On Friday, the local commercial news media reported that the Grand Rapids Police officer who shot a 40mm chemical round, also known as “spede heat”, has been cleared of any criminal charges, according to Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker.
Unfortunately, the local news media does not explore a couple of critical aspects of this case, which occurred during the May 30 uprising in Grand Rapids, an uprising that was sparked by the police murder of Black people across the US.
One major issue is how the Kent County Prosecutor interpreted the law in this case. WOODTV8 does provide a link to the document, which contains the legal decision made by the Kent County Prosector. People should read this document, since it provides a window into how so many laws that are adopted favor the police and limit the ability of the public to dissent.
On page two of this document, one can read the legal language about why a riot is considered a crime. The language is very vague and as always allows the state a great deal of power to interpret what “causing public terror or alarm” actually means.
The Kent County Prosecutor then weights in on the cop who shot a civilian with the 40mm chemical round during the May 30 uprising. Again, the language of the law protects police behavior, even if that behavior does harm.
I also found the comment from the munitions instructor with the GRPD rather revealing above.
The last paragraph of the document is maybe the most revealing, in that it provides language which essentially absolves the cops of any harm they inflict on people during “an unlawful assembly or riot.”
None of these issues were really discussed in the local new reporting on this legal decision to not charge the GRPD cop with a crime for shooting a 40mm chemical round at a civilian.
One additional issue, which the local news media failed to discussed, is why does the police department even have such weapons and where are they purchasing these weapons from?
Again, the Kent County Prosecutor provides an image of what the weapons used look like, as seen here in the photo below.
The top weapon, the spede heat, was what the cop fired at the civilian, and the bottom image is what the cop thought they loaded into their weapon.
The weapons pictured above are manufactured by a company called Defense Technology, which is a subsidiary of Safariland Group. Safariland Group is part of what could be called the Riot-Control Industrial Complex.
The Riot-Control Industrial Complex is a small group of weapons manufacturers, which control the market for weapons like pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and the 40mm chemical round used by the GRPD.
Safariland Group is owned by Warren Sanders, who has built an empire is what is euphemistically referred to as non-lethal weaponry. Sanders has been coming under a great deal of fire in recent years, especially after US Border & Customs agents tear gassed immigrants seeking asylum at the southern US border in 2018.
The growth of Safariland Group and other companies in the Riot-Control Industrial Complex, can clearly be attributed to the laws passed in the US after 9/11. According to Anna Feigenbaum’s book Tear Gas, Safariland Group’s CEO, Warren Sanders, joined the board of the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation FEHSF), which is “a private-public partnership between concerned business leaders and current and former high-ranking federal enforcement officials…..Functioning as a nonprofit, FEHSF gives out financial aid to assist in creating synergy between federal departments for homeland security purposes.”
Law Enforcement agencies, like the GRPD, have become more militarized since 9/11, which allows them to use the kinds of weapons we saw on May 30. Those working on the Defund the GRPD campaign might consider also demanding that the GRPD provide a complete listing of all the weapons in their arsenal, thus allowing the entire community to see what kind and how much weaponry they have, weaponry they can use against any of us.
Defund the GRPD campaign makes clear demands on the City of Grand Rapids during Press Conference
Last night, a coalition of groups working on defunding the GRPD, held a Press Conference in front of City Hall. The coalition consists of the following groups Together We Are Safe, the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, The People’s Budget GR, Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE. Also involved here several Black organizers who have been instrumental in many of the recent marches and protests centered around police violence against the Black community.
Five different people spoke during the Press Conference. Danah Montgomery began the Press Conference and provided numerous examples of how the GRPD has terrorized Black residents of Grand Rapids, making the point that this kind of violence doesn’t just happen in other cities.
Another speaker, Sam Przy, spoke about their own lived experience with the GRPD, having been stopped and harassed by them on several occasions in recent years. In addition to each presenter’s own personal experience with the GRPD, the speakers presented a list of clear demands from the Defund the GRPD coalition.
- The GRPD has a long history of intimidation, harassment and violence against the Black community in Grand Rapids. Those of us who are part of this coalition have experienced this harm and have heard from countless others who have been victimized by the GRPD. There have been numerous efforts to reform the GRPD, but we know it is now time to DeFund the GRPD.
- We are demanding that the City of Grand Rapids hold an emergency meeting by June 30 to adopt a Defunding the GRPD position, wherein the police budget will be reduced to the 32% City Charter mandated level for the upcoming fiscal year.
- We are also demanding that the money from this budget cut should be refunded to the Black community and the Black community should have complete control over how this money will be used.
- DeFunding the GRPD and Refunding Black Communities must happen if there is to be any trust built with the Black community. It is one of the few things that will work to actively promote equity in the Black community, which is so desperately needed.
