Earlier today, some of the headlines read, Co-response team with police, mental health workers part of Grand Rapids budget, Grand Rapids budget allocating additional funding to OPA; GRPD funding decreased, and Budget shifts some GRPD money to Oversight, other offices.
Some might suggest, as several of the Grand Rapids-based news agencies do, that the so-called reduction in funding for the GRPD is a direct result of the GRPD killing of Patrick Lyoya, which happened exactly one month ago. However, people who are doing boots on the ground organizing and resistance to GRPD practices are not buying any of it.
What the City of Grand Rapids is doing is playing chess with the proposed 2023 budget, by moving a measly $130,000 from the GRPD to other offices, such as the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability, which will be responsible for the police department’s body camera program.
In addition, the GRPD will be increasing their partnership with mental health workers, which is a bad idea to have cops – who escalate situations, along with the fact that they are heavily armed and will use deadly force when they feel threatened. Having GRPD cops partner with social workers, mental health workers or with the unhoused community is not only a disastrous idea, it is simply a PR move to make us think that there is real change happening around policing in Grand Rapids. As the father of the Public Relations industry, Edward Bernays, once said – “The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.”
In the channel 8 story, Police Chief Winstrom admitted that there will be no police cuts, including no reduction in police officers. This means that the same number of cops will still be disproportionately patrolling in neighborhoods where there are higher levels of poverty, along with neighborhoods that are mostly Black and Latinx residents.
The proposed 2023 Grand Rapids City Budget, particularly as it related to GRPD funding, is nothing more than a sick joke, a deception, and it is an insult to the memory of Patrick Lyoya.
Mark Washington can attempt to play parlor games all he wants with public money, but we will resist it and call for a real Defunding of the GRPD with the reduced GRPD funds to go directly to Black and Brown communities, communities that are most affected by policing in Grand Rapids.
The City of Grand Rapids did send out a Press Release, which lists the schedule for the 2023 City Budget:
Tuesday, May 10 Budget Review Workshop (COW 10 a.m.)
Tuesday, May 10 Budget Review Workshop (1 p.m.)
Tuesday, May 17 City Commission Public Hearing (Budget and Fees) (7 p.m.)
Tuesday, May 24 Budget Discussion and Deliberation (COW 10 a.m.)
Tuesday, May 24 City Commission Adoption (7 p.m.)
This means they will decide in three weeks how to spend our collective money, with only one public hearing on May 17th. Again, this process is a cruel joke that needs to be resisted by any means necessary. It is worth noting that the group DeFund the GRPD made some clear demands last year during the very brief budget process, demands which are relevant for today, which you can read here.
There is a special election on Tuesday, to fill the seat previously held by Mark Huizenga, who is not a State Senator.
Robert Reagan had won the GOP primary, but after he has made some “controversial comments,” Mike Milanowski Jr. has decided to enter the race as a Republican write-in candidate.
Therefore, the May 3rd election for the 74th District seat is now between Reagan, Milanowski and Democrat Carol Glanville. Glanville, who is currently a Walker City Commissioner, doesn’t have much of a campaign platform, but she has raised a fair amount of money as of the most recent campaign finance data. Some of the larger campaign donors for Glanville are:
- Julie Brixie Blue Wave Fund – $5,000
- Michigan Education Association – $2,500
- Karla Jurvetson (Physician from California) – $1,050
Robert Reagan has a more extensive issues list, although it is pretty clear that he embraces a Trump-like platform. In terms of fundraising, here are the top contributors, based on recent campaign finance data:
- Robert Reagan (he has been his largest single contributor so far) – $1,849
- Kristen Buff (Business Coach) – $1,000
- Bonnie Burke (Designer) – $900
- It is also worth mentioning that former State Represented Dave Agema, who was far right of even many Republicans at the time, contributed $250 to Reagan’s campaign.
