Resisting Enbridge’s Line 3 in the Great Lakes: GRIID interview with Anishinaabe activist Joe Cadreau
GRIID – Can you tell us when you will be going to Minnesota and why?
Joe – Yes, I will be leaving the Grand Rapids area on March 25th, heading to Red Lake Minnesota to stand in solidarity with fellow Indigenous people in demanding the shutdown of Line 3. For the last 6 years tribal nations, community and environmental groups in Minnesota have fought to stop Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy from building the massive Line 3 pipeline in Northern Minnesota, to take oil from Canada’s tar sands region to Superior, Wisconsin.
The pipeline violates several treaties with the Ojibwe people that establish our rights to hunt, fish, and gather along the proposed route. The pipeline would cross 200 bodies of water, including the Mississippi River twice. If built, Line 3 would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of tar sands crude oil — some of the dirtiest oil in the world — and would contribute the equivalent of 50 coal plants worth of carbon pollution to the atmosphere. Its carbon footprint would exceed the entire state of Minnesota’s.
GRIID – How long will you be there and are there any other members of the local indigenous community making the trip with you?
Joe – We will be there for 2-3 days to bring in some supplies and donations and to help uplift and amplify indigenous voices. There is a caravan that will be starting in the UP at the Bay Mills Indian Community and we will be meeting up in Grand Rapids and head to Minnesota as a group, kind of like back in the old days of AIM. As far as local indigenous community members from Grand Rapids, we have five tribal members that are going along with a group of allies.
GRIID – How important is the resistance of Line 3 to Indigenous people?
Joe – I think it is very important after the NoDAPL fight. NoDAPL proved to us that we cannot rely or trust the federal government to do the right thing, in regards to Indigenous people and treaty rights. Line 3 would violate the treaty rights of Anishinaabe peoples and nations in its path — wild rice is a centerpiece of Anishinaabe culture, it grows in numerous watersheds Line 3 seeks to cross. It’s well-past time to end the legacy of theft from and destruction of indigenous peoples and territories. Add the fact that ALL pipelines leak, this is non-starter for us as Anishinaabe, as the Dakota Access line proved!
I also think it’s important to understand that historically, we Anishaabek people earned our livelihoods off these wetlands and water sheds, from fishing, and fur trapping, to wild rice harvesting and land conservation. A historical fact that is often lost, is that Anishinaabe people were the people who discovered and plotted the trade routes in every water way and river from the Mississippi River eastward. These lands are not only sacred to our life ways, but also hold significant cultural meaning. I cannot stress enough the importance of resistance to Line 3 and Enbridge as a corporation.
GRIID – Why do you think that the resistance to Line3 hasn’t received the same kind of attention from both the news media and climate justice groups, as Standing Rock did?
Joe – I believe the lack of attention to Line 3 has several factors, the first being that this fight has been on-going in the courts for the last 6 years. Secondly, I believe that mixed messaging from state leaders, particularly the governor has played a major role, and never under estimate the power of money and influence that Enbridge utilizes. And lastly, the current social climate in Minnesota, with police brutality on Indigenous and Black community members, the George Floyd murder, and the missing and murdered indigenous women movements, people are pulled in many different directions. Add on the pandemic and coverage becomes even more thin.
As legal cases continue to play out, long standing grassroots resistance to the pipeline have entered a new phase with public actions in multiple locations and dozens of arrests of peaceful water protectors. Native American Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) organizations have led the movement with groups like the Giniw Collective, Honor the Earth, Rise Coalition and Gitchi Gumi Scouts leading public actions along the construction route along with organizations including MN350 Action and Northfield Against Line 3.
GRIID – Are you able to talk about what you will be doing when you take part in the Line 3 resistance? If, so please share.
Joe – We are basically going there to help uplift and support Indigenous voices in whatever way that they need and tell us. We have some supplies and donations that we are also bringing to the Red Lake Treaty Camp. However, actions are progressing as Enbridge was given a permit and as the ground thaws, they have begun to stage pipeline and equipment along the route for construction. Some actions that happened over the last 2 months, included Indigenous women (Ogichidda Kwe) chaining themselves to construction equipment, construction of a Medicine lodge along the planned route, and peaceful demonstrations at various sites, where protesters were arrested.
GRIID – Can you talk about how the Line 3 project is just another form of Settler Colonialism?
Joe – This project Line 3 along with Line 5 right here in Michigan and The Dakota Access Line are living forms of Settler Colonialism. They perpetuate the legacy of colonization and imperialism in the forms of land theft and destruction of a people and life ways in the name of capitalist gains. An easier way to explain what these pipelines mean to me as a proud Ojibwa man would be to compare them to confederate monuments. Just as the confederate monuments were created as a means to demonstrate white supremacy over a group, the pipelines serve the same purpose to indigenous people. A trophy of accomplishment over a people and culture and a constant reminder of that victory.
GRIID – What will it take for a similar kind of resistance campaign to happen in Michigan against Line 5?
Joe – Well, Line 5 is going to be interesting over the next couple of months. Governor Whitmer has demanded that Enbridge shut down Line 5. Through her office and by executive order it is supposed to be shut down by the first week of May. In return Enbridge has been defiant and has now employed the powers of PM Trudeau and has promised to take the fight to Washington DC.