- The DeFund the GRPD Campaign Coalition believes that there are better ways to practice community safety and that Grand Rapids needs to begin the process of having deep conversation about how to practice community safety that does not rely on policing.
Therefore the city must draft a plan by July 31 to have open conversations with and among several sectors of the Black community, including Black women, Black trans women and other Black queer and trans folks, disabled Black folks with a disability justice framework, Black folks who are currently or formerly incarcerated, and others that are most affected by and vulnerable to the violence of policing.
Local news Coverage of the Press Conference
There were several local news agencies that came to the Defund the GRPD Press Conference, including MLive, WZZM 13 and WOODTV8. The MLive article presented comments from a few of the speakers, but chose to focus their story on Demand #2, cutting the GRPD budget down to the 32% City Charter requirement. The MLive reporter did reference a comment from Police Chief Eric Payne, primarily as a means to elicit a response from those who spoke at the Press Conference.
The WZZM 13 story also focused a great deal on the City’s budget deadline, but also addressed four of the five demands presented by the coalition. The channel 13 story ended with the reporter addressing the need for the City to have a July 31st plan in place to have a serious conversation with the Black community on the future of policing.
The WOODTV8 story was the most problematic of the three local news stories. The reporter begins by saying that time is running out on defunding the GRPD, which is not really true. Yes, there is an urgency surrounding the City’s budget deadline, but even if the City does not make a decision before June 30th, the Defund the GRPD coalition can still pressure City officials to reduce funding for the police department. However, the most problematic aspect of this story was the fact that they used 20 seconds of time to the Grand Rapids police union, using footage of the press conference that group held last week, along with parts of a statement that was presented.
Lastly, the channel 8 reporter said that the Grand Rapids police union was sticking with the statement they made last week, which means WOODTV8 reached out to the police union and did they story live from in front of the GRPD headquarters. The reason why this is so problematic is that rarely do local news groups solicit responses from the community when the GRPD or the police union holds a press conference or releases a statement. It was also problematic to end the channel 8 story in front of the GRPD headquarters and citing the police union, which essentially undermines and minimizes the voices of those who spoke at the Defund the GRPD Press Conference.
The dominant narrative of Grand Rapids is Whiteness: A deconstruction of the We Are GRStrong video
When we have finally overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, many will reflect back on what happened and how Grand Rapids responded to this crisis. However, as with any aspect of our collective history, those who often control the narrative are those with the most power.
This kind of dominant narrative, a narrative created by those with power, can be seen in the most recent video created by SALT and Cre8gency, entitled, WE Are GRStrong.
The video tells a narrative that primarily centers what businesses did to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. We learned from the video that these businesses “innovated” and “created” new opportunities and collaborations that put the well-being of people before profits. The person who says that businesses put the well being before profits was an Amway executive, who was standing in front of the Amway headquarters in Ada. If fact, Amway also has another cameo in the video, where we see one of their vans delivering supplies in boxes, conveniently label with the company name.
There were numerous companies and business associations involved in this video project, which are listed in the graphic below. However, what I found most offensive about this video was the not just the narrative it sought to communicate, but more importantly the narrative that was omitted.
The video presents a feel-good, people coming together kind of vibe, with lots of white saviors coming to the rescue. One of the white people interviewed even said that this was a time of heroes, which was overwhelmingly represented by white people in the video. I counted 19 times where a white person was speaking on camera and only two times where the person speaking was a person of color. Whiteness is the dominant narrative of Grand Rapids, where white saviors come to the rescue, particularly white Christian, business owners.
When I say whiteness, I am not just talking about white people, I am talking about a way of being in the world, one that centers and privileges white reality and white values. Now ask yourself who has economic and political power in this city? Who has power to impose their will on other people or whole communities? What entities spend a great deal of time celebrating Grand Rapids and all of the lists that the city has been included in recent years? Who in this city makes it a point to say that Grand Rapids is a great place to raise a family? The answer is always white people. Whether we are talking about the DeVos family, the Meijer family, Secchia, Jandernoa, Rockford Construction, the Right Place Inc., the Art Museum, the Christian Reformed Church, the commercial news media, Experience GR, Mel Trotter Ministries or ArtPrize, all of these people and entities ooze whiteness.
However, there is another narrative that we need to tell. We need to tell a narrative that is insurgent and a narrative that disrupts whiteness. We need to tell a narrative that provides context and critiques power. We need to tell a narrative that doesn’t reflect business as usual and centers those most affected by whiteness.
This insurgent, radical narrative would honestly reflect on how the very centers of power would benefit from the COVID-19 crisis, despite their efforts to presents themselves as saviors. A radically insurgent narrative would make clear how the systems of White Supremacy and Capitalism were exposed during the COVID-19 crisis. This narrative would talk about all of the Mutual Aid that people engaged in throughout the community, whether we are talking about the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, La Lucha Fund or the other ways that people looked out for each other.
