What Rep. Hillary Scholten, the recipient of Pro-Israel PAC money, wrote on October 7th, 2025
Rep. Hillary Scholten continues to demonstrate her allegiance to Israel and a Zionist worldview with her comments on social media. Rep. Scholten wrote:
Today, we remember the horrors of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7th. We remember the lives that were lost, we remember the communities that were changed forever by that violence and bloodshed, and we remember the hostages who remain in captivity. We remember so we will not allow the horrors of the past to be repeated. We remember so that we can continue to work towards shared peace in this region for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
There are numerous aspects of Scholten’s comments, which I want to deconstruct.
However, before I get to the comments from Rep. Scholten that were on her Facebook page, it is important to point out a few things. Rep. Hillary Scholten has been the recipient of pro-Israel contributions to the tune of $223,532.00, according to Bought By Zionism. In addition, Rep. Scholten voted in the summer of 2023 to to pass a resolution saying that Israel is not an Apartheid State. In August of 2023, Rep. Scholten went on an AIPAC funded tour of Israel, which is one of the benefits of receiving Pro-Israel lobby money. Lastly, it is worth noting that Rep. Scholten has voted for every piece of legislation that sends the regular annual US military aid to Israel, along with supplemental US military weapons sales that have been significantly larger than the $3.5 billion that the US provides to Israel annually.
Ok, now lets look at what Rep. Scholten said on her Facebook page for October 7. Rep. Scholten writes:
Today, we remember the horrors of the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7th. We remember the lives that were lost, we remember the communities that were changed forever by that violence and bloodshed, and we remember the hostages who remain in captivity.
- Rep. Scholten conveniently omits the fact that Israel has been illegal occupying Palestinian land since 1948 and that the October 7, 2023 actions by Hamas are rooted in that historical context.
- Rep. Scholten also omits that the Israeli response has been to punish Palestinians to such a degree that is is widely acknowledged that what is Israel is committing against the Palestinians is Genocide. Even a prominent Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published a report and calls what the Israeli government is doing as genocide.
- According to Drop Site News, “Over the past two years, since Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, Gaza has suffered daily attacks by Israel, according to the Government Media Office, resulting in an average of 92 Palestinians killed every single day, including 27 children and 14 women. An average of 53 families have been attacked each day, four completely wiped out, and eight reduced to a single survivor.”
- Rep. Scholten only refers to the Israeli hostages in her social media post, despite the fact that throughout the past two years, every negotiation between the Israeli government and Hamas it has been widely known that Hamas will release the hostages if Israel releases the roughly 250 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel who are serving life sentences, as well as 1,700 Gaza residents who have been detained since October 7, 2023.
Rep. Scholten goes on to say, “We remember so we will not allow the horrors of the past to be repeated.” The 3rd Congressional Representative only wants to remember what Hamas did on October 7, 2023, but she doesn’t want to talk about the 1948 Nakba, the illegal occupation, the ongoing Israeli murder of Palestinians since 1948, the torture of Palestinians, the Israeli military blockade, the manufactured famine or the violence inflicted by Israeli settlers who brutalize and kill Palestinians, along with taking their land.
Finally, Rep. Scholten says, “We remember so that we can continue to work towards shared peace in this region for Israelis and Palestinians alike.” These are hollow words regarding shared peace, especially since Rep. Schotlen has consistently voted to send billions of dollars worth of US weapons to Israel, weapons that are primarily used against unarmed civilians. It is hypocritical to say you want peace, when you arm the side that has the most powerful military in the region.
Rep. Scholten once again demonstrates her allegiance to Israel and to Zionism. In fact, her votes to fund the ongoing genocide would be considered a crime against humanity and a violation of the Genocide Convention. If the world was just, Rep. Scholten would be tried for her role in supporting and funding genocide. Despite this fact, people will still vote for her.
We need to come to terms with the history of US government repression and stop saying “this is not the US” when the most recent incident happens
Last week, ICE agents stormed an apartment complex in Chicago where witnesses say they broke down residents’ doors, smashed furniture and belongings, and dragged dozens of them, including children, placed in U-Haul vans.
In the days that followed this action by ICE there were lots of articles with headlines like, ‘Surreal Moment for America’: ICE Agents in Chicago Drag Children Out of Their Homes, Ransack Building. There were also social media posts that read – Putting an apartment building under siege and rappelling from Black Hawk helicopters into the apartment building is NOT the United States.