Lastly, there is the write-in candidate Mike Milanowski Jr. Milanowski has no issues listed on his campaign page, although there is some information on his Facebook candidacy page. Milanowski has been endorsed by the Michigan Manufacturers Association. In terms of campaign finances, Milanowski has a fairly impressive list of West Michigan power brokers, considering he is a write-in candidate. Here is a list, based on data from the Michigan Secretary pf State:
- Pamela DeVos – $1,000
- Cheri DeVos – $1,000
- Maria DeVos – $1,000
- Steve Ehmann (RDV Corp.) – $1,000
- Doug DeVos – $1,000
- Betsy DeVos – $1,000
- Dick DeVos – $1,000
- Dan DeVos – $1,000
- Friends of West Michigan Business PAC (GR Chamber of Commerce) – $1,000
Clearly, the DeVos family wants to see Milanowski win the 74th District seat, since they and one of their RDV Corp managers have collectively contributed $8,000. This provides Milanowski with funds to do online campaigning and mailers for today’s vote.
Yesterday, the group, A Glimpse of Africa, hosted an event that was designed to allow people to collectively grieve the police killing of Patrick Lyoya. City Officials were invited by the group, but that doesn’t mean that news agencies should center their voices……which is exactly what WOODTV8 decided to do.
If you watch the story that WOODTV8 aired last night, the first voice you hear is that of Police Chief Eric Windstorm. The channel 8 newsreader then says:
Several refugees and members of the African community also took the floor to share how they feel about the shooting. The conversation became tense at times.
Many said they’re disappointed to have this happen after escaping war-torn countries. They say there needs to be change in city and police policy.
“This could happen to any one of us. When I saw Patrick being shot in that video, I thought of myself. As a female, Black African immigrant, it could have been me. It could have been my friend, it could have been my brothers or sisters,” said Fridah Kahini, the founder of a Glimpse of Africa.
First, WOODTV8 should have led with the comment by Fridah Kahini, which would have rightly centered the voices of those in the African community. Second, viewers then should have heard from several other people from the African community that spoke yesterday, instead of the newsreader just telling us, “the conversation became tense at times.” Of course it was tense, because people are angry and afraid, which was beautifully conveyed by the co-founder of A Glimpse of Africa. Third, the text version of the story is even worse as it includes this comment from the newsreader:
Bliss said there’s work the city has to do internally and with the community, but she’s confident they have already started that work.
Again, there is no need to center the voices of the people who are ultimately responsible for Patrick’s death, but the channel 8 reporter could have challenged the Mayor on her comments by asking how the city is committed to not allowing GRPD cops to murder residents in the future.
Ultimately, when City officials get invited to events like this, they need to keep quiet and really listen to the people who are most affected by the police murder of Patrick Lyoya. City officials need to recognize that they were invited specifically for the purpose of listening to what the African community had to say and to sit with their discomfort, not say ridiculous things that demonstrate their whiteness.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about what one of the members of the Public Safety Committee had to say about the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya. Ed Kettle, who sits on the board of the Public Safety Committee, stated that the cop who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head and killed him, was also a “victim.”
It has now come to our attention, that since the last Public Safety Committee meeting, which took place on April 26, that Marlin Feyen, co-owner and co-founder of the Grand Rapids company Feyen Zylstra, now sits on the Board of Directors of the Public Safety Committee.
The Public Safety Committee Board consists of nine members, 2 residents from each ward and one City Commissioner from each ward. Here is the current Public Safety Committee Board:
- Commissioner Kurt Reppart
- Commissioner Joe Jones
- Commissioner Nathaniel Moody
- Christine Cameron – 3rd Ward
- Marlin Feyen – 2nd Ward
- Ed Kettle – 1st Ward
- Kyle Lim – 1st Ward
- 2 vacancies
This means that apart from the 3 City Commissioners, there are three White Board members and 1 Asian American. Christine Cameron is a lawyer and former director of Silent Observer, which has a close relationship with the GRPD, thus pro-cop. Ed Kettle, as we reported, is pro-cop. Kyle Lim, who works with the Urban Core Collective, has demonstrated that he asks critical questions about the GRPD, accountability and transparency. Now, Marlin Feyen, a member of the Capitalist Class, has joined the group.
It is hard to known where Feyen stands on policing in Grand Rapids, on the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya and GRPD funding, but we do know that he was appointed by Commissioner Joe Jones. It is also important to note, that in 2017 2nd Ward City Commissioner race, which Jones won, that Feyen contributed $250 to Jones’ campaign. Therefore, it would be reasonable to ask the question of whether or not Jones appointed Feyen to the Public Safety Committee because of his campaign contribution. It is fairly common for larger campaign contributors to then be appointed to political positions at the federal, state and local level.