We could talk about how the data shows that those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 virus were Black residents. We could talk about how a Black-led resistance movement was born during the Covid-19 crisis and that this Black-led resistance movement pulled back the curtain on Grand Rapids and allowed us to see what those in power are really all about. We learned that that property is more valuable than Black lives. We learned that so-called progressive leaders brought in the National Guard to assist the GRPD in their attempts to suppress an uprising, and this Black-led resistance movement provided an opportunity to demand more than weak reformist platforms.
We must call the We Are GRStrong video what it is, a narrative that whitewashes systemic oppression. According to those who produced the 4 minute video, they are going to produce a feature documentary that will further solidify the Whiteness of Grand Rapids. Who wants to work on creating a counter narrative?
Why we can’t go back to the way things were in Grand Rapids: Part IV – Climate Justice, Environmentalism and White Supremacy
In April, we posted an article arguing that in the midst of the 
COVID-19 pandemic, we could not return to normal. In early May, we posted Part II in this series, focusing on the Food System and then in late May, we wrote Part III, which focuses on labor and a new economy. One common theme in each of these posts was that the pandemic exposed the serious flaws in Capitalism and how millions in the US are clearly considered expendable by the systems of power and oppression.
Then, the Black-led uprising happened, which exposed how White Supremacy is woven throughout society. People, especially white people, have been confronted with the brutal realities of White Supremacy and the ongoing resistance has signaled that what is happening is not just a response to the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, but a movement that seeks to dismantle White Supremacy in all of its manifestations.
This Black-led resistance has demonstrated that there are a growing number of people who will no longer tolerate police violence against Black people, will not tolerate the Prison Industrial Complex and will not tolerate how White Supremacy impacts every facet of our society, whether we are talking about the economy, education, health care or the environment. Today’s post we focus on how to utilize the framework of anti-White Supremacy to talk about why we can’t go back to normal in terms of how we deal with ecological issues, particularly Climate Change.
It is important that we come to terms with the fact that the US environmental movement, since the first Earth Day in the early 70s, has primarily been a white movement. This is not to say that the mainstream environmental movement has not done important work, but the white-led movement has not made the lives of Black, indigenous of latinx people a priority. And it’s not a question that environmental groups need to start recruiting Black, indigenous and latinx members, since that is definitely an inappropriate response, indeed, it is a racist response. What environmental groups need to do educate themselves about how larger ecological issues are impacting communities of color, listen to Black, indigenous and latinx voices and then ask what they can do to support the ecological concerns of those communities.
A good place to start would be to learn about the Environmental Justice Movement, which began in the early 1980s, and was specifically a response to the white environmental-led organizations and their failure to see structural racism as an environmental issue. Read the statement and principles that came out of the Environmental Justice Movement, which is radically different than what white eco-groups were/are about. The preamble to the Environmental Justice Movement state reads:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice:
The Environmental Justice Movement is rooted in the struggle against Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy and Capitalism, thus any white-led environmental group needs to be about the same kinds of things.
Within the past few days, we have learned that there was once again a leak in the Enbridge owned and operated Line 5. The State of Michigan asked for a report, but Enbridge decided to ignore that and start Line 5 up again. Groups like Oil and Water Don’t Mix are asking people to send a message to Gov. Whitmer to shut down Line 5. Whitmer, along with Attorney General Dana Nessel, campaigned in 2018 on the promise to shut down Line 5, yet that has not happened. White-led environmental groups put too much faith in government to make the changes we seek. How can we realistically expect governments, at any level, to actually fulfill the will of the people? Governments are too compromised by the power of the fossil fuel industry and business in general. All one has to do is look at how much money corporations give to candidates and how much money they spend on lobbying to realize that local, state and federal governments are help captive by the power of these corporations, plus they are compromised by their allegiance to the economic system of capitalism.
Again, we need to learn from to global climate justice movement, which is primarily led by Black, indigenous and other communities of color. We need to see how the resistance at Standing Rock and all other indigenous-led struggles against fossil fuel companies are using Direct Action as their strategies for resistance, not collaborating with big business, like most of the mainstream, white-led eco groups, often referred to as Gang Green.
Another critical issue with the mainstream, white-led eco groups is their failure to take a stand against militarism. US militarism and US imperialism is one of the main driving forces behind Climate Change, according to a recent report from the National Priorities Project and the Institute for Policy Studies.
Virtually every week there is a new study that comes out about human-caused climate change and the need for radical structural change before it is too late. Unfortunately, most of the white-led environmental groups are still spending most of their energy trying to either get people to change their personal consumption habits or appeal to governments to enact change. We have to stop being fooled by these approaches, start coming to terms with the seriousness of climate change and start learning from Black, indigenous and other communities of color that are rooted the struggle against White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism and Capitalism.