Depending on what happens in May will determine what actions will happen not only in the courts and from the state, but also tribal nations and local grassroots. I believe that actions will only progress here in Michigan if Line 5 is not shut down. Over the last 2-3 years actions of resistance slowly increased over Line 5. From PR campaigns to activist filming and recording Enbridge workers, and even some had camps set up in areas on both sides of the Mackinac Bridge.
GRIID – In what ways can non-indigenous people be supportive of the Line 3 resistance?
Joe – I have a quote from Winona LaDuke that I want to share, “Frontline leaders and climate activists have called on supporters to join in resisting Line 3. A leading opponent of the pipeline, Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth calls the battle over Line 3, “ground zero in the battle over climate change”. “This is the last pipeline. This is the last battle, and that battle is in Minnesota …We expect thousands of people to join us.“
They can also donate to the Red Lake Treaty Camp on Facebook, or you can donate and find ways to support by visiting, https://www.stopline3.org
I think it is important to remember that Standing Rock and the NoDAPL movement were not only effective and impactful because of the many tribal nations that united. Yes that was important. But, the fact that many different cultures, and people came and stood with those tribal nations and indigenous people, also contributed to the success of that movement.
How many people have the police killed in 2021 so far? Asking for Johnny Brann Sr in Grand Rapids and Voice for the Badge
As I am accustomed to doing on a regular basis, early this week I checked the Voice for the Badge Facebook page.
On March 13th, the founder of Voice for the Badge, Johnny Brann Sr. made the following post:
2021 to date
Nationally
62 police officers died/killed
8 suicides
Ya feel good about that – haters of Police?
If you do you’re a sick demented – individual
God Bless our Police
Johnny Brann Sr.
VFB
We are here for you Blue
Some harsh words for those of us who supporting the Defunding of the GRPD.
I looked in to where Johnny Brann Sr might have got his data on police deaths so far in 2021, especially since he never sources his data. I did an online search and looked at the site called Officer Down Memorial Page, since I wanted to find the most pro-police site I could find. That page has 69 deaths as of the week of March 15th for 2021.
However, upon looking at the list of reasons for police officers dying in 2021, the number one reason was COVID 19, which has resulted in 38 police officer deaths. The next highest is gunfire (11) and then they list a whole bunch of other reasons, which you can see at this link. https://www.odmp.org/search/year
Therefore, more than half of the deaths of police officers have been due to COVID 19, and based on the data from the Officer Down Memorial Page, it appears that maybe 14 police officers have been killed by someone, while on duty, so far this year.
Comparatively, the number of people that police officers have killed across the US so far in 2021 is substantially higher. According to the database that the Washington Post has been using since 2015, the number of people that cops have killed so far in 2021 (under the heading Fatal Force) is 179.
Based on the data provided by these two sources, there have been 14 police officers that have been intentionally killed, compared to 179 people that police officers have killed during the same amount of time. That is a 12.7 to 1 ratio, meaning for every police officer that is killed while on duty, the cops kill 12.7 people.
Who again, are the sick and demented people Johnny Brann Sr?
GOP proposes anti-trans legislation in Michigan: Every co-signers of the bill has received money from the DeVos family
On March 10th, GOP Senators in Michigan introduced legislation that is anti-trans.
The proposed bill, Senate Bill 0218, was introduced by Michigan Senator Lana Theis and was sponsored by the following GOP Senators: Tom Barrett, Jim Runestad, Roger Victory, Jon Bumstead, John Bison, Kevin Daley, Rick Outman, Aric Nesbitt, Kimberly LaSata, Michael MacDonald, Dale Born and Curtis VanderWall.
The proposed anti-trans legislation would:
“Require that only biological males may compete for a position on and compete on a boys’ high school team in an interscholastic activity and only biological females may compete for a position on and compete on a girls’ high school team in an interscholastic activity; provide for. Amends 1979 PA 451 (MCL 380.1 – 380.1852) by adding sec. 1146a & repeals sec. 1289 of 1976 PA 451 (MCL 380.1289).”
These kinds of bills are being proposed all across the country at the state level and are being supported by three large historically anti-LGBTQ groups, the Family Policy Alliance, The Heritage Foundation, and Alliance Defending Freedom. According to a recent article from Political Research Associates:
Amid a spate of legislation in early 2021 targeting trans-affirming health care for youth and trans and gender nonconforming athletes, Ohio State Representative Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) announced this week that she had signed on to The Promise to America’s Children, a collaborative effort between the Family Policy Alliance, The Heritage Foundation, and Alliance Defending Freedom. The ten principles set forth a vision for childhood in which comprehensive sex education is banned in schools, teachers aren’t allowed to talk about LGBT people, students can openly discriminate against their LGBT classmates and teachers, parents are encouraged to submit their LGBT children to unethical conversion therapy and schools are powerless to protect them, trans student athletes are prohibited from playing sports, trans children are unable to access life-saving trans-affirming care, child-welfare organizations are encouraged to discriminate against LGBT prospective parents, and schools are forced to out LGBT students to their parents, regardless of safety considerations.
In addition to the national anti-LGBTQ groups that are pushing this type of legislation across the country, all of the sponsors of Senate Bill 0218 have also received substantial campaign contributions over the years from the DeVos family. As we have reported in the past, the DeVos family has consistently financed candidates that take an anti-LGBTQ stance, anti-union, anti-transparency and pro-Neoliberal economic policies that almost always include austerity measures.