In addition, another major factor in considering the social, economic and political position of someone like Marlin Feyen, who is a member of the Capitalist Class in Grand Rapids, that he would likely support a fully funded Grand Rapids Police Department. Members of the Capitalist Class like it when the state provides economic subsidies, such as the $250,000 federal funding for the new Feyen Zylstra innovation center in Walker, MI, but they also like police intervention to not only protect their economic interests, but to maintain social order, which is essential to Capitalist growth.
Therefore, the Public Safety Committee is fairly stacked in favor of pro-police residents, who would not be supportive of greater scrutiny of the GRPD, nor would they likely support any defunding of the Grand Rapids Police Department. This not only demonstrates the kind of political pandering that has plagued Grand Rapids, it demonstrates how systems of power protect themselves from further public scrutiny.
Body Cameras did not prevent Patrick Lyoya from being killed and Body Camera Training legislation will not keep any of us safe
Yesterday, Michigan Rep. Brenda L. Lawrence introduced legislation called the Officers Accountability Training and Honesty (OATH) Act of 2022.
Some may remember Representative Lawrence from the funeral of Patrick Lyoya, which she attended and spoke at. For me, her presence was performative, since she never mentions that Patrick was shot by a cop, that Patrick was shot in the back of the head, plus she never used the word police or the GRPD in her nearly 3 minutes of commentary.
The legislation put forth by Rep. Lawrence states:
In this Act, the term ‘‘body-worn camera continuous training program’’ means a training program carried out by a law enforcement agency, on an ongoing basis, that includes a supervisor conducting a review of a law enforcement officer’s body-worn camera footage with that law enforcement officer, in order to improve policing, including community relations with law enforcement.
Like so many so called police reforms, this bill would give cops more money to conduct their own body camera training program for the supposed purpose of improving policing and relations with the public.
Does anyone else feel like this is just a disgusting way to continue to fund police departments, with the hope that people will somehow think that body cameras will make us safer? Body cameras are a relatively new technology that was the result of numerous Black people being murdered by cops, specifically after Michael Brown was murdered by a cop in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The result of this quick fix was the Obama Administration’s decision to provide $23 Million for Police Departments across the US in 2015. Once again, police reforms mean more money for cops.
However, in our haste to embrace body cameras we failed to ask the most important question……will they keep us safe? In a 2021 article written by the ACLU, there is no conclusive evidence that body cameras will indeed reduced police use of force against civilians. The ACLU article did say:
Body cameras and the footage collected by them pose immense privacy risks to individuals and communities, especially because there is often no transparency or accountability around how the data collected are used, maintained, or shared with third parties, including companies and other law and immigration enforcement agencies.
A more abolitionist analysis is needed on body cameras and the institution of policing. An excellent piece written in 2017 for Crimethinc, entitled, Cameras Everywhere, Safety Nowhere: Why Police Body Cameras Won’t Make Us Safer, is worth citing here at length.
Advocates of police-worn body cameras, as well as advocates of bystanders filming the police, constantly claim that cameras act as equalizers between police and people, that they are tools for accountability. But there is very little evidence to support this. Many assume visibility will bring accountability—but what does accountability even look like when it comes to police violence? If charges are all that police reformers would demand, where do they go when those charges end in verdicts of innocence or mistrial, as they almost inevitably do? Do they just go home and revel in the process of the justice system? Or are there other options situated outside official channels? The reality is that we don’t have a visibility problem but a political problem. The only “accountability” we see seems to be in occasional monetary settlements (paid by taxpayers). These settlements don’t hold officers accountable, or prevent future assaults and murders.
Though initially hesitant to adopt body cameras, police departments and officers quickly changed their tune as they realized that cameras benefit them far more than they benefit the general public under surveillance. We now have 4000 police departments in the US that employ body cameras, including the two largest, Chicago PD and NYPD, no strangers to inflicting violence on people and getting away with it. The largest marketer of officer-worn body cams, the leader in a $1 billion per year industry, is Taser Inc. After creating their namesake product, which was used to kill at least 500 people between 2001 and 2012, Taser started adding cameras to their stun guns in 2006, and introduced the body-worn camera in 2008. Since this introduction, their stock value has risen ten times higher.
