How the local Commercial News Coverage has Hijacked the narrative around Black Lives Matter protests in Grand Rapids
Critical analysis and media literacy are essential for moments like these, especially when marginalized black voices are pleading with the rest of society to listen and learn.
This urgency around critical thinking is particularly important as it relates to news coverage, especially since most news coverage we consume is commercial, with tremendous financial pressures, along with the fact that news rooms, news executives and editors are dominated by white people.
Therefore, I thought it would be useful to look at how 4 of the largest daily news sources in Grand Rapids have been reporting on the protests in town since Saturday, May 30 through the June 3rd protest in Grand Rapids. This is only 5 days of coverage, but it can tells us a great deal about how the commercial news media has been framing the protests and how they influence public perception, particularly white consumers of local news media, which are still the majority in West Michigan.
The number of stories we tracked were 22 from MLive, 23 from WOODTV8, 19 from WZZM 13 and 33 from WXMI 17.
In a media saturated world, it is well documented that people will often not go beyond the headlines, so we looked at all of the headlines from each of these news sources during the 5 day period.
Headlines
The MLive headlines had several themes, but out of the 22 MLive stories we looked at, there were only two with the words Police Brutality in it, compared to 14 headlines with the word Riot in it. WOODTV8 has 14 headlines with the word Riot, with not one headline that had the words Police Brutality. WZZM 13 had 4 headlines with the word Riot, along with others focused on property destruction or violence, but not one that had the words Police Brutality in the headline. WXMI 17 had 14 headlines with the word Riot, but none with the words Police Brutality.
Right away this should tell us something about how powerful language can be used to mold public perception. There were also lots of headlines from all four news sources that used the word Peaceful, but such a term is often also misleading, since it doesn’t provide a larger contextual framework. For instance, there were several headlines using terms like curfew and National Guard, but never referring to them as “violent,” even though the presence of the National Guard, the GRPD – both of which are heavily armed – and the imposing of curfews, would be considered violent by many.
I mean, the use of the term peaceful in this recent coverage is exclusively centered around public behavior, but not institutional behavior. Consider all the stories of the GR Police Chief and other cops kneeling with protestors. If protesters had sidearms they would not be considered peaceful, but cops and members of the National Guard can have guns, tasers, mace, clubs, etc., and that is not seen by many and certain not by the media as an expression of violence.
Each of the four commercial news sources we looked at also had stories that about the GRPD setting up an online portal for people to submit information, pictures and video in order to arrest people involved in last Saturday’s protest. Why did the commercial news media feel the need to report on this, if it were not for the fact that they agree with the same principles of “law and order” that the GRPD promotes.
In addition, each of the four commercial news sources we looked at, had multiple stories about either the “cleanup” or businesses that were impacted from any property destruction last Saturday night. MLive has 4 of such stories, WOODTV8 had 6, WZZM 13 had 2 and WXMI 17 had 9 stories that centered around the organized clean up or business impacted from last Saturday.
Sources cited
Who the news media talks to is important, since it centers some voices over others. Media Watchdog groups like Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting have been documenting how news sources influence our understanding of issues and events. GRIID has been doing some of the same kind of work, looking at the Grand Rapids news market, so we are familiar with how central sources are to the overall narrative of news stories.
In the MLive stories we looked at during the 5 day period, we found the following sources cited:
- Government officials – 12
- GRPD – 11
- Downtown Business owners/employees – 11
- Protesters – 7
- Those assisting with the clean up – 3
- Residents opposed to “vandalism” – 2
WOODTV8 sources cited:
- Government officials – 15
- GRPD – 14
- Downtown Businesses – 7
- Those assisting with clean up – 7
- Protesters – 6
- Urban Leaders – 2
- Former cop – 1
- Mother of cop – 1
- Resident who witnessed 1967 riot – 1
WZZM 13 sources cited:
- Government officials – 12
- GRPD – 10
- Protesters – 10
- Urban Leaders – 2
WXMI 17 sources cited:
- Government officials – 14
- GRPD – 10
- Those assisting with clean up – 7
- Downtown Businesses – 6
- Protesters – 5
- Lawyer – 1
- Witness – 1
The sources cited from each commercial news source, also indicates which voices were centered in the coverage of the protests and government response over the 5 day study period. Government and police voices are the most dominant, with business and clean up voices combined taking up the next most space, with protesters being the least important. In addition, the protester voices that did appear in the commercial news sources we documented, were voices that were primarily after the uprising/riot took place, always with the news media framing these protest voices as “peaceful” and almost completely avoiding the larger structural issue of White Supremacy. What should have been an opportunity to amplify black voices, resulted in the same voices that are always centered – state voice, business voices and cop voices.