We need to radically imagine a different kind of future. We can no longer afford to think that we can maintain our current levels of consumption and our way of life, by simply using green energy. This is a false solution and it is a lie. We cannot return to normal after the pandemic, since before the pandemic, the systems of White Supremacy, Capitalism, Heterosexism, Ablism and Patriarchy were the norm. If we want a future as human beings, then there needs to be serious, radical and revolutionary goals to work towards. Here is a short list, all of which are connected to Climate Justice, if we are willing to do the intellectual, emotional, social and cultural work to see how these things are connected.
- We need to acknowledge that we are all living on indigenous land.
- We need to ask indigenous communities what they want from us moving forward.
- We need Defund the US military. The US military is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels and its primary function is to occupy other people’s lands and protect the interests of global capitalists.
- If we Defund the US military ($850 billion for 2020), then if make sure that money goes to Black, indigenous and latinx communities to decide how to use it, imagine how that could radically alter lives in those communities.
- Defund the Police. Again, it would reduce violence against, Black, indigenous and latinx communities and re-direct police budgets to those communities.
- All environmental groups must incorporate into their mission an anti-Settler Colonial, anti-White Supremacy and anti-Capitalist framework.
- Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex.
- Abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Abolish the Agri-business system of food and practice Food Justice and Food Sovereignty.
- End all Fossil Fuel Subsidies and demand reparations from the fossil fuel industry for decades of ecological destruction, the murder of countless Black, indigenous and latinx people and the role that the fossil fuel industry has played in deny climate change.
- Make all utilities publicly controlled, and by public I mean community-based control.
- Make public transit free.
- Make housing free for everyone.
- Make health care free for everyone.
- End wage slavery.
- End representative government and move towards direct democracy and local control.
Another World is Possible!!!!
The Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute has essentially declared war on the Movement for Black Lives
What kind of a political vision do you support, especially when your organization acts as an ideological cheerleader for Neo-Liberal Capitalism? Such an organization would not support a vision that promotes collective liberation and challenges systems of oppression, such as White Supremacy.
The Acton Institute continues to demonstrate not only its allegiance to Capitalism, they continue to solidify their commitment to White Supremacy.
Since the current uprising against police violence against the Black community, the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty has posted several articles that have attacked the uprising taking place across the county.
We have documented two instances since the police murder of George Floyd in May. The first article that demonstrates their allegiance to White Supremacy was posted in late May, where the Acton Institute writer states that “too much information” led to the riot in Minneapolis.
Last week, Acton writer Rev. Ben Johnson made the claim that the looting of businesses during the riots “hurts the poor.” Rev. Johnson continued his arrogance in the face of what Black insurgent scholar Robin D.G. Kelley refers to as one of the most important liberation movements since the 1960s – the Black Lives Matter movement.
In Rev. Johnson’s most recent article, he calls into question the vision of Black Lives Matter by stating:
It is a radical pressure group that embraces a vista of controversial, extremist positions. Those who march under its banner are unwittingly putting themselves in a position to be identified by BLM’s activists as endorsing these beliefs.
What Rev. Ben Johnson has done in his article, is to distort the message and vision of Black Lives Matter, by attempting to reframe what they are calling for. For example, Johnson uses headings in black to highlight BLM principles. In one example, he says that BLM wants to Dismantle the Family. It is true that BLM wants to dismantle the idea of the nuclear family, by advocating for a larger communal/village commitment to raising children. The Acton Institute writer equates this vision with an expansion of the welfare system.
It is vitally important for those of us who want to be allies in the Movement for Black Lives, to familiarize ourselves with the political vision of this movement, especially since organizations like the Acton Institute not only want to marginalize the Movement for Black Lives, they want to dismiss the lived experiences of the Black community and their struggles against White Supremacy. The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty has in effect declared war on the Movement for Black Lives, and since the think tank is headquartered in Grand Rapids, it is important that we expose them for the White Supremacists that they are.
What we can learn from the 1967 riot/uprising in Grand Rapids and how it compares to what is happening in 2020
It has been 3 weeks since the uprising against the most recent police murder of Black people began. Protests around the world, around the country and in Grand Rapids are continuing in all kinds of ways.
Maybe now is a good time to step back and look at history and see what we can learn from previous uprisings and how they compare to what is happening now. In Grand Rapids, there was a three day riot/uprising in July of 1967, a riot/uprising that one could argue that was very similar to what we are seeing in 2020. Let’s take a look at the similarities and differences between the riot/uprising of 1967 in Grand Rapids and the current uprising, both of which have been led by Black people.
In both the 1967 riot/uprising and the 2020 riot/uprising, the main spark for people taking to the streets was directly connected to police targeting Black people. We know that the May 30, 2020 protests in downtown Grand Rapids were centered around the recent police murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. In 1967, the spark was the GRPD harassment of several Black youth who were stopped by the police in July of that year.
