Community Historians workshop focuses on the Grand Rapids Public Schools in the 1980s
In September I wrote about the first Community Historians workshop, which focused on the 1960s. In that session
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.
I was unable to attend the second session in the Community Historians series, but did attend the 3rd session held on Saturday. I was also asked to present some information up front, contextual information regarding larger policy dynamics in the US, along with social and economic realities that impacted what was taking place in the Grand Rapids Public School District.
I presented several slides, beginning with the one here above, which focused on the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership document, which was fundamentally adopted by the Reagan Administration, especially concerning public education.
A second slide shows some of the members of the Free Congress Foundation, specifically Joseph Coors and Rich DeVos, both of which provided millions of dollars to the Heritage Foundation beginning in the mid-1970s.
In the 3rd slide you can see economic factors that impacted families in Grand Rapids, the loss of good paying jobs for working class people, the advent of an accelerated Drug War in Grand Rapids and how the GRPD budget exponentially grew over time.
The fourth slide involved content created by a graduate student who has been looking at GR Press coverage and other source documents on the GRPS from the 1980s. Here is the summary of the top ten issues they came away with.
A final slide here below has information about a resolution that was passed by the GRPS Board of Education, which agreed to divest from South African in 1985. You can read about this campaign at this link.
Once the contextual information was presented, the workshop was then open to participants, some of which either were students or teachers during the 1980s at GRPS. Ned Andree shared information about two GRPS schools that were built in the 1970s in predominantly Black neighborhoods, Alexander School and Sigssbee Elementary, both of which were designed by architects who also built prisons. This information led to a larger discussion about the school to prison pipeline and how there was a not so public sentiment within the GRPS to assume that certain students would end up in jail or prison.
Other people talked about there own experience at GRPS, such as Jermar Sterling who was a student in the 1980s and was the subject of an interview in the oral history project that Professor Kang has been doing for the past 2 years.
Other major themes that were discussed dealt with the beginning of school closings in the 1980s, what role religious schools played in taking students away from the public schools, the shift from schools being a place to teach life skills to a business-centric focus, how white flight impacted the GRPS, where Latinx students fit into the GRPS narrative at this time, and how the financial instability of the Grand Rapids Public Schools saw good teachers leave for other districts because of job insecurity.
The discussion was lively and engaging, making the 2 hour workshop time fly by. There will be three more of these workshops offer in 2026 and Professor Kang invited people to offer up ideas on topics people would like to explore for future session. For updates on future Community Historians workshops go here https://grpsuncovered.org/.
The national 8 day economic blackout campaign starts on November 25th: Some questions and critiques
There are several versions of visuals circulating on social media calling for an economic blackout from November 25th through December 2nd. While I understand the sentiment behind this call to target certain larger corporations during this economic blackout I think it is worth dissecting the intent such actions.
The memes are calling for no work, no projects, no spending, no events, no restaurants, and one version says to shop local non-Maga. Now, this coordinated effort is not calling for a general strike, which I’ll address later, but some of the messages are conflicting.
It says no spending, but it also says shop local non-maga. I get this sentiment, but are they calling on people to not spend money at all during this 8 day economic blackout or not? Again, I get the notion of not spending money at businesses that have connections to the Trump Administration, but this raises another issue. There are plenty of businesses, arguably most businesses, which exploit workers, have little concerns for environmental sustainability and are focused primarily on making profits, regardless of whether or not they are not supporters of the Trump Administration.
Take for example the heath care sector in the US, which most definitely centers making profits over the well being of the public. According to Open Secrets, the health sector has consistently supported by Republicans and Democrats with campaign contributions since 1990, but has favored Democrats since 2016.
If the economic blackout is just committed to getting rid of Trump, then are they saying that what happens under other administrations is ok, even good for workers, families and the environment? To suggest that only the Trump Administration is bad for workers, families and the environment is to ignore the overwhelming data and analysis that demonstrates that workers, families and the environment has suffered under other administrations.