While the prevalence of videos documenting murders by police has certainly risen with the popularity of video-equipped cellphones, we have yet to see a rise in “accountability.” More cops aren’t being charged with murder, more cops aren’t being convicted of murder, and numbers of murders by police aren’t going down. Eric Garner’s murder at the hands of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo was documented by a bystander, but this video didn’t save Garner’s life or lead to any accountability for Pantaleo (though he was later docked two vacation days for an illegal stop-and-frisk that occurred two years before he killed Garner).
Those who advocate for police body cameras want to believe in accountability through official channels, and hope that visibility will protect us from the very real threat the increasingly militarized police present. Sadly, these tools haven’t worked, and are contributing to more broad forms of surveillance that affect all of us. We don’t need more thorough information about what the police are doing. We need to stop them from doing what they do. We’re not looking for transparency, or accountability. We’re looking for a world without police. We want to go beyond the demands for accountability, to build a world that not only doesn’t need police but is inhospitable to those who would police us.
Campaign Finances for West Michigan Congressional Races: How the DeVos family and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure keep buying candidates and influencing public policy
The most recent deadline for Campaign Finance data was April 25th. Over the next week, we will be providing some information and analysis on how much money candidates are receiving and who the main contributors are.
West Michigan Congressional Races
With the new re-districting now in place, it is important to look at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts, since they all fall under the geographic area known as West Michigan.
2nd Congressional District – There are three candidates running for the 2nd Congressional District, John Moolenaar (R), Jericho Gonzalez (R) and Ray Johnson (D). However, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the only available campaign finance data is for John Moolenaar.
In the current electoral cycle, Moolenaar has raised $1,420,664. The largest contributor so far is Dow Inc., which has contributed $95,888. There are other corporate donors, but some of the most notable are West Michigan-based companies such as:
- RDV Corp – $14,100
- Amway/Alticor – $9,800
- DP Fox Ventures – $5,800
- Windquest Group – $5,800
- P DeVos Designs – $5,800
Of course, all 5 of these entities are owned by the DeVos family, thus making them the second largest contributor to Moolenaar after Dow Inc, with a total of $41,300.
3rd Congressional District – There are six candidates running for this seat, with Peter Meijer (R) (incumbent), Hillary Scholar (D), John Gibbs (R), Tom Norton (R), Audra Johnson (R) and Gabi Manolache (R).
The most recent campaign finance date shows that Meijer is far ahead of everyone else in terms of money, with $2,137,150, followed by Scholten with $487,841, Gibbs with $227,502, Norton with $209,809, Johnson with $41,275 and Manolache with just $6,814. However the only detailed campaign contribution information listed on OpenSecrets.org is for Peter Meijer.
A large percentage of the contributions to Peter Meijer are from West Michigan, such as:
- Meijer Inc – $32,002
- RDV Corp – $31,900
- Bissell Inc. – $17,400
- Amway/Alticor Inc. – $16,600
- Gordon Food Service – $11,600
- Van Andel Institute – $11,600
- Autocam Corp – $11,600
- Hayworth Inc. – $8,299
- 42 North Partners – $7,250
- Michael Jandernoa – $5,800
- Windquest Group – $5,800
- Wolverine Gas & Oil – $5,800
4th Congressional District – There are six candidates running for this seat that have campaign finance date, all of which are Republicans – Bill Huizenga, Stephen Carra, Sherry O’Donnell, Ezra Scott, Jon Rocha and Gina Johnsen.
Huizenga has raised three times more than the next candidate, with $1,667,751, followed by Carra with $417,666, O’Donnell with $159,834, Scott with $12,871, Rocha with $11,313 and Johnsen with $345.
The only detailed data is for the incumbent, Bill Huizenga, with numerous West Michigan contributors, such as:
- Haworth Inc – $23,232
- RDV Corp – $17,400
- Windquest Group – $11,600
- Meijer Inc. – $8,700
- Amway/Alticor Inc. – $6,800
- Pamela Roland/DeVos – $5,800
- Van Andel Institute – $5,800
- Huizenga Group – $5,600
What is instructive is that all of the contributors listed for the three Congressional Districts, are companies owned by the local power structure, such as DeVos, Meijer, Van Andel, Kennedy, Jandernoa, Huizenga and Haworth. However, the largest contributors are from the DeVos family, which comes to a total of $127,200 for the three Congressional Districts in West Michigan. This is consistent with what the DeVos family has been doing since the late 1970s, buying candidates and influencing public policy.
