
Biden’s Executive Order on Police Reform
So what exactly, is included in the so-called police reform package that Biden signed yesterday? According to a Press Release from the White House, the Executive Order will include:
- Creating a new national database of police misconduct.
- Strengthens Pattern or Practice Investigations.
- Ensures timely and thorough investigations and consistent discipline.
- Mandates the adoption of body-worn camera policies.
- Bans the use of chokeholds and carotid restraints unless deadly force is authorized, and restricts the use of no-knock entries.
- Requires new standards that limit the use of force and require de-escalation for all federal agencies.
- Restores and expands upon the Obama-Biden Administration’s restrictions on the transfer of military equipment.
- Requires an updated approach to recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention of law enforcement officers.
- Reimagines Crisis Response.
- Prioritizes Officer Wellness.
- Requires new standards for accreditation and for accrediting bodies.
- Implements a new, evidence-informed annual anti-bias training requirement.
- Tracks data on use of force incidents.
- Studies the impact of use of force incidents on communities.
- Safeguards the use of facial recognition technology and other sophisticated algorithmic tools.
- Enhances data collection and data transparency.
This is a fair lengthy list, but none of it will prevent cops from killing anyone, especially Black people. And let’s be clear, this list is only for federal law enforcement agencies and DOES NOT apply to local or state police agencies.
Another important point about these police reforms is that the Biden Administration worked closely with the National Fraternal Order of Police and the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO).
The President of the NAPO wrote, “The Executive Order does not recommend Congress take action to eliminate qualified immunity for officers, which is of utmost importance to NAPO as this legal protection for officers is essential.” The National Fraternal Order of Police released their own statement on the Biden Administration’s Police Reform package, stating: “We applaud the Administration for listening to our constructive feedback and incorporating our suggestions into the Executive Order. Our organizations, which represent our nation’s chiefs and the majority of rank-and-file officers, believe that it marks a significant step in our continuing efforts to strengthen the trust of the public in police and the criminal justice system.”
The fact that two of the largest police associations in the country have been in constant contact with the Biden Administration and a pretty happy with the police reform package speaks volumes for how weak these reforms really are. Police reforms have never amounted to anything substantive and they often result in pumping more money into police departments. In the end, as with most issues, we cannot rely on politicians at any level to win Justice for Patrick, we have to achieve that as a movement. #Justice4Patrick
More Billions for war while the planet burns: 5 Reasons why I oppose US Military Aid to Ukraine
Last Thursday, the US Senate passed a $40 Billion Aid package to Ukraine, with a mix of military aid, other forms of security assistance and some form of humanitarian relief funding.
The Senate vote was 86 – 11, with every Democrat voting for the $40 Billion, and a majority of Republicans supporting it. Both Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow voted for the $40 Billion package.
This now bring the amount of US military and relief aid to Ukraine at $53 Billion, since the Russian invasion earlier this year. According to an article from Vox, “The Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022, as it’s officially known, sets aside approximately $40 billion in emergency funding for military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Kyiv, NATO allies, and partners supporting Ukraine.”
The Vox article does not indicate which NATO partners will also be receiving part of the $40 Billion, but the fact that they are including is troubling.
In a recent post on the truthout.org, Mike Ludwig writes:
The horrifying war of attrition threatens to drag on for months or years as fighting in Ukraine’s south and east rages and Russia bombards towns and cities to make away for more attacks. The United States is pumping weapons and military aid into Ukraine at unprecedented levels, raising a sharp debate about whether the U.S. is defending of a war-torn ally or pushing Ukrainians to become cannon fodder for a complex and dangerous proxy war with Russia. Biden administration officials have said the U.S. wants Ukraine to “win” the war and weaken the Russian military, a longstanding goal of the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
The notion that the US desires a regime change in Russia, was also a topic of discussion on Democracy Now last week.
My take on the latest US Military Aid package to Ukraine is that it will not, in the long run, reduce the harm being done since the Russian invasion began. Here are 5 reasons why I think that US military aid to Ukraine is a bad idea.
First, there is little evidence that the US Military assistance abroad has historically led to a just or peaceful resolution of conflicts. This is a critical point, since the US is the largest military weapons trafficker around the globe and has the largest military budget. The National Priorities Project recently wrote:
That is to say, that U.S. and NATO military spending totaling nearly $1.2 trillion – more than 17 times as much as Russia spent – failed to dissuade Putin’s aggression toward Ukraine. The U.S. alone spent 12 times as much as Russia.
U.S. military spending had been on an upward trajectory throughout the Trump years, and that trend has continued under the Biden administration, and with a Democrat-controlled Congress.
Just weeks after Congress approved a $782 billion war and military budget, the Biden administration proposed increasing it to $813 billion – higher than at any time under President Trump, and higher than the peak of the Vietnam War or the Cold War.
This is despite the fact that President Biden also ended the nation’s longest active war by bringing troops home from Afghanistan. You might expect war spending to decrease after that, but not this time.
Meanwhile, all this spending failed to dissuade Russia’s Putin from invading Ukraine, even though it sponsored dozens of bases and tens of thousands of troops in Europe, ostensibly to guarantee the continent’s safety.