Internalizing the values of the System
This brings us to the larger issue of how these news stories were collectively framed. Media framing is often described as the angle or perspective from which a news story is told. While news is often thought to be objective and value free this is rarely if ever the case. In fact, what media researchers have been saying for decades is that commercial news sources tend to internalize the over-arching values of the dominant culture and the larger systems of society, which are fundamentally systems of oppression.
This means that the coverage of what took place in Grand Rapids since last Saturday, was framed through the dominant social, cultural and political values. For example, protesting can only be viewed through the lens of peaceful or non-confrontational, when in fact a great deal of public dissent and protest has been very confrontational throughout US history and often operates outside of the legal framework – civil disobedience, insurrection, uprisings, strikes and occupations are all part of how people have protested/dissented. Therefore, to create the good/bad protester framework in just dishonest.
Another major value that the commercial news media has internalized, is the fact that they rarely recognize structural violence or structural looting. Every day in Grand Rapids, black people are are subjected to poverty, police harassment/intimidation, limited resources, limited choices, redlining and gentrification, yet these issues are rarely acknowledged. Therefore, when people rise up and demonstrate their collective anger and pain, the commercial news media sees vandalism and disrespect for the law, when in fact what is often happening is a collective response to the the oppression of White Supremacy, Capitalism and State violence. The City of Grand Rapids brings the National Guard in to “restore order,” when in fact the order they are restoring is racial injustice, a massive wealth gap, despair and whiteness.
Looking at these news stories collectively affirms our analysis and demonstrates that the commercial news media in Grand Rapids plays a major role in how the dominant culture views West Michigan. We need to come to terms with the fact that are growing number of people, especially black people, who are tired of living under the boot of West Michigan Nice.
MLive stories
Grand Rapids protesters scatter after police, National Guard move in
Video
Michigan National Guard Humvees line street in downtown Grand Rapids
video
Protesters walk through Grand Rapids, cars honk in solidarity
WOODTV8 stories
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grpd-sets-up-portal-to-submit-photos-from-riots/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/gr-police-watchdog-aims-for-meaningful-change/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/live-people-gather-in-grand-rapids-for-silent-protest/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/5-more-charged-including-minor-in-downtown-gr-riot/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grand-rapids-chief-to-march-with-community-wednesday/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/overnight-curfew-in-grand-rapids-will-not-be-extended/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/2nd-person-faces-charges-in-grand-rapids-riot/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/scope-of-damage-slows-police-reports-for-riot-damage/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/small-businesses-remain-community-focused-despite-damage/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grpd-sets-up-portal-to-submit-photos-from-riots/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/memorial-of-fallen-grand-rapids-officer-defaced/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/villa-in-downtown-gr-remains-positive-despite-damage/
https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grand-rapids-riots-53-years-apart-but-so-much-alike/
https://www.woodtv.com/gallery/photos-volunteers-clean-up-grand-rapids-after-riots/
https://www.woodtv.com/gallery/protesters-march-for-george-floyd-in-grand-rapids/
WZZM 13 stories
WXMI 17 stories
https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/spontaneous-peaceful-protest-takes-place
https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/grand-rapids-not-extending-curfew
https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/grpd-chief-payne-my-heart-is-heavy-tonight
https://www.fox17online.com/homepage-showcase/restaurants-face-additional-challenges-after-gr-riots
https://www.fox17online.com/the-clean-up-begins-in-grand-rapids
https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/police-cruisers-after-fire-on-pearl-street
We don’t need more implicit bias training for cops
There has been a great deal of news coverage about new legislation being proposed in Lansing, specifically legislation that would require that all incoming law enforcement officers complete training on implicit bias, de-escalation techniques, and mental health screening.
The legislation, known as SB 0945, was introduced by Democratic Senator Jeff Irwin and has a slew of other Democratic State Senators as co-sponsors. The legislation was first proposed on May 28, which was after the police murder of George Floyd, but before the uprisings that have rocked the state since then. However, on June 4, it passed in the Michigan Senate, which was no doubt because of the uprising and protests that have happened across the state in the last week.
Some people may see this as a positive step forward, but my read of history and the institutional structure of policing, is that not only does this kind of training result in fewer police acts of violence, it lulls us into thinking that we are making progress.
Alex Vitale, author of the insightful book, The End of Policing, has this to say about the kind of training that SB 0945 is pushing.