Movimiento Cosecha May Day March this Sunday: Six years of disrupting business as usual
This coming Sunday, beginning at noon on the corner of Division and 28th Street, the Immigrant Justice group, Movimiento Cosecha, will be hosting their 6th annual May 1st March in Grand Rapids.
This year’s event is the first time there has been a march since 2019, since in 2020 the movement organized a car caravan and in 2021, Cosecha went to Washington, DC. You can find details about this year’s event at this link, so please help spread the word so the march can be big and loud.
At GRIID, we thought we would take a moment to celebrate the previous actions that have been done for May Day in Grand Rapids, actions which have not only brought out thousands to demand dignity, respect and permanent protection, but actions which have disrupted business as usual, since immigrants know all too well how their lives have been disrupted by US government policy and the ICE enforcement goons.
May 1st 2017 Action – Movimiento Cosecha started their circle in 2017 and one of the first action they did was to organize a May 1st march from Garfield Park to downtown Grand Rapids. We wrote the following:
Those marching were mostly Latinos, Latinx, and indigenous people from Mexico, Central America and numerous Caribbean nations. Some proudly displayed flags from their country of origin, while other carried signs with demands to stop Separating Families because of the decades-long policy of deporting those without documentation.
The march organizers did not obtain a permit, since they felt that it was their right to march for what they were demanding. The GRPD was frantic before the march, calling organizers and others connected to the movement, but no one was giving up any information. The GRPD decided to close down roads on their own to clear a path for the march, but the march organizers were clear in that they were providing enough protection for marchers on their own.
May 1st 2018 Action – The 2nd annual May Day march by Movimiento Cosecha, began in the southwest part of the city, at Roosevelt Park, marching down Grandville Avenue and ending up in downtown Grand Rapids. We wrote:
There were other beautiful moments during the march. First, when people didn’t comply with the GRPD route, it clearly showed people that police do not need to be obeyed, based on how animated people got when they changed their route.
Second, when the march was going under the 131 s-curve on Market Street, the echo provided a great opportunity for those marching to get even louder. The marchers stop for a few minutes to revel in their excitement.
Third, the march organizers who were talking through a sound system during the whole march, not only led chants, but provided important information about the realities that immigrant families face on a daily basis. They talked about the constant fear that the community lives in and how people are being detained and deported by ICE agents. Those leading the march also addressed the oppressive role that the GRPD plays in their struggle and made numerous comments at the exact same time that Police Chief Rahinsky was present on Grandville Avenue.
May 1st 2019 Action – The 3rd annual May Day march organized by Movimiento Cosecha GR, began again at Garfield Park. This time the GRPD was threatening to arrest people if they marched in the street. We wrote:
Despite the weather and despite the levels of state violence that the immigrant community has endured, there was no indication that those who were slowly gathering at Garfield Park would be anything but intimidated by the threats of arrest. Movimiento Cosecha GR organizers and volunteers did an amazing job preparing for this march, making connections with people and following the lead of those in the community who have told them over and over again that the ability to obtain a drivers license would be a huge win.
The insurgent hope that grew as we got closer to noon could be felt in the crowd that was gathering, it could be heard in the excitement in people’s voices as they began to chant and urge each other on in this struggle and it could felt in the deep affection and solidarity being exchanged in the embraces people gave each other.
2019 Addendum – Because the GRPD was so bent on arresting people if they marched in the streets, we decide to submit a FOIA request to see what the GRPD was doing prior to the 2019 march.
It should be stated that since Movimiento Cosecha GR and it’s ally group, GR Rapid Response to ICE, began organizing in early 2017, the GRPD has consistently engaged in surveillance, monitoring, harassment and intimidation tactics of this movement. On many occasions, when organizers engaged in specific actions, there were as many, and at times, more police officers present than there were those protesting.
In what follows, you will see that the GRPD spent a great deal of energy, resources and taxpayer money to monitor, harass and threaten a consistently non-violent movement for immigration justice.