Second, the US government doesn’t have a moral leg to stand on when it comes to intervention in global affairs. We all know what happened in the illegal US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan in recent decades, with more than a million dead Iraqis and tens of thousands of Afghanis. In fact, the US has a long history of brutal imperialist interventions around the world. Check out the list that Professor Zoltan Grossman has put together, which provides an excellent chronological list beginning with 1890. Biden, like all past presidents, can say that US military aid is designed to create a peaceful resolution, yet I can’t find one real legitimate example of that ever happening.
Third, the US Military Industrial Complex always benefits and profits from US weapons sales and US military aid abroad, which is why the weapons industry provides millions and millions in campaign contributions and lobbying Congress on an annual basis. One recent example is Lockheed Martin, which contributed $250,000 to politicians while they were deliberating on US military aid to Ukraine.
Fourth, the US Government, media pundits, think tanks and other entities are always saying things like “we can’t afford Medicare for All,” cancel student debt or any number of things that would benefit people living in the US, especially those most marginalized. Yet, Congress never hesitates to provide military spending, like in the case of Ukraine, or the massive and largest US military Budget (for 2023) in US history that the Biden Administration will likely adopt in the near future. Imagine how the billions that goes to US militarism could be used for affordable housing, canceling student debt, providing Medicare for All, create a renewable energy system or provide Black people with the reparations they deserve.
Fifth, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) most recent report, released in March, is pretty bleak in terms of the pending Climate disaster. The United Nations Secretary General responded to the lasted Climate Change report and stated:
Today’s IPCC report is an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership. With fact upon fact, this report reveals how people and the planet are getting clobbered by climate change. Nearly half of humanity is living in the danger zone now. Many ecosystems are at the point of no return now. Unchecked carbon pollution is forcing the world’s most vulnerable on a frogmarch to destruction now. The facts are undeniable. This abdication of leadership is criminal. The world’s biggest polluters are guilty of arson on our only home.
Perpetuating war and militarism is taking us in the opposite direction of what we need to do to decrease our collective consumption of fossil fuels and to slow down the harm that Climate Change is already doing, specifically to the most vulnerable populations around the world.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, during his powerful speech condemning the Vietnam War in 1967:
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
Lastly, it’s worth pointing out that US Militarism is connected to the ongoing litany of shootings in the US. The US government is the largest trafficker os weapons globally, so it is not surprising that guns are so readily available in the US. The US government models the behavior that violence solves problems around the world, thus it would follow that shootings in the US happen all the time, since violence is so normalized.
The Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) was created in August of 2019, to “serve as the liaison between public safety and our Grand Rapids community.”
Since the OPA was created there have been numerous incidents of police abuse of residents, with a disproportionate amount of Black residents being the target of GRPD harassment, intimidation and arrest.
In May of 2020, there was a massive uprising in Grand Rapids, with thousands of people hitting streets after the police murder of George Floyd, with cops using tear gas and flashbang canisters, then arresting dozens of people for property destruction. Since the 2020 Uprising, there have been calls to defund the GRPD, with ongoing resistance to GRPD policies, including the more recent GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya.
During the past three years Office of Oversight and Public Accountability has had plenty of opportunities to hold the GRPD accountable, with numerous incidents of police abuse of Black residents, targeting protesters and the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya. During this time, the OPA has not once taken any significant action to hold the GRPD accountable, nor have they published reports that challenge GRPD practices and policies. The only mildly critical thing the OPA has done, was to release a statement complaining about the GRPD’s failure to comply with requests for documents in cases of possible GRPD abuse, in April of 2021.
Since the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya, the OPA has consistently agreed with the Grand Rapids Police Department and has not offered to do anything remotely close to what the community has been demanding since the GRPD shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. Therefore, it is difficult for this writer to comprehend how the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability actually benefits the community.
On Tuesday, May 24th, as part of the Fiscal Committee’s Agenda Packet, on pages 2 – 4, the City of Grand Rapids announced that the Kellogg Foundation has awarded a $750,000 grant to the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability to hire two more people to expand the capacity of the the OPA. The document states:
This grant will fund two (2) Justice Analysts (Administrative Analyst I) to work in the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability to help embed long-term system changes in our public safety operations and provide additional engagement opportunities, and educational programs to community. These positions would provide much needed capacity to be engaged and lead efforts that, if done well and equitably, have the power to directly advance positive outcomes in community and change City protocol and practice for long-term change.
So, the City of Grand Rapids will pay 2 people at $125,000 a year each, over a three year period. Based on what we have seen from the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability since August of 2019, we should only expect them to continue to do what they have done so far, which has been to have no real enforcement powers, to be conciliatory towards the GRPD, to continue to be complicit with how the GRPD polices Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities, and to ignore the community demands of Justice for the family of Patrick Lyoya.
Now, imagine how much good could be done to give $750,000 to the Black community. $750,000 could provide lots of relief for families who are renting, who are food insecure, and who have limited access to health care. In addition, what if $750,000 were given to the Black community as compensation for their calls to provide public safety for themselves, as we have been hearing over the past two years and increasingly since Patrick Lyoya was murdered by the GRPD.
When will people realize that the Grand Rapids Office of Oversight and Public Accountability is an ineffectual entity that is designed to placate the public, while they work in partnership with the GRPD to maintain the status quo of policing in this city? Let’s not be fooled by yet another bureaucratic attempt to throw money at a department that more often than not operates as a lapdog for the City Manager and the Grand Rapids Police Department.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 