One source says that the officers may have used excessive force in dealing with the Black youth, according to an eyewitness account.
News reports on the first day of the uprising never mention the police abuse. Instead the headlines read that, “gangs threaten a riot” and “S. Division beset by young mob.” In fact, most of the Grand Rapids Press coverage focused on the property damage and police arrests, but never on the motives of those who took action.
However, in both cases, it wasn’t just the police murder of Black people or the GRPD harassment of Black youth, it was the larger context of White Supremacy and Structural racism that have plagued Grand Rapids for over a century, as it relates to the Black community. For a larger context, I would suggest that people read Randal Jelks’ book African Americans in the Furniture City: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Grand Rapids and A City within a City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan, by Todd Robinson.
However, the 1967 riot did not occur in a vacuum. The African American community had been exploited and denied equality for decades in Grand Rapids. We know that housing segregation was systemic, with the financial red-lining of blacks and organized white resistance to Blacks moving into their neighborhood.
We know from reports conducted by the Grand Rapids chapter of the Urban League, that housing an unemployment conditions were appalling, based on reports from 1940 and 1947.
The civil rights movement in Grand Rapids responded to these forms of white supremacy and institutionalized racism in a variety of ways. We know that blacks organized a march a week after the racist church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, that left four blacks girls dead.
Black students were also resisting institutionalized racism and school segregation in the 1960s, which culminated in what was referred to as the Mustache Affair in 1966.
Thus, the riot in the summer of 1967 was just waiting to happen, considering the harsh realities that the Black community was facing in Grand Rapids. The same could be said about why so many people took to the streets on May 30th, 2020, in downtown Grand Rapids. based on a list of recent incidents where the GRPD harassed, threatened, terrorized and beat Black people in Grand Rapids.
A second similarity between 1967 and 2020 in Grand Rapids was how the local commercial news media responded to the riots/uprisings. We have written about the local news coverage of the 1967 riot. Here is a story we did 5 years ago, which looks specifically at how the Grand Rapids Press reported on the riot in 1967.
We have also come across some channel 8 archival stories from the 1967 riot, with a posting of the video footage you can watch here that includes reporting from Detroit, which was rioting at the same time.
In addition, we posted another story about the how the channel 8 reporting centered white voices and white perspectives and ignored black voices and the black point of view.
We also have a posting that looks at some of the archival photos from the 1967 riot, photos that were taken on behalf of the Grand Rapids Press. These photos tell a certain story from a certain perspective, what we call the White Gaze.
We also wrote an analysis of the local commercial news coverage of the during the first five days of coverage from May 30 through June 3rd, where the coverage also marginalizes the struggle for Black freedom and centered too many non-Black voices.
A third comparison would be how white people responded to the riots/uprisings of 1967 and 2020. In 1967, based on Grand Rapids Press reports White residents of surrounding communities, when asked about their response to the uprising, stated the following:
A woman from Ionia said, “We heard they were coming here on Tuesday. We all had our guns ready if we had to.” Another White woman in Lowell was quoted as saying, “I think it is terrible. They are destroying their own property – hurting their own cause.” A resident of Saranac stated, “It is a terrible thing to say, too, but authorities should open fire on them, do something drastic to wake them up.” A man from Holland agreed with serious force being used against those rioting. He stated, “The troops should have orders to stop them anyway necessary.”
In addition to the racist comments from surrounding communities, several White Grand Rapidians contacted the GRPD to volunteer to assist in putting down the uprising and several White residents were arrested near the area of the riot because they had concealed weapons.
Lastly, those in power commissioned a study that was issued months later, entitled, Anatomy of a Riot. The report not only documents what took place from the perspective of those in power, it offers “solutions” to prevent future uprisings from taking place. On page 34 of the report, there is a list of problems that need to be addressed. Everyone of these problems that are listed focus on behavior or are framed in such a way as to ignore any systemic forms of racism and White Supremacy. In other words, the report was just another attempt to offer just enough of a reformist response without ever having to challenge or dismantle the system of White Supremacy.
In 2020, there is still significant resistance from white people who do not want to examine or confront the system of White Supremacy in Grand Rapids. However, there have been white people who have begun to deal with White Supremacy, by participating in the ongoing protests since May 30, by calling for a defunding of the GRPD and by directly supporting the Black grassroots organizers that are centering the message of Black Lives Matter in Grand Rapids.
A fourth area of comparison is looking how the City of Grand Rapids has responded to both the 1967 riot/uprising and the one happening right now. In both cases the City of Grand Rapids instituted a curfew. In 1967, the GRPD locked down an large area of the southeast part of Grand Rapids, where the riot/uprising had begun, based on the map you can see here on the right. The City of Grand Rapids also called in the Michigan National Guard in both instances, thus further militarizing the state response to the riot/uprising.
