Monitoring Wealth & Power in West Michigan: A DeVos Family Reader – We’re Rich and We Do What We Want
We try to update the DeVos Family Reader about every 6 months.
We hadn’t updated the DeVos Family Reader since the beginning of December, but we now have an updated version, which puts the DeVos Family Reader over 500 pages. Just go to this link and the DeVos Family Reader is the first item to click on.
In the DeVos Family Reader, you will find archival articles from the 1970s, plus sections on DeVos money and electoral politics, how the DeVos family influences West Michigan reality, the function of the various DeVos Family foundations, how the local news media represents the DeVos Family and a section entitled Betsy DeVos Watch..
There are also a list of books and online resources for monitoring the most powerful family in West Michigan.
The image below includes a direct quote from Richard DeVos, which reveals his White Supremacist values, and his belief in Manifest Destiny.
Proposed bills would make housing stability for those struggling to afford rent costs in Michigan even more difficult
It is bad enough that Michigan will not allow rent control at the state or municipal level, now there is legislation in both the House and the Senate that further takes away the ability of city governments to regulate the length of rental agreements.
The business publication MiBiz, recently reported:
A last-minute substitute to House Bill 4722 — sponsored by state Rep. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport — was given to stakeholders minutes before Tuesday’s House Commerce and Tourism Committee meeting. The committee quickly advanced the bill without providing time to review the new version, critics said.
The language of the proposed legislation states in part, “short-term rental” means the rental of a single-family residence, a dwelling unit in a 1-to-4–family house, or any unit or group of units in a condominium, for terms of not more than 30 consecutive days.”
The Senate version of the legislation (Senate Bill 446) essentially has the same language as the house version.
If this legislation is adopted, it will have three major impacts. First, these bills would further diminish local government’s ability to regulate key aspects of the market economy, in this case the housing market. Second, this legislation would not only allow, it would likely expand an AirBnB boom, which would be great for tourism, but not for those who are struggling to find truly affordable housing in Michigan. Third, adopting this proposed legislation would put renters in an even more precarious situation and create even more housing instability for those who are struggling to afford increased rental costs.
Not surprising, the Michigan Realtors Association is endorsing this legislation and makes it a point to write about it in their Legislative News section.
Both Rep. Sara Lightner and Sen. Aric Nesbitt, the two legislators who introduced these bills, has the Michigan Association of Realtors PAC in their top 10 of campaign contributors, based on data from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. In fact, 8 of the 15 sponsors of the House version of the bill are also major recipients of the Michigan Association of Realtors PAC, as do 5 of the 7 co-sponsors of the Senate version of the bill. In the end, one should always follow the money when it comes to public policy.
Radical Democracy or Managed Democracy: The Grand Rapids Participatory Budgeting Pilot Project
Last week, the City of Grand Rapids announced that it was going to pilot a participatory budgeting project, using some of the money the city received from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act.
It is instructive that the City of Grand Rapids will be piloting this project just weeks after they received several hundred calls from the community to put the brakes on voting for the 2022 City Budget and allow the community to be involved in a participatory budgeting process to make decisions on how they want their tax dollars spent.
The City’s announcement last week stated that there would be $2 million dollars that residents would have a say in, although the money is not being equally distributed. There will be $1 million going to the Third Ward, $600,000 going to the First Ward and $400,000 to the Second Ward.
Considering the dismissive response that Defund the GRPD received with their recent demand to use a participatory budgeting process, there is sufficient reason to be skeptical about how genuine the City of Grand Rapids will be with giving the public a say in how to use federal funds in the City’s three wards. Here are a few of those reasons for skepticism:
- The City of Grand Rapids has pre-determined the parameters for how the money can be spent in this participatory budgeting process. People will be able to pitch proposals, but they must fall under the following factors – Violence Reduction, Public Safety Co-Response, Housing Affordability, Broadband Access and Economic Impacts from COVID. In addition to pre-determined categories, what exactly does the City mean by violence reduction? Does that mean just overt violence, like gun violence, or are they open to considering proposals that take on structural violence, like the violence of poverty or racism?
- The City is also forming three steering committees (one for each city ward) and these steering committees with be made up of two residents appointed by Commissioners from that ward. As we have seen in other instances, elected leaders often will pick people who will not challenge structural problems, and in fact, will often maintain the status quo. Last month we looked at this very issue, where City Officials appointed residents to make decisions in numerous city-created entities, but those appoints disproportionately represent corporate interests and/or the status quo.
