After Michigan Supreme Court ruling on COVID 19 policies, legislators, who are bought and paid for, will decide out fate
Last Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Whitmer had over-stepped her authority during the COVID 19 crisis. In a recent article in Bridge Michigan:
Sen. Shirkey told Bridge he expects a federal court could act on the decision and begin to invalidate Whitmer executive orders as soon as next week. The governor has claimed that cannot happen for at least 21 days under Supreme Court rules.
What this will mean is that the Michigan Legislature will now likely decide on how to deal with the COVID 19 crisis, which should concern anyone who cares about health and well being of people living in Michigan. This is especially the case when it comes to the Senate Majority leader Mike Shirkey and House leader Lee Chatfield. Both of these legislators initiated law suits against Gov. Whitmer in early May.
In April, Shirkey and Chatfield had already been complaining about Gov. Whitmer’s stance on COVID 19. Shirkey was quoted as saying:
We believe business owners will act responsibly and take care within their establishments to clean and disinfect their equipment, protect their workers and customers, and meet strict health and safety standards. We believe parents will protect their children, clergy will make worship services safe for their congregants, and neighbors will look out for their communities.
The data on how many people have died so far and how many have contracted the virus, seems to contradict Shirkey’s comments above.
Then, during the anti-lockdown protests in Lansing, it became clear that the groups involved in organizing those protests were in direct communication with Sen. Mike Shirkey, by their own admission. This is what we wrote on May 12th:
The fact that the anti-lockdown protestors we working in tandem with Sen. Mike Shirkey is confirmed in one of their blog posts, where it states:
“The irony is that the American Patriot Rally was organized with one thing in mind: to encourage the senate to vote no on extending Whitmer’s emergency declaration, which they did. It was a victory. If Sean had taken the time to be a journalist, he’d have known that we got exactly what we came for,” Kelley said.
These comments came from Ryan Kelley, who is with the American Patriot Council. Kelley has also been one of the primary spokespersons defending the Civil War statue in Allendale, Michigan. A week after Kelley confirmed he had been in contact with Sen. Shirkey during the anti-lockdown protests in Lansing, he invited Shirkey to speak at an anti-lockdown protest in Grand Rapids on May 18.
The business community has consistently been behind Shirkey and Chatfield on their COVID 19 position. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has endorsed allowing businesses to re-open, even pushing this message in April. The West Michigan Policy Forum has also supported this position of profits over people, when they stated in April:
Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Mackinac Center for Public Policy & West MI Policy Forum think 75% of businesses could re-open now throughout the state
The principles offered by Senator Mike Shirkey today smartly allows for a regional and phased approach to safely reopening businesses and protecting employees as they go back to work. We must reject the false choice between work and safety, so these outlined principles rightly empower workers, protect customers and increase economic security. We applaud Senator Shirkey’s welcoming approach to further input by medical experts. We urge the governor, lawmakers and business leaders to further refine the appropriate and sensible proposal by Senator Shirkey to coalesce around one plan to protect both lives and livelihoods and provide a safe pathway to restart our economy.
The endorsement of the West Michigan Policy Forum should not surprise us, especially considering that two of their members, DeVos and Kennedy, have pretty much bankrolled both Sen. Shirkey and Rep. Chatfield, as we noted back in May.
The GOP controlled State Legislature now has the ability to implement opening more and more of Michigan businesses, which will likely lead to more and more people contracting the COVID 19 virus. Profits over people is not just an ideological reference, rather it will become more and more of a reality if the likes of Sen. Shirkey and Rep. Chatfield have their way.
(graphic by Brett Colley)
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.
We have 3 new examples to share with you this week.
First up is Voice For the Badge (VFB), which is now proposing (Oct. 1) that all GR City officials should be require to o 4 ride-alongs with the GRPD every year, plus attend simulation shooting classes twice a year.
VFB leader, Johnny Brann Sr. said, This might wake up city officials to the fact that OUR GRPD go through hell on many of their shifts and the split second decisions they must make. I am willing to bet that most city officials will shoot an innocent citizen or get shot themselves.
Our second example is from the West Michigan Policy Forum, which was recently celebrating on FB the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling that Gov. Whitmer’s use of the 1945 law was in violation of the state’s constitution. The West Michigan Policy Forum, which is made up of powerful members of the local Capitalist Class, has been lobbying and financing political candidates that will defend business interests, even it is contrary to public health and well being.