“Many advocates also call for cultural sensitivity trainings designed to reduce racial and ethnic bias. A lot of this training is based on the idea that most people have at least some unexamined stereotypes and biases that they are not consciously aware of but that influence their behavior. Controlled experiments consistently show that people are quicker and more likely to shoot at a black target than a white one in simulations. Trainings such as “Fair and Impartial Policing” use roleplaying and simulations to help officers see and consciously adjust for these biases. Diversity and multicultural training is not a new idea, nor is it terribly effective. Most officers have already been through some form of diversity training and tend to describe it as politically motived, feel-good programming divorced from the realities of street policing. Researchers have found no impact on problems like racial disparities in traffic stops or marijuana arrests; both implicit and explicit bias remain, even after targeted and intensive training. This is not necessarily because officers remain committed to their racial biases, though this can be true, but because institutional pressures remain intact.”
Last year, the Grand Rapids City’s fiscal committee voted to spend $21,268 to send two GRPD officers to Boston for a 2 week training on “racial reconciliation.” We have to stop spending public money on ineffective, feel-good programs like this.
In addition, there has been a long standing and growing call for defunding the police. Legislation like SB 0945 will not solve the problem, it lulls us into thinking we are making progress, but most importantly, it means that those making and supporting these kinds of policies are not listening to black voices and are not learning from the lived experiences of black people.
In December, we reported that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was submitted in September of 2019, asking the City of Grand Rapids to turn over all documents related to the 2019 May Day Action organized by Movimiento Cosecha GR.
A group of people obtained the documents in late 2019 and had made some of that information known in March of 2020, but then the COVID-19 crisis happened, so the urgency to get it out had diminished. However, now that the GRPD is under greater scrutiny for their repression of protests surrounding the murder of black people in other communities, it seemed appropriate to post all of the FOIA documents we received.
On Monday, we posted A Brief History of how the GRPD responds to protests and dissent, and the 2019 Cosecha GR May Day Action documents are the most recent example we wanted to cite.
It should be stated that since Movimiento Cosecha GR and it’s ally group, GR Rapid Response to ICE, began organizing in early 2017, the GRPD has consistently engaged in surveillance, monitoring, harassment and intimidation tactics of this movement. On many occasions, when organizers engaged in specific actions, there were as many, and at times, more police officers present than there were those protesting.
In what follows, you will see that the GRPD spent a great deal of energy, resources and taxpayer money to monitor, harass and threaten a consistently non-violent movement for immigration justice.
The FOIA documents we obtained can be viewed at this link, with 271 pages of e-mail communication, text messages, photos, and other documents related to the 2019 May Day action that Cosecha GR had planned.
On pages 269 – 271, you can see the final cost of the FOIA request, which was $551.01. However, if one goes through the pages, it is clear that 90-95% of the documents were redacted by the GRPD. Here is the explanation they provide on the redaction:
Your request for these records is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Please be advised that information has been redacted from the documents under MCL 15.243(1)(a)(information of a personal nature release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual’s privacy) and MCL 15.243(1)(b)(iii) (law enforcement records release of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy). It is the City’s position that the public interest in the disclosure of this information is outweighed by the public interest in keeping this information private. The core purpose of the FOIA is to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government. Requests for information that involve private citizens in government files that reveal little to nothing about the inner working of government do not serve the core purpose of the FOIA.
Apparently, the GRPD does not want the public to know what they did, and more importantly, how they operate. So much for transparency.
On page 255, the FOIA document states this:
One could certainly make the point that the work of Movimiento Cosecha GR is anti-fascist, but the idea that there are “professional protesters” is just plain ridiculous.
Even more disturbing in the document on page 238, which shows what the GRPD was threatening to do if people marched in the street:
Remember, Movimiento Cosecha GR is a non-violent movement, but this is how the GRPD planned on responding if people marched in the streets. with violent repression.
On page 240, they GRPD included pictures they took that day, but every single one of those pictures are redacted.
However, the bulk of the FOIA documents are from e-mails by the GRPD within the department. Again, most of what are contained in the e-mails are redacted, but there are some useful and revealing comments that were used, which we want to look at.
Page 17 – It states, “Just touching base to make sure we are up and running for tomorrow’s Movimiento event as Arrest Team 2.” The GRPD is always eager to arrest someone.
Page 28 – Here the GRPD is talking about a Crowd Management plan, which means they want to manage what those protesting do. The police are always trying to bend actions the way they want them.
Page 39 – “I believe the below link is the video, but it is Movimiento Cosecha explaining that they are going to march without a permit tomorrow and know that the march will disrupt people.I would like it maintained for evidence the event we end up making arrests.”
Pages 53-57 – Includes communication between Cosecha GR and the City of Grand Rapids. The question should be asked as to why the GRPD would include this communication?
Page 59 – The GRPD is trying to set up a meeting with “Hispanic Community Leaders,” but they were rebuked saying that Cosecha GR is the group that needed to be at the table. The GRPD uses the tactic here to marginalize on the ground organizers, by meeting with people who are considered leaders, but not doing the on the ground work.