I certainly understand the sentiment, the outrage and the visceral reaction to such brutal repression by a US government agency. However, such actions are part of the very fabric of what the US government has been doing since it was founded. In fact, the US was founded on the genocide of Indigenous people and the enslavement of African people.
Now, I know that good, white liberals know this, but if they know this, then why do they respond to the recent ICE action in Chicago by saying this is NOT the US? I’m not sure of this a lack of awareness, a lack of education about US history, or the possibility that people are in denial about this history. I think it is a combination of these three elements, but being in denial might be the most powerful.
If people believe the narrative created by those in powerful, that the US is the greatest country on the planet or that the US is a shining example of democracy, then to be confronted with the reality that this is simply not true would radically alter how people move forward, particularly in terms of how we view one administration from another. In other words, if political repression was a constant, which it has been, then we have to come to terms with the fact that government repression is a bi-partisan practice.
I’m not sure why we don’t own up to the fact that the US was founded on genocide and slavery, but maybe that is because those are somewhat vague concepts. What follows are some concrete examples of US government repression that makes what ICE did in Chicago last week seem rather tepid.
1838 Trail of Tear – The US Military forcibly removed Indigenous people from 5 different Indigenous nations in order to provide more land to white settlers in the state of Georgia. The forced removal resulted in the deaths of thousands of indigenous people, including children and the elderly.
1864 Sand Creek Massacre – US troops killed 230 people, most of which were women, children, and elders of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations at sunrise on November 29, 1864 at Big Sandy Creek in southeastern Colorado.
As a result of the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) – in 1885 and 1886, at least 168 communities carried out Chinese expulsion and self-deportation campaigns. These campaigns resulted in the destruction of Chinese businesses, homes and several massacres.
1919/1920 Palmer Raids – The US Attorney General oversaw the arrest of thousands of people who were speaking out against the US participation in WWI, but mostly because of the labor organizing being done by people who identified as anarchists, socialists and communists. 6,000 people were arrested across 36 cities. with 556 foreign citizens being deported, including a number of prominent leftist leaders.
Japanese internment was the forced incarceration of over 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most of whom were American citizens, during World War II, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fueled by prejudice and wartime hysteria, Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast into government-run “relocation centers” or internment camps.
Forced sterilization has been systematically used against Black, Indigenous, and Latina women in the United States since the early 20th century, rooted in racist eugenics policies that disproportionately targeted poor women of color. These practices were driven by the racist belief that these women were “unfit” to be mothers and that controlling their reproduction would solve social problems and reduce welfare costs.
On May 13, 1985, the streets of Philadelphia shook with such force that some thought a gas main had blown. The quake, as it turned out, was the result of the Philadelphia Police Department dropping a bomb on the headquarters of MOVE, a Black liberation and environmentalist organization located in West Philadelphia. The bomb killed 11 people, including five children, and the resulting fire destroyed an entire city block.
These are only 7 examples of how the US government has engaged in repression against mostly communities of color, but it is important to note that this has been a constant throughout US history.
We need to stop romanticizing the US around the issue of government repression and start coming to terms with the fact that this has been an ongoing shit show. Where we can take some comfort or even inspiration, is from the incredible courage, efforts and sacrifices that hundreds of thousands of people have made throughout US history to combat government repression. This is the lesson we can learn from Chicago, to see that people are fighting back in the face of government repression, instead of being shocked by what the US government has been doing since it was founded. Power to the People!
Sources used:
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States, by Erika Lee American Intolerance: Our Dark History of Demonizing Immigrants, by Robert Bartholomew & Anja Reumschussel
A Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas 1492 to the Present, by Ward Churchill
An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States, by Kyle Mays
American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy, and the Science of Nationalism, by Nancy Ordover
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America, by Christopher Finan
WOODTV8 not only takes ICE at their word, they do nothing to find out how ICE terrorism impacts immigrants in West Michigan
On Friday, WOODTV8 ran a 1 minute and 8 seconds story regarding the possibility that ICE might be targeting high school students across the country and in the Grand Rapids area.
The story is framed poorly, since they disproportionately relying on a Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson. Early on in the WOODTV8 story that newsreader says:
Asked by News 8 if there is an active operation focusing on undocumented children, an ICE representative said the department offers a voluntary option for those kids to go back to their home country and receive financial support. The agency claims the children were dangerously smuggled into the country by cartels.