Our last example has to do with the Far Right Think Tank, the Acton Institute. Last week, we posted a story about how the Acton Institute publicly endorsed Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. We noted in that article, that Barrett is part of a religious right group known as The People of Praise.
In a September 30th blog post, the Acton Institute defended People of Praise, in an article entitled, Amy Coney Barrett: handmaid of the Lord, not the state. The Acton Institute once again demonstrated their far right support for organizations and elected officials that impose monotheism in the public sphere, promote patriarchal values, such a making women subservient to men.
In all three of our examples this week, we see how far right groups are attempting to impose public policy that benefits those in power, attacks marginalized communities in West Michigan, and celebrates profits over people.
Trump, White Supremacy and Fascism: When voting is not enough
Tuesday nights Presidential debate was, as many have said, a shit show and a mess.
When President Trump was asked by the debate moderator if he would denounce White Supremacy, he refused to and instead told the some of the foot soldiers of White Supremacy, to Stand Back and Stand By.
Many non-state White Supremacist groups were encouraged by this statement and have been public about it. Groups like the Proud Boys, III%, Oathkeepers and Boogaloos are all groups that embrace a White Supremacist ideology. For an excellent assessment of these groups, check out the Activist Field Guide to the Armed Far-Fight, from Political Research Associates.
We all should be concerned about these groups and take them very seriously. However, White Supremacy is much more than groups like these. White Supremacy is a system of power and oppression that permeates all structures and institutions in the US. White Supremacy is not just people believing that White people are superior to every one else, it is more systemic. The best definition I have seen on what White Supremacy is, is what long-time anti-racist organizer Elizabeth Martinez uses, which is in the box above on the right.
An excellent resource for a deeper exploration of what White Supremacy is, is the Bay Area group called Challenging White Supremacy, which has great resources to use for workshops and further education materials.
When we expand our understanding of what White Supremacy is, we see that the state and capitalism are fundamentally rooted in White Supremacy. Mass incarceration, the “Drug War”, poverty, gentrification, are all rooted in White Supremacy and the primarily driven by government bodies, the state. The Proud Boys are not responsible for mass incarceration and the Boogaloos are not responsible for gentrification. These systems of oppression are the direct result of the state and capitalism, often working in tandem.
The Trump administration has created lots of political openings for White Supremacist groups to operate openly, even before he was elected in 2016. Since then, his administration, with little resistance from the Democrats, have adopted a neo-fascist platform. This neo-fascist platform, that the Trump administration has pushed, is now opening working to disenfranchise voters, spread propaganda about voting and is threatening to not concede the election if he does not win the election.
The question for all of us is, what do we do about the electoral threats coming from the Trump administration, in addition to the ongoing state repression that has escalated since the national uprising just after the police lynching of George Floyd? The Democratic Party is frantically trying to get voters to show up on November 3rd, but voting cannot and should not be the only option to confronting and dismantling the ongoing harm that the US government is perpetrating against the public.
Refuse Fascism
There is an interesting call to action coming from a group called Refuse Fascism. This group, which has organized chapters in many major cities across the US, is calling for mass protests to begin on Saturday, October 3rd and to continue through the election if Trump does leave the White House after an electoral defeat. https://refusefascism.org/
Refuse Fascism is following a model that other countries have used to force heads of state to step down, just like what we saw in Puerto Rico last July, where after 12 days of mass protests the Governor was forced to step down.
Here is one of the videos that Refuse Fascism is using to mobilize people to take to the streets and not wait for an electoral outcome.
If people around the country are going to actually escalate protests to call for the Trump administration to step down, the state will use whatever means necessary to repress such protests. This means that local police departments, Sheriff’s offices and state police, along with the National Guard will be use by the state to try and prevent the public from calling for the Trump administration to step down.
It doesn’t matter if mayors or governors in the cities and states that participate in these kinds of mass demonstrations are Democrats or even progressives. All we have to look at is what happened after the police lynching of George Floyd to see what cities and states were actively repressing the uprisings, just like what we saw in Grand Rapids.