Another question I have is if we are all being called to not work during this 8 day economic blackout, is this campaign considering that there are millions of workers that might lose their jobs if they don’t go to work during this time? There are millions of workers in the US, most of which work in the service industry who do not not a livable wage already and even if they didn’t lose their jobs by not going to work during this 8 day period, they will have even less money to survive on.
Looking at the website for this campaign, I could find no organizations listed as being part of the effort, but there is this description:
BLACKOUT THE SYSTEM is a national, non-partisan grassroots movement born from frustration, injustice, and the undeniable truth that the people hold the power – not corrupt governments, not billionaires, and not broken systems.
However, on the main page of Blackout the System there are two additional flyers shown here above. One centers on the Hands Across America event that took place 40 years ago, which was nothing more than a feel good performative action that had no real power. The other flyer is from a separate group with their own website https://www.themassblackout.com/.
The Blackout the system doesn’t have groups or organizations listed, but The Mass Blackout website does. Most of the groups listed are the groups coordinating the 8 day economic blackout, with lots of different 50501 groups (which I have critiqued previously), some veterans groups and other progressive groups, most of which are singularly committed to getting rid of Trump. However, there are at least two groups listed that have a broader goal, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and The General Strike. Groups that are curiously not co-sponsors of partners in this effort are US Labor organizations. This seems strange to me, since this 8 day economic blackout, which is calling for people to not go to work and not spend money is not being endorsed by the AFL-CIO, the UAW, other national unions, as well as the thousands of local unions around the country.
Some of the memes say that this 8 day economic black out will be the largest economic blackout protest in US history. It is possible that this will be true, since we have no way of knowing how many people will participate, nor do we know the outcome or the impact of this action. We do know that there have been very effective local and national boycott and divestment campaigns. During the Civil Rights Movement, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was extremely effective, since the Black community won the demands they were calling for.
Another powerful example of an effective economic blackout campaign was the South African Anti-Apartheid campaign, which involved boycotts and divestment efforts. This campaign lasted for roughly 40 years, but it eventually worked to end the system of racial apartheid in South Africa. Grand Rapids groups participated in this campaign, which you can read about here.
One final example if the famous 1919 general strike that happened in Seattle. On the morning of February 6, 1919, Seattle, a city of 315,000 people, stopped working. 25,000 other union members had joined 35,000 shipyard workers already on strike, which is well documented on the Seattle General Strike Project website.
Created with GIMP
While I have lots of questions and criticisms of the 8 day economic blackout, I am not saying that people shouldn’t participate. However, we should be looking out for people who are already extremely vulnerable under the economic system of Capitalism, especially those with multiple jobs, immigrants and BIPOC communities, which regardless of who sits in the White House are being screwed under Capitalism. We also need to come to terms with the fact that most of the people who will be able to participate in the 8 day economic blackout are privileged. Until we can center those most impacted under Capitalism and make sure they are the ones leading boycotts, strikes and other forms of economic resistance, we should all apply a critical lens to campaigns that are led by those with privilege.
More propaganda from the West Michigan Policy Forum about the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative
Members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure are once again spreading propaganda about a ballot initiative that would mildly raise taxes for the wealthiest people in Michigan.
Here is the language for the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative:
Constitutional amendment to: add, beginning in 2027, an additional 5% tax on annual taxable income over $1 million for joint filers and over $500,000 for single filers. This tax is in addition to existing state income taxes, and is to be deposited into the State School Aid Fund and required to be used exclusively on local school district classrooms, career and technical education, reducing class sizes, and recruiting and retaining teachers; and subject funds to annual audits.
There are currently 12 billionaire families living in Michigan, with 2 right here in the Grand Rapids area, the Meijer and DeVos families. According to one source, there are 73,364 households in Michigan with $500,000 or more in income, which makes up only 1.8% of the population. Therefore, if the ballot initiative is passed, then 1.8% of the population – the wealthiest members of Michigan – will pay increased taxes that will generate billions for public schools.
What Propaganda looks like
In July, I wrote about groups that were against the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative, specifically in this area, like the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the West Michigan Policy Forum. I have identified both of these groups as members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure for years.
