The Devil is in the Details: The Business of Grand Rapids is Business and Business Development……as long as the public pays for it
This is our latest installment of The Devil is in the Details, which takes a critical look at Grand Rapids politics and policies, based primarily on the public record, such as committee agendas and minutes.
In this installment we look at The Right Place Inc. and their push to get the City to provide more funding for development projects and Rockford Construction’s growing influence in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids;
As we have reported in the past, the Right Place Inc. is a major player in supporting the private sector, they have convinced City officials for years to turn over public dollars to support more and more business growth. The Right Place agenda to push for more business development with public money should come as no surprise, given the fact that the Right Place Inc’s Board of Directors is made up of members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
The presentation that the Right Place Inc made to the Economic Development Team on October 12 is a great example of how they are selling public/private development, ie. using public money for private benefit. On pages 6 – 12 of the Economic Development Agenda Packet, you can read all the rhetoric they use to win over public officials.
They use place-based vision and place-based strategy, especially since these are highly popular terms within the Neo-Liberal economic world. However, one should not be fooled by this kind of rhetoric, since it is fundamentally just another austerity measure imposed on the public, while the private sector reaps all the benefits.
Here is a sampling of this neoliberal word play from the Right Place Inc.:
1. Transformational Sites and Projects
- Provide comprehensive development support for projects and sites that have potential to be a positive catalyst for the local community.
- Real Estate Development Support: Solving real estate challenges related to: “revisioning” legacy sites and properties, financing, brownfield development, catalytic uses, community engagement, housing needs, partnerships, planning, etc.
District/Corridor Development Assistance: Drive the development and enhancement of traditional downtown districts and commercial corridors. - Public Art and Commercial/Industrial Design: Assist communities in the development enhancement of creative arts and public art projects.
2. Infrastructure
a. Support communities, businesses, and developers with innovative & collaborative project-based solutions related to: water, sewer, broadband, roads, rail, air, mobility, and trails.
3. Smart Sustainable Communities
a. Convene efforts to take on smart city-based initiatives such as: community based ai, sensors, green tech, smart mobility, etc., including possible collaborations with The Right Place Tech Council.
4. Community Growth Aspirational Strategies
a. Provide aspirational growth and planning assistance to communities such as: community visioning/planning, commercial/industrial development, infrastructure planning, leadership & capacity development, etc.
Now, this sort of language might seem inspiring, but what the Right Place Inc is essentially doing is to get the City of Grand Rapids to give up more public money for their little pet projects, projects which primarily benefit those who are already wealthy. Some of those pet projects that the Right Place Inc. has included in their presentation to the City are, the Kent County Sustainable Business Park, Grand River/Whitewater engagement, and Developer Day.
Our second example further demonstrates how Rockford Construction is leveraging their influence in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids, after they partnered with the DeVos family to buy up dozens of parcels of land.
The Grand Rapids Planning Commission Agenda Packet for October 14 (Pages 97 – 120) has information about Rockford Construction’s latest endeavor for having longterm control over development planning for the Madison Square area. The Planning Commission document refers to Rockford Construction as a “non-profit lending, real estate consulting, research, and community development firm.” Rockford Construction wants to re-develop space on Madison Avenue SE for a ground floor office.
The information included with Rockford Construction’s proposal has to do with the larger strategic plan for the Madison Square area, which is why the westside company wants a more permanent presence in the Southeast part of Grand Rapids. How much this decision to create an office on the Madison Square area and Rockford Construction’s role in the AmplifyGR projects, has yet to be determined, but people would be foolish to not pay attention to these developments. As we have noted previously, Rockford Construction has been working to insert themselves in the development of the part of town with the largest Black population since at least 2014. However, Rockford Construction, along with the DeVos family, only revealed that they had purchased dozens of parcels of land in the Southeast part of GR in 2017. What this new office satellite will mean is hard to determine at this point, but people would be wise to pay close attention to how this will impact that part of the City’s 3rd Ward.
The opportunity for the public to have input in who will be the next Chief of Police in Grand Rapids is about to close. In many ways, it was never really open.
The City of Grand Rapids has promoted four virtual meetings, with the last one happening tonight, October 19. I participated in one of these meetings, the one that the City hosted on Saturday, October 16, from 3 – 4:30pm.
There were 4 residents of Grand Rapids, one City staffer and the meeting was hosted by Gary Peterson. Peterson and his firm were hired to formalize the search for the next Grand Rapids Chief of Police. The firm that was hired to find the next Chief of Police, Public Sector Search & Consulting, is a California-based firm that specializes exclusively on “recruiting police executives.”
The meeting I listened in on was run by someone who is not from Grand Rapids, but was paid to do the search. The questions that were asked were basically, “what kind of qualities should the next Chief of Police Possess” and “what should the be the priorities of the next Chief of Police.”
However, the paid consultant began by telling those of us on the zoom call that his firm had conducted several stakeholder meetings, which included business, faith, mental health professionals, etc. These meetings were not publicly announced, so either the paid consulting firm, city staff, or both, made determinations about who would be invited to those meetings. In addition, the public will probably never know what was said during those meetings, nor the parameters of the conversation.