What follows are a list of the GOP sponsors of Senate Bill 0218 and how much money they have received directly from the DeVos family or from the House ($1,880,000) and Senate ($1,121,000) Republican Campaign Committees, to which the DeVos family is the number one contributor.
- Senator Lana Theis DeVos family $12,000
- Senator Tom Barrett $30,000, plus Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $507,236 and House Republican Campaign Committee, $448,009
- Senator Jim Runestad DeVos family $12,000, plus Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $535,495
- Senator Roger Victory DeVos family $2,500
- Senator Jon Bumstead Senate Republican campaign Committee, $483,856
- Senator John Bison DeVos family $30,000, plus House Republican Campaign Committee, $345,974
- Senator Kevin Daley DeVos family $10,000, plus Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $190,883
- Senator Rick Outman House Republican Campaign Committee, $168,783
- Senator Aric Nesbitt DeVos family $4,500, plus House Republican Campaign Committee, $12,000
- Senator Kimberly LaSata DeVos family $12,000
- Senator Michael MacDonald DeVos family $10,000, plus Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $648,090
- Senator Dale Zorn Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $504,975
- Senator Curtis VanderWall DeVos family $9,000, plus House Republican Campaign Committee, $83,825
Last Monday, the GRPD arrested 8 people during a march organized by Justice for Black Lives, a march that happened on the first day of the trial for the cop who lynched George Floyd was to begin.
On Tuesday, the 8 people who were arrested held a Press Conference to share their ind=sights on what happened, with the over-arching message that organizers, particularly Black organizers were targeted for arrest by the GRPD.
The GRPD posted their own response to the arrests, using misinformation, double speak and gaslighting to make their point.
On Saturday, I attended the 1 year anniversary march for when police shot and killed Breonna Taylor, while she was at home and sleeping in her bed. As of today there has been no justice for Breonna Taylor and her family.
The Breonna Taylor march on Saturday had a permit. Someone told me that people not connected to the march organizers offered to pay the fee for the permit, but what is problematic about that is that getting a permit plays into the GRPD’s propaganda. I have spent the past week reflecting on what has happened in Grand Rapids and thought it might be useful to remind us all of important aspects about engaging in protests and revolutionary politics.
1. There have been plenty of people in the last week, along with the GRPD, saying, It’s against the law to march in the streets without a permit. First, the cops always selectively enforce such laws. The GRPD constantly blocks traffic in front of the arena to allow pedestrians to cross the street, even though people could cross during the normal crosswalk designations. More importantly, the GRPD has not arrested a single person during protests that have been in the streets since June 2nd, just two days after the rebellion that took place on May 30th, until last Monday. Lastly, we DO NOT NEED PERMISSION to fucking protest. It’s a protest!
2. There is No such thing as a peaceful protest when cops are involved. First, it is important to come to terms with the use of the word peace, which for many people means the absence of conflict. If we think about peace in terms of a protest, then we have to ask ourselves if there is no conflict. The very nature of a protest, whether we are talking about climate change, US militarism or police violence against black people, there is always an inherent conflict. People protest because some injustice has occurred, because they want to express some grievances, grievances often directed at the very institutions which are at the heart of the conflict. Therefore, we can conclude that a protest cannot be peaceful, since there indeed is a conflict.
Second, it is important that we frame the issue of racism, White Supremacy and the police murder of black people through the lens of power. Systems of power, like police departments, have the backing of the legal system, the political system and propaganda systems like news media, popular culture and schooling, all of which present a general narrative that police are necessary and most of them are “good.” All of these systems of power protect and legitimize police and policing. However, police departments are one clear example of structural violence, which we are conditioned to not think about. As Alex Vitale, author of the book, The End of Policing, states:
Well-trained police following proper procedure are still going to be arresting people for mostly low-level offenses, and the burden will continue to fall primarily on communities of color because that is how the system is designed to operate – not because of the biases or misunderstandings of officers.
Third, the presence of police at a protest, means there are people with guns, tasers, mace, clubs, tear gas, rubber bullets and a whole range of other high tech weapons. As anyone who has ever participated in a protest knows, it doesn’t take much for the police to use any number of these weapons. In fact, one could argue that the police are looking for a reason to use such weapons. However, even if they don’t use these weapons, there is always the threat of their use, which means that whenever cops are at a protest it CANNOT be peaceful.
Fourth, calling a protest peaceful, when protests are anything but peaceful, is a way for the system(s) to dictate the narrative about what is happening. When the police say a protest was peaceful, they mean that those protesting obey their orders, did nothing to disrupt business as usual and often it means that protest organizers cooperate and even collaborate with the police. In fact, one could argue that if this happens, then it is not really a protest, instead it becomes a performance. Such forms of “protests” are almost always organized by white liberals to make other white people feel good about themselves, without having to interrogate systems of power and oppression.