At the first meeting after the 1967 riot/uprising, the Grand Rapids City Commission passed a resolution, which praised the police department and any business or individual that “cooperated” with the cops. In 2020, the City of Grand Rapids has had a fairly similar response, where the GRPD has been praised, where the “rioters” were condemned and where the City officials acted in disbelief, as if they never thought that this would happen in Grand Rapids.
This type of disbelief and denial also existed in 1967. In a Grand Rapids People’s History article, it states:
At a meeting on July 12, 1967, the head of the Grand Rapids Urban League, Paul I Phillips, communicated to Mayor Sonneveldt, the City Manager and the Grand Rapids Chief of Police that according to the national Urban League office, Grand Rapids was on a “dangerous list” of cities with racial tensions. Despite the comments from the Urban League, Mayor Sonneveldt, the City Manager and the Chief of Police “positively denied that riots were possible in the city.”
A fifth comparison between 1967 and 2020 is that there was property destruction in both riots.uprisings. In both cases, the destruction was primarily targeting white owned businesses and institutions that reflect white power, like the GRPD headquarters, the court house, etc. In 1967, since the location was different, some white businesses were targeted and the property of white landlords.
Lastly, it is important that we think about what happens next and whether or not a significant social movement can grow out of the rage and frustration of Black people to systemic oppression.
Paul I Phillips, the former director of the Grand Rapids Urban League, whom we mentioned earlier, continued to write and assess the condition of the Black community after the 1967 riot/uprising. In 1976, Phillips wrote a 2-page document with some of the following observations under the heading of unemployment:
For Whites, a recession, for Blacks, a depression. Unemployment among blacks is double that among whites.
Phillips goes on to note that median income for black families in 1974 was $7,802 and for white families $13,830, nearly double.
The next observation is rather instructive, since he refers to the 1970s policies as “benign neglect,” with the depression of 1974-75 as “effectively undermining the economic gains made by blacks in the 1960’s. In response to this dynamic, Phillips writes that “an increasing number of black families are doubling up and pooling meager resources.”
He ends his notes with the statement, “this preferential treatment of blacks and other minorities must not be permitted to continue.”
Earlier in the document Phillips cites an unemployed black person who says, “Maybe America has forgotten how smoke smells. Maybe we need a refresher course.” This comment is particularly instructive, since Phillips did not cite anyone else in the 2-page document.
The importance of this assessment from Paul I Phillips should not be lost on us today. The injustices that the Black community faces in Grand Rapids today, are not much different than they were in the 1960s or 70s. Todd Robinson calls the form of racism in Grand Rapids, managerial racism, which is an instructive way of naming how Grand Rapids practices White Supremacy. Managerial racism is alive and well in Grand Rapids and unless there are significant steps to radically alter this reality, Grand Rapids will always be subject to future riots/uprisings.
The Billionaire class continues to profit during the COVID-19 pandemic, like Hank & Doug Meijer
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) published their most recent findings on how the billionaire class continue to make massive profits during the current health crisis and while there is a national uprising against White Supremacy.
America’s billionaires saw their wealth increase by 20%, or $584 billion, roughly since the beginning of the pandemic, as 45.5 million Americans lost their jobs and the economy cratered.
The findings from IPS also state:
“This orgy of wealth shows how fundamentally flawed our economic system is,” said Frank Clemente, ATF’s executive director. “In three months about 600 billionaires increased their wealth by far more than the nation’s governors say their states need in fiscal assistance to keep delivering services to 330 million residents. Their wealth increased twice as much as the federal government paid out in one-time checks to more than 150 million Americans. If this pandemic reveals anything, it’s how unequal our society has become and how drastically it must change.”
Most people are familiar with the Jeff Bezos and the Bill Gates of the world, both of which made billions in the last three months. Jeff Bezos made $43 billion during the last three months and Bill Gates made $11 billion during that time, despite the fact that millions of people across the US are unemployed, are facing eviction and don’t know what the immediate future holds in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the wealthiest families in Michigan is also on that billionaire list – Hank & Doug Meijer. According to the Forbes Richest list for 2020, Hank & Doug Meijer are the 173rd richest people in the US. The wealth of the two Meijer brothers has increased by $500 million since the beginning of the year. Imagine making $500 million over the past 6 months. Just let that sink in for a moment.
Now consider this, what if that $500 million that Hank & Doug Meijer made in the past 6 months went to the families in Grand Rapids that are experiencing poverty? The thousands of families in this community would have enough money to pay their mortgage, their rent, purchase healthy food, take care of the health care costs, pay for utilities and have plenty left over. This would still leave Hank & Doug Meijer with $9.5 billion. Now, in what world is this kind of wealth justified when so many people are struggling to survive? Another world is possible!