If you couldn’t make the virtual meetings, you could take an online survey as well. The online survey is brief and managed as well, with questions like what qualities are most important for the next Chief of Police, or a ranking of the top 5 areas of career experience. There were a few questions asked that allowed people to write responses, but even those questions are vague, and more importantly, to providing any real opportunities for people to have a much larger conversation about the function of policing in this community and how Black and Brown people have been the primary targets of GRPD harassment, intimidation and arrests.
Equally important is how the paid consulting firm is presenting what Grand Rapids is like, based on their own police chief search application. The 14 page document paints Grand Rapids as the ideal city, with great public/private partnerships and a great place to raise a family. The page on the GRPD has no language that is critical of the department nor any reference to recent examples of how the police target Black and Brown communities. Oh, and the document also presents Grand Rapids as a city that is vibrant and rich in culture.
So, it appears that Public Sector Search & Consulting is not only selling Grand Rapids to police chief candidates, they have done a fabulous job of managing how the public provides any input on the matter.
Radical democracy and real community engagement
As one can see, the whole process of looking for the next Chief of Police is really being done by people who are being paid to find the next top cop. The Who community engagement process was just another box to check off, so that it can be said that they provided many opportunities for public input, despite the input being highly managed.
It is sort of like voting in this county. You have no real choices, yet if you refuse to participate in the charade, you are belittled for not participating and often told that you have no right to complain or critique. In fact, Mr. Peterson, from Public Sector Search & Consulting, said pretty much the same thing in his opening comments of the virtual meeting I sat in on, in regards to the Police Chief search.
The larger problem is that those who have power do not really want the rest of us to have any say in the future. Those in power create the choices and the process, despite the fact they they are highly managed and do not allow for much larger and broader public engagement.
On the matter of the search for the next Chief of Police, the public is not afforded an opportunity to have ongoing, robust, unmanaged conversation about the history and function of policing in Grand Rapids. This has especially been the case since the 2020 uprising in Grand Rapids, where city officials and those with real power in this community have made it known that criticism of the GRPD is only mildly tolerated, but discussion about police funding, particularly defunding of the GRPD is completely unacceptable.
What would it even look like if the public demanded there be ongoing conversation and dialogue that not only encouraged a healthy critique of the GRPD, but allowed for and encouraged people to talk about how we can create public safety that doesn’t rely on heavily armed people who are trained to use force as the normal approach to conflict.
What would it look like if people were allowed to and encouraged to talk about things like:
- Is there concrete evidence that the GRPD prevents crime or solves crime?
- How does structural violence and structural racism impact people, especially since it is legal for institutions to practice structural racism and structural violence?
- What would real community safety look like?
- What if the necessary resources were available to people, would that eliminate the need for street level crime?
- What if the current police budget were re-imagined into meeting the real needs of people?
These are the necessary conversations that we all need to have. We need to stop allowing the systems of power and oppression to dictate how we have community engagement and how we practice participatory democracy.
The fact is, those with power in this city, particularly those with economic and political power, have already determined what they want in the next Chief of Police. They have been having this conversation for months and the process of community engagement is really nothing more than a distraction, a con, meant to make us feel like they care about what the public thinks.
West Michigan Far Right Watch for the week of October 18: Patriot Streetfighters, so-called labor shortages and the Restoration of America
Welcome to the next installment of West Michigan Far Right Watch, where we keep tabs on the far right in this area and provide a summary of what they are up to and what kind of messages they are promoting in this community. As a matter of clarification, when we say the Far Right, we mean those in the streets who fight to defend White Supremacy, those who promote far right ideology, and those with political and economic power.
In today’s post investigating the Far Right in West Michigan, we take a look at two religious right events, along with what one Acton Institute writer believes is causing the current so-called labor shortage.
We begin in an event that takes place in Holland on October 18, an event that is billed as The American Restoration: A Message of Hope, Renewal and Revival to America’s Leading Cities and Churches. The event is co-sponsored by the Ottawa County Patriots and Faith Wins. The Ottawa County Patriots is led by Steve Redmond and their website states that there mission is:
Promoting awareness and understanding of American Government, the free enterprise system, traditional American values and related political or civic issues through education and citizen involvement.
More accurately, the Ottawa County Patriots are far right Trump supporters, who, amongst many other far right views, despise Black Lives Matter and regularly have retired cops as speakers at their events.
Faith Wins is a national group that attempted to mobilize faith leaders to influence government and public policy. Faith Wins is promoting their American Restoration tour, which will be at the Holland Civic Arena on October 18. One of the cosponsors of the American Restoration Tour is the Pacific Justice Institute, which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as an anti-LGBT hate group. The Pacific Justice Institute is currently suing the City of Los Angeles, because they are requiring police officer to be fully vaccinated.
The big speaker at this event is David Barton, the founder of WallBuilders. WallBuilders is another Christian group that seeks to influence government, specifically in a far right direction, which upholds a system of power and privilege that centers whiteness, patriarchy and capitalism.
Patriot Streetfighter
The second Religious Right event in Wednesday, October 20th at the Crossroad Conference Center, which is near 68th Street and US 131. This event features Scott McKay, a life-long entrepreneur, who has been involved in politics for several decades, but really got excited when Donald Trump announced he was running in 2016. McKay writes, “finally someone that won’t get caught up in the corruption in DC.” McKay also does a show called Tipping Point Radio.