3. Disruption is a long standing tactic within Social Movements. The history of Social Movements is filled with actions – marches, sit-in, strikes, civil disobedience, insurrection – that are designed to be disruptive to business as usual, to what is normative. But here is thing – White Supremacy, poverty, mass incarceration, the climate crisis, rape, structural violence, these are normative, particularly within a Capitalist system. Social Movements disrupt the norm. Social Movement tactics, like blocking traffic, are designed to disrupt business as usual because they want people to be confronted with the grievances that people are making public, like the systemic practice of cops lynching Black people. Movimiento Cosecha often carries a banner with them that says, We’ll stop interrupting your lives, when you stop interrupting ours. What they mean by that is we’ll stop blocking traffic when you stop a system where ICE can take my family members, lock them up and deport them, with a likely outcome that the parent that was arrested will never see their children again, and all of this happens because people do not have documentation.
4. Systems of power and privilege will always push back against calls for radical change. All of the responses we have seen in the past week, from both the GRPD and Grand Rapids City Officials, while infuriating, is expected. Systems of power will always push back against social movements, especially when there are calls for radical systemic change. In fact, one could argue, based on history, that systems of power will often become more entrenched precisely because they feel threatened. We should celebrate this fact, since it means that those in power feel threatened and their push back is a signal that they feel threatened. Systemic and structural change never comes about quickly, nor does it come without sacrifice. We have to be in these kinds of struggles for the long haul and not give in to the temptation of reformism.
5. The GRPD acted exactly how they were supposed. When it comes to how policing happens in Grand Rapids or around the country, we need to come to terms with the fact that they are designed to protect the very systems of power that oppress us. The GRPD arrested 8 people last week and targeted Black organizers because that was a strategic response on their part. None of it is random.
When dealing with protest movements, the GRPD will use two overarching strategies, Negotiated Management and Escalating Force. Negotiated Management – also called Command and Control techniques – this is when police attempt to negotiate actions, always with the goal to manage it. This often takes the form of cops asking people to get permits to protest, showing up at a protest to let everyone know that they are there to keep people safe, when in fact they are there to manage or control public dissent.
Escalated Force – this is where the state uses surveillance, infiltration, negative press, pre-emptive arrests, protest zones and the use of less lethal weaponry to suppress public resistance. This is what we have seen in Grand Rapids beginning on May 30th, where they have used weapons agains the public, relied on curfews, brought in the National Guard, sought to control the public narrative in the news media and have created the good protester/bad protester dichotomy.
Until we come to terms with these facts, we will continue to view the police as a necessary good and only seek to reform the GRPD. When we speak the language of copspeak – of police reform – we see the world as police do. Police reform is the science of police legitimation accomplished through the art of euphemism. Police reform speaks in a language carefully calibrated to limit our ability to understand police as anything other than an equitable force and indispensable institution.
Ultimately, we have to see that police and policing, even in West Michigan, function to protect power. Black communities have understood this about the US, since the country was founded. James Baldwin, in his famous 1966 essay on policing, referred to policing as a function of an occupying power. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense used the same language several years after Baldwin wrote his essay, always referring to the police as an occupying force.
However, white communities don’t tend to see the police through the same lens, especially white liberal communities like Grand Rapids. As Alex Vitale, in his groundbreaking book, The End of Policing:
“For liberals, police reform is always a question of taking steps to restore the legitimacy of policing…………They want the police to be better trained, more accountable, and less brutal and racist – laudable goals, but they leave intact the basic institutional functions of the police, which have never really been about public safety and crime control………..The reality is that police exist primarily as a system for managing and even producing inequality by suppressing social movements and highly managing the behaviors of poor and nonwhite people; those on the losing end of economic and political arrangements.”
Lastly, the 5 points we just laid out are precisely why the GRPD needs to be Defunded.
GRIID Class on US Social Movements – Part VII: The Immigrant Justice Movement in Grand Rapids
In the 7th week of the class on US social movements, we looked at the Immigrant Justice Movement in Grand Rapids, using a chapter from my forthcoming book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids.
When Grand Rapids was formally founded in 1850, just shy of 3,000 people lived in the city. As was mentioned earlier, the Europeans who came to the area were French, English, German and Dutch, but soon came Polish, Lithuania, Irish, Italians and Jewish immigrants.
According to Randal Jelks’ book, African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids, there were few African Americans in the City in the middle of the 19th Century. According to the archives of Paul I Phillips, an African American leader in 20th Century Grand Rapids, there were 9 African Americans in 1854 and 48 in 1870. However, African Americans did not migrate to Grand Rapids in significant numbers until the 20th Century.
US immigration policy began to adjust in the later part of the 19th Century, particularly when non-European’s were coming to the United States. The growing Chinese population on the west coast eventually led to the passage of the Chineses Exclusion Act in 1882. This legislation was coupled with growing anti-Chinese sentiment in the US, so much so that white Californians were recruiting other white people to come their state to deal with the “Chinese problem.” According to a December 24, 1885 story in the Grand Rapids Evening Leader, headline, The Chinese Must Go:
Nine members of the Cigar maker’s Union of this city will leave Saturday to join the army that is going to California to help drive out the Chinese. They will meet a train load of tobacco rollers at Chicago going in the same direction. E.B. Griffin, formerly of Michigan, now located in San Franciso, writes that there are situations for about 2,000 cigar makers in that city, the war on the Chinese having been a success.
Ethnic resentment was used by the Capitalist Class in Grand Rapids to pit Euro-Americans against each other during the 1911 Furniture Workers Strike, but for most of Grand Rapids history this was not the norm.