Page 72 – Operations plan is completely redacted
Pages 82-84 – The GRPD provides numerous links to articles “of interest” about the planned May Day march.
Page 103 – The GRPD says, “Being May 1, that is the date of the Mayday March organized by Movmiento Cosecha, an immigrant rights group that seeks to disrupt traffic each year. Last year was a mess and we expect worse this year.”
Page 105 – The GRPD again talking about meeting with community leaders, but that they should not initiate, “as it may be seen by some as an attempt to interfere with march plans.”
Page 173 – The GRPD writes, “I don’t think he is a member of Cosecha but I think we can make him do whatever we want…doesn’t he work for you guys?” Seems as if they are trying to get someone to infiltrate and/or collect intelligence for them.
While these examples are not terribly revealing, they do provide a window into the mindset of the GRPD and their efforts to manipulate and marginalize social movements. More importantly, the GRPD clearly does not believe in transparency, since most of the documents are redacted, thus preventing the public from having any understanding of how the GRPD functions. The larger questions are; 1)what are they hiding?, and 2) what can we learn from these documents and this example in terms of how social movements can be best prepared to deal with state violence and repression?
One of the things I learned from Noam Chomsky, was the value of reading the business press. According to Chomsky, the business press if often more honest in the sense that it provides a forum for the wealthiest people to speak freely.
This happened in a Grand Rapids Business Journal article on June 1st, where Sam Cummings, one of the partners with CWD, provided his reaction to Saturday’s uprising in Grand Rapids. The article was entitled, CWD Real Estate sees silver lining in aftermath of violent protests, with Cummings stating:
Sam Cummings, managing partner with CWD, said he was “mad as hell” Saturday night and Sunday morning, but witnessing the community outreach and cleanup afterward restored his faith in West Michigan.
“That is not who we are, and that was confirmed by talking to some folks on the police force,” Cummings said. “Who we were was (Sunday).”
“The peaceful gatherings are a justified, honorable and rightful thing to have occur,” Cummings said. “Those things should be protected, but when they escalate to damaging small businesses — we got guys who have had their entire inventory wiped out — when they escalate to damaging other people’s property or their employees, it’s not acceptable.”
None of what Cummings has to say is surprising, since he values above all else – profit making and power. His comments are instructive in that they reflect this whitewashed history of GR – which ignores the history of settler colonialism and Jim Crow policies that have brutalized and looted black communities for decades.
We have to see Cummings, and his partners Wierda and DeVos, as some of the real looters in this city. As we wrote in 2017:
CWD was in the news last Thursday, after the Grand Rapids City Commission voted unanimously to approve $2.3 million in reimbursements through brownfield funding for a new hotel project. In addition, the Downtown Development Authority awarded CWD an additional $895,000 in tax abatements this past February.
These reimbursements or subsidies is taxpayer money, public money, and this $3 million is from just one development project. In addition, according to the CWD website, they own more than 3 million square feet or retail and urban office real estate in the area. We have to ask ourselves, how is it that three white men were able to acquire this much property, especially while so many in the black community live in shitty housing, that many of them cannot afford.
Sam Cummings has been involved in the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, the Michigan Association of Realtors, currently sits on the Aquinas College Foundation Board, is a GVSU Foundation Trustee, was a Trustee at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, a former board member of The Right Place Inc and former Grand Rapids Art Museum Foundation Trustee. Cummings was also instrumental in the failed Grand Prix races in downtown GR back in 1996. The Grand Prix shut down the downtown for several days, cost the city a ton of money and disrupted the lives of people who lived in downtown at the time. In fact, Cummings drove one of the race cars, seeing Grand Rapids as his own little play ground.
I am grateful for the comments by Sam Cummings in the GRBJ, since they contribute to our understanding of how members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure think, plus it should help us have clarity about the fact that Sam Cummings has been looting Grand Rapids for decades.
We need a campaign to Defund the GRPD
The actions on the part of the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD), and city officials in the past few days, have made it clear that the GRPD does NOT have the interests of many in this community, especially black, brown, indigenous and immigrant communities.
This has been the case for a long time, especially for the most marginalized communities. Therefore, it seems like this is a perfect time to talk about and act on the idea of defunding the GRPD. It is also what communities across the country have been calling for and is specifically part of the Black Lives Matter Vision.
In the chart above, which is from the 2019 Grand Rapids City Budget (2020 is still being decided upon), you can see that the GRPD receives the largest amount of funding of all departments in the City – $53,727,579. The total expenses for 2019 are $142,683,745, thus reflecting that the GRPD uses over a third of the City’s budget.