What this should tell us is that the systems of power and oppression in this country only want us to believe that elections can solve our problems. Let’s say that Trump refuses to leave the White House if he his defeated in the November election. The Democratic Party will not call for mass demonstrations, they will likely try to rely on the courts or make speeches, but they are not likely to call for massive resistance to oust the Trump administration. This is why we need an independent, autonomous movement(s) to resist fascism in any form, which is what many groups that have been on the ground have been saying for a long time, groups like Black Lives Matter, NoDAPAL, Climate resisters, anti-war resisters, immigrant justice organizers, queer and trans organizers and many others.
Lastly, it is important to note that when the people in Puerto Rico forced the Governor to resign, they made it clear that they would force out any future politician that did not serve the public interest. This is revolutionary politics, and it is something we need to learn here in the US.
Resist White Supremacy!!!
New Kent County Immigration Welcoming Plan elevates business, while ignoring the fear that immigrants face from discrimination and ICE violence
We know how important a broadly diverse population is for the success of our state. Immigration is key to increasing diversity in our population and boosting our economy. Without immigration growth, the state of Michigan would be poised to lose population for the second census in a row. Perhaps even more impressive, the economic power of Grand Rapids’ immigrant community alone grew by more than $100 million in just one year, and immigrants in Grand Rapids hold nearly $1.5 billion in spending power. At the core of this initiative is the belief that Grand Rapids and Kent County are home to everyone who lives here, and it should feel like it too.
Creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for New Americans in Kent County is not only the right thing to do, it also contributes economically to the area’s wellbeing. We want New Americans to stay in the area; they’ll stay if they feel welcomed, included, and valued.
This is the opening statement from the 36-page plan that Kent County recently published, which provides their strategy for making immigrants feel welcomed. This document is a follow up to the 2018 Gateways for Growth report on how much the immigrant community contributes to Kent County in economic terms. Like the 2018 report, this new document centers business interests over human rights an community safety.
Before discussing the content of the new Kent County plan, it is worth looking at who the Steering Committee and the larger Task Force is made up of. The Steering Committee is made up of people from the business community, one non-profit group (Samaritas) and three government officials.
The Task Force is much larger, as you can see from the entities listed here on the right. The Task Force consists of 36 different groups, with 5 government bodies, 2 law enforcement groups, 6 business entities, 7 non-profit/social service agencies, 4 Cultural entities, 6 Educational groups and a few other entities.
The strong business and economic language of the welcoming plan is a direct result of the business entities like the Chamber of Commerce and the Right Place Inc,, being members of the Task Forces, as well as government bodies, which too often measure success on economic terms, rather than human rights or quality of life.
The Welcoming Plan has lots of images and uses data to celebrate new immigrants, but is limited in terms of a clear and over-arching strategic plan. Sure, the Welcoming Plan wants to make sure that immigrants have access to education and other opportunities, but the recommendations to achieve such goals are vague and short sighted.
On page 16 of the document, the headline reads, Maximize the Potential of New Americans. One goal is to, “Enhance business resources for New American entrepreneurs and business owners,” which is what West Michigan values most……the expansion of entrepreneurs.
However, the fact remains that a large percentage of new immigrants work as migrant labor, in the service sector, landscaping, food industry and construction, with grossly inadequate wages. The Welcoming Plan says nothing about these immigrants and how thousands of them are:
- Subjected to poverty
- Live in substandard housing
- Have little or no health care
- Face linguistic an cultural barriers on a daily basis
Migrant workers are “essential” workers, in terms of West Michigan food production, yet most migrant workers make less than minimum wage and work under difficult and harsh circumstances. Add to this the pandemic and migrant workers are faced with an extremely precarious predicament. So, when the Welcoming Plan emphasizes entrepreneurs, it automatically excludes thousands who literally put food on our tables, yet suffer exploitation at the hands of agribusiness sector.
Another Welcoming Plan strategy is to provide greater access to people to participate in local civics. While the intent is laudable, the reality is that the Kent County government does not provide simultaneous translation for government meetings, plus the majority of meetings take plus in the morning, making public attendance nearly impossible.
Beginning on page 28, you will find a section that is framed as making Kent County residents feel safe. The usual Neo-liberal tactics are used, such as making law enforcement officers more culturally competent, building relationships between cops and new immigrants and “helping” new immigrants understand the law.
In this section there is no acknowledgement of:
- How thousands of new immigrants live in fear of law enforcement
- How local law enforcement cooperates with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest, detain and deport new immigrants
- How thousands of new immigrants are exploited because of their legal status
For immigrant-led groups like Movimiento Cosecha GR, the lack of local government entities to work with them on issues like Driver’s Licenses for All and ICE violence, hasn’t made them feel welcomed or heard when it comes to the critical issues that many new immigrants face.