Joining McKay, are several other white dudes, from chiropractors, financial advisers and former rock stars. This event, which center’s the person of Scott McKay, is essentially a way to rally Trump supporters, based on the most recent posts on McKay’s Facebook page. The photos and video of McKay’s Patriot Streetfighter tour, is almost exclusively unmasked white people, which is not exactly a surprise.
So-called Labor Shortage
The last example for our Far Right Watch today, is a recent article from the Grand Rapids-based Far Right Think Tank, the Acton Institute. The article in question is entitled, The current labor crisis started before the pandemic and has much to teach us.
The Acton Institute writer essentially blames the current education system, with an emphasis on dismissing college degrees. What the Acton Institute writer is advocating for is more people getting into a skills trade. The Acton Institute writer then shifted their focus to the message of Mike Rowe. Rowe has conservative/neo-liberal economic views, and leans towards a conservative political view.
What is missing from the Acton Institute article, which is not surprising, is the analysis that the so-called labor shortage, is not a shortage at all, but an awakening of working class people who are realizing their power to demand better wages and working conditions. What is happening around workers and employers right now, is what Jack Rasmus refers to as The Great Strike of 2021. Rasmus’ main point is summarized in his article, stating:
That fact is evident today as millions of US workers are refusing to return to their jobs. They are ‘withholding their labor’ searching for better pay and a future.
This assessment is radically different from what the Acton Institute writer presents, which is not surprising, since the Acton Institute is fundamentally pro-Capitalism Think Tank, that always defends the free market system of Capitalism.
On Tuesday morning, at the Committee of the Whole, the Grand Rapids City Commission unanimously approved the funding for changing Franklin Street to Martin Luther King Jr Street and Granville Avenue to Cesar Chavez Avenue.
Besides comments from City Commissioners, there were comments from the street naming committee as well, both of which talked about how the street names are a way of honoring the legacy of these two men.
The question for all of us is, how does naming streets after two Civil Rights icons honor their legacy?
Let’s start with Cesar Chavez, the labor organizer who fought for decades to organize farmworkers and fight for their rights. Chavez, who was mentored and recruited by Fred Ross Sr., the radical organizer.
Chavez, along with Dolores Huerta, helped to found the United Farm Workers (UFW), a union specifically for farmworkers, that began in California. The UFW engaged in strikes, boycotts, work slowdowns, leafletting campaigns, marches and hunger strikes, all of which were tactics used in the farmworker movement.
The United Farm Workers were effective in getting better wages, working conditions and fighting for bargaining rights with the agribusiness industry. The UFW created their own banking system and community-based health care, which were things that the community of farmworkers had made priorities.
Cesar Chavez and other organizers with the UAW came to West Michigan several times over the years, yet there has never been a labor union created for migrant farmworkers here in West Michigan.
Wouldn’t an organized campaign, consisting of fundraising and legal support be a better way to honor the thousands of farmworkers that live in the area, particularly along the Grandville Avenue corridor and the Burton/Buchanan area? What about a food cooperative or a tenant union for those migrant farmworkers who are often exploited by absentee landlords and property management companies? Wouldn’t these kinds of organizing efforts be a better way to honor the legacy of a farmworker and an organizer?
In addition, it should be mentioned that some of the same commissioners that agreed to the street change, presided over and said nothing about the GRPD showing up at the homes of students who were organizing with the local transit union, to intimidate them into ending their efforts to support transit workers. The United Farm Workers, the same union that Cesar Chavez founded, sent a scathing letter to Mayor Bliss, that read in part:
“On behalf of the more than 10,000 members of the United Farm Workers, I am writing to express our deep disappointment in the breathtaking hypocrisy demonstrated by your administration this past week. On Thursday, March 17, you marched under our banner to commemorate the work of an American icon and our founder, Cesar Chavez. The very next day, on Friday, March 18, you dispatched Grand Rapids Police to the homes of student activists to intimidate them for organizing a January sit in to support transit workers represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 836.
You cannot march in the name of Cesar Chavez one day and use police officers to suppress all that he fought for the next. The United Farm Workers stands in solidarity with our ATU brothers and sisters struggling to preserve their retirement security and the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) who, in an inspiring acts of selflessness, have embraced their elders fight as their own.”
Now, we can move on to talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Here was a man who was part of the Black Freedom Struggle/Civil Rights Movement, specifically working through the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Dr. King was a great orator and a prolific writer, but his legacy is really about his commitment and sacrifice in service to freedom and justice.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested dozens of times for civil disobedience, spent many days in jail for civil resistance, used strikes, boycotts, marches and other tactics to fight against the White Supremacist policies of the Jim Crow South.
When Dr. King moved north to Chicago in 1965, he became even more radical, condemning landlords, police brutality, the economic system of Capitalism and the US war in Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam. Dr. King famously stated, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
In his last organizing campaign, the Poor People’s Campaign, Dr. King helped to bring together Black, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Indigenous and white people to demand an economic bill of rights, which included a call for the federal government to prioritize helping the poor with a $30 billion (in 1968) anti-poverty package that included, among other demands, a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure and more low-income housing.