This is not the case with non-Europeans who came to live in Grand Rapids, where they face discrimination and xenophobia. African Americans faced Jim Crows realities in Grand Rapids in the 20th Century, like red-lining, while Arab Americans who came here faced xenophobia, along with religious discrimination and an increase in anti-Arab treatment, especially after September 11, 2001.
This is not to say that Grand Rapids doesn’t have a long history of welcoming people who have come to the US with a refugee status. There are numerous agencies in the city that have a decades-long history of providing support and transition to refugees from Vietnam (see Flight to Freedom: The Story of the Vietnamese of West Michigan, by Gordon Olson), people who have fled violence in various African nations, and Haitians who began coming during the politician conflicts between the US and Haiti in the early 1990s.
However, for lots of other people who immigrated from south of the US border, particularly Mexican, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran and to a lesser degree, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Cubans, there has been a different kind of reception.
Mexicans who have migrated to Michigan started coming in the early part of the 20th Century, primarily because of the large migrant labor demand that exists in West Michigan. Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been living and working in West Michigan in the agricultural sector for decades, especially since the Bracero program was begun during WWII. Even after the Bracero program was formally ended in 1964, other temporary visa programs were designed to allow farm workers to come into the US.
However, as the US/Mexican border became more militarized and anti-immigrant organization became more influential (like the group Federation for American Immigration Reform) the amount of undocumented/under-documented immigrants increased across the US and in the Grand Rapids area.
It was in this context that the immigrant justice movement was born. We used a timeline that Movimiento Cosecha GR uses when they do trainings on this topic, which are included here.
Part I of the Immigrant Justice Movement began as a response to proposed legislation in 2005 from Rep. Sensenbrenner, known as the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. The immigrant community got organized over the next several months and then held a massive protest (10,000 strong) in late March of 2006, which was reported on by the Indymedia site Media Mouse.
However, there was no immigrant-led entity to maintain the necessary organizing, plus many in the immigrant community got behind the candidacy of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party’s proposal of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The Obama campaign promised Comprehensive Immigration Reform, but never delivered on this promise and many immigrants became disillusioned by electoral politics, along with the fact that roughly 3 million undocumented immigrants were deported under the Obama/Biden administration.
After the election of Donald Trump, there became a renewed interest in immigrant rights, in part because of the overtly anti-immigrant rhetoric of the new administration and some of the early policy positions. More importantly, the immigrant justice movement now was being led by immigrants and immigrant groups like Movimiento Cosecha. This was all discussed in the class as Part II of the Immigrant Justice Movement.
As the Cannabis Industry is booming in Grand Rapids, what about Reparations for the War on Drugs?
I was driving on US 131 the other day to run an errand and I noticed that maybe one third of the all the billboards on both sides of the highway were advertisements for Cannabis.
This is not surprising, as we have been monitoring the Grand Rapids City Planning Commission and City Commission meets over the past few years, and rarely does a month go by where either Medical Marijuana or Recreational Cannabis facilities are getting approved.
The Cannabis industry is booming, with news media outlets jumping on board to give attention and promote the products. Today (Thursday), MLive is a virtual seminar on the cannabis industry, with seven different panelists. This event is sponsored by the cannabis industry and according to MLive, “The event is intended for current industry leaders and business owners, as well as those wishing to be thought leaders in the cannabis trade.”
With the decriminalization of cannabis, why wouldn’t you want to get in on an industry that will make billions?
As always, I have questions. First, only until recently, if you were selling cannabis, in any quantity, you would be arrested. Now, some people get to put up billboards to advertise cannabis. I say some people, since the cannabis industry seems is rapidly embracing the Capitalist model, where profits are God and chain cannabis stores will soon be like McDonalds.
Second, we all know that when cannabis wasn’t legal, that Black and Brown people were disproportionately arrested and incarcerated for cannabis possession and distribution. According to a recent report from the ACLU entitled, A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, the racial disparities in marijuana arrests is still happening.
As reported in the previous section, the total number of people arrested for marijuana possession, and rates of arrests, have decreased in all legalized states and most decriminalized states. These rates decreased for both Black and white populations, yet the racial disparities in arrest rates persist. In every state that has legalized or decriminalized marijuana possession, Black people are still more likely to be arrested for possession than white people.
Now, if arrests rates for marijuana continue to disproportionately affect Black people, then the next logical question to ask is, what is the new cannabis industry doing to address the historical and contemporary War on Drugs?
In looking at the websites for area cannabis retailers, the only one that addresses issues about the War on Drugs is Fluresh and even then there is only mention on their Community Impact page about the Black and Brown Cannabis Guild, which has been doing great work around expungement.
So, it would seem that billions will be made from cannabis sales, by a small sector of businesses (which will likely become more consolidated with time), who have little interest in dismantling the War on Drugs and providing reparations to those most affected. Isn’t Capitalism wonderful.
Reparations for the War on Drugs – specifically cannabis-related
So what would reparations look like, specifically for the cannabis possession/distribution charges in the War on Drugs era? A good start is what the Black and Brown Cannabis Guild is doing, which is the expungement of the records of those who have been charged with cannabis possession previously. However, expungement isn’t enough.