In the end, it seems that the new Kent County Welcoming Plan; 1) while celebrating economic contributions of immigrants, fails to come to terms with the fact that thousands of new immigrants are being exploited; 2) fails to acknowledge the real fear that new immigrants are experiencing in this community; 3) fails to provide clear and just recommendations on how to deal with ICE violence; and 4) sends the message that new immigrants are welcomed if they operate within the entrepreneurial/assimilationist/White Savior model that can also be described as West Michigan Nice.
Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute endorses Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee who is part of a far right Christian group
Since the death of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, the Trump administration has waste no time in nominating her replacement.
Amy Coney Barrett, who used to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, was nominated by President Trump, while some Democrats want to postpone a replacement for Ginsburg until after the election.
The far right think tank, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, in an article dated September 26th, has essentially endorsed Barrett to become a US Supreme Court Justice.
The Acton Institute article, written by Rev. Ben Johnson, cites several conservative sources, which praise President Trump’s choice in Amy Cone Barrett. The Acton writer cites the First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based legal firm that defends religious rights cases and is endorsed by Ted Cruz.
Then there is The Catholic Association, a far right Catholic group that not only endorses President Trump, but embraces numerous conservative and neo-liberal positions on issues like abortion, education and health care.
Barrett has serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2017, but has come under tremendous criticism for her conservative religious views. One major omission in the Acton Institute article, is the fact that Barrett is part of the People of Praise group, which is a Catholic Charismatic entity and believes that women should be subservient to men.
The People of Praise movement is also connected to the Sword of the Spirit group, another Catholic Charismatic group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with strong ties to the conservative Catholic school in Ohio, Steubenville University.
The National Catholic Reporter has an excellent article about People of Praise and Amy Cone Barrett, and the author of that article was recently interviewed on Democracy Now, for those who want to further explore the cult-like nature of the group People of Praise.
For those of you who are familiar with the politics of the Acton Institute, none of this would come as a surprise. However, the Acton endorsement of Barrett should concern anyone who doesn’t want to see religious zealots making legal decisions on the US Supreme Court.
West Michigan Far Right Watch for the week of September 21 – 27: Police apologists, GR officials and Christians who hate Black Lives Matter
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.
We have 3 examples to share with you this week. The first example comes to us from a group that made our list last week, Voice For the Badge (VFB). VFB is a citizen group in Grand Rapids that acts as an apologist and cheerleader for the GRPD and cops all around the country. Their leader, Johnny Brann Sr., posted this message on Wednesday, September 23rd, after the Grand Jury in Kentucky found that none of the three cops involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor, were guilty of shooting Taylor:
You worthless animals. Attempted assassination of our police in Louisville ?? Pathetic cowards. This will change. Evil cowards will not win. We won’t let them.
PRAYERS FOR OUR OFFICERS
Johnny Brann Sr.
Voice For The Badge
There are no comments about the injustice of the court’s decision or the fact that Breonna Taylor was shot dead by police while in her bedroom. Instead, VFB choses to omit the facts and then distort the context of the threats against police in Louisville. It is completely understandable that people would be pissed off at the cops for getting yet another free pass for killing a Black person in the US. Frankly, the police should be grateful that they are not received more threats, considering they can murder Black people without any damn consequences.
Our second example of a far right action taken in from the City of Grand Rapids. Now, I know that there are lots of people who consider Grand Rapids to be a liberal/progressive bastion, but last week, Grand Rapids once again displayed their contempt for people (mostly Black) who were protesting against the Grand Jury decision in the Breonna Taylor case.
The City of Grand Rapids went out of their way to send a message to people who were protesting against cops getting off in the Breonna Taylor case. The City set up salt trucks to block vehicle access to the GRPD headquarters, put up other physical barriers and stationed cops in full riot gear in front of the police station, when several hundred people were protesting.