The latest attack against the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative was posted in Crain’s Grand Rapids Business, with the headline, Michigan can’t afford a tax hike wrapped in education promises. This commentary piece was written by Dan Meyering, who is the CEO of Trillium Investments and a board member of the West Michigan Policy Forum.
Meyering makes numerous claims in this article, but never sources any of his claims. In addition Meyering uses the standard Capitalist Class argument for raising taxes for the wealthiest members of society. Here Meyering argues:
If adopted, this income tax increase would fall hardest on Michigan’s small businesses, not its largest corporations. In fact, over 75% of those who would pay more under this plan are small business owners. That’s because many small businesses are “pass-through” entities, meaning owners pay taxes on business earnings and even money reinvested into growth, hiring, or equipment. The simple truth is these entrepreneurs aren’t forced to pay additional taxes on household income of $500,000 for single filers; they’re taxed on their business’ income.
First of all, if passed, the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative would not increase taxes for corporations, yet Meyering includes corporations in his deceptive argument. Second, Meyering makes the claim that whatever profits small businesses make gets reinvested in new hiring or equipment, but again does not provide evidence or data to support such a claim.
Later in the article, Meyering uses the standard anti-public education talking points, where he states:
We should focus on three clear changes to help kids learn:
- Make sure third-grade reading works by supporting teachers with proven science-of-reading instruction and literacy-based advancement.
- Give parents transparency to make school performance data clear, comparable and accessible.
- Expand options for families. Every child learns differently, and every family deserves access to the education model that works best for them.
It is worth noting that Meyering refers to himself as a small business owner. Now, when I think of a small business owner I think of someone who owns a neighborhood restaurant or a bookstore. Meyering is the CEO of Trillium Investments, which owns a growing number of multifamily apartments across the midwest. These apartments are not affordable to most people, thus Meyering’s company owns apartment complexes that cater to members of the professional class. Thus, owning apartment complexes in Michigan and Minnesota hardly makes one a small business owner.
Meyering has a history of using his wealth and position of influence to impact public policy that benefits the wealthy and punishes working class people. For example, Meyering sits on the board of the Michigan Strategic Fund, which uses public dollars to support private projects, like the one he voted on to give $252.3 million of incentives for Amphitheater in downtown Grand Rapids. Meyering was also a signatory to the GR Chamber’s push for the City of Grand Rapids to adopt ordinances that would criminalize the unhoused.
Lastly, Meyering contributes to political campaigns locally, where he uses his wealthy to influence the outcome of elections. Meyering contributed $1000 or more in the following local elections since 2022:
$1000 to Andrew Robbins who ran for Grand Rapids 1st Ward Commissioner in 2022
$1000 to Kenneth Hoskins who ran for Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Commissioner in 2022
$1225 to Dean Pacific who ran for Grand Rapids 1st Ward Commissioner in 2024
$1225 to John Krajewski who ran for Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Commissioner in 2024
If Meyering can spend that kind of money to influence local elections and sit on state boards that approve millions of public dollars for private projects, he can surely pay a modest increase in income taxes to benefit public education. This is what propaganda looks like and why we need to call it out.
What are the Sanctuary policies that Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are demanding from Grand Rapids and Kent County: Part III
This is the third in a series that will further examine the various sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are demanding that the City of Grand Rapids and the Kent County Commission adopt. In Part I, I looked at the policy that allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents.
In Part II, I looked at policies that would prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention. Kent County used to have a contract with ICE that began in 2012, a contract you can read here.
Today I want to look at policies that could prevent immigration detention centers from being established in Grand Rapids or Kent County. Today’s post is related to Part II, since we are talking about the issue of immigration detention.
There are two aspects of the Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE demand that Grand Rapids and Kent County adopt policies that could prevent immigration detention centers from being established in the city or the county. The first aspect of this demand is to get Grand Rapids and Kent County to adopt a policy that would not allow for any new ICE detention facilities to be constructed in the city or the county.