A basic principle of journalism would have been to verify the ICE claim that children were smuggled into the country by cartels. This was not the case, which means channel 8 took ICE at their word.
The story then shifts to provide some commentary from a Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) spokesperson who was quoted as saying:
“Our advice for individuals and families (is to) remember the basic rights. Those aren’t changing, even in these more pressured circumstances. That’s the right to consult with an attorney before signing any document, the right to choose whether to sign a document, nobody can make that choice for someone else.” “
In contrast, ICE spokesperson Emily Covington was quoted as saying:
“These allegations are categorically false. The anti-ICE activists have made up a ridiculous term, ‘Freaky Friday,’ to instill fear and spread misinformation that drives the increased violence occurring against federal law enforcement. Cartels trafficked countless unaccompanied children into the United States during the Biden Administration, and DHS and HHS have been working diligently to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those children.”
The MIRC spokesperson provides legal advice, but the ICE spokesperson again makes several claims that are not verified, plus they refer to anyone who is critical of ICE as “anti-ICE activists.” In addition, for the ICE spokesperson to make the claim that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services are working to “ensure the safety and wellbeing of those children,” is simply absurd.
This story by WOODTV8 not only failed to verify claims made by ICE, it demonstrated that they view ICE as a necessary institution within the federal government. Like Most commercial news agencies, ICE, like any other law enforcement agencies are viewed as important for the safety and security of society. In the last two GRIID news studies, one from 2024 and the other from 2025, I demonstrated how overtly pro-police the four major daily news sources are in the Grand Rapids market.
It is also important to note that WOODTV8 did not talk directly to immigrant communities about what MIRC was saying regarding ICE and unaccompanied minors in this community. Channel 8 also did not talk to groups like Movimiento Cosecha, which had conducted patrols on Friday in case ICE was going to target high school age immigrant students.
In the end, WOODTV8 did a very short and poorly reported story on ICE activity in Grand Rapids, despite the fact that groups like Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are aware of dozens of ICE arrests in recent months that has exponentially increased fear and panic in the various immigrant communities in the Grand Rapids area. In fact, WOODTV8 has done very few stories about ICE arrests of immigrants, but they have a whole page devoted to ArtPrize stories, which demonstrates what receives priority from the NBC affiliate.
Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE organized to resist ICE terrorism in Grand Rapids
On Thursday, several national immigration justice groups, like the Acacia Center for Justice, sent out the following messages to local and state organizations, along with Rapid Response to ICE groups that are popping up all over the country.
We are reaching out to share deeply concerning information we’ve just received. Beginning tomorrow, ICE will launch an operation reportedly named “Freaky Friday,” targeting unaccompanied children aged 14 and older of all nationalities.
What we’ve learned – Children detained and released will be sent a “threat” letter from ICE threatening indefinite detention and immediate transfer to ICE upon age-out if they do not waive jurisdiction under the TVPRA and withdraw applications for relief.
Children will be offered $2,500 to return to their countries of origin. If children do not comply with the “offer”, the letter intimates their parents in the US will be arrested.
ICE plans to detain all age-outs, and they anticipate legal challenges. There are indications that the age threshold for this threat letter may be lowered to 10 years old.
We understand they plan to first target detained children but will also target children released from custody.
This message was also verified by numerous independent groups like the National Immigration Justice Center and media sources, like The Intercept.
In Grand Rapids, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE circulated information in both Spanish and English to prepare people for possible increased ICE activities, without unnecessarily creating a panic.
In addition, these groups posted the What to Do If ICE Shows Up cards, which are also in Spanish and English.
However, besides sharing these resources, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response mobilized several teams to patrol in neighborhoods where schools are located, both in the early morning and again around the time that students would be getting out of school.
The teams that were deployed saw very little ICE activity and it is difficult to know if they were a deterrent or not. What we do know is that parents of students and residents that live near the schools were delighted that there were patrols to keep ICE out. Several of the people who were out on patrols were wearing Chinga La Migra shirts, shirts which translate to “Fuck ICE.” This message made those doing patrols more approachable to residents who are at risk of ICE kidnappings. Those on patrol were also distributing hard copies of the What to Do If ICE Shows Up cards.
Movimiento Cosecha also made several videos, like this one, to also communicate clear messages to members of the affected community, so has to not promote panic, but to promote organized resistance.