Grand Rapids Police Officers Association releases statement against the calls for Defunding the GRPD
On Thursday, the Grand Rapids Police Officers Association (GRPOA) released a statement that is a clear sign of push back against the national and local public calls for defunding the police.
The 2-page document clearly demonstrates that the GRPOA is pushing back against any and all calls for DeFunding the GRPD.
The GRPOA statement begins by saying that they acknowledge that people are frustrated by “recent incidents.” Of course the cop union doesn’t want to state clearly that the “incidents” are the police murder of black people around the country. The GRPOA statement does give a vague objection to police engaged in “criminal acts,” but they just don’t seem able to say they opposed police killing black people.
The statement says that there are probably plenty of people who are frustrated, particularly those who live in neighborhoods with an increase in “violent criminal activity.” Again, the GRPOA statement is vague, since they won’t mention which neighborhoods in Grand Rapids are experiencing an increase in “violent criminal activity.” The statement then goes on to say:
“Please be clear, the residents mentioned above, who continue to call the GRPD for help will be disparately impacted in the GRPD is defunded.”
This sentence is clearly meant to confuse and intimidate people who live in core city neighborhoods and those who are calling for the Defunding of the GRPD.
The statement then goes on to say that most of the calls are for returning to the City Charter guaranteed 32% of the City budget for the GRPD, which is just not accurate. Two days ago, Grand Rapids Commissioners said they had received 2,500 e-mails to Defund the GRPD, but at least half of those e-mails came from the Together We Are Safe campaign to Defund the GRPD, which is not only calling for a total defunding of the GRPD, but a re-direction of the money that currently goes to the GRPD to go to black and brown communities, and they would have control over how that money is allocated.
The GRPOA statement then tries to convince us that a serious reduction in their budget will mean that cop numbers will be reduced (that is the point of defunding) and that certain investigative units would be negatively impacted.
Near the end of their statement they provide some “data” on violent crime in Grand Rapids, which is again designed to make us all believe that the only way to deal with violence is to have cops. We posted an article that looks at all kinds of models for community safety that doesn’t rely on cops just a few days ago.
Also, in the midst of the violent crimes data, the GROPA slips in these two sentences:
We have also been experiencing consistent incidents when large groups have unlawfully been interfering with traffic in major intersections in our city. Further, these groups have interfered with and delayed responses to medical, fire and police emergencies in the vicinity of these intersections.
Here the GRPOA is clearly attempting to call out organized actions that have taken place in recent years, by numerous groups that use direct action and disruption as a tactic to disrupt business as usual. The GRPOA wants the public to think that organized protesters are a problem and are dangerous. This is complete nonsense and I believe that most people don’t buy this line of thinking at all.
The statement ends by saying that they are simply responding to an “outspoken minority” who wants to defund the GRPD. If the commissioners are admitting that they have received 2500 e-mails, just in the past 10 days, this is no minority. It is not often that city officials receive that level of communications from the public.
Defund the GRPD NOW!!!!
State Representative Lynn Afendoulis is crafting legislation that would classify rioting as Social and Domestic Terrorism
On Tuesday, WZZM 13 ran a story about the recent riot in Grand Rapids, which focused on the property damage done, but failed to mention anything about the police murder of George Floyd or Black Lives Matter.
As we noted in a previous post, where local news media as changed the narrative around the recent and ongoing uprising against police violence against the black community, this most recent WZZM 13 story continues to value property over people.
Rep. Lynn Afendoulis wants to push for harsher legal penalties for those involved in “rioting”, although the 73rd State House Representative did not clarify what she means by rioting. Afendoulis said, “We want prosecutors to be able to charge them as terrorists. As social terrorists. Because that’s what they are doing. They are terrorizing the social fabric of our communities.’’
This is the type of response we have come to know from Rep. Afendoulis, who announced last year that she was also running for the 3rd Congressional District. In announcing her candidacy for Congress, Afendoulis toured the US/Mexican border and made the statement that the US Congress and Justin Amash were not doing enough to support ICE.
It’s interesting that Rep. Afendoulis wants harsher legal penalties for people who break windows, yet doesn’t see how ICE agents destroy immigrant families, by arresting parents, throwing them in detention and then getting them deported. Apparently property destruction is an act of terrorism, but ICE repression that targets immigrants is just a form of law enforcement.
Of course, it is important to note that Rep. Lynn Afendoulis has been financially backed by numerous members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, specifically Peter Secchia, the DeVos family, Mark Murray, the Haworth family and John Kennedy.
Supporting Rep. Afendoulis’ quest to craft legislation to further punish those who riot, is Kent County Commissioner Tom Antor. In the WZZM 13 story, Antor said, “I don’t think the penalty is strong enough for people that come in and riot.” In fact, Antor wants to go after people’s assets and make them pay for any property damages.