The FOIA documents we obtained can be viewed at this link, with 271 pages of e-mail communication, text messages, photos, and other documents related to the 2019 May Day action that Cosecha GR had planned.
On pages 269 – 271, you can see the final cost of the FOIA request, which was $551.01. However, if one goes through the pages, it is clear that 90-95% of the documents were redacted by the GRPD. Here is the explanation they provide on the redaction:
Your request for these records is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Please be advised that information has been redacted from the documents under MCL 15.243(1)(a)(information of a personal nature release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual’s privacy) and MCL 15.243(1)(b)(iii) (law enforcement records release of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy). It is the City’s position that the public interest in the disclosure of this information is outweighed by the public interest in keeping this information private. The core purpose of the FOIA is to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government. Requests for information that involve private citizens in government files that reveal little to nothing about the inner working of government do not serve the core purpose of the FOIA.
Apparently, the GRPD does not want the public to know what they did, and more importantly, how they operate. So much for transparency.
May 1st 2020 Action – Because we were in the midst of a pandemic, Cosecha organizers decided to do a car caravan and keep people safe. Here is what we wrote about that day:
Movimiento Cosecha GR was once again demanding driver’s licenses for all, but they also emphasized the fact that immigrant workers are essential workers, particularly migrant workers. Migrant workers do the back breaking work in the fields that puts food on all of our tables, work that is so essential, that without them the food system would collapse. Another important point that Movimiento Cosecha GR made yesterday was that the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US are not eligible for any of the COVID-19 relief funds coming from the federal government, thus causing even extra hardship for the immigrant families that are already terrorized by law enforcement.
May 1st 2021 Action – Since there was a Democratic Party controlled Congress and White House, Movimiento Cosecha decided to do their May Day action in Washington, DC. They wanted to make the point that Democrats also Deport us! We interviewed two of the volunteer organizers just after they got back from their time in Washington, DC. We wrote:
We sat down with two of the Cosecha GR organizers, Gema and Idalia, both of who went to DC last weekend. We asked them four questions: 1) What was the main focus of going to Washington DC, since during the past 4 May Days, the actions have been local; 2) What kind of actions did you organize and take part in during the two days in Washington, DC; 3) There has been a clear drop in attention and support by the ally community since the November Election, what message do you have for allies about why it is important to continue supporting the immigrant justice movement; and 4) Those who went to DC were very energized, so how do you maintain that kind of energy and how do you get more people involved for the fight ahead?
For the 2022 May 1st Cosecha Action, help us make history. Be part of the fight for immigrant justice! Show the immigrant community that you are a real ally/accomplice and attend the march on Sunday!
Media Watchdog Alert: WZZM 13 does a Copaganda story featuring the Pro-Police group iCI Nation
On Monday night, the day before it was announcement which GRPD officer was responsible for shooting and killing Patrick Lyoya, WZZM 13 reported on an event about how the community can heal.
The problem with the story was that WZZM 13 never questioned nor provided accurate context for which group actually organized the event.
The so-called community healing event was organized by the group known as iCI Nation, which is a pro-police/police apologist group.
We reported on iCI Nation last November, after they produced a short video about a “unity walk” on the southeast side of Grand Rapids, which involved pastors and cops.
The WZZM 13 story provides none of the information we reported, and it doesn’t question what it would mean to have real healing after a GRPD officer shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. As if the channel 13 story wasn’t already bad enough, at the end of the story, the news reader announces that the Acts Gospel Ministries, along with iCI Nation, will be hosting a first responders lunch on May 18 in their parking lot. The last sentence states, “The community is welcome to continue conversations with first responders, including police officers.”
What good could possibly come from having a conversation with members of an institution that will not take responsibility for murdering Patrick Lyoya, and continues to demonstrate that they protect power and order.
It is also worth noting, that iCI Nation hasn’t made a formal apology to Patrick Lyoya’s family on their Facebook page, even though it has been more than three weeks since the GRPD cop killed him. In fact, the only mention of Patrick Lyoya’s death was from the WZZM 13 story that they posted.
GRIID is asking for people to contact WZZM 13 and hold them accountable for this story, which provides no information on iCI Nation, that iCI Nation is a pro-police organization, and that their story just ends up being a form of copaganda.