Indeed, this type of organized resistance is critical when dealing with ICE agents who are growing in numbers with additional federal funding and who have been given free reign by the Trump Administration to go after anyone, especially those who “look like immigrants” – which means this is clearly a form of racial profiling.
As someone who is part of GR Rapid Response to ICE, I highly recommend that people get trained and join this resistance work, which is right now the best way to practice solidarity with the immigrant community. Also, follow Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE on social media. It is time that we move beyond merely protesting ICE repression and start resisting ICE terrorism. Our liberation is directly linked to the liberation of those most targeted by oppression.
It has been 2 years since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Ireland Shows That Divesting From Israeli Crimes Is Possible and Necessary
“Shameful”: Israel Seizes Gaza-Bound Vessels & Detains 400+, But More Boats Are Now Heading to Gaza
When Palestinians Die in Israeli Captivity, US Media Almost Never Take Note
Gaza doctors warn of “wholesale extermination”; Trump to meet with Netanyahu
“More Dangerous by the Hour”: A Report From Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City
Bombing of Hospitals and Mass Slaughter of Civilians Continues in Gaza as Trump, Netanyahu Meet
How Hamas Is Navigating Trump’s Gaza Ultimatum
We Said “We Will Block Everything” and We Did: Inside Italy’s Strike for Gaza
Analysis & History
Trump’s Gaza Plan Is Mere “Repackaging of Genocide” for Israel’s Benefit: Diana Buttu
Breaking Down Trump’s 20-Point Gaza Proposal
THE TRUMP–NETANYAHU GAZA PEACE DEAL PROMISES INDEFINITE OCCUPATION
Image used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/visual/edited-out/
4 session GRIID class on the history of US immigration policy in November at Fountain St. Church
This class is designed to provide important historical context around the issue of immigration and immigration policy. We will be using various reading materials to assist us in understanding the complexities of US Immigration policy, major themes in US Immigration policy since the country was founded, grounding our understanding of immigration policy in light of what is happening now.
In addition to specific policies, this 4 session class will discuss significant changes that occurred with the US Government around the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2001, the creation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2003 and the proliferation of ICE Detention Centers.
There will also be some focus on countering the narratives around undocumented immigrants, specifically the economic issues that the anti-immigration sectors have been pushing in recent decades.
The other areas of focus will be on looking at the root causes for why people, especially those coming through the US/Mexican border, are coming to the US. Lastly, there will be discussion around a larger immigration justice framework looks like and what is happening in West Michigan around immigrant justice work.
There is no cost for the 4 sessions. The dates of the 4 sessions are:
Sunday, November 2, 9, 16 & 23 from 12:30 – 2:00 PM, in the Fountain St. Chapel.
Free parking on the street and at the GRCC garage located across from the church at Fountain and Library Streets (please note: free parking ends at 3:00 PM)
Progressives in the Park in Grand Rapids is really just business as usual in the park
This Saturday at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids, the Kent County Democratic Party is hosting what they are calling Progressives in the Park.
The event happens from 1 – 3pm at Riverside Park and you can find more details here. Besides the Facebook link, the local Democrats are also using video to invite people, such as this video that features Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand and Phil Skaggs who is running for State Senate, District 29.
This video essentially is about promoting Democratic Party candidates, along with, as LaGrand says, “every organization in West Michigan that we could get our hands on doing good, progressive work.”
It is very instructive that Skaggs and LaGrand are the ones promoting this event, considering how awful they have been on critical issues, particularly issues that impact BIPOC people.
While Skaggs was a Kent County Commissioner he refused to publicly support the Cosecha/GR Rapid Response to ICE campaign to end the contract that Kent County had with ICE. In fact, while we were showing up to county commission meetings, often disrupting them, Skaggs referred to those acts of resistance as “Bolshevik cosplay.” Skaggs also actively acted those involved in the campaign and engaged in repeated gaslighting of immigrant justice activists. Even more insulting was after ICE ended their contract with Kent County in 2019, Skaggs was one of several Democratic County Commissioners taking credit for the contract ended. This is pure fantasy, and I highly recommend you read my article, A People’s History of the End the Contract Campaign in Kent County.
During LaGrand’s brief time as Mayor of Grand Rapids he has also taken a very antagonistic position against Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE, which began a campaign in January to get the city to adopt sanctuary policies.
LaGrand has consistently over the past 9 months has said that the GRPD’s policy on immigration is adequate and demonstrates that they will not cooperate with ICE. As someone who has followed these matters closely for years, the policy that the City Manager was referring to, is known as the Foreign National’s Policy. This policy clear states:
The policy allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents.