Now that there is the GEO Group ICE Detention facility in Baldwin, MI, it seems unlikely that another one would be built in Kent County. However, having a policy in place to prevent that from even being proposed is what Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are demanding. These groups do not want to wait for the Baldwin facility to be filled, only to find out that another ICE detention center would be built. ICE is arresting, and detaining immigrants at record numbers right now, so it is impossible to rule out the administration’s push for more privately run and constructed ICE detention centers. We already know that undocumented immigrants who are put into detention aren’t always sent to the detention center that is closest to where they live.
The second argument has to do with opposing detention centers that would be using spaces that already exist. For instance, the Kent County Jail could do what the Calhoun County Jail has done for a long time, which is to use the jail as an ICE detention facility. Kent County had previously entered into a contract with ICE to provide ICE holds on immigrants at the Kent County Jail in 2012. The Kent County Commission and the Kent County Sheriff’s Department could agree to enter into a new contract with ICE that would allow ICE to utilize the Kent County Jail to be a short-term or long-term ICE detention space. Kent County was motivated by financial incentives in the 2012 contract and there is plenty of evidence that the Kent County Sheriff’s office is already holding immigrants for ICE, so entering into a new contract to detain immigrants for ICE at the Kent County Jail is very possible.
This is why Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE have included in the demands that Grand Rapids and Kent County adopt policies that could prevent immigration detention centers from being established in the city or the county. There is nothing bizarre or silly about this, especially since Grand Rapids and Kent County continue to demonstrate their willingness to cooperate with ICE to terrorize immigrants and and separate families in this community.
This demand also aligns with what No Detention Centers in Michigan has been pushing for since they were founded in 2018. No Detention Centers in Michigan also works directly with the national group Detention Watch Network.
On Monday, Crain’s Grand Rapids Business reported that there are pans for a new private business club in downtown Grand Rapids, with the focus centering around business leaders and community leaders to connect and conspire to shape Grand Rapids in such a way that benefits their interests.
One could easily argue that this already happens, at least the part where business leaders and community leaders figure out ways to get the public to pay for projects that the private sector comes up with. This is certainly what Grand Action 2.0 has been doing in recent years with the outdoor amphitheater project and the soccer stadium, which I have written about extensively.
What is different about what this business club, according to Jeff Lambert, the Executive Chairman of Lambert LLYC, is that Grand Rapids business leaders will now have a place designed specifically for ways for people to connect and conspire with likeminded people to expand their wealth. https://lambert.com/team/jeff-lambert/
Lambert was quoted in the article as saying:
“We have grown into this opportunity to launch a private club. Ten years ago, it wouldn’t have worked because we weren’t far enough along in our evolution of the city. We think the time is perfect, and there’s also a broader trend nationally of mid-sized cities opening up clubs for that same reason.”
The Commerce Club that Lambert envisions will be at the five-story building at 61 Commerce Ave. SW in downtown Grand Rapids. The club will feature a cafe, restaurant, an event venue, concierge services for members, offices, conference and coworking space, an executive gym and wellness center, a speakeasy and cigar lounge, and 18 fourth- and fifth-floor suites that members can lease or buy for overnight stays. As of right now, the annual cost of membership will be $5,000, plus a minimum spending amount. Membership, according to the Crain’s article, will also be limited to 250 people, at least at the beginning.
Ok, so while nearly half of the population in Grand Rapids is living paycheck to paycheck and while local politicians keep providing millions in public funds for private projects, members of the Capitalist Class in Grand Rapids will be able to join the Commerce Club for the stated purpose of connecting with other members of the Capitalist Class and so-called community leaders to come up with new ways to grow their already excessive wealth. These business leaders will be able to conjure new ways to use public funds for projects to increase their wealth at the Commerce Club in either the wellness center or speakeasy and cigar lounge, then take credit for making Grand Rapids a destination city for tourists.
Lastly, it is important to note that, according to the Crain’s article, the founding partners of the Commerce Club include LLYC, Rockford Construction, Progressive Companies, design firm Gensler-Chicago, Acrisure LLC, and law firm Miller, Johnson, Snell & Cummiskey PLC. These founding partners are also connected to local groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Right Place Inc. Grand Action 2.0 and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, thus representing once more the incestuous and interlocking systems of power in this city.