- Once the steering committees are created residents will be able to pitch ideas about how to use the money during both virtual and in person meetings, but the timeline for this process is very short, according to what MLive wrote. “Tentatively, residents should be able to pitch ideas and give feedback during in-person and virtual public engagement starting sometime after June 12 and lasting until July 18.” This means that people will have a month to come up with ideas, which is a very short amount of time. In addition to the short time frame, some people will be taking time off for vacation, while others will be continuing to struggle to survive. The City’s track record for community engagement is weak and what input there is, often comes with those who carry a great deal of privilege – economic, racial and gender privilege.
- A fourth, and final, reason for skepticism on the City participatory budgeting pilot project, is that they already want to frame their decision to do this as allowing people in Grand Rapids to have a say in larger portions of money than what other cities are doing. However, this misses the point of what Participatory Budgeting is all about and how it was created. The Participatory Budgeting Movement began in Brazil in the 1990s as a radical democracy initiative by the leftist Worker’s Party. The whole point of Participatory Budgeting is to shift from representative democracy to more direct democracy, where people get to decide how they want their tax money spent. In addition, Participatory Budgeting increases involvement in politics by civil society, creates more transparency, more accountability and it leads to more possibilities for social transformation.
We will certainly be following this process as it develops and we will continue to make posts once the steering committee people have been named and once we know more about how and when people will be able to have a say in this participatory budgeting pilot project. However, given the recent history of dismissing the Defund the GRPD demand around Participatory Budgeting, this writer remains skeptical that Grand Rapids City officials will really allow for radical democracy to be practiced in this city.
A few weeks ago we posted an article that challenged the claim made by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce that they want everyone in this community to thrive. Anyone who uses their brain will know that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce opposes an increase in the minimum wage, works to undermine labor unions, opposes a tax increase for the rich, and a long list of other policies that do economic harm to people who are not business owners.
The Chambers of Commerce that exist all across the country have a very long history of opposing progressive/left policies that people have fought for over the past century. As we noted in May, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce lobbies states legislators, but they also make contributions to candidates running for office in West Michigan.
The Political Action Committee (PAC) of the GR Chamber is called the Friends of West Michigan Business GR, based on the Michigan Secretary of State campaign finance records. We looked at the campaign finances of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce over the past decade, just to see which candidates were receiving funding from the group that is part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
Not surprising, the bulk of the candidates that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has contributed to, are part of the Republican Party. This is consistent with the US Chamber of Commerce, which contributed about 80% of their money to the GOP, according to OpenSecrets.
However, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, like the national Chamber, also contributes to candidates running as Democrats or candidates running in non-partisan races that claim to represent progressive politics. Below is a list of Democratic candidates or those claiming to represent progressive policies, which have taken money from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce since 2010. However, before looking at these names, it is important for all of us to think about why the below listed below would take funds from an entity that fundamentally fights for and defends Neo-Liberal Capitalism?
- The GR Chamber is strategic about who they make political contributions to, thus they want to, at a minimum, have greater access to those who get elected.
- The GR Chamber, like any major political donor, wants to influence the candidates/politicians they contributed to
- This access and influence that the GR Chamber is buying makes a mockery of the very notion of what the democratic process is supposed to be about.
- Many of the people on the list below have received campaign contributions from labor unions or other groups that identify as progressive or left groups, so why take money from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce as well?
- Just because the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce makes a contribution to a candidate, doesn’t mean that those candidates have to accept the money.
- We should seriously question and challenge candidates who take money from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce.
- The list includes people who have sat on the Grand Rapids School Board, the Grand Rapids City Commission, the Kent County Commission and state legislators from this area.
- All of this money from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce is fundamentally about getting public policy that benefits the interests of the Capitalist Class.