Now Blacks in Grand Rapids have the highest levels of poverty and unemployment in the city. Since the May 30th, 2020 uprising in Grand Rapids, mostly young Black organizers, along with other allies, have been demanding an end to the GRPD’s targeting of Black and Brown residents, the repression of activists who organize with Justice for Black Lives, and to defund the GRPD.
Considering the living conditions of so many Black people in Grand Rapids and the GRPD’s repression of Black organizers, do you honestly think that naming a street after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is the best way to honor his legacy?
In the case of both Cesar Chavez and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., doesn’t it seem a bit hypocritical for the City of Grand Rapids to change the names of streets instead of fighting for the same demands that these two civil rights icons, and the movements they were part of, fought for?
Indigenous People’s Day: As White people, we need to come to terms with Settler Colonialism Part II
“And the Biden administration is just sitting by and watching it happen. I mean, I’m watching river after river get frac-outs on them in northern Minnesota. These are pristine river systems. You know, I’m watching things get destroyed as Enbridge ravages through our country. And then I’m watching hundreds of people get arrested trying to protect our water and to stop the climate disaster that Enbridge’s Line 3 represents.”
Winona LaDuke on Democracy Now 7/23/2021
In Part I we looked a bit at the historical legacy of Settler Colonialism, particularly in West Michigan. In Part II, we will explore issues around contemporary Settler Colonialism, specifically oil pipelines, Climate Justice, the disappearance & murder of Indigenous women/girls, and the brutal legacy of so-called Boarding Schools.
Confronting the Black Snake
The real resistance to all the fossil fuel pipelines (what Native people refer to as the Black Snake) that are happening in North America, is being led by Indigenous communities and organizers. What we saw at Standing Rock, what we are seeing by the Wet’suwet’en Nation territory, and the Indigenous-led resistance to Enbridge pipelines in Minnesota (Line 3) and Michigan (Line 5) are the result of people having a direct relationship with the land that is being threatened by extractivist practices and multinational corporations.
For those of us who are white, we need to 1) follow the lead of Indigenous communities when it comes to pipeline projects that directly impact their ancestral lands, and 2) we need to fully support – with financial contributions, with education/awareness, and by participating in direct action campaigns – to shut down any and all fossil fuel pipeline projects.
In a recent report entitled, Indigenous Resistance Against Carbon, it states:
Indigenous resistance has stopped or delayed greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one-quarter of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.
This is the meaningful and concrete types of resistance that we need to support, because it actually is making a difference. For white people, we need to stop wasting our time appealing to politicians and to support Indigenous-led campaigns opposing pipelines.
As we said early, much of this resistance has to do with Indigenous peoples relationship to the land. This gets back to our Part I posting, which talks about Settler Colonialism.
What Indigenous people are saying and writing about, is one simple fact. Decolonization of Indigenous lands is essential to the future of humanity. The authors of the book, The Red Deal: Indigenous Action to Save Our Earth, make it clear that decolonization of Indigenous lands is a major part of future of Climate Justice. If white people are serious about fighting for Climate Justice, then we have to see that decolonization of Indigenous lands is absolutely necessary in that fight. And it must be stated that the current New Green Deal proposal does NOT include the decolonization of Indigenous land. As white people, we need to demand the decolonization of Indigenous land if we are serious about Climate Justice.
Another major issue that plagues Indigenous people in this hemisphere, is the disappearance and murder of Indigenous women & girls. The U.S Department of Justice found that American Indian women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average. These are alarming numbers, but Indigenous people are not content with leaving the data up to Settler Colonial entities like the DOJ. In fact, the group Data for Indigenous Justice states:
Our most important value is to do this work in a good way with and for our community. Our goal is to be self-determined and have sovereignty over our MMIWGS2 data in order to inform research, policy and systemic change at local, state, and federal levels and in solidarity with all Indigenous peoples. We are doing what we know is needed to strategically create change. Decolonizing data is having sovereignty over our own data. We are utilizing our data as a resource for true systemic change led by Indigenous people. We seek justice on every front.
It is instructive to note that one significant aspect of the assault and murder of Indigenous women/girls, is the relationship between fossil fuel pipeline workers and the violence against Indigenous women. An article in The Guardian from this past June states:
“Before Minnesota approved the pipeline, violence prevention advocates warned state officials of the proven link between employees working in extractive industries and increased sexual violence. Now their warnings have come true: two Line 3 contract workers were charged in a sex-trafficking sting, and crisis centers told the Guardian they are responding to reports of harassment and assault by Line 3 workers. Johnson said VIP, a crisis center for survivors of violence, has received more than 40 reports about Line 3 workers harassing and assaulting women and girls who live in north-western Minnesota.”
The Indigenous-led resistance to Line 3 in Minnesota had documented this fact a few months before The Guardian, even including an Enbridge document that demonstrates the Canadian Corporation’s anticipation in pipeline workers assaulting Indigenous women, stating:
The assaults and reports of harassment were described in a request for reimbursement from Enbridge’s public safety fund, submitted last month by the anti-violence and anti-human trafficking nonprofit Violence Intervention Project. State permits for pipeline construction stipulated that Enbridge had to create the fund to cover some law enforcement costs and anti-human trafficking efforts associated with the project.