Since November 2nd I have been doing sessions at Fountain Street Church on the History of US Immigration Policy on Sundays for members of the church and anyone else who wants to attend.
In the first week I provided a broad overview of this history, using a series of slides that I have developed over the years, since most people don’t have a firm grasp of the history of US immigration policy. The slide presentation begins with a few slides that are designed to deconstruct certain aspects of this history that perpetuate misinformation about immigrants and immigration policy.
However, most of the presentation looked at actual US immigration policies from the founding of the US, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, which not only demonized Chinese people, but limited how many Chinese people could be in the United States.
Another major theme of this first session was to ask the question about why so many immigrants were coming, especially those who were risking their lives to enter the US/Mexican border at unsanctioned border points. We then talked about the reasons for people taking such risks when crossing the US/Mexican border, along with trying to understand the root causes of why people were leaving their countries and coming to the US. I identified three main reasons, three root causes for why so many people from Mexico and central American were coming to the US especially from the 1970s through to the present.
In the second session on November 9, we did a deeper dive into the root causes on immigration, particularly with those who were undocumented immigrants. I shared two reading assignments that provided greater context of the current immigration realities.
The first reading assignment was from the book, No One is Illegal: Fighting Racism and State Violence on the US/Mexican border, specifically chapters that provided historical context around US military and economic policy that were two of the major contributing factors for why so many people from Mexico were being displaced and entering the US without documentation.
The second reading I provided people was from the book, American Intolerance: Our Dark History of Demonizing Immigrants. I asked people to read the chapter entitled, No Dogs, No Negroes, No Mexicans, which investigated to deep hatred that white people and white institutions displayed towards Mexicans and Mexican Americans, all throughout the US, but particularly in the southwest part of the country.
In addition, I presented a brief historical overview of US military and economic policies towards Central America from the mid-19th century til today. I talked about how the US sent the Marines to invade those countries, plus the history of US funded and military training for the counterinsurgency wars in the 1970s and 80s, followed by the Central American Free Trade Agreement, also known as CAFTA.
Here’s an idea, let’s propose legislation that will not stop ICE from terrorizing immigrants
Last week MLive ran an article with the headline, Michigan considers banning ICE agents from churches, schools.
The MLive article was referring to Senate Bills 508, 509, and 510, even though the reporter failed to name the bills or provide links so that people could actually read the proposed legislation.
Senate Bill 508 claims to want to limit where ICE agents can go to apprehend immigrants, such as schools, places of worship, hospitals, libraries, etc. However, Senate Bill 508 also includes language that says:
A law enforcement officer may conduct an immigration enforcement action in a sensitive location if a court order directs the law enforcement officer conducting the immigration enforcement action to enter the sensitive location. A law enforcement officer may conduct an immigration enforcement action in a sensitive location if the immigration enforcement action is necessary to address a threat that poses imminent danger to public safety.
Senate Bill 509 would bar state and local police from providing identifying information to ICE of people they have detained or arrested, unless obligated by a warrant issued by a federal court or a court of this state.
Senate Bill 510 has language that want to make sure ICE agents are not covering their faces. Well, that is the intent, but there are 3 exceptions provided in the language of the bill. If an ICE agent covers their face for reasons other than the three exceptions they could be guilty of a misdemeanor.
It seems to me that the headline in the MLive article is misleading. The headline should have stated that Michigan considers banning ICE from some places, unless they have a judicial warrant or something like, we propose legislation that will not stop ICE from terrorizing immigrants.
What Michigan Senate Democrats are proposing in these three bills are ultimately meaningless since they will do nothing to concretely limit the terrorism being inflicted by ICE against undocumented immigrants. In each of these three pieces of legislation there are exceptions, meaning that if ICE agents have judicial warrants then they can arrests and detain whoever they want and where ever they want, whether they are masked or not.