This list is in chronological order from the most recent to 2010, which includes the amount the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce PAC contributed, and the date:
Winnie Brinks $250 3/24/2021
David LaGrand $500 8/20/2020
Rachel Hood $100 10/13/2020
Mindy Ysasi $1,000 6/28/2019
Jon O’Connor $500 6/28/2019
Rosalynn Bliss $500 6/28/2019
Tony Baker $250 9/17/2018
Kimberly Williams $250 9/17/2018
John Matias $250 9/17/2018
Monica Sparks $350 9/17/2018
Jim Talen $250 9/17/2018
Dave Bulkoski $250 9/17/2018
Carol Hennessy $250 9/17/2018
Kurt Reppart $1,000 6/22/2017
Joe Jones $1,000 6/22/2017
Senita Lenear $250 6/22/2017
Kristian Grant $1,000 9/30/2016
Raynard Ross $1,000 9/30/2016
Jen Schottke $1,000 9/30/2016
Winnie Brinks $500 6/22/2016
David LaGrand $500 6/22/2016
Carol Hennessy $150 6/22/2016
Jim Talen $150 6/22/2016
Dave Bulkowski $150 6/22/2016
Rosalynn Bliss $500 5/14/2015
David Allen $250 5/14/2015
Ruth Kelly $250 5/14/2015
Jon O’Connor $250 5/14/2015
Mindy Ysasi $250 9/26/2014
John Matias $250 9/26/2014
Wendy Falb $250 9/26/2014
Tony Baker $250 9/26/2014
Carol Hennessy $250 5/23/2014
Jim Talen $250 5/23/2014
Dave Bulkowski $250 5/23/2014
Senita Lenear $500 7/17/2013
Rosalynn Bliss $250 7/17/2013
Carol Hennessy $100 7/6/2012
Rosalynn Bliss $100 7/6/2012
Dave Bulkowski $100 7/6/2012
George Heartwell $250 9/1/2011
Ruth Kelly $100 9/1/2011
Jim Talen $100 6/22/2010
Dick Bulkowski $100 6/22/2010
Carol Hennessy $100 6/22/2010
Last night, about 150 people came out to participate in the Every Child Matters Vigil/Protest that was organized by local Indigenous women who had recently organized a protest against the disappearance/death of Indigenous girls/women in recent years throughout the so-called United States.
The gathering of mostly indigenous people was a direct response to the recent news about the remains of 215 indigenous children that were discovered in British Colombia near a boarding school.
The vigil/protest took place at Ah-Nab-Awen Park in downtown Grand Rapids, which began with drumming and included traditional dancing, an honor song and several speakers.
Many of the people who spoke talked about the historical trauma that occurred with indigenous children being forcibly removed from their community and sent to the so-called boarding schools. For years, First Nations communities have been uncovering new information and providing space for people to share their lived experience at these schools that existed all across the country.
The United Nations Convention on Genocide names the forcible removal of indigenous children who were placed in so-called boarding schools as a form of genocide.
Shannon Martin, who is the director of the Ziibiwing Center in Mt. Pleasant, said that people need to grieve and people need to be angry about the recent discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children. Martin said that the residential schools that were created in the US, were duplicated in other countries, like Australia, which have also used the forcible relocation of indigenous children to schools that have been operated by either governments or by churches, particularly the Catholic Church.
Another speaker, Joe Cadreau, talked about how we need to stop calling these places schools and start referring to them as extermination camps. Cadreau also spoke about the need to purge Christian and Catholic elements from their tribes, especially considering how much harm these religious groups have perpetrated against indigenous people, particularly indigenous children.
The vigil/protest organizers then invited people to march with them over to St. Mary’s Catholic Church, which was just a few blocks west of Ah-Nab-Awen Park. Almost everyone who was at the park marched to the church, where people were invited to place children’s shoes, stuffed animals, flowers and signs that demonstrated the awful crimes that were committed against indigenous children at these boarding schools. Again, prayers were offered and songs were sung. It was a powerful moment when the items were laid in front of the church’s front door. It was a collective action of accountability, and it sent a strong message to the Catholic Church about their role in committing these acts of genocide. In many ways, what the local indigenous community did last night was historic. We shall see what sort of response the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese will have, if any.
What if we shut down the Meijer Golf Tournament: Demanding Food Justice, not Food Charity
In two weeks, the Grand Rapids-based Meijer Corporation will be hosting their annual LPGA Golf Tournament at the Blythefield Country Club in Belmont, MI.
This event will feature some of the best female golfers, with $2,300,000 going to the winner.
In addition, the Meijer Corporation has been using this event as an opportunity to massage their company’s image by donating some of the money “to fight hunger.” The annual event is called the Meijer LPGA Class for Simply Give, where Meijer is asking for donations for people who are “in need.”
Who knew it, that golf tournament’s with multi-million dollar prize money can also help in the fight against hunger…….NOT. This annual event is not only insulting and offensive to anyone who has a conscience, it actually perpetuate food insecurity. People are not going hungry in this community because they are in need, they are going hungry because of much larger social inequities that the Meijer Corporation and the Meijer family are directly connected to. Here are just a few reasons why this approach to “fighting hunger” will never work.
- Food Charity is not Food Justice. No amount of donated food will solve the problem, because the issue is not a lack of food but the absence of equity, If people were making a just and living wage, there would not be a need to food pantries or food charity, except maybe during a natural disaster. The problem is what researchers call the Food Charity Industrial Complex, with includes pantries, larger food charity entities like Feeding America and the corporations that donate to them. The Food Charity Industrial Complex doesn’t really want to end hunger, they want to only provide temporary relief for people who are not only food insecure, but who are experiencing poverty.