What made this display of state violence even more disgusting, was the fact that earlier in the day (Sept. 23rd), the City released a statement on Facebook about how they too were morning the Grand Jury’s decision in the Breonna Taylor Case. In a further display of contempt for public anger in this case, the City also posted information about an event for September 24, hosted by Mental Health Clinicians of Color, inviting people to morning the court’s decision in the Breonna Taylor case. Now, I fully support the purpose of that event, which provided a safe space for people to talk about and process this grave injustice, but for the City of Grand Rapids to promote such an event, while militarizing downtown Grand Rapids in not only hypocritical, it demonstrates that the only acceptable way to mourn or grieve the police murder of Black people is to do it without ever challenging systems of power.
The last example this week is from a Christian Church that displays hatred toward the LGBTQ community, believes that wearing masks during the pandemic is stupid, and refers to Black Lives Matter as a “Marxist cancer.”
The church we are referring to is The Ridge Covenant Church, located at 4453 Fruit Ridge Avenue NW, in Grand Rapids. The church’s pastor, Andy Parker, posts regular videos in their Facebook page, sometimes wear t-shirt that say Socialism Sucks.
The videos they post promote patriarchal values, along with regular condemnations of people that Pastor Andy calls, “homos and Trannies.” The church also celebrates faith communities around the country that have been violating social distancing and mask wearing policies, calling the pandemic a hoax.
In addition, a recent video they hosted (shown below), provides a detailed attack against Black people in general, but specifically the Black Lives Matter movement. It is places like The Ridge Covenant Church, which provides helps to create space for White Supremacist values, which often leads to social indifference and outright support for state violence against Black people, and it can lead to individual acts of violence directed at members of the Black community by people who embrace this ideology.
Finally, while it might be easy for people to scoff at the examples provided here of The Ridge Covenant Church and the Voice For the Badge, it is vitally important that both of these groups are primarily ideological foot soldiers for White Supremacy, whereas the actions of the City of Grand Rapids are a clear example of Structural Violence, which in this case is State Violence.
The GRPD planned for another riot in the wake of no justice for Breonna Taylor action
The Grand Jury did not bring charges against two of the three cops involved in the murder of Breonna Taylor. The third cop was charged with “wanton endangerment” for firing bullets into the apartment building. In the end, the Grand Jury did not charge any of the cops with the murder of Breonna Taylor.
Protests erupted in Louisville and all across the country, once people heard about the court’s decision. One theme that was shared on social media, was that the lack of justice for Breonna Taylor was by design. The legal system, like the prison industrial complex and how policing functions in this country is brutally biased against Black people…….by design. The judicial system isn’t so much corrupt, since they are doing exactly what they were designed to do.
In Grand Rapids, the hometown of Breonna Taylor, family members with the group Justice for Black Lives called for a protest at Rosa Parks Circle. At first, there was a small crowd of maybe 100 people. Breonna’s cousin spoke and expressed a great deal of grief over the court’s decision, but she also expressed a great deal of anger.
Breonna’s cousin said that she was “pissed off” and that she is tired of the businesses in downtown Grand Rapids with Black Lives Matter signs, but when it comes time to demonstrate that sentiment, these same businesses are no where to be seen. “Our family is tired of being fucked with,” said Breonna’s cousin. Her anger permeated her words as she called out numerous institutions and organizations. She then implored people to “take away the money from corporations” and “spend it in the Black community.”
The crowd was then invited to march with the organizers to the Grand Rapids Police headquarters, which had been barricaded once again, just like on May 30th of this year. Large salt trucks blocked the east and west ends of Monroe Center, allowing only a small opening for people to walk through to get to the main entrance of the GRPD.
Again, like on May 30th, GRPD cops were in full riot gear, both in front of the entrance, behind four feet barriers and along Division, preventing people from entering on the east sided along the building.
It was clear that the GRPD were gearing up for another riot, despite the fact that Chief Payne had met and talked with Breonna Taylor’s family earlier in the day. However, the message was clear. The GRPD was saying to the crowd gathered, “we expect you to be disruptive and possibly violent, so we are going to let you know that even before you march to mourn the court’s decision, we will not tolerate any disruptions and we will meet you with force.”
The organizers led chants and then demanded that Chief Payne come out to kneel with them. This was somewhat confusing to many in the crowd, based on their body language and their hesitancy to take a knee. Why would it matter if the Chief of Police took a knee, especially when he had dozens of cops, in full riot gear, ready to arrest protesters at any moment.