Phone: (616) 559-1300
E-mail – news@wzzm13.com
Countering the narratives that are being created to defend Chris Schurr, the cop who killed Patrick Lyoya
The Grand Rapids Chief of Police finally decided to release the name of the cop who shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head and killed him on Monday, April 4.
The officer’s name is Chris Schurr, although many activists have known this for over a week, after making some determinations based on the video that was released the week after Patrick Lyoya was shot and killed by Chris Schurr.
There are already numerous narratives that have been created since Schurr’s name has been released. I would like to address three of them.
The first narrative comes from the description used in the GoFundMe for the cop who murdered Patrick Lyoya. The most important part of that narrative reads:
Being involved in an incident like this is very traumatic. I have been trying to help the family navigate this difficult time and meet their basic needs as their safety has been compromised. Unexpected living expenses have come up that is related to their security. Many have reached out to ask how they can support this officer and his family. With the media release of Officer Schurr’s name, this page was created as a place for people to reach out and help in a tangible way.
The most significant request at this time is prayer. Prayer for peace. Prayer for all affected by this tragic incident. Prayer for the men and women still working the streets. Prayer for those investigating the incident and prayer for our elected officials. Funds donated will go towards expenses related to maintaining the family’s safety and security and will deposited directly to them.
It is instructive that this narrative completely omits Patrick Lyoya’s name and the fact that Chris Schurr shot him in the back of the head while he was face down on the ground. Like most of the government languages that has been used, this narrative calls what happened “an incident.” The narrative then center’s the “safety” of the very person who murdered Patrick Lyoya, without any acknowledgement of how Patrick’s safety was brutally violated. Lastly, there is a request for prayer of peace, but the GRPD and the Michigan State Police and Grand Rapids City officials are the only ones directly mentioned. Again, Patrick Lyoya’s family is omitted, his friends, the Congolese community, the African American community and the larger activist community that has been in the streets for over two weeks now demanding justice.
A second narrative that has been created since the naming of Chris Schurr, is the one that appeared in an MLive article on Tuesday, April 26, with the headline, Patrick Lyoya’s troubles with police may have prompted his resistance to officer. This narrative seeks to create doubt in the public mind about what happened on April 4, when Officer Schurr shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. Those who already zealously support the cops will use this as a justification for Chris Schurr deciding to shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head. This justification was affirmed in the article, where a former cop and now business agent for Police Officers Association of Michigan, Timothy Lewis says, “If he had just done what he was asked to do … he’d be in jail, but he’d be alive.” This is an ideological statement, since it is designed to say that the public should always obey whatever cops tell us to do. This point of view is what it means to live in a police state and we should not simply conform to the state’s demands that we blindly obey.
A third narrative is one that has surfaced in various forms, but lets look at what the Fraternal Order of Police, the Gerald R. Ford Metro Lodge #97 posted late Monday evening.
Officer Schurr is a public servant and servant of the Lord. He chose to minister to the people of Kenya and serve those less fortunate than him. Hardly the racist so many of the usual police haters try to portray him as. We doubt the media will do their due diligence in conducting any investigative journalism to seek out the whole true story, but we can only hope.
This post is borrowed from a friend and fellow GRPD officer.
Everyone, this is Chris. A lot of people are sharing pictures of him right now and are trying to portray him as an evil person. That is not Chris. The picture on the left is the day Chris was sworn into the police department, a smile all new police officers once shared. The picture on the right is when Chris was in Kenya getting sized for his wedding ring. For those that don’t know, Chris married the love of his life while on a missions trip. They had the opportunity to commit their lives to one another during a traditional Kenyan ceremony and from all of Chris’ stories, it was truly a magical day for them.
That’s the type of guy Chris is; someone who serves the Lord unconditionally and does it with a smile on his face. Chris recently had to make a decision that all as officers hope and pray never have to make. Because Chris made it, the world is trying to make him out to be a monster. Since the media and haters want to try and overwhelm Facebook with terrible still shots of Chris, and unbelievably disgusting lies, I wanted to take a second to add a little bit of truth to your feed, even for a second.