Besides supporting Rep. Afendoulis on classifying rioters as Social and Domestic Terrorists, Commissioner Antor also shares Rep. Afendoulis’s admiration for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). During Movimiento Cosecha GR’s campaign to end Kent County’s contract with ICE, Commissioner Antor was consistently in support of ICE and demonstrated nothing but contempt of the immigrant activists who wanted the County to end their contract with ICE. In fact, after one of the many anti-ICE actions, Antor used the same lies about undocumented immigrants that the Trump administration has used over the past four years, as we noted in an August 2018 story we wrote.
It is unfortunate that WZZM 13 provides both Rep. Afendoulis and Commissioner Antor a platform to seek harsher treatment of those who riot, yet do not hold them accountable for supporting state violence that is committed by ICE. However, this is what we have come to expect from the local news media, which has internalized the values of those in power.
Acton Institute says looting hurts the poor, but fails to cite one single person who is actually poor in their argument
The Acton Institute once again has it all backwards. Last week, one of their main writers, Rev. Ben Johnson, posted an article entitled, 6 ways looting hurts the poor.
The Acton writer provides a brief intro, before presenting his 6 arguments. However, he concludes the introductory comments with one accurate statement, where he says:
Looting and riots are sometimes presented as “a lashing-out against capitalism,” or even a form of reparations. But here are 6 ways looting most harms the poorest people.
The hyperlink that says reparations has nothing to do with reparations. In fact, the hyperlink is to a far right blogging site, that is explicitly anti-antifa. Rev. Johnson clearly dismisses looting as a form of anti-capitalism or reparations, and he just wants to get on with convincing us how looting hurts the poor.
Before critiquing the 6 arguments that the Acton writer presents, it is worth noting that nowhere in his article does Rev. Johnson cite someone who is poor or experiencing poverty. In fact, he only cites business people, elected officials and a religious leader.
Argument #1 – Looting deprives poor and minority communities of essential services. Politicians are cited and one unidentified woman, but no one who is actually poor or from communities of color is sourced in this argument. Rev. Johnson mentions food deserts and how people have to travel long distances to get food. Food deserts are a euphemistic term for Food Apartheid, which means that the lack of access to food for poor black or poor latinx residents is because of the the history of food systems that are based on profits, rather than on food justice.
Argument #2 – Looting drives away businesses and jobs. Rev. Johnson provides no real evidence to support this argument, only anecdotal references to the WalMart and Target stores that were looted in Minneapolis. Again, only politicians and business people are cited. What Rev. Johnson doesn’t mention is the fact that most of the items taken from the Target store in Minneapolis were then set up in a makeshift camp, where people who needed these items could take them. This is what many of us call a Really, Really, Free Market.
Argument #3 – Looting leads to a population drain. Again, the Acton writer has it wrong. He cites Detroit as an example, after the 1967 riot. The reality is that White people had been fleeing to the suburbs of Detroit way before the 1967 riot, because white people did not want to live with black people. It’s called White Flight. See the excellent book by Scott Kurashige, The Fifty-Year Rebellion: How The US Political Crisis Began in Detroit.
Argument #4 – Looting erodes the tax base. Here the Acton writer is just being ridiculous, since they argue that looting causes people to leave urban area, thus less money for city services. The reality is that cities services are primarily for white people and members of the Capitalist class. The only real city services that those living in poverty (which are primarily black and brown residents) receive are policing, which most often means policing that negatively impacts communities of color who are living in poverty.
Argument #5 – Looting causes long-term economic damage. Here Rev. Johnson is blaming looting for unemployment and the decline of the black family medium income. Again, the Acton writer lives in a world of deep racial and economic privilege, since unemployment and the decline in black family income is the direct result of structural racism and the wealth gap, which has been created by exploitation, tax policies and the re-direction of public money to the private sector.
Argument #6 – Looting makes the church’s job harder. Here Rev. Johnson cites a pastor in Chicago who wrote an article in publication, The American Conservative, which should tell you something about the pastor. Rev. Johnson obviously does not come from a liberationist view of the church, like that of the murdered Archbishop of El Salvador, Oscar Romero. Rev. Johnson comes from the hierarchical church, which spent centuries looting communities all around the world, as is documented in Eduardo Galeano’s book, Open Veins of Latin American.
As we have documented over the years, the Acton Institute acts as an apologist for the Neo-liberal Capitalism and its members, who are part of the business class and only see the poor as opportunities to practice charity. As the founder of the Acton Institute Rev. Sirico once said, when quoting Mother Theresa:
“We don’t have the right to condemn the rich. We don’t believe in class struggle and class warfare. We believe in class encounter. Where the rich save the poor and the poor save the rich.”
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 