The Cannabis industry could afford to pay reparations (the Cannabis Industry was worth $61 billion in 2020) to Black and Brown people impacted from the War on Drugs by directly transferring money to people who have been arrested and incarcerated for cannabis crimes. Black and Brown people who have been arrested and incarcerated for cannabis crimes lost money being in jail or prison, lost time being in jail or in prison, and lost opportunities being in jail or in prison. Of course, the state also needs to pay reparations for their role in the War on Drugs, but since the state is regulating the cannabis industry, why not have some of the billions that this industry will make be set aside as reparations for those who have been previous arrested and incarcerated for selling cannabis, particularly Black and Brown people.There is something fundamentally wrong with White people who now want to cash in on the cannabis industry, especially since it is well known that White people wanting to start a business have easier access to bank loans, etc. For those who want to profit off of cannabis sales, especially white people, let’s make them pay reparation!
WXMI 17 talks to cops, museum curators, anybody but the people who organized/participated in the May 30th Rebellion in Grand Rapids
The way that journalism, particularly commercial journalism, is produced in this community is both baffling and infuriating.
On Monday, March 8, WXMI 17 posted a news story, in both a broadcast version and a print version, about related to the May 30th Rebellion that took place in Grand Rapids after the police lynching of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The WXMI 17 story is problematic in numerous ways, but let’s do a simple deconstruction that exposes what is wrong about how commercial journalism is often done.
First, the premise of the story is that the Grand Rapids Art Museum is now hosting and curating art that was created by a variety of people, art that was created on the plywood that was used to board up windows of buildings in the downtown area the morning after the May 30th Rebellion. Ok, so I get the intention of the story, but that doesn’t make it a good story. First, we never find out anything about the artists who created the images and whether or not they participated in the May 30th Rebellion. Also, there is no indication that the Grand Rapids Art Museum will hold an event or a forum to discuss the images created or what took place the day of the Rebellion. In addition, the story excludes the perspective that says, painting images/messages on the wood used to board up windows in the downtown area was just another way to cover up the realities of what happens during a rebellion. One could argue it is the epitome of West Michigan Nice.
Second, the imagery that the broadcast version of the story uses is deeply problematic. Most of the images are of burning cars and other forms of property destruction, without any context. For instance the cars that were set on fire were cops cars, which was deliberate, since the cops in this context are the perpetrators of violence, both incident specific violence – the lynching of George Floyd – and structural violence, which clarifies the way policing in done in general as a form of violence. Then there was the imagery of the Chief of Police kneeling with protestors. Not only was this a staged PR opportunity for the GRPD Chief, it completely omits the reality that the GRPD had prepared to suppress any serious dissent on May 30th, with cops in riot gear, along with the fact that the police used deadly projectiles that were shot into the crowds on May 30th.
Third, why does WXMI 17 even give Police Chief Payne space to tell his side of what took place, all of which is biased. Payne says, “it began as a peaceful protest and then quickly evolved to a situation where a lot of lives were put in danger.” If the police are present, there is no such thing as a peaceful protest. (See our post from last Summer entitled, Is there really any such thing as a Peaceful Protest?) Chief Payne’s comments ignore the fact that people had been marching from different parts of the City, while others had been having open mic opportunities at Rosa Parks Circle for several hours. The larger march, which began at 7pm, took the streets and then came to the Grand Rapids Police Department headquarters, where they were greeted by dozens of cops in riot gear. Verbal exchanges took place, but at some point more cops were called in and then fired deadly projectiles into the crowd, thus provoking people. This narrative is not included in the WXMI 17 story, since they didn’t even bother to speak to any of the organizers of the protest or anyone who participated that day.
Lastly, the WXMI 17 story then provides Police Chief Payne with even more air time to talk about how the May 30th impacted the police department and his family. What about how policing in this community impacts the lives of Black, Brown, immigrant and homeless people? Why they hell does channel 17 centered the perspective and feeling of someone who is responsible for perpetrating so much harm on the community on a daily basis?
None of this is surprising, but that doesn’t make it any less problematic. As we wrote back in November, the GRPD and other Grand Rapids City Officials have been attempting to control the narrative about what happened during the May 30th Rebellion, along with trying to counter the narratives that community-based organizers have been presenting, particularly those seeking to Defund the GRPD.
We Were Targeted: Justice for Black Lives Press Conference addresses GRPD targeted arrests at George Floyd solidarity protest
The 8 people who were arrested by the Grand Rapids Police Department during a Monday protest march that coincided by the trial of the cop who publicly lynched George Floyd, held a Press Conference in downtown Grand Rapids.
One of the more prominent themes that came up during the Press Conference was that organizers, particularly Black and Brown organizers, were targeted by the GRPD. The GRPD claims that those arrests were because of a noise ordinance violation, failure to obey a command and for blocking traffic. What is interesting about these claims, which are always selectively enforced, is that since May 30th, the GRPD has pretty much allowed protesters to take over the streets, particularly in downtown Grand Rapids.
Other people who spoke during the Press Conference made it clear, that while the GRPD arrests were meant to intimidate people, such tactics will not work. Organizers made it clear that they are committed to fighting racism, that they want the police to be held accountable and that they want to Defund the GRPD.
The following short video, includes two of the organizers/arrestees who read brief statements during the Press Conference. For updates on the arrests and Justice for Black Lives actions go to https://www.facebook.com/JFBLorg.