- If we were being honest, we would name the Meijer Corporation as a Food Cartel, which works with an Agribusiness system, within the larger economic system of Capitalism. (See our Food Justice Workshop for more details.) For example, Meijer has partners for this golf event, which interestingly enough includes other major corporations, specifically other Food Cartels, which benefit from contributing to the Food Industrial Complex as a tax write off, while making billions off of food trafficking, while millions in the US are food insecure.
- Meijer is running ads on TV and radio stations in this market about their charitable event and the local news media is playing right along, since they do not question the merits of the Simply Give event.
- This golfing event (and the Charity Industrial Complex as a whole) is normalizing the way in which society solves problems, which is through charitable efforts for the “less fortunate.” We are not allowed to ask the question, “why are so many people going hungry in our community.” We just have to accept that those who are “in need” are struggling because of some misfortune. We cannot be allowed to have any discussion that seeks to understand the root causes of hunger and the systemic forces that are the beneficiaries of hunger and poverty, like the Meijer Corporation. The normalization of food charity is particularly offensive during the COVID pandemic, which has seen a rise in people utilizing food charity services.
- According to a recent study by the Institute for Policy Studies, Hank & Doug Meijer’s wealth went from $10.2 Billion at the beginning of the pandemic to $12.6 Billion today. This means that Hank & Doug Meijer’s wealth increased by $2.4 Billion in the past year. The reality is that the Meijer family could redistribute equally the $2.4 billion to the people in West Michigan and effectively eliminate food insecurity for the thousands of individuals and families that are experiencing poverty. This would still leave Hank & Doug Meijer with $10.2 Billion, which should be more than enough to live on.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we can’t be content with getting back to normal. Getting back to normal means we are ok with thousands of families being food insecure in Grand Rapids. Getting back to normal means we should accept working at low wage jobs, many of which are in the food industry. We cannot and should not want to get back to normal. Instead, we need to fight the massive wealth gap that exists in this community and demand redistribution of wealth. We should shut down the Meijer LPGA Golf Tournament with people who are food insecure and demand they give the purse money to people here who would really benefit from it. We should stop accepting food charity and start demanding food justice.
It has been a year since the May 30th Rebellion in Grand Rapids and there are three overarching narratives that are competing for what happened then and where Grand Rapids is now.
Before we look at these narratives, it is important for me to state why I use the term rebellion for what happened on May 30th of 2020, as opposed to the term riot. What I saw and what I experienced on May 30th was thousands of people expressing their collective anger towards the ongoing brutalization of Black people by cops.
It is rare for Grand Rapids to see thousands of people take to the streets against systems of power and oppression, but this is exactly what happened on May 30th. The speeches that were given in Rosa Parks Circle, the thousands marching in the streets of Grand Rapids, the confrontation between the community and the GRPD, the burning of cop cars and the smashing of windows in the downtown area was a big fuck you to those with economic and political power who have ignored, dismissed or tried to minimize the amount of suffering and hardship that people have experienced in this city. This is particularly the case for how those in power have ignored the Black community; have invested in all their shiny development projects while not giving a shit about Black people being subjected to poverty; for dismissing the constant calls from the Black community to end the GRPD’s harassment, targeting and abuse of Black residents; and for maintaining a system of White Supremacy, which is the real meaning behind the phrase West Michigan Nice.
Narrative #1 is the narrative of systems of power
With all of the collective anger, frustration and cries for justice that took place on May 30th, how did systems of power and oppression respond? First, it must be said that the GRPD, with all their riot gear, their tear gas and their use of 40mm chemical weapons they fired at civilians, they were the ones doing the real harm and violence on May 30th…….all in the name of protecting economic and political power.
Secondly, the Mayor of Grand Rapids called in the Michigan National Guard to further militarize the city, with heavily armed soldiers, and then threaten to arrest people who violated a newly imposed curfew in the city.
On Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020, the Grand Rapids City Commission unanimously adopted a resolution that condemned what the resolution referred to as unlawful assembly and civil disorder, giving the Mayor authority to bring in the Michigan National Guard and imposing a curfew to deal with the “state of civil emergency.”
Mind you this resolution was adopted unanimously, by a group of locally elected officials that many consider to be progressive or liberal or whatever other term white people like to use. To me, it is very instructive that they refer to civil unrest, what I call a rebellion, as a state of emergency. It is an emergency because people are not playing by the rules that are dictated from those who have the most to lose. Equally instructive is the fact that 1 in 4 Black children in Grand Rapids is living in poverty, with substandard housing and ongoing food insecurity, yet the City of Grand Rapids doesn’t declare this a fucking emergency???