Considering how much taxpayer money is consumed by the GRPD, it is important that we then recognize what they are doing, particularly as it relates to what they do in black and brown neighborhoods. The GRPD spends more time “patrolling” in black and brown neighborhoods, and with the constant and intense presence, it not only results in creating a greater climate of terror, it results in a high rate of harassment, intimidation and arrests amongst black and brown residents. Below is a short and partial list of incidents that have been documented in recent years. However, it is important to note that this kind of repression happens all the time, even if it doesn’t receive media attention or isn’t reported.
- October 2016 – Tasers were drawn on Black Youth and they were handcuffed and detained.
- April 2017 – Police held youth at gunpoint at the Kroc Center and they were handcuffed and detained. Police refused to apologize to the youth when they realized that they had stopped the wrong people.
- April 2017 – The Police Traffic Stop Study revealed that Black drivers were twice as likely to be stopped, searched, and handcuffed, which was followed by a call to action from the black community.
- December 2017 – 11-years-old African American girl was held at gunpoint, cuffed, and detained while GRPD searched for a 40-year-old white suspect.
- September 2018 – Count Commissioner Robert Womack organized a march to protest handcuffing Black Children after GRPD again handcuffed a child.
- February 2019 – People protest at GR City Commission meeting to demand that GRPD Captain VanderKooi be fired for his role in calling ICE on Jilmar Ramos-Gomez.
- March 2019 – It is revealed by the police union that they wanted to arrested people during the 2018 immigration protest, organized by Movimiento Cosecha GR, simply because participants didn’t follow the police determined route.
- March 2019 – Latino youth were stopped at gunpoint by the GRPD for walking in their neighborhood
- March 2019 – the Michigan Department of Civil Rights hears testimony on racial discrimination from 80 Grand Rapids residents, open 23 separate investigations as a result.
- May 2020 – Despite increasing awareness around policing concerns caused by the death of people such as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the GRPD proposed cuts to community programs and staff positions for oversight, data collection, and accountability. *Budget is restored only after the community raises concerns for their continued need. (part of this list came from a recent message sent out by LINC)
Since the GRPD consumes over a third of the City’s budget and because they have repeatedly demonstrated that they will use violent tactics to repress people, why not create a movement to Defund the Police? Here is a proposal.
One option would be to cut the GRPD’s funding by one-third over the next three years, thus fading out what is now the GRPD. If we use the 2019 amount of the GRPD’s budget, which is $53,727,579, one-third of that would be $17,909,193. This would do two things. First, defunding the GRPD would send a strong message to people that the City is finally taking their concerns seriously, plus it would likely result in a reduction of the harm they would be doing, since the GRPD would have less taxpayer money. Second, the City should then re-invest the money that is being defunded from the GRPD, by proving it to communities that are experiencing poverty (especially black and brown communities), who would then decide how they want to money to be used. Funding could go to housing, creating community gardens, or more specifically to community-based safety projects, which would reduce crime and thus the need for cops.
Imagine what roughly $18 million could be used for, each year for three year period that the City would defund the GRPD. After the three year period of phasing out the GRPD, then residents could demand that there be ongoing funding for neighborhoods and communities disproportionately impacted by police intimidation, police harassment, police surveillance and police violence. The people of Grand Rapids would then not only have a say in how tax dollars are being spent, but be able to benefit from the funding of radically imagined ideas and projects that would enrich the lives of people who most desperately need it.
According to a press release from the City of Grand Rapids, 7 people were arrested on the night of May 30 / early morning of May 31 during protests against police in downtown Grand Rapids. Additionally, several people were arrested on the subsequent two nights for violating a curfew instituted in response to the protests.
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The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) is pledging to make future arrests, threatening “hundreds” of arrests
as they comb over surveillance camera footage, social media posts, and evidence submitted through their online snitch portal.
In response, a group of folks in Grand Rapids are working with the Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund to raise money to support those arrested as a result of the recent actions in Grand Rapids.
Link to donate:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/michigan-solidarity-bail-fund
Further updates will be forthcoming. Check out the website and/or follow on Instgram. If you know of anyone arrested, please get in touch with the Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund at michigansolidaritybaildfund [at] gmail [dot] com.
Also, please remember to be careful with what you post online — even innocent seeming posts can incriminate others. This includes photos/video, speculation, rumors, and accusations about what individuals did, where they live, and/or what their motivations may be. Please don’t do the work of the state.
The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty continues to demonstrate that they have no empathy for those who are fighting repression.
The only post, as of this writing, that is responding to the police murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, was an article by Dan Hugger, entitled, George Floyd reveals the bankruptcy of the elites.