Just as corporations consider environmental degradation a form of collateral damage, the brutalization of Indigenous women is anticipated and expected while corporations engage in “resource extraction.”
For those of us who are white, we need to condemn the relationship to extractivism and the brutalization of Indigenous women/girls, then support whatever demands the Indigenous community has around this issue.
Boarding Schools as Genocide
When people think of genocide, they often think it means the outright slaughter of a group of people. While this does constitute genocide, there are numerous other things that can result in genocide. According to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- Killing members of the group;
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The history of so-called Boarding Schools in the US and Canada was fundamentally about forcibly transferring Indigenous children to government run or christian schools. In other words, it was a form of genocide.
Governments and Christian churches are now scrambling in the face of newly uncovered evidence of the common practice of murdering Indigenous children while attending so-called Boarding Schools. In the fact of this, the Indigenous community is exposing and pressuring these institutions for the role or their complicity in such crimes, as did the local Indigenous community did with an action this past June in Grand Rapids.
So what do White people do in this case? Again, we need to follow the lead of Indigenous communities and provide whatever support they are asking of us. In addition, we need to be challenging Christian Churches to come clean with their role in the history of so-called Boarding Schools, allow Indigenous people access to documentation and spaces where so-called Boarding Schools existed, pay reparations and put an end to any ongoing Christian-run schools for Indigenous children.
Indigenous People’s Day: As White people, we need to come to terms with Settler Colonialism Part I
As Native American peoples in this red quarter of Mother Earth, we have no reason to celebrate an invasion that caused the demise of so many of our people, and is still causing destruction today.”
Suzan Shown Harjo – Creek & Cheyenne
There are still too many white people who celebrate Columbus Day. The US government still recognizes Columbus Day as a federal holiday and has not replaced it with Indigenous People’s Day. Federal employees and many state and local employees will get the day off because the federal government still designates today as Columbus Day.
Just a few days ago, the Biden Administration released a proclamation on behalf of Indigenous Peoples Day, but it is a weak and patronizing statement that does little in terms Tribal Sovereignty and fails to acknowledge the historical and ongoing Settler Colonialism that the US government practices and benefits from.
Releasing proclamations is a meaningless gesture, when Sovereign Native nations are demanding things like an end to oil pipelines, the end to the murder and disappearance of Indigenous women/girls, along with justice & reparations for the horrendous history of so-called US Boarding Schools.
Challenging the legitimacy of Columbus Day is an important anti-racist act, but it must be seen in the larger context of challenging White Supremacy.
It is increasingly imperative that we come to terms with the function that Columbus played in the European conquest/colonization of the what we now call the Americas. Columbus was commissioned by the Spanish Crown and sanctioned by Catholic Church (through a 1493 Papal Bull) to conquer new lands and extract resources to benefit Spain. Therefore, Columbus not only is the primary symbol of the 500 years of genocide and slavery that has plague the western hemisphere, he is the symbol of political, religious, social and cultural imperialism that continues to the present by a White Supremacist system of Capitalism.
Grand Rapids was founded on Settler Colonialism – As a foundational framework, it is vital that we come to terms with the fact that Grand Rapids, like virtually all US cities were founded on what Native scholar Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz calls Settler Colonialism. Settler Colonialism in West Michigan is the result of a larger White Supremacist strategy that included legal means (treaties), forced relocation, spiritual violence (role of churches) and cultural imperialism, most radically seen with the policy of putting Native children in boarding schools with the goal of, “Killing the Indian, Saving the Man.”
We know that hundreds of Native children from the Three Fires Nations were taken and put into boarding schools by settler colonialists, many of which were run by christians. In these instances Native children were denied the right to speak their own languages and practice their own spiritual traditions. Most of the removal of Native children from their communities happened in the later part of the 19th Century and first half of the 20th Century.
However, on the matter of christian missions attempting to make converts of Native communities in the 1820s and 1830s along the Grand River, it is less clear on whether or not this could be defined as a form of genocide. How much free will did Native people have on choosing another religion? Was the adoption of christian beliefs a form of assimilation into the dominant culture and was it tied to larger socio-economic issues like food and land?
It should come as no surprise that right after the 1821 Treaty of Chicago was signed, the first christian missions came to what is now West Michigan. The Baptist Church established a mission in 1824, under the leadership of Isaac McCoy, and Catholic missions were begun in 1833 by Fr. Frederic Baraga.
One of the things that lured missionaries to the area after the signing of the Treaty of Chicago, was a provision in the treaty which allowed funds for people to work as teachers of blacksmiths amongst the Native people along the Grand River. The government treaty called this, the “civilization fund,” a phrase that underscores the settler colonial mentality.
Isaac McCoy first arrived in 1823, only to discover: “Many Odawa were drinking and few responded to his call for a council. After some inquiries McCoy learned that the majority regarded the 1821 treaty as fraudulent and viewed his visit as an attempt to trick them into ratifying it.” (pg. 7, from Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Its People of Faith)
Such a statement reflects not only that the Native people along the Grand were not in support of the government imposed treaty, but that many Natives were negatively impacted by alcohol. Alcohol was introduced by French fur traders, particularly Louis Campau and should be seen as another tool used by settler colonialism to control Native people.