Another aspect of the narrative presented by political and economic systems of power in Grand Rapids was the notion that what happened on May 30th, “wasn’t the Grand Rapids I know.” This was one of the comments that Mayor Bliss gave to the news media the day after the rebellion. This sentiment, was also shared by one of the economic power brokers in the city, Sam Cummings. As the Grand Rapids Business Journal reported on June 1st:
“That is not who we are, and that was confirmed by talking to some folks on the police force,” Cummings said. “Who we were was (Sunday).”
What is so instructive about the comments from the Mayor and Sam Cummings is that it reflects a reality that says they are either in denial about the tremendous inequality that exists in this city or they don’t really know or don’t care. Again, the rebellion was not just about people articulating their collective rage against how Black people are being policed, it was also about the disgusting wealth gap that exists across the country and in Grand Rapids.
Within days of the May 30th uprising we also saw a tremendous amount of sustained organizing and resistance, particularly around the issue of Defunding the GRPD. The Grand Rapids Police Department and the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association have responded to this call for defunding the police budget by attempting to control the larger social narrative in Grand Rapids, by engaging in an escalation of copaganda – where the cops take pictures of themselves in the community attempting to show how much they care, developing a new strategic plan that is filled with reformist rhetoric, having supporters put up over a dozen anti-defunding billboards, co-opting the language of the Defund movement, while at the same time escalating their repression of the Defund movement.
Grand Rapids City officials have also played a signifiant role in supporting the GRPD. Beginning in late June of 2020, there where an estimated 4,000 messages (based on several media sources referencing messages that commissioners had received) send to City officials demanding a reduction in the GRPD. That level of public communication around a specific issue is rarely seen in Grand Rapids, especially considering that if 10% of the voting population shows up for a Grand Rapids City election the clerk’s office is euphoric.
However, despite the high number of public participation in the call for defunding the GRPD, Grand Rapids City officials have not only put a stop to any possible vote on the GRPD budget, they have fundamentally ignored the high number of calls and comments from people during City Commission meetings, comments that have overwhelmingly call for defunding. In fact, every public comment portion of City Commission meetings since the May 30th Rebellion has been dominated by defunding comments, apart from calls around ShotSpotter technology, the use of helicopters during Operation Safe Neighborhoods or the eviction of unhoused people from Heartside Park – all of which involved the GRPD.
No issue has dominated City Commission meetings in recent memory, like the call for defunding the GRPD. However, despite the historic public input, Grand Rapids City officials have refused to defund the Grand Rapids Police Department, have adopted the GRPD’s Strategic Plan and has unanimously approved a 2022 budget that actually provides additional funds to the GRPD budget.
Narrative #2 is the narrative of liberalism and normalcy
A second major narrative that we have heard over the past year is a narrative of liberalism and normalcy…….which, if we are honest is a narrative of whiteness. White people made the biggest stink about property damage during the May 30th Rebellion. White people are the ones who are calling for “peaceful demonstrations”, even though they fully want to cooperate with the GRPD. White people are the ones who kept saying that defunding the police really doesn’t mean abolish the police, it just means to make the cops get more training so they can be nicer while they beat you or spray you in the face with pepper spray. White people are the ones that kept saying “we need to police, otherwise there will be chaos” or “police violence is just a few bad apples.”
White people are also the ones that wanted to redirect the energy of the May 30th Rebellion away from resistance and into electoral politics. White people are the ones that have stop saying Black Lives Matter and have stoping showing up for Black-led organizing, because it just got too hard, or it’s enough already and besides there are less COVID restrictions so I just want to have fun and not be bothered by the fact that the condition of Black people in Grand Rapids has not improved in the past year.
This narrative, a white liberal narrative, also believes that what we need is unity. Well, when has there ever been unity? Calls for unity is just another way of saying, “can’t we all just get along. This notion of unity is naive, because it completely ignores the fact that there are systems of power and oppression that will never willingly giving up their power and wealth. Lastly, this white liberal narrative also believes that in terms of the police, when the GRPD doesn’t something “bad”, then the system is broken. On the contrary, when cops beat someone repeatedly with claims that the suspect was reaching for the officer’s gun, then this is a demonstration that the system works, because the cops were trained to do this, thus the system is working when the GRPD brutalizes Black people. In other words, this system of policing in Grand Rapids was and has always been designed to do exactly what they have been doing.
Narrative #3 is organized resistance and a call to Defund the GRPD
To be transparent, this third narrative is the narrative that reflects the ongoing movement to Defund the GRPD, a movement that this writer is part of. The call for defunding the GRPD began within days after the May 30th Rebellion in Grand Rapids. This call for defunding was what was happening all across the country, because it was part of the larger platform of the Movement for Black Lives and had been part of their platform since the beginning. Calling the for the defunding of police departments didn’t begin with the police murder of George Floyd, although the commercial news media would have us believe that this is where it began. The Movement for Black Lives has referred to defunding of police departments as a Divest/Invest strategy, in their A Vision for Black Lives document.