Do people not see the ridiculousness of these bills? ICE is terrorizing undocumented immigrants, separating families, causing tremendous trauma, economic hardship and putting more money into the hands of private companies that are profiting off of the terrorism and kidnapping by ICE, like the GEO Group, which now runs the largest ICE Detention facility in the Midwest at the North Lake facility in Baldwin, MI.
You can’t claim to want to lessen the harm being inflicted by ICE, when in all three of these bills you provide ICE with exceptions, with language that allows them to still do whatever they want.
Do people not see that at this moment in Michigan and around the country that the only meaningful legislation that politicians could put forth and should put forth would be to Abolish ICE, to dismantle ICE, to Defund ICE.
Now, there are no politicians, local, state or federal, who are proposing that ICE be abolished. This means that politicians believe that ICE is a legitimate entity that has had a legitimate purpose since they were founded in 2003. But let’s be clear, since 2003, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been designed to terrorize undocumented immigrants, to kidnap them, to detain them and to deport them. ICE has not and does not promote public safety.
We have to see these kinds of proposed bills as ineffectual justifications for state carceral violence and not spend one once of energy trying to convince ourselves that Michigan Senate Bills 508, 509 and 510 will be better for undocumented immigrants. Abolishing ICE is the only meaningful thing to do, if you genuinely want to be in solidarity with immigrants.
Abolishing ICE is what Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are calling for, so instead of supporting bullshit legislation just get involved with the work they are doing.
Boycott targeting businesses owned by Mayor LaGrand shifts to the other side of Grand Rapids in front of the Less Traveled Bar
Roughly 20 people gathered in front of the LaGrand-owned bar known as the Less Traveled, to continue the boycott campaign that began last month in front of Long Road Distillers on the westside of town.
The boycott campaign, which is organized jointly by Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE is attempting to impact the ability of Mayor LaGrand to make profits while he refuses to adopt sanctuary policies that both groups have been demanding since January of this year.
The City of Grand Rapids has chosen to ignore these demands, despite the fact that there have been dozens of immigrant families impacted by ICE violence. Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand has repeatedly said that he doesn’t want to give immigrants a false sense of hope, plus the Mayor has even referred to the sanctuary policy demands as “silly” and “bizarre.”
Referring to these demands as silly and bizarre reflects a clear insensitivity to the harsh realities that undocumented immigrants are facing in the greater Grand Rapids area, especially since the demands would clearly reduce the ability of ICE to target, arrest and detain more immigrants. Here are those sanctuary policies that the affected community has been demanding:
- 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.
The boycott on Saturday targeted the Less Traveled bar, which is part of Long Road Distillers, but branded differently in a different part of the city. People who showed up for the boycott campaign on Saturday handed out flyers to people walking along Cherry Street and those that were coming out of or going into one of Mayor LaGrand’s bars. Other people held signs and most people participated in the chants that were led by members of Movimiento Cosecha.
Several people took flyers and a few people stopped by to inquire about the boycott, with several of them unaware that Mayor LaGrand was a partial owner of these bars. Additionally, someone who works at Books and Mortar, which is just across the street from the Less Traveled bar offered to take extra flyers to have in their bookstore to let customers know about the boycott. Another reason to love independent book stores.
Some of the boycott participants also wrote messages on the sidewalk in chalk, in order to generate more attention to the campaign. People spent about 1 hour in front of the bar, but there will be lots more opportunities for people to get involved with or support the boycott as it moves forward.
Anyone wanting to get involved can contact Movimiento Cosecha or GR Rapid Response to ICE on their Facebook pages.
Epilogue for my forthcoming book, Reversing the Missionary Position: Learning Solidarity on Mayan Time
What follows is the text of my epilogue for my third book, Reversing the Missionary Position: Learning Solidarity on Mayan Time. The book will be available after the New Year.
In recent months the level of repression by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has increased exponentially throughout Kent County. GR Rapid Response to ICE has been receiving calls on a regular basis, with those from the affected community sharing stories of ICE terrorism, often resulting in requests for Mutual Aid for the now deeply traumatized immigrant families.