Despite the headline, the Acton writer doesn’t really blame elites directly, meaning he doesn’t call out the people in power – elites – like the President or members of Congress, or the capitalist class or religious leaders. Instead, in the very first sentence, Hugger writes:
The protests, looting, and fires which have rocked the city of Minneapolis after the tragic death of George Floyd are yet another illustration of the comprehensive failure of our leading institutions, which seem incompetent and unprepared to handle society’s widespread anger and alienation.
It is instructive that this sentence is not so much about George Floyd, but about the public’s response to Floyd’s murder at the hand of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. In fact, the Acton article doesn’t even mention that Floyd was murdered by a cop, nor does it say that George Floyd was a black man and that his killer was a white man.
Racism and White Supremacy are completely omitted from the Acton article, which means they are never mentioned as the source(s) of “society’s widespread anger and alienation.”
The Acton writer does name certain “isms” that are to blame, like Communism, Nationalism, Socialism and populism as contributing to the problem, but nothing about structural racism, institutionalized discrimination or the history of White Supremacy.
In addition, the problem, in the eyes of the Acton writer, is, “the comprehensive failure of our leading institutions, which seem incompetent and unprepared to handle society’s widespread anger and alienation.”
Later in the article, the Acton writer cites Martin Gurri, a professor and author of several books, who lays the blame of the “revolt of the public”,” which is the tsunami of information unleashed by the internet.
Apparently people in Minneapolis are pissed off because they have too much information. Sweet Jesus! This is the type of intellectual arrogance we have come to know from the Acton Institute, since in was founded in 1990.
More importantly, this article is just the most recent example of how the Acton Institute is not only complicit in structural racism and White Supremacy, but they perpetuate and re-create these systems of oppression, especially by through their dogmatic adherence to Neo-Liberal Capitalism.
Since the demonstration on Saturday, I have seen a awful lot of White people complaining about property destruction in Grand Rapids and using language like peaceful and violent protesters.
These types of reactions are to be expected, especially from people who generally have no idea of what it means to be systematically brutalized and oppressed.
There have been numerous reports on the ground of people talking about the tactics and weapons of the GRPD. This is always important for people to understand, as the GRPD is just like any other police force in the country. What I want to do in this article is to provide a brief overview of how the GRPD has responded to protests and dissent since its founding in 1871.
However, before we look at some examples of how the GRPD has responded to protests and dissent in Grand Rapids, it is important to make clear what the origin and function of police departments are.
First, the origin of policing in the US comes right out of slave patrols, where white men organized for the specific purpose of hunting down and capturing black people who had engaged in self-emancipation from slavery. (see Kristian Williams book, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America.)
Second, the function of policing is primarily about protecting systems of power and maintaining “order,” which is to say that the police will not tolerate any disruption to structural racism, patriarchy, capitalism and environmental destruction. The real crimes, which is structural violence, is protected and maintained, especially when law enforcement agencies prevent people from resisting these crimes.
Now, people will argue that there are good cops and bad cops, so we can’t lump them all together. However, this is not about individual behavior, but a system or structure of law enforcement, which has historically oppressed black, brown and indigenous people, along with suppressing dissent and protest from a variety of sectors in society, around numerous issues. What follows are some examples of how the GRPD has responded to protests and dissent over the years.
1967 Rebellion in Grand Rapids
Now that the City of Grand Rapids has brought in the National Guard and imposed a curfew, the best example to start with is the 1967 riot/rebellion in Grand Rapids. The last time the National Guard came to GR was in 1967. The city also imposed a curfew on the residents.
The 1967 rebellion in Grand Rapids was sparked by the GRPD, when they pulled over several black youth. The city was under a militarized lockdown for three days. White people were calling for blood and several white people contacted the GRPD offering to bring their guns to stop the black rebellion.
Several months after the 1967 riot, the Grand Rapids City government published a report called, Anatomy of a Riot. We posted an article that provided some analysis of the report by the City of Grand Rapids, which is very instructive, both in terms of the data and the recommendations that make up part of the report. The recommendations were the standard recommendations that focused on “providing opportunities” instead of addressed systemic problems.
1911 Furniture Workers Strike
In April of 1911, thousands of Grand Rapids furniture workers went on strike, demanding better pay, better work conditions and the right to form a union. Who do you think the GRPD protected during this strike, the workers or the furniture barons?
Jeffrey Kleiman’s important book, Strike! How the Furniture Workers Strike of 1911 Changed Grand Rapids, provides some answers to what the GRPD did. Kleiman writes about striking workers who had gathered outside of the Widdicomb factory to confront the owner:
“Finally, thirty club-wielding policemen pushed forward, breaking the crowd up and falling upon one stubborn protester who refused to leave.