As was stated before, the call to defund the GRPD began with days of the May 30th Rebellion. This call to defund the GRPD has followed the Divest/Invest strategy, whereby reducing the funding for the GRPD would be step one, with a re-directing of those funds into the Black community as step two.
This call for defunding the GRPD has involved social media education, the creation of magnets that offer community resources that people can contact without calling the cops, protests, marches, press conferences, numerous action alerts throughout the past year, regular summaries of the Grand Rapids City Commission meetings, phone zaps and a great deal of behind the scenes by volunteer Black organizers. The most recent efforts were centered around the City’s 2022 budget.
It is also important for people to know that what Defund the GRPD is calling for is a radical reimagining of what community safety looks like, particularly what it would look like without cops. If we have real equity in this community and if we can create models of community safety, then there will be no need for the GRPD. What this movement is ultimately calling for is the abolition of policing as we know it.
Miriame Kaba, the prison abolitionist organizer writes:
Demands for arrests and prosecutions of killer cops are inconsistent with demands to #DefundPolice because they have proven to be the source of violence not safety. We can’t claim the system must be dismantled because it is a danger to Black Lives and at the same time legitimize it by turning to it for justice. As Angela Davis points out, “we have to be consistent” in our analysis and not respond to violence in a way that compounds it. We need to use our radical imaginations to come up with new structures of accountability beyond the system we are working to dismantle.
This narrative, the abolitionist narrative of defunding the police, is the narrative that I want to embrace. I invite you to join this movement by liking the Defund the GRPD Facebook page and then asking how to get involved.
On Tuesday, May 25th, the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists (MACRA) sent an e-mail to bands that are scheduled to play at an outdoor concert series being hosted in Allendale. The outdoor concert series will be held in the same park that the Confederate statue is located.
The e-mail sent to the bands read as follows:
Dear Artists and Performers:
We ain’t gonna play Allendale Concerts in the Park!
You may have heard about the ongoing controversy in Allendale Charter Township, Michigan, concerning the public display of a statue honoring Confederate soldiers and another depicting an enslaved biracial child, half-naked, picking cotton, at the feet of their oppressors. (See attached photos below.) These racist and offensive statues are located approximately 100 yards from the bandstand and grassy area used by the township to hold the “Concerts in the Parks” series.
Just as many anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s were led by musicians and artists—e.g., Artists United Against Apartheid (see info below)—we are asking you and your band to join our anti-racism boycott by declining to perform for event sponsored by or hosted by Allendale Charter Township, at least until the racist statues have been removed or covered.
Artists United Against Apartheid: “Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City”(See links to audio, song lyrics, and Wikipedia article below.)
We know that it may be difficult or go against your principles to decline a paying gig (however modest the compensation), but the circumstances in Allendale are unique and call for empathy and compassion for Black, Indigenous, people of color, and other minorities, who have suffered far too long from abuses of the majority in this small community. Allendale is known as the “Confederate Capital of Michigan” and one of the few remaining “sundown towns” in the state.
This summer (as with last), Allendale will likely be the site of numerous protests. If you are not familiar with the ongoing controversy there, please see the many media stories linked below for more information.
And as if the overt racism in Allendale weren’t enough reason to decline this meaningless gig, the township recently reduced compensation for bands from the higher amounts paid in previous years. In fact, the lowered pay for musicians was somewhat of a joke at the March 22 meeting of the Board of Trustees. When the Rotary Club, which produces the concert series, requested approval to expand from 6 to 10 concerts—with no commensurate increase in funds to compensate musicians—Garry Murphy told the Trustees: “All the bands are hungry and willing to work for less money than normal. It’s a good time to expand. We’ll get more bands for our bucks.” These comments were received with chuckles from board members. On average this year each band is being offered $200 less compensation than in 2019. (See the township’s proposed band compensation chart below for comparison.)
Is it true? Are you all “hungry” for this gig? Is the very low—some might say insulting—$50 to $100 pay worth the stigma of appearing to support a township that demonstrates overt racism toward minorities and a clear disrespect for musicians?
There is one more thing to consider as you weigh whether to accept or decline: protests are being planned that may coincide with some of the “Concerts in the Park.” Which particular dates are chosen for protests this summer will depend on which (if any) bands agree to perform for the apartheid government of Allendale Charter Township. We appeal to your conscience in this matter.
We ain’t gonna play Allendale Concerts in the Park — and neither should you!