McCoy, however, was not deterred from his initial observations and continued to use all means at his disposal to “win over” the hearts and minds of Native people. In 1826, McCoy set up the Thomas Mission on the westside of the Grand River (as shown in this map). McCoy’s greatest contribution during his time along the Grand River was his relationship with Native leader Nawequageezhig, whom the white settlers call Noonday.
Noonday was one of the few Native leaders who signed the 1821 Treaty of Chicago and was viewed by many as a traitor or collaborator with the settler colonialists. Noonday went as far as to be baptized by McCoy’s successor, Rev. Leonard Slater in the summer of 1827. Another Native leader in the area, Kewwaycooshcum, also known as Blackskin, did not sign the 1821 treaty, but did develop a relationship with the catholics through his connection to Campau. It is hard to know from the limited documentation of that time, whether or not the Native people were using the tensions between the various christian factions to their benefit or if the christian were using Native compliance with the government as a means to an end. One gets a sense of the christian rivalry in a comment from Fr. Baraga, who said, “Mary, to who it is given to root out all heresies of the world……to destroy the false [Protestant} teachings with which some of the poor Indians were already infected, and suffer on His gospel to reign everywhere.” (pg. 12, from Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Its People of Faith)
However, whatever tensions existed, they were most useful in pushing Native people out of the area as more white settlers colonialists came to the area. This increase in settler colonialists, along with greater desire for land and settler colonial expansion, resulted in a new treaty being drawn up, the Treaty of Washington in 1836. This treaty turned over an additional 13,837,207 acres of land to settler colonialism’s expansionist desires.
It seems that all along, the goal with relations of Native people along the Grand were to take the rest of their land. Whether or not there was direct complicity with the early christian missions to this land takeover is not relevant, the fact remains that they did nothing to resist such an effort.
The end of chapter one from Gathered at the River: Grand Rapids, Michigan and Its People of Faith, states of the fate of Native people in West Michigan:
Keeping title proved difficult, however, as fraud, inexperience, and incompatibility of family farming with tribal tradition took their toll.
It indeed took its toll, but the authors of Gathered at the River do not call it land theft or settler colonialism or even acknowledge the role that early missions played here in the ongoing genocidal policies of US expansionism. The plight of Native people is not addressed in the rest of the book, which simply goes on to celebrate the history of christian churches in Grand Rapids. However, it seems apparent to this writer that the history of christianity in West Michigan is founded on genocide and settler colonialism.
In Part II we will explore issues around contemporary Settler Colonialism, specifically oil pipelines, Climate Justice, the disappearance & murder of Indigenous women/girls, and the brutal legacy of so-called Boarding Schools.
Some Resources:
The Canary Effect (film) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD7x6jryoSA
An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, by Winona LaDuke
The 500 Years of Resistance Comic Book, by Gord Hill
Custer Died for Your Sins, by Vine Deloria Jr.
A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present, by Ward Churchill
On Monday, MLive posted an article entitled, International Christian Non-Profit opens headquarters in Grand Rapids.
Cure International was founded in 1996, with a mission to provide medical surgery for children living with disabilities. As a Christian non-profit organization, Cure International operates in 8 different African countries.
One of their board members was quoted in the MLive article, stating:
“As we all know, the West Michigan community has an incredible healthcare presence. Relocating our headquarters to Grand Rapids gives us an opportunity to be a part of that community. Cure values collaborative partnerships that cultivate trust and authenticity. And that is what Grand Rapids is, a place built on authenticity and where collaboration comes together for the greater good.”
This board member of Cure International happens to be Jerry Tubergen, who is both the CEO of the DeVos-owned RDV Corporation and Ottawa Private Capital LLC, which the is primary investment firm for the DeVos family.
In that same MLive article, Grand Rapids Mayor, Rosalyn Bliss is quoted as saying, “Cure’s work is nothing short of a miracle.”
If we weren’t looking at this article through a critical lens, what Cure International does might seem like a good thing. They provide medical surgery for children living with disabilities in eight different African nations.
However, even with basic curiosity, one might ask, “Why are the eight African nations that Cure International operates in, unable to provide this kind of medical service to their own people?”
It’s a reasonable question. Could it be that these eight African nations have suffered under multiple centuries of Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism, with foreign military occupations and the massive extraction of resources to benefit the Global North?
There is no information, analysis or commitment on the part of Cure International to address any larger, structural issues like the legacy of Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism, wealth extraction, poverty or the mass displacement of Africans who have fled to Europe or the US. For a detailed analysis of Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism in Africa, see Walter Rodney’s book, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.
There is also no mention on the Cure International site of the existence of the 13 year US military project known as AFRICOM, The purpose of AFRICOM is to use U.S. military power to impose U.S. control of African land, resources and labor to service the needs of U.S. multi-national corporations and the wealthy in the United States. AFRICOM was established in 2008, during the Obama Administration.
Then there is the board of directors of Cure International. The 12 board members are all white, most of who are CEOs and several of them are involved in the financial sector. Two of the board members are DeVas-connected, Jerry Tubergen, whom we already mentioned, plus Luke Nieuwenhuis, who is Vice President – Distributor Incentives Amway.