This is our sixth installment of this posting, which takes a critical look at Grand Rapids politics and policies, based primarily on the public record, such as committee agendas and minutes.
There are 4 issues we want to focus on in this installment of The Devil is in the Details, with the first issue being the continued lack of transparency on the 1601 Madison SE project, despite their likely use of public subsidies.
This is the sixth time in the past three months that we have reported on the AmplifyGR/Rockford Construction – affiliated project at 1601 Madison SE. From the beginning AmplifyGR has been secretive about what business will occupy the 1601 Madison SE property, even though the following exchange took place between 3rd Ward City Commissioner Moody and AmplifyGR’s Executive Director, as was reported by MLive on December 1st:
He (Comm. Moody) said his only concern was that Amplify has not yet revealed the name of the prospective tenant.
“I have an idea who the tenant is, but I think it’s important that sooner or later you let us know who the tenant is,” Moody said. “Because as a Third Ward commissioner we don’t want anything to slip up on us that we’re not aware of.”
Amplify’s executive director, Jon Ippel, told Moody that he understands “the uneasiness” created by not identifying the tenant.
“We’re hoping that by the end of the year we can be a little bit more public with that,” he said. “So hopefully it’s a matter of weeks and not months.”
Well, it has been month, not weeks, yet despite the complete lack of transparency the City will be awarding a subsidy to this AmplifyGR/Rockford Construction project through the Brownfield Development Authority to the tune of $1,943,810. (See pages 12 – 13 in the Brownfield Development Authority packet for 2/24)
The second issue we want to address is the proposed housing project by the group legally known as 900 W. Leonard LLC. The project shows up in both the Westside Corridor Improvement Authority (beginning on page 9) and the Economic Development Team Project packet for 3/9/2021 (beginning on page 12).
The 900 W. Leonard LLC housing project registered agent is Jack Hoedeman. The address listed for 900 W. Leonard LLC is 280 Ann St NW, Grand Rapids, which is the office of Compass Insurance. Jack Hoedeman is the CEO of Compass Insurance. Hoederman is also co-founder of Victory Development group, which formed in 2020 and lists the 900 W. Leonard Project as their current project.
The 900 W. Leonard LLC project is seeking both a Brownfield Development Authority subsidy of $914,207 and a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone tax exemption for year 1 at $139,751. This will put the total public subsidy over $1 million.
The third issue we want to draw your attention to is the ongoing development projects that are in the works for Market Ave SW in Grand Rapids. On pages 40 – 45 of the Community Development Committee packet for 3/9/2021, the City of Grand Rapids is proposing to award Kamminga & Roodvoets, Inc.a contract for $8,003,502.80 to, “relocate of a portion of the Eastside Trunk Sewer from parcels on the west side of Market Avenue to Market Avenue right-of-way to allow for the redevelopment to occur on the parcels. The relocated trunk sewer construction will now include Wealthy Street from the Grand River to Market Avenue, Market Avenue from Wealthy Street to Fulton Street and Fulton Street from the Grand River to Market Avenue.”
Kamminga & Roodvoets, Inc. Was founded by two white business partners and has expanded over the years from just an office in Grand Rapids, to offices in Tennessee and Florida. It’s unfortunate that the City of Grand Rapids continues to award these kinds of contracts to white businesses, instead of Black or Brown business contractors.
The fourth, and last issue, we wanted to draw your attention to today comes from the 3/11/2021 City Planning Commission packet. There are three new Recreational Cannabis retailers set to be approved. The three new Recreational Cannabis retailers are QPS Michigan Holdings, LLC, which will be located at 1148 Leonard St NW; Fish Ladder Holdings, LLC, which is located at 2301 44th St SE; and Nature’s ReLeaf, LLC, which will be at 666 Leonard St NW. It should be noted that QPS Michigan Holdings LLC and Fish Ladder Holdings LLC are both represented by Ankur Rungta, who is the CEO of C3 Industries. The 3rd company listed is Nature’s ReLeaf, LLC, which means that all three of these new Recreational Cannabis Retailers are all businesses that are not based in Grand Rapids. This is not surprising, since it has been the trend so far with both medical and recreational cannabis retailers that have sought approval to do business in Grand Rapids.
Four activists are going public with a message to the larger West Michigan community, a message that says White Supremacy will not be tolerated.
The four activists in question have court dates later this month, but they wanted to send out a Media Release (see below) to clarify why they took the actions that they did.
In May of 2020, after a Minneapolis police officer publicly lynched George Floyd, a rebellion took place in cities across the US. The Black Lives Matter actions sent a strong message to those who refused to acknowledge that Structural Racism is deeply entrenched in this society and its institutions.
All across the US there were calls for defunding the police, abolishing the prison industrial complex, changing the names of sports teams and purging consumer culture of longstanding racist images that accompanied numerous products.
One area of resistance to White Supremacy and its legacy has been centered on the removal of statues and historical markers that perpetuate the legacy of slavery and settler colonialism. Just weeks after the public lynching of George Floyd, activists and community organizers targeted a Confederate statue in Allendale, Michigan.
The statue in question has continued to be source of conflict between those who refuse to acknowledge the ways in which White Supremacy permeate our society and those who seek to dismantle the ways in which White Supremacy manifests itself in our communities.