What this narrative seeks to do is to humanize Chris Schurr, despite the fact that he shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, while Patrick was lying face down on the ground. Like most cop apologists, this narrative believes that Chris Schurr is a “servant of the Lord.” The narrative also uses words like unconditional, a smile on his face. The narrative goes on to state, “He chose to minister to the people of Kenya.” Chris Schurr was on a mission trip with his church, the Corinth Reformed Church in Byron Center. This church is a White church, which truly believes that mission work is a wonderful thing. Now, let’s be honest, Christians from the US going to places like Kenya to serve the less fortunate is nothing more than a form of White Saviorism. One could certainly argue that mission work is inherently a form of propaganda designed to get people to abandon their own spiritual traditions and embrace a genocidal, colonialist and White Supremacists version that so many Christians in the West practice. (See Native scholar George Tinker’s book, Missionary Conquest.)
Mission work also generally ignores the fact that countries like Kenya suffered for a long time from European Colonialism and now US Corporate extractivist practices. The people that Chris Schurr was doing his mission work with in Kenya were not “less fortunate,” they were people living under generations of colonial rule, with a foreign power dictating their daily reality.
These are just three narratives that are being created to defend the killer cop Chris Schurr. We need to not buy into any of these narratives, rather we need to resist them and create our own narratives that center the life of Patrick Lyoya and dismantle the institution of policing in Grand Rapids and across the US.
On Friday, MLive posted an article with the headline, Momentum for police reform returns to Michigan Legislature following Lyoya killing.
The article is what we have become accustomed to when it comes another Black person has been killed by cops. People, especially those in power, are scrambling to address the pain and anger that communities are experiencing, by talking about and maybe passing more bureaucratic laws that have no real impact on reducing the harm that police departments do all over the country.
In fact, the first person cited in the article essentially says the same thing about no real change coming with reforms:
“Now we do all these B.S. bills in this place about police. But we never do any that actually matter because, yet again, a Black man, Patrick Lyoya, is dead. Murdered at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and to serve us… I am so sick and tired of this crap,” said Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor. “We are tired.”
Later on in the MLive article it states: Civil rights advocates and local activists have called for reform within the Grand Rapids Police Department in the aftermath of the shooting. While it is true that some local groups are calling for police reform, there are numerous groups that are calling for a more systemic change around community safety, groups such as DeFund the GRPD and Voices of the Revolution.
The problem with this type of reporting is that MLive (and other news agencies) completely ignore those calling for more radical change and the spend the rest of the article quoting State Legislators along with listing various legislative proposals they have introduced that do nothing more than offer weak reforms to an institution that was formed to act as Slave Patrols in the 19th Century US.
No matter how many tweaks or reforms are made around the issue of policing in the US, the laws are primarily designed to protect the police and provide them with tremendous power. We have to remember that police departments are an integral part of existing governments, whether we are talking about the federal, state, county of city governments. Police Departments don’t operate outside of these government bodies, they merely act as an enforcer of the laws and ordinances of the communities they operate in. Therefore, governments, at any level, are not going to make the necessary changes, systemic changes, that would eliminate police departments unless they are forced to do so by the public.
Another way to think about police reform efforts, which have been going on since police departments were founded, is that no police reforms have never ever stopped cops from killing people. Alex Vitale, author of the important book, The End of Policing, states:
The problem is not police training, police diversity, or police methods. The problem is the dramatic and unprecedented expansion and intensity of policing in the last forty years, a fundamental shift in the role of police in society. The problem is policing itself.
Police reforms are also designed to either preserve the system of policing or to expand the system of policing, according to Philip McHarris, who teaches in the African American Studies Department at Princeton University and a contributing author in the book, Violent Order: Essays on the Nature of Police. When police reforms are instituted, it often means more training, more documentation, hiring more people or using newer technology, all of which actually expand the scope of what police departments do.
However, in the larger social context, policing is at the forefront of enforcing order in a society fundamentally shaped by structural inequality. As a result, policing disproportionately harms marginalized communities. This is precisely why movements calling for the defunding of the police and the abolition of police are primarily led by Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities.
As I mentioned in a recent article, we should not be seduced by reformist promises when it comes to policing, instead we need to inform ourselves and build movements to dismantle policing, defund policing and abolish policing.
No amount of training, cultural sensitivity workshops, de-escalation tactics, body cameras, or other police reforms have ever prevent the police from intimidating, harassing, arresting, beating or murdering people.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 