After the police chief took a knee, the organizers asked people to move back to Rosa Parks Circle. However, some of the Justice for Black Lives members lingered and were verbally confronting the cops. This was completely understandable, given the legal decision in the Breonna Taylor case. The cops left the northeast corner, where they had been standing while 200 protesters had gathered in front of the police station. The cops moved south on Division, still being followed by some protesters, when all of a sudden the GRPD grabbed one of the protesters and put him in the police cruiser.
People came around the corner to see what was happening and the police then told people that if they got any closer or walked in the street, that they would be arrested. Within minutes another 60 – 70 people who had gone to Rosa Parks Circle, had come back, now standing on the east side of division, right across from where dozens of cops in riot gear were standing.
Emotions were once again high, as people were angered by the arrest. The crowd began chanting loudly, as more and more cops arrived. Suddenly, the cops in riot gear, crossed the road and were standing right in front of those protesting. For about 15 minutes there was a bit of a standoff, when finally organizers of the march asked people to leave to avoid further confrontation.
On the same day, September 23rd, in 1955, the men who were charged in the brutal murder of Emmett Till were found not guilty by an all white jury in Mississippi. Sixty-five years later, a jury once again decided in favor of White Supremacy, with none of the three police officers found guilty of murdering Breonna Taylor. These two cases are linked, not only because of White violence against Black people or the fact that juries let white people get away with murder. The Emmett Till case played a major role as a catalyst in the Civil Rights Movement, just as Breonna Taylor’s murder is now being a catalyst in the Movement for Black Lives.
The Local News Media continues to be a Press Agent for the GRPD
It is pretty astonishing how the local news continues to serve as Press Agent, a PR front and a stenographer for the GRPD, all at the same time.
This is nothing new. The dominant news sources in West Michigan have always internalized the values of the systems of power and oppression. Therefore, the local news agencies truly believe that the police function to protect and serve all residents in Grand Rapids.
However, the way in which the news media has served as a press agent for the GRPD has been amplified since the May 30th uprising. The news media has not mentioned anything about Defunding the GRPD for over a month, despite the fact that people continue to organize around this issue. In fact, they have been working with the GRPD to attack those speaking out against it. In addition, the dominant news sources in this area are not even talking about broader community concerns over police abuse, particularly within the Black community.
Instead, the dominant story from the local news media has centered around community violence and how busy the GRPD has been to try to stop it. The most recent example of how this plays out can be seen with the most recent Media Advisory from the GRPD, which reads:
The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) is announcing outcomes from its additional enforcement and engagement efforts over the weekend.
The department deployed an additional 110 officers over Friday, Saturday and Sunday between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. These officers included patrol personnel, Special Response Team, Vice Unit and members of the Detective Unit.
The goals of this effort were to address the recent increase in gun violence, engage community members and increase trust through partnerships and positive interactions with residents.
“By all accounts, we can label this a significant success,” Police Chief Eric Payne said. “My officers worked very hard to address the violence and engage residents in a positive way.”
Over the three evenings, the GRPD fielded the following results:
• 155 positive non-enforcement interactions with residents.
• 40 traffic stops and 13 field interviews
• 18 misdemeanor arrests and 16 felony arrests
• 31 hours on bike patrol and 38 hours on foot patrol
• 10 illegal firearms taken off of the streets
These officers strategically addressed violent crime utilizing intelligence and information provided by crime analysts. They also prioritized non-enforcement interactions with residents.
“This is the policing Grand Rapids can expect as we move forward and implement our new strategic plan,” Payne said. “Through these efforts, we are committed to making sure everyone in Grand Rapids is safe and feels safe at all times.”
This Media Advisory from the GRPD was posted on their FB page on Monday, September 21st. If one looks at the four dominant news sources in Grand Rapids, one can see how each of these news agencies essentially took the GRPD Media Advisory as truth without question. Here are the four news stories that essentially mimic what the GRPD Media Advisory presents:
Each of the four news agencies don’t verify the claims of the GRPD, nor do they question the effectiveness of deploying more cops over the weekend. The dominant news sources don’t question the fact that this deployment was primarily in Black and latinx neighborhoods, plus they provide no evidence or additional sources that would question whether or not the GRPD is even able to prevent violence from occurring in the city. Lastly, besides not questioning the GRPD’s claims, the dominant news media in Grand Rapids bought into the notion that the police were building trust in the community, which apparently is true since cops were photographed in a foot race with kids.