As a matter of transparency, the four activists listed in the Media Release below, asked this writer to be their Media Liaison. I sent out this Media Release and am working with the activists to be a bridge between them and area news agencies.
As someone who has been a media watchdog for nearly three decades in West Michigan, I urge people to think critically and apply media literacy principles to how the local news has been and will continue to report on White Supremacy in this media market. Pay attention to the sources cited in the stories, how the news agencies are framing the story and what kind of push back will result from centers of power and oppression, particularly from Allendale Township.
The importance of what the four activists have done in regards to the Confederate statue in Allendale, is a microcosm of a much larger problem of how White Supremacy permeates our institutions and how too many of us continue to tolerate its existence, often in the name of civility. I urge all of those reading this to use this moment as an opportunity to have the difficult and uncomfortable conversations about White Supremacy and then to take an active role in being part of the important anti-racist work that is being done, particularly the work that is being led by Black, Indigenous and other communities of color.
Please read the Media Release below. Some of the photos used in this post are from the four activists and these photos are what was sent to the local news agencies, along with the Media Release.
Racism on Trial in Allendale, Michigan
Peaceful anti-racism demonstrators charged with alleged “vandalism,” “littering,” and “disobeying a park sign.”
On January 8th—just two days after violent White Supremacists, including at least one township official, attacked the United States Capitol—officials from Allendale Charter Township filed misdemeanor criminal charges against four activists affiliated with the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists or MACRA.
Mitchell Kahle and Holly Huber, of Norton Shores, and Anthony Miller and Jessica Miller (Griffin), of Allendale, are each alleged of multiple counts in five separate complaints.
“This is a political prosecution designed to chill free speech and quell activists’ opposition to the township’s racist statues,” Kahle said.
“This is a prosecution against minorities in our community, to silence us, keep the township status quo, and remind people of color of ‘their place’ in American society,” Miller (Griffin) said.
Allendale has been at the center of controversy since last June, when protests erupted over a concrete statue—honoring Confederate soldiers and demeaning Black Americans—on display in the township’s “Garden of Honor” located in the community park. Over the course of last summer and fall, several large protests and counter-protests were held. Groups supporting the racist statues included heavily armed militia and white nationalists flying Confederate flags. (See attached photos.)
Allendale officials filed five separate criminal complaints following two peaceful free-speech demonstrations opposing the township’s offensive and historically inaccurate depiction of a Confederate soldier, a Union soldier, and an enslaved Black child, on the ground, wearing a cotton-picking sack, at the feet of his White oppressors.
“As parents of a biracial child, the township’s depiction of an enslaved biracial child in our community park is offensive and intolerable. For our family, those statues represent the historical enslavement, murder, rape, and oppression of Black Indigenous People of Color by White Supremacists and the overt and unrestrained racism that continues to this day in Allendale, Michigan,” the Millers said.
The first demonstration allegedly took place on the afternoon of Monday, January 4th, when the Millers allegedly placed a white pillowcase over the head of the Confederate soldier, with the words “Traitor,” “Slaveholder, “Murderer,” and others describing Confederate soldiers, were written on the pillowcase. Fresh flowers and candles were left out of respect for the enslaved Black child (and all people of color affected by the system of oppression the White soldiers represent). A clown face was allegedly painted on the Union soldier using washable Crayola paint to emphasize the historical complicity of all colonizers. (See attached photos.)
The second demonstration (lasting fewer than 8 minutes) took place at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 8th, when Kahle, Huber, and Miller (Griffin) allegedly reenacted a “tar and feathering” of the Confederate soldier, using a water-and-cornstarch mixture and white goose feathers. A small cardboard placard with the word “Traitor” was allegedly placed on the Confederate soldier and flowers left in respect for the enslaved child. (See attached photos.)
When presented with the alleged details, including eye-witness statements, photos and video of the demonstrations, Ottawa County Prosecutor Lee Fisher declined to bring charges, saying, “…although both actions resulted in a clean-up, neither caused lasting damage to the statue … the makeup and feathers were washed off without permanent damage.”
This was by design. Activists tested their water-based paint and “tar” mixtures in advance to ensure everything would wash away in the rain or with a hose. The fresh flowers and natural feathers left no lasting mark, waste, or damage whatsoever. In fact, these same four activists were responsible, with others, for numerous other similar free-speech demonstrations throughout the summer and fall of 2020. Including twice chalking and painting “BLACK LIVES MATTER” and “TAKE IT DOWN” in large letters on the township’s parking lot. (See attached photos.)
“Township officials’ decision to prosecute is politically motivated and violates activists’ rights to free speech and assembly under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The charges are designed purely to intimidate and chill activists’ speech. The statues in this case represent government speech in a public park, where citizens enjoy the greatest of all free-speech protections,” Attorney Jeffery S. Crampton said.
These acts were not vandalism, but acts of love and free speech. The substances were not litter, they were all-natural mediums of artistic expression. There was no violation of township ordinances, activists were lawfully in the park only during official hours of operation.
Make no mistake. Racism is on display in Allendale—in the form of a racist statue, as well as the actions by Allendale officials to perpetuate systemic racism. If Allendale Township proceeds with its attempt to silence and infringe the constitutional rights of the defendants, not only will racism be on display in Allendale, racism will go on trial at the expense of the community’s finances and reputation.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 