Please contact MACRA if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mitch Kahle
Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists (MACRA)
GRIID decided to do an interview with Mitch Kahle, with MACRA, who promptly responded to our questions here below.
GRIID – The Allendale Charter Township continues to ignore pleas from those in West Michigan to remove the Confederate Statue that stands in the main park within the township? MACRA just issued a call for people to boycott the summer concert series being hosted in the same park that is home to the Confederate statue. How did you come to make the decision to use this tactic with the Allendale Charter Township Trustees?
MACRA: Artists and musicians have always been involved in the struggle for civil rights. The idea for a performer boycott of “Concerts in the Park” seemed right from the first suggestion.
GRIID – In the letter you send to all of the bands, you include information about how musicians and artists were instrumental in the South African Anti-Apartheid Campaign, since many of them refused to play in South Africa because of the system of Apartheid that existed then. Do you believe that local bands, many of whom are not known outside of the area, have an obligation to not support systemic racism, which the statue represents?
MACRA: Artists and musicians are typically aware of social injustices and sensitive to issues like racism. This isn’t a call to boycott the performers; it’s a call for performers to boycott the venue or sponsor in this case. If the concerts go on, those dates will be considered for more anti-racism protests directed at the Allendale Board of Trustees.
GRIID – Do you have any concerns about potential backlash to the call for the concert boycott, especially considering that so many people are dying to hear live music again after more than a year of restrictions because of COVID?
MACRA: Live music venues are opening all over the state. There will be plenty of opportunities for people to enjoy live music again without endorsing or supporting a racist venue like Allendale.
GRIID – Why do you think the Allendale Charter Township officials have been so resistant to the calls to remove the Confederate statute, considering it has now been a full year that this campaign has been going on?
MACRA: The Allendale trustees have made no secret of their unanimous desire to maintain the status quo. Left to follow their own moral compass, the trustees would be happy to leave the statues as they are.
GRIID – How important is it for people to understand that these kinds of campaigns often don’t result in quick victories and that ongoing organizing and pressuring systems of power are necessary for social movements to be effective?
MACRA: Patience and persistence are the keys to successful activism. It’s easy for the average person to get frustrated or burned out and abandon a cause because the prospects of winning may seem long and remote. Look at the struggle for LGBTQ equality, same-sex marriage, same-sex parenting and adoption, gender identity, etc.—we’ve been fighting these battles for 40 years.
GRIID – Beyond removing the Confederate statue, how else can municipalities like Allendale Charter Township come to terms with their own perpetuation of racism/White Supremacy or their complicity in racism/White Supremacy?
MACRA: Allendale is a tough case. It’s place where the majority of racists don’t think they are racist, yet virtually every word they speak or write has racist overtones. For now, we’ll be happy to see the offensive statues removed.
GRIID also sent messages to the bands that were invited to play in Allendale, asking if they were aware of the Confederate statue that is in the park where they will be playing, and it they had were willing to boycott the concert series.
As we approach the one year anniversary of the May 30th rebellion in Grand Rapids, the commercial media has been regurgitating the same awful narratives about what happened during the protests that took place in the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd.
I use the term regurgitate, because one week after the May 30th rebellion, GRIID conducted a 5 day study of the dominant local news sources – MLive, WOOD TV8, WZZM 13 and WXMI 17 – to see how these news sources were reporting on the rebellion. Our conclusion was that the local commercial news sources we looked at hijacked the narrative, whereby they: 1) diverted attention from the root causes of the rebellion and framed the news around rioting & looting; 2) gave more space for City Officials and the GRPD to have an opinion, and; 3) the four news agencies demonstrated that they have internalized the values of systems of power and privilege, through their failure to seriously questions structural racism and White Supremacy in this community.
In the past few days, there have been numerous 1 year anniversary stories in the local news, but most of those stories have aired on WOOD TV 8. In fact, on May 25th, channel 8 ran a total of six stories for their 1 – year after series, all of which continue to hijack a narrative away from Black Lives Matter and a narrative that centers whiteness.
The six stories cover the following themes:
- People involved in the downtown Grand Rapids cleanup the day after the rebellion.
- The art that was produced on the boarded up windows after the rebellion.
- Those arrested and charged for property damage during the rebellion.
- Black-owned businesses that were impacted by the rebellion.
- An interview with one activist on police reform.
- An interview with Police Chief Payne
In the first story, the channel 8 reporter begins by saying, “An incredible thing happened in the hours after rioters tore our city apart.” Never did channel 8 use the word incredible, referring to the thousands of people who took to the streets on May 30th, 2020. Also interesting is the fact that they said “our city.” The length of this news story was 3:01, with 1 Black woman and 2 white women being interviewed.