Midway through the efforts to disperse the rioters, the police arrested a few men and began to retreat towards the Sixth Street Bridge. Using their prisoners as shields, the policemen fired their weapons into the air until they ran out of ammunition. Hand-to-hand battles ensued and the rioters threatened to overwhelm the police until reinforcements appeared. The fighting continued until the street was filled with madly running and cursing men and women with almost every other face….streaked with blood from an injury or from the injury of another.”
2003 Anti-Iraq War Protests
Before the US invasion and occupation of Iraq had begun in 2003, the GRPD attempted to infiltrate the anti-war movement in Grand Rapids, sending undercover cops, spying on organizers, intimidating people involved and arresting dozens of people who were protesting the brutal US invasion/occupation of Iraq.
With the assistance of the ACLU, anti-war organizers were able to obtain FOIA documents, which can be found at this link.
1980s Central American Solidarity Movement
There was a pretty lively Central American Solidarity Movement in Grand Rapids during the 1980s, with numerous action direct at Congressman Paul Henry. Rep. Henry consistently voted in support of US military aid the El Salvador and to the Nicaraguan Contra terrorist forces.
People would occupy Congressman Henry’s office in the Federal Building and shut down Michigan Street when the Jesuit priests were murdered in El Salvador. In another action, protesters used Congressman Henry’s phone to call the GRPD to tell them that Crimes Against Humanity were happening at 110 Michigan. The GRPD showed up and dragged the protesters out of Rep. Henry’s office. For the GRPD, it was ok that Congressman Henry and his staff were participating in war crimes, but it was not ok for people to protest such crimes.
GRPD after Ferguson uprising
The GRPD and the City of Grand Rapids decided that body cameras and racial bias training would be enough to satisfy people after the uprising in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. However, there were numerous incidents where the GRPD pulled guns on black youth, arrested and beat black adults, which led to ongoing protest and resistance from the black community in Grand Rapids.
Here are some examples from the past few years, where members of the black community have followed “official channels,” only to be ignored or minimized by the City of Grand Rapids and the GRPD.
The GRPD, White Supremacy and Community Accountability
Calls for a State of Emergency in Grand Rapids elicits no meaningful response from City Officials
Billed as Community-Police relations “listening tour,” the meeting was a highly managed forum
GRPD’s recent detaining of black youth was just following procedure and it was racist
Later this week, we will post about the recent history of GRPD’s harassment, intimidation and surveillance of Movimiento Cosehca GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE.
Don’t Let the System Control the Narrative on the Black Lives Matter protest in Grand Rapids
Yesterday, there were several calls for protests in Grand Rapids, protests against the ongoing murder and repression of black people by cops all around the country and in this city.
Some black organizers began hosting demonstrations at 11am at Rosa Parks Circle, with another protest joining them, a protest which started at MLK Park. A third call for resisting police violence against black people was scheduled for 6pm, also at Rosa Parks Circle.
I arrived at 4:30pm to be part of a crowd safety team for the 6pm Black Lives Matter protest, which was organized by several young black women. The black women who organized the action had been in contact with volunteer organizers with Movimiento Cosecha GR, who offered to provide a crowd safety team.
Just before the march began, the crowd had grown to maybe 2,000 people. Signs and banners were numerous, with most of the signs centering either on the white supremacist violence of police or the names of black people, like George Floyd, who have recently been murdered by cops.
At this point the GRPD primarily had cops on bikes in several areas around the park, with several cops doing surveillance on rooftops, using cameras and drones.
The march left Rosa Parks Circle around 6pm and came out on to Monroe street, taking up the two lanes of traffic going south. March organizers then moved east on Fulton. The cops on bicycles followed on the sidewalk, but did not intervene and prevent people from protesting in the street. Over the last few decades, the GRPD has generally not tolerated people marching in the streets, unless there are numbers, and there were definitely too many people to police last night.
The march was billed as a Silent March, but there could be chants of “No Justice, No Peace” or “Black Lives Matter” heard throughout the march, especially since there were several thousand people marching at this point, making it impossible to see the end. As the march moved up Fulton, nearing Division, protesters could still be seen turning left on Fulton from Monroe.
The march paused at the corner of Fulton and Division for a brief period, allowing time for those coming up Fulton to catch up. People who were in cars didn’t seem to mind having to wait and many of them hand sings in support of the protest.
March organizers then decided to go in front of the GRPD headquarters on Monroe Center. When the march arrived to to the front entrance of the police department, there were about 15 GRPD cops on bikes lined up in front of the entrance facing protesters.