The dynamic that Cure International perpetuates, with no willingness to call out the historical and contemporary structural injustices in Africa, coupled with their unquestioning use of people with tremendous wealth, all to provide a form of charity to African children, is what many refer to as White Saviorism.
In his 2012 article in The Atlantic, Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole says, “The white savior supports brutal policies in the morning, founds charities in the afternoon, and receives awards in the evening.” Cole was referring to the wave of support by Christian evangelicals in the US to support the KONY 2012 campaign, but his analysis could be applied to so many instances, like the work of Cure International.
Earlier this year, when the Defund the GRPD campaign identified Kids Food Basket as one of the local non-profits, which perpetuates White Saviorism, lots of white liberals became all incensed at the critique of the work of Kids Food Basket, a topic we wrote about. The criticism applied to Kids Food Basket is very similar to the critique of Cure International. It might make us all uncomfortable and it might make us have to confront our own internalized racism, but it is a necessary aspect working towards social justice and collective liberation.
During 18 months of a Pandemic, the wealth of Doug & Hank Meijer has grown by $6.7 Billion
Imagine what people in Grand Rapids, particularly families who have been negatively impacted by COVID, could do with $6.7 billion dollars collectively?
Just as a frame of reference, $6.7 billion is roughly 14 times the size of the 2022 budget for the City of Grand Rapids ($546 million). So, I’ll ask again, imagine what people/families who have been affected by Covid could do with $6.7 billion collectively?
In March, we wrote about how the wealth of Hank & Doug Meijer had grown, along with many other billionaires just during the pandemic. At that point, the wealth of Hank & Doug Meijer had grown from $10.2 to $12.6 billion in the first year of the pandemic.
Just a few months ago, in August, we posted another story about the Meijer brother’s wealth growing once again. From March of 2021 through the beginning of August of 2021, their wealth had grown by $900 Million, bring their total wealth to $13.5 Billion.
In less than 2 months, the wealth of Hank & Doug Meijer has grown to a total of $16.9 Billion. This means that since the beginning of the pandemic, their wealth has grown by $6.7 Billion, while millions of people are struggling to stay alive, are food insecure and facing eviction.
We also wrote in the August 2021 post, asking why people were not storming the Meijer headquarters in Walker, Michigan? I imagine that there are plenty of people who are mad as hell about the growing wealth gap, especially during a pandemic, yet there is no visible evidence that anyone is organizing a massive campaign to force Hank & Doug Meijer to give up part of their wealth. Why is that?
Do we really believe that they earned this wealth and not those who do the actual work in the Meijer stores and warehouses? Are we unwilling to force them to give up some of their wealth because the law says it is theirs? Do we actually think if we can the right people elected to office that wealth will be more evenly distributed in society?
Imagine if there were 2,000, 5,000, 20,000 or more people who converged on the Meijer headquarters and demanded that Hank & Doug handed over the $6.7 Billion they have made during the pandemic? What do you think those in power would do? Those in power would no doubt call for the cops, hell maybe even the Michigan National Guard to come and arrest thousands of people who were demanding that the wealthiest family give up money they do not need, so others could have a descent life.
These are the circumstances that led Dr. King and other organizers to create the Poor People’s Campaign. These are the moments that gave birth to the Zapatista uprising or the creation of the Landless People’s Movement in Brazil, the African National Congress and so many other uprisings in history. These are revolutionary moments people. What are we willing to do?
Who has really benefitted since Michigan became a Right to Work state, according to the West Michigan Policy Forum
On Friday, the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF) posted an article on their Facebook page, with a headline that read, Michigan’s Right-To-Work Law Improves Lives But ‘Screwing Up’ Media Narratives.
The article that WMPF featured is from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, one of the premier far right think tanks in the Mid-West.
There are several things worth saying about this article. First, the brief article provides some data and numbers on Michigan for before the state adopted a Right to Work law and after the law was adopted. However, the Mackinac Center writer doesn’t provide any source to support the data or the broader claim that Michiganders are financially better off since the Right to Work law was adopted in late 2012. Even if we believe the numbers that the Mackinac Center author presented in the article, it only reflects the median household income levels and not what most working people are making. Median household income is based on an average of overall income. Therefore, if you have a small percentage of really rich people, then the median household average sounds good, but it is does not accurately reflect what most people are making. The wealth gap has increased significantly throughout the country and in Michigan, with the top 5% of the population having the largest income growth.
Second, on December 11, 2012, governor Rick Snyder signed into law a “right to work” bill, undermining collective bargaining by allowing workers to freeload off the benefits of union negotiations without paying the costs of union representation. The Mackinac Center played a prominent role in supporting this action, a fact that the Mackinac Center writer fails to mention.
Third, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy began pushing for Michigan to become a Right to Work State in 1998, right about the same time that DeVos family foundations began providing significant contributions to the Mackinac Center, according to SourceWatch.
Fourth, the West Michigan Policy Forum made no mention in their sharing of the Mackinac Center article, that they too had been pushing for making Michigan a Right to Work State since the group started in 2008. In fact, at their second major conference, which was held in 2010, the WMPF invited Rick Berman to do a major presentation that not only centered around anti-unionism, Berman’s talk was essentially a “how to make Michigan a Right to Work state.”