The second story aired by WOOD TV8, focused on the art that was created on the plywood of the boarded up windows on the downtown business and government buildings after the May 30th rebellion. The length of this story was 2:35 and center the voices of two white women.
A third story that channel 8 aired focused on those who were arrested charged with property damage and/or looting during the May 30th rebellion. The channel 8 piece began with his comment, “You’re looking at the faces of those charged with torching and tearing apart of the heart of Grand Rapids.” The primary voice in this story was that of a white prosecuting attorney and the length of the story was 3:17. The reporter was Susan Samples, who had done an awful story last year that used far right sources to demonize anti-racists and anti-fascist organizers.
A fourth story aired by WOOD TV8, focused on some of the Black businesses that were impacted by the May 30th rebellion. This news story ran for 3:33 and began with the reporter framing the story by saying, “There were police cars being set on fire, people were being hurt, businesses were destroyed.” The story featured interview with two Black businesses owners in downtown Grand Rapids and comments from Jamiel Robinson, founder of the Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses.
A fifth story that ran on channel 8, featured a family member of Breonna Taylor, with a length of 3:53. The story was framed using the language of police reform and never mentioned defunding, nor did it discuss other non-police forms of community safety. This was the only story that featured a Black activist, but this activist was not from the two prominent groups that have been organizing for the past year, which are Justice for Black Lives and Defund the GRPD.
The sixth story that was aired by WOOD TV8, was an interview with Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne. This story was 9 minutes and 42 seconds long, with one soft ball question after another. Chief Payne adamantly defended his officers in the interview and touted the “new” neighborhood policing model. The reality is that there is nothing fundamentally new about this model, since there have been specific police officers assigned to specific neighborhoods for decades, specifically the cops assigned to neighborhood associations. However, the channel 8 reporter never questions Payne, instead asking him things like, “what are you most proud of in your 35 year career?”
WOOD TV 8 once again demonstrated that they completely embrace the values of systems of power in this community, refuse to look at larger structural issues at play, will not hold those in power accountable and continue to center white voices and white feelings.
Koch family funding has influenced higher education across the country and in West Michigan
The Koch Brothers have been a financial dynasty and the creator of right wing networks that is far reaching in the United States and around the globe.
Over the decades the Koch Brothers have contributed millions to political candidates, spent millions on lobbying Congress, creating the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and a main driving force behind the State Policy Network, all of which is well documented on SourceWatch and in the book by Christopher Leonard, Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America.
However, there is another arena that the Koch Brothers have also used their wealth and influence, an arena that is less know. The group UnKoch My Campus, has just released a new report which documents how the Koch dynasty has been funding universities all across the US. The report is entitled, Increased Funding, Increased Influence: Koch University Funding, May 2005 – 2019.
In its Executive Summary, the report states:
As the epicenter of modern day lobbying veers farther away from Washington, D.C. and into our daily lives, college campuses are increasingly subject to the influence of private and corporate influence. There are many culprits we can point to in this arena, but one billionaire donor has distinguished himself for his aggressively coordinated spending and wielding of political influence through university grants.
Charles Koch, CEO of Koch Industries, has overseen over $458 million in grants to over 550 universities and higher ed adjacent non-profits since 2005. Unlike other philanthropists backing higher education, Koch gives to schools with the explicit goal of creating intellectual fodder for his network of political interest groups, and recruiting and training students to integrate into that network.
Charles Koch himself admits that his funding of hundreds of universities across the country is intended to mainstream free market ideas and approaches to public policy that support the Koch network’s legislative goals at the state and federal levels:
“… there are basically four ways in which [the pro-capitalist businessman] can fight for free enterprise – through education, through the media, by legal challenges, and by political action… I do maintain, however, that the educational route is both the most vital and the most neglected… We should [support] only those programs, departments or schools that contribute in some way to our individual companies or to the general welfare of our free enterprise system.”
The report documents how the Koch family has used various family foundations and the Charles Koch Institute, to funnel over $458 million dollars to influence universities all across the country.
There is also a database, which provides an alphabetical run down of all the colleges and universities in the country that have received funding from the Koch dynasty between 2005 – 2019. Not surprising, there are several colleges and Universities in West Michigan that have been targeted by the Koch family with their wealth.
Here is a run down of the West Michigan schools, including schools that have satellite campuses in West Michigan, and how much that have received:
Aquinas College $4,000
Ferris State University $194,495
Hope College $328,900
Michigan State University $417,842
University of Michigan $423,596
Western Michigan University $280,004
While these numbers are not as large as what the DeVos Family has contributed locally, it is important to think about how this funding influences institutes of higher learning in West Michigan, both in terms of content and how members of the Capitalist Class are able to have significant access to students and faculty because of their contributions.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 