In contrast, there are plenty of examples of people pushing back against the GRPD’s claims of building trust in the community. Longtime community advocate, JD Chapman Jr., who has been advocating for the City to adopt the Cure Violence program, had this to say in an FB post after seeing the GRPD weekend deployment:
It’s amazing to me that GRPD Chief Payne boasts about deploying more bodies to the community to clamp down on the recent uptick in violence. This method equates to more of the same all the way back to the Hegarty administration, what better results can this possibly have? This after a $100k study revealed that deploying more bodies does not create a safer or more trusting community.
Another community-based resource, which the group Together We Are Safe, has been distributing, is a document called Before Calling the Police, Ask Yourself. This document provides people with other resources in the community, resources that can actually make a difference. Calling the police generally doesn’t result in violence prevention, and in fact, it often results in violence escalation.
Last Thursday, the Trump Administration held the first ever White House Conference on American History. The President himself, spoke at the conference and shared these opening remarks:
Our mission is to defend the legacy of America’s founding, the virtue of America’s heroes, and the nobility of the American character. We must clear away the twisted web of lies in our schools and classrooms, and teach our children the magnificent truth about our country. We want our sons and daughters to know that they are the citizens of the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.
While many people who identify as progressives, found these comments from Trump to be what they have come to expect from a neo-fascist, they are a reflection of what every US administration has believed about the US. In fact, while speaking at the US Military Academy in 2015, former President Barack Obama stated, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”
Now, there are lots of people who found Trump’s comments at the White House Conference on American History to be appalling, especially when he criticized the 1619 Project and the radical historian, Howard Zinn. Trump said of Zinn:
Our children are instructed from propaganda tracts, like those of Howard Zinn, that try to make students ashamed of their own history.
What Trump, those in power and their followers fail to understand is that Zinn was attempting to challenge the official narrative about US exceptionalism. In addition, Zinn did not want students to be ashamed of the history of the US, but to present history from the perspective of people that the official narrative often leaves out or marginalizes. In fact, Zinn’s book, A People’s History of the United States, provides a critical assessment of US exceptionalism, while at the same time presenting US history from the ground up. Howard Zinn’s work doesn’t teach students to be ashamed of US history, it introduces people to the rich history of popular social movements that have been the primary agents of change in US history.
Systems of power and oppression never want us to think critically about history, they only want us to accept the dominant narrative that provides justification for US exceptionalism. Those with power, like Trump, do not want us to acknowledge that the US was founded on the pillars of genocide and slavery. Those with power also don’t want us to know about the transformative nature of social movements, movements that have given us whatever rights and freedoms we enjoy today. Slavery was not ended by a US President, it was ended by the abolitionist movement. Workers did not win better wages, benefits and protections against exploitation because of bosses, but because of organized workers that formed unions. The Civil Rights/Black Freedom Movement did not make gains because of what those in power gave them, they won greater freedoms by fighting systems of White Supremacy. We can look at any example of whatever social progress that has been made, and see that social movements are behind whatever progress we have made.
The US Supreme Court
Within days of Trump’s White House History Conference pronouncements, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died. Over the past few days there has been an outpouring of grief from people over the loss of Justice Ginsburg, not only because of who she was, but also because of concerns about when to replace her seat on the court.
While the concern of when and who will be nominated to take Ginsburg’s seat is a legitimate an urgent one, it is also important that we grapple with the issue of why the US Supreme Court has the power that it does. Here I will refer again to radical historian Howard Zinn, who wrote an excellent article in The Progressive magazine in 2005, while Congress was fighting over Supreme Court nominations. Zinn wrote:
When the Constitution gets in the way of a war, it is ignored. When the Supreme Court was faced, during Vietnam, with a suit by soldiers refusing to go, claiming that there had been no declaration of war by Congress, as the Constitution required, the soldiers could not get four Supreme Court justices to agree to even hear the case. When, during World War I, Congress ignored the First Amendment’s right to free speech by passing legislation to prohibit criticism of the war, the imprisonment of dissenters under this law was upheld unanimously by the Supreme Court, which included two presumably liberal and learned justices: Oliver Wendell Holmes and Louis Brandeis.
It would be naive to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of poor people, women, people of color, dissenters of all kinds. Those rights only come alive when citizens organize, protest, demonstrate, strike, boycott, rebel, and violate the law in order to uphold justice.