GR Rapid Response to ICE has continued to expand the scope of their work, especially since June of 2025, when ICE agents arrested and detained at least 8 immigrants at the ISAP office on Michigan Street in Grand Rapids. ISAP stands for Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which is a program operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that provides an alternative to detention for individuals in immigration proceedings. However, this so-called alternative forces members of the undocumented immigrant community to not only check in at the ISAP on a regular basis, it forces them to either wear an ankle bracelet, a wrist bracelet or download the SmartLINK app, which allows “for real-time communication between officers and clients,” according to the BI Incorporated. BI Incorporated is a subsidiary of the GEO Group, which operates ICE detention facilities all across the county, with the most recent being the North Lake facility in Baldwin, MI.
After the ICE raid at the ISAP office, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE has been inviting members of the undocumented immigrant community to call their hotline if they would like someone to accompany them to their appointments at the ISAP office or the ICE office at 517 Ottawa NW in downtown Grand Rapids.
Additionally, GR Rapid Response to ICE has been conducting patrols in 6 neighborhoods throughout the area, neighborhoods where ICE has frequently been seen by members of the affected community.
Lastly, GR Rapid Response to ICE has been working with Movimiento Cosecha to further their efforts to get the Grand Rapids City Commission and the Kent County Commission to adopt 6 concrete sanctuary policies that would not allow cops who work for both governing bodies to cooperate or collaborate with ICE, to not have relationships with companies that have contracts with ICE or are profiting off of ICE violence, to not allow detention centers to be built or existing spaces to be used as ICE detention centers, and to not share information on undocumented immigrants with ICE, including the data collected by the Flock cameras that are located throughout the greater Grand Rapids Area.
I have been involved in GR Rapid Response to ICE since 2017 and that group has also had a close relationship with Movimiento Cosecha, since those of us who are allies/accomplices always follow what Cosecha wants us to do. This is what solidarity looks like, when those of us who carry more privilege, can leverage that privilege to the benefit of those being targeted by ICE.
Accompaniment from Guatemala to Grand Rapids
This book is really about my own journey, from being bitten by the Central America bug to practicing solidarity, by doing sanctuary work in Grand Rapids in the 1980s to doing solidarity work in Guatemala, El Salvador and in Chiapas, Mexico between 1988 and 2006, to joining the immigrant-led work in Grand Rapids from 2017 to the present.
I would never have guessed that this is what I would be doing with my life, but I have nothing but deep gratitude for making these choices to be part of this work over the past 40 years, of practicing solidarity, and by learning from all of them amazing people that I have had the pleasure of accompanying.
For me accompaniment is not only being physically present with people who are being targeted by state violence, it is being present with them intellectually and emotionally. The people I have done accompaniment with over the past four decades, whether they are being targeted by death squads, military battalions in Guatemala, El Salvador and Chiapas, or those being terrorized by ICE in West Michigan, have taught me an important lesson I learned from the Zapatistas – We lead by following.
To lead by following means that I don’t have the answers and I follow what those who are being targeted by state violence want me to do. It is never on my terms, but on the terms of the person who has invited me to accompany them. If they want me to stay in their homes as a deterrent to state violence, ride in their car or stand next to them during a demonstration, then this is what is means to lead by following.
Accompaniment is a relational form of organizing, where we agree to do things that will contribute to the safety of those from the affected community and ultimately the liberation of all of us. Like the old Civil Rights saying that my liberation is directly connected to the liberation of those fighting for their freedom. We do this work together. We practice what the Zapatistas taught me, We build the road by walking it together.
The other important message I have tried to communicate in this book is what a Guatemalan organizer taught me back in 1988, while we shared a meal in her home. Maria worked with CONAVIGUA, an organization comprised of widows, since all of them had husbands who were murdered by the Guatemalan military.
Maria told me that quiet night in Quiche that she was grateful for our efforts to accompany them in their struggle. However, she then told me that when I got back to my country that I needed to work on changing the policies that the US government has towards Guatemala, since that would be another way that I could accompany them in their struggle for freedom. US military intervention, military funding, training Guatemalan soldiers in counterinsurgency and US trade policies is what Maria and CONAVIGUA was fighting against.