The protesters began chanting “I can’t breathe” and “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Ass Police.” The crowd was moving closer and closer to the police station, many verbalizing what they thought of the cops on bikes. The march organizers did not want to stay at the police station for long, and after 15 minutes decided to keep marching.
The march then moved down Monroe Center to Ionia, then to Lyon and eventually to the Calder Plaza. At the Calder Plaza several of the march organizers spoke about how they were just so tired of the way that black people were being treated, they were tired of living in a world where black bodies are disposable and where black lives don’t seem to matter. One black mother spoke and then talked about her son who was recently beaten by the GRPD. You can see a photo here below of her son. She fought through tears talking about her son and his future aspirations, only to feel anger and rage at a system that brutalized her son.
At this point, one of the people doing crowd safety had come to tell everyone that there were still hundreds of people in front of the GRPD headquarters and that things were getting tense. Several of those who were at Calder Plaza, then went back to the police station to see what was happening.
When we got back to the GRPD headquarters (around 7:30pm), there were still hundreds of people in front of the building. However, after maybe 10 minutes, lots of people began to move away from the police station, back towards Rosa Parks Circle. The entire stretch of Monroe Center was filled with people who had come to say to the city, Stop Killing Black People! The air was electric and filled with anger.
It is no surprise then that things escalated later that night. I was not there, so I do not want to speculate on what happened. However, I do think it is important that people, especially white people, stop with all the complaints and questions about property destruction. We as White people have no understanding of what it means to be black in America. We do not know what it is like to be terrorized every day by police and the larger systems of White Supremacy.
The commercial news media has already made the narrative about what happened yesterday about property destruction. It is critical at this point that we make the voices of black people central to any conversation we have about what happened yesterday. We need to shut up about property destruction and listen to the lived experience of black people. We need to say their names – Breanna Taylor, George Floyd and the countless number of black people who have been murdered by cops! SAY THEIR NAME!
In March of 2018, a UCC church, Joy Like a River, declared itself a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. At that event, there were several dozen area religious leaders who came in support of that declaration.
This declaration of sanctuary was the first time that someone has become a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, since the Koinonia House did it in 1986 in Grand Rapids.
However, Joy Like a River is the only faith community that has publicly declared themselves as a sanctuary, in a region of the state that is known for being deeply religious. There are an estimated 800 churches in Kent County, which means that only 1 out of 800 is willing to put faith into action on behalf of undocumented immigrants.
This reality has led the grassroots group, GR Rapid Response to ICE, to begin a campaign to encourage more faith communities to declare themselves as sanctuary. This campaign is centered around the 800 to 1 ratio of churches to sanctuaries in this community.
We spoke with Karen Meyers, one of the volunteer organizers with GR Rapid Response to ICE about the campaign.
GRIID – How do you react to the fact that only 1 church in the Grand Rapids area is willing to be a sanctuary?
Karen – My reaction is some surprise, as well as disappointment and anger. Grand Rapids is almost jokingly known for its density of churches, and you don’t have to spend much time here before someone talks to you about their faith. In a city with so many Catholic churches as well as a large, vibrant immigrant community (many of whom are Catholic), it seems only natural that churches–particularly Catholic churches and other Christian churches that profess to do as Jesus did–would step up to offer sanctuary to immigrants in danger. The Catholic church has been pretty awful in many respects, but it also has a tradition of participating in peace and justice movements.
I’m not totally surprised that there aren’t more sanctuary churches in Grand Rapids, however. I’ve come to realize that West Michigan Nice can mean that you preach kindness and love, but putting those words into action isn’t always done.
GRIID – GR Rapid Response approached the Catholic Diocese back in March, wanting to talk about offering Sanctuary and other support for undocumented immigrants. What was their reaction?
Karen – The diocese initially responded and suggested a meeting date of May 1, which at best betrays a cluelessness on their part about the community, or at worst, is an intentional insult. May 1 is May Day, and has been the annual date of the Día Sin Inmigrantes/Day Without Immigrants march. We reminded the diocese of that and suggested a better date, but despite multiple attempts at contact on our part, have not heard back from them again.
GRIID – What message do you think it sends to the undocumented community for faith communities to declare themselves a sanctuary?
I think it tells them that they are welcome here. That they are valued, respected human beings, who deserve to live and enjoy happiness and safety together with their families and not separated from them, just as we do. That people have the right to cross borders (borders that once crossed them), in order to make a new life for themselves or to flee the dangerous conditions in their countries that the US has had a hand in creating.
For those interested exploring the possibility of their faith community becoming a sanctuary and what that entails, you can contact GR Rapid Response to ICE at info@grrapidresponsetoice.org or leave a message on their Facebook page.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 