What Zinn is doing in this article, it to challenge us to think about power, particularly systems of power. Too often we assume that since this is the political system we have, we just have to embrace it. However, Zinn knew all too well that anything is possible as long as people are organized to fight for something better. In that same article from 2005, Zinn went on say:
Still, knowing the nature of the political and judicial system of this country, its inherent bias against the poor, against people of color, against dissidents, we cannot become dependent on the courts, or on our political leadership. Our culture–the media, the educational system–tries to crowd out of our political consciousness everything except who will be elected President and who will be on the Supreme Court, as if these are the most important decisions we make. They are not. They deflect us from the most important job citizens have, which is to bring democracy alive by organizing, protesting, engaging in acts of civil disobedience that shake up the system.
No Supreme Court, liberal or conservative, will stop the war in Iraq, or redistribute the wealth of this country, or establish free medical care for every human being. Such fundamental change will depend, the experience of the past suggests, on the actions of an aroused citizenry, demanding that the promise of the Declaration of Independence–an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness–be fulfilled.
This too, is the legacy of Howard Zinn, to move beyond the liberal/conservative framework and fight for a different kind of world, a world striving for collective liberation!
Non-profit housing leaders put eviction blame on renters, not on Landlords & Property Management Companies
Last week, the business news source, MiBiz, posted an article headlined, ‘Well-intentioned’ eviction moratoriums will likely cause homelessness bottleneck, nonprofit leaders say.
The article briefly discusses the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) call for a halt to housing evictions until the end of the year. The CDC has called for the halt to housing evictions as a means to reduce or minimize the spread of COVID 19.
However, the bulk of the article is based on the responses to this announcement from three are housing assistance organizations; Well House, Mel Trotter Ministries and Degage Ministries. Here is a sample of what each of them had to say:
John Glover – Well House: Eviction moratoriums issued throughout the pandemic have been “well-intentioned,” but they let people get behind on their rent who may already struggle with financial discipline.
Dennis Van Kampen – Mel Trotter Ministries: The rent that they haven’t paid isn’t going away, it’s just accruing, and most people will not be able to have several months of rent in their savings account. They should also start thinking about looking for a place that charges less in rent.
Most landlords we work with want to keep their properties full and people renting them. Now they have the challenge of not having income coming in, so they can’t pay their bills but they also don’t want to evict people.
Marge Palmerlee – Degage Ministries: During a stressful time like this, anxieties rise, but we’re trying to always assure people we’ll be here to walk alongside them.”
What is instructive about the comments from these non-profit housing groups is the fact that they are critical of the CDC’s anti-eviction position, they are empathetic to landlords, and they place blame with tenants and their behavior.
Such comments are in stark contrast to what the housing justice movement is taking, which not only centers the lived experience of tenants, but to also provide a substantial critique of landlords, property management companies and the system that exploits tenants all across the country.
What groups across Michigan, as well as the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, are taking can be summed up by the following information they have been sharing with tenants, since the CDC’s announcement.
1) This ban only protects tenants from being evicted for non-payment of rent.
2) Landlords can evict tenants who they believe ‘pose harm to the rental unit or a physical threat to others’, or tenants conducting illegal activity; Therefore,
3) This ban is another demonstration of collusion between property owners and law enforcement against tenants.
4) Local courts may decide to continue accepting filings and holding eviction hearings throughout the ban, so long as landlords do not remove tenants from their units until after Dec. 31st.
5) The ban ends on January 1st, in the middle of winter.
6) The ban is not accompanied by any further financial aid to assist people who have lost income as a result of COVID-19.
7) We are moving into the colder months, and tenants will have to choose between paying some or all of their rent and keeping their heat on.
IF YOU HAVE AN EVICTION HEARING SCHEDULED, YOU SHOULD STILL ATTEND AND FIGHT YOUR EVICTION SO IT DOESN’T CATCH UP WITH YOU IN JANUARY.
We understand that the non-profit housing groups are concerned about what will happen come January, when the eviction moratorium ends. However, instead of making demeaning comments about those who are facing housing insecurity, these groups should be acting in solidarity with people facing eviction or at least direct them to groups like the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, which centers the lived experience of tenants, since it is primarily made up of those who are tenants.
Check out the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, by going to their Facebook page and find out how tenants can support each other and build the kind of political power necessary to challenge the exploitative practices of landlords and property management companies.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 