This call to action that has haunted me since 1988 is still being reflected not only in the US military Aid to Guatemala, the rest of Central America and Mexico, but the policies of NAFTA and CAFTA that primarily benefit US corporations and the wealthiest people in those countries, but promote economic violence against the majority of people in those countries. Ironically, US military and economic policies have displaced millions of people in those countries, many of whom have come to the US as undocumented immigrants.
In fact, many of the people that I and other volunteers with GR Rapid Response to ICE offer accompaniment and sanctuary to are the same people who have been forced to leave their own countries because of US policy and are now being targeted by ICE right here in West Michigan. Thus people fleeing Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico where I did accompaniment work over a span of two decades are likely relatives, friends and neighbors of the very people seeking accompaniment and sanctuary in West Michigan right now.
I don’t know how else to see it. My country was a major cause of their displacement and now my country wants to arrest, detain and deport them back to the very countries the US has been waging economic and military war against for decades. Accompaniment work is personal, but it is also structural, just as the fighting for liberation is personal and collective. I am forever grateful for all of the courages people I have met in my journey, since they have played a huge part in making me who I am today. My liberation is truly connected to theirs. La Lucha Sigue! The Struggle Continues!
MLive and WZZM 13 were at the Cosecha/GR Rapid Response to ICE action at the Sheriff’s office on Monday, but didn’t report anything
On Monday, I reported about the action that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response engaged in at the Kent County Sheriff’s office, where a statement was read followed by pressuring the Sheriff’s office on whether or not they are holding people in the jail for ICE. The demands we presented in the statement and what was asked of one of the Sheriff Department’s staff were:
- Are undocumented immigrants being held for ICE in violation of the Sheriff’s own stated policy?
- Why are community members still being funneled from local custody into federal immigration detention?
These demands were asked because the Kent County Sheriff’s Office changed the policy in 2019, which stated that they would require a judicial warrant in order to hold someone at the Kent County Jail for ICE.
A reporter from MLive and WZZM 13 were present to record the statement made outside and to documented the interaction that GR Rapid Response to ICE members had with a Captain from the Kent County Sheriff’s office, which you can watch here.
Therefore, these two news outlets had both the statement and heard how the Kent County Sheriff’s office would not provide the information and clarification on ICE holds at the Kent County Jail.
Despite having all of that information, both MLive and WZZM 13 did not do a story on what happened on Monday. Why not, you might ask? When the group left the building of the Kent County Sheriff’s Department the two reporters wanted to know what the Guatemalan man (who was taken by ICE because of the hold the Kent County Jail had) was charged with by the GRPD. One of the GR Rapid Response to ICE members replied that it was not relevant, since the issue for the action hd to do with immigration status and the collaboration between ICE and the Kent County Sheriff’s office.
What MLive and WZZM 13 were both attempting to do was use the claim that the Trump Administration uses that undocumented immigrants are being rounded up because they are criminals. This issue was highlighted in 2024, after an undocumented immigrant killed his girlfriend and left her body on US 131. I wrote at the time that while domestic violence is never acceptable, it had nothing to do with the man’s immigration status.
Unfortunately, many Democrats, like Rep. Hillary Scholten are using the same narrative as the Trump Administration and voting to criminalize undocumented immigrants despite the data that shows that compared to US citizens, undocumented immigrants commit significantly less crime.
MLive and WZZM 13 chose not to report on the central issue, which is wether or not the Kent County Sheriff’s office is still requiring a judicial warrant in order to hold people at the jail for ICE. MLive and WZZM 13 failed the public by not reporting on this issue and showing the public how the Kent County Sheriff’s office would not answer any questions on Monday, but suggested that people submit a FOIA request on information that should be public.
Now, I am not surprised that MLive and WZZM 13 decided not to report on a critical ICE related matter in Kent County. These news agencies often normalize systems of power and oppression, like ICE and local cops, as is reflected in my 12 month study of local news from 2024. The public cannot rely on commercial news agencies when it comes critical matters like ICE and local cops, which is why we need movement-based media and Indy Media sources of information.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 