In the end, you have the West Michigan Policy Forum post an article from a far right think tank, an article which does not provide sourcing to support its claim. In addition, there is no mention of the relationship between the WMPF and the Mackinac Center, a relationship that is centered in the financial support from the West Michigan elites to the Midland-based think tank. Lastly, both the Mackinac Center and the WMPF had a direct hand in making Michigan a Right to Work state, which means they need to make the claim that the economy is better now in Michigan than before there was a Right to Work policy. The question for all of us, a question that the West Michigan Policy Forum always asks, is who in particular has benefited from the Right to Work policy in Michigan?
Tenants holding a Press Conference was such a threat to Management that they call the cops and 5 GRPD cruisers show up
The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union has been working with tenants who reside at Grand View Place apartments who have numerous grievances against management. Tenants don’t feel safe at the Grand View Place apartments, the facility is unsanitary, with constant noise violations and there is constant illegal activity in the building.
When tenants contact the property manager, rarely are they taken seriously. In addition, some of tenants have been threatened with legal action or the threat of eviction, simply because they want to live in a safe and sanitary environment.
One tenant, who is a US military veteran, has been taken to court numerous times by Woda Cooper Companies Inc, the company that owns Grand View Place. However, in each instance, the company ends up dropping the charges when the tenant’s lawyer demands a jury trial.
Another major issue that tenants have complained about is the failure of management to make timely repairs in the building and in individual apartments. In 2020, Woda Cooper Companies Inc, received $2,828,800 in PPP loans from the federal government because of COVID. Several months later that loan was forgiven. If Woda Cooper Companies Inc can benefit from nearly $3 Million of public money, they surely can make the necessary repairs in a timely fashion.
Last Wednesday, several tenants of the Grand View Place apartments hosted press conference to share some of their personal struggles with Woda Cooper Companies Inc., along with presenting a list of demands.
There were two of us who are with the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union who arrived at Grand View Place apartments and met tenants we had been meeting with outside, near the parking lot. The manager of the property had come out to see what we up to, which was nothing more than having a conversation.
The property manager then went back inside, only to reappear 5 minutes later to greet an unmarked GRPD cruiser. The property manager and the GRPD then approached tenants and members of the tenant union and asked what we were up to. Someone responded by saying, “we were just having a conversation.” The Woda Cooper Companies Inc representative then told us that we – members of the tenant union – needed to leave. The GRPD officer, who happened to be Captain Collard and is part of the Police Command Officers Association, also told us to get off the Woda Cooper Companies Inc. property.
Those of us with the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union did move to the sidewalk area, which is exactly where we had planned to hold our press conference, right in from of the Grand View Place apartments sign. In the span of about 5 minutes there were an additional four GRPD cruisers that drove by, and one that parked across the street next to a commercial building to keep an eye on us.
At this point it became clear that the local news media would not be showing up, since it was nearly 30 minutes after the time included in the Media Release. The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union had sent a Media Release to roughly 70 different reporters and newsrooms in the Grand Rapids area. The fact that none of them showed up to the press conference is instructive. It is also instructive to note that all of the major news media outlets had run an ArtPrize story that same day, even though the monied spectacle had already been happening for a full two weeks. The injustice being done to tenants in Grand Rapids just wasn’t newsworthy.
We had also expected to have a few more tenants join us for the press conference, especially those the Tenant Union had been meeting with. However, we found out just minutes after the press conference, that Woda Cooper Companies Inc. had sent out a message to residents that there would be a mandatory inspection of everyone’s apartment.
The Grand Rapids Area Tenant union had decided to livestream a message with one of the tenants and then offer up the demands they had created. Within minutes of terminating the livestream, several tenants were told that there would be no more inspections that day. One of those tenants then sent a message to the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, which said:
They scheduled inspections out of the blue for the day of the press meeting here. The notice said they do inspections every month but they do not!!! I waited all day for my inspection. I started calling and texting asking when they would be here, right before we were supposed to meet you outside. They did not respond until after you stopped streaming live in front of the building! They purposely tried to keep tenants from the meeting! They waited all day only to tell me once the press stopped that they were no longer doing inspections! Convenient! They have used inspections as Intimidation and retribution in the past!
What happened last Wednesday should demonstrate to all of us the kind of abuse and exploitation that tenants face on a regular basis. The tenants are Grand View Place apartments live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions and when they do complain they are threatened with eviction. The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union works with these tenants to craft a set of demands and hold a press conference. No commercial media shows up, but 5 separate GRPD cruisers come to intimidate tenants after management had called them. Management also deceived tenants about an inspection that was clearly designed to prevent them from participating in the press conference.
In one sense it demonstrated what lengths property management companies will go to prevent tenants from exposing their abusive and exploitative practices. In addition, what took place last week was also a demonstration of how threatened property management companies are of tenants when they organize with other tenants and make demands.
If this report disturbs you, then please do what the tenants are asking of people, which is to call the management at Grand View Place apartments (616) 250-5830. Tell them to meet the the tenant demands. You can find the list of demands on the Facebook page for the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 