Immigrant Justice organizers even held a protest outside of LaGrand’s home even knocking on the door, but the Mayor refused to come out and talk. Then in late July, over 50 people spoke in favor of the sanctuary policies at a City Commission meeting, which also included some street theater and chanting. LaGrand’s response was to instruct the GRPD cops who were present to arrest people.
A month later, while speaking on a public access TV show, Mayor LaGrand talked shit about Movimiento Cosecha and said that the sanctuary policy demands were “silly and bizarre.” Then, just last week, LaGrand did not show up to a forum organized by Cosecha to talk about how ICE is terrorizing immigrants in Grand Rapids.
Electoral Politics is the graveyard of social movements
There is always an endless effort on the part of Democrats, of all stripes, to tell those who are doing the hard work of resistance and building news community systems for collective liberation, that we should drop what we are doing and help their candidates get elected.
This call to get Democrats elected, even if they claim to be progressive, is a constant. However, was have to ask ourselves how this benefits the movement work many of us are engaged in? It rarely ever does. Just recently, after the 2022 elections, the Democrats had total control of politics in Michigan. So, what did we get? There were a few overturn policies like the Right to Work policy that Republicans put in place when Snyder was Governor, but overall there were not real policies change that made systemic changes. Line 5 still exists, the Democrats still voted for increased police funding, maintaining the Prison Industrial Complex, massive subsidies to developers, plus they refused to adopt the policies that renters have been demanding.
Additionally, immigrant justice activists were told that if they supported Democrats in the 2022 Election, they would pass the Drive Safe bills, which would give undocumented immigrants the chance to obtain a driver’s license. The Democrats failed the immigrant community and even during the lame duck session could not get enough votes from their own party to win what they promised to immigrants.
This has been a historical pattern by the Democratic Party, where they promise policy changes but don’t deliver. I would highly recommend that people read Lance Selfa’s book, The Democrats: A Critical History, which methodically demonstrates how the Democrats betray popular movements. In addition, check out Sheldon Wolin’s, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism, along with From Democracy to Freedom: The Difference Between Government and Self-Determination.
Look, I am not going to tell people to not vote, unlike Democrats who will shame people for not voting for them. People should make up their owns minds about who to vote for or whether to vote at all. What I am saying is that if you think that we can vote ourselves out of this mess, then you are not learning from the history of US social movements and are buying into the narrative that the US used to be some sort of haven for freedom and democracy. Sweet Jesus, the country was founded on genocide and slavery.
The Progressives in the Park event will be just one more con job by the Democrats to convince us to not only vote for them, but to spend more time getting their candidates elected than do the work of organized resistance and creating new ways of practicing collective liberation. #AbolishICE #FreePalestine #Justice4Patrick #BurntheRich
The billionaire families of DeVos & Van Andel have hired a Chicago-based Real Estate developer for the 3 tower project in Grand Rapids
There has been some news coverage of the decision by the DeVos and Van Andel families to hire the Magellan Development Group to work on the three towers project at Fulton and Market streets in downtown Grand Rapids.
This comes as no surprise considering the kinds of high-end projects that the Magellan Development Group features on their website. I mean, let’s be clear, the DeVos and Van Andel three towers project is about making money and attracting members of the Capitalist and Professional classes to live in the condos and apartments that will be part of the project.
The three towers project will include 76 condos, a 130-room hotel – with rates that start at $400 a night, plus there will be 595 market-rate apartments that will cost $2,643 per month for a studio apartment, $2,833 for a one-bedroom, and $3,401 for a two-bedroom. Most people who live in Grand Rapids can’t afford these prices, which is why I say the housing options will be for the Capitalist and Professional classes.
This is not just my opinion, since LinkedIn released its new list of cities on the rise, which highlights emerging U.S. cities that offer both “vibrant job markets and growing professional communities.” In fact, LinkedIn named Grand Rapids, Michigan, area the No. 1 spot in the country.
Then there is the little matter of what the President of Magellan Development Group said about the DeVos and Van Andel families:
“The DeVos and Van Andel families’ long-term stewardship of Grand Rapids makes this opportunity so special — and their vision aligns perfectly with our commitment to build something that truly belongs here and serves the city for generations.”
What this statement clearly signifies is that the President of the Magellan Development Group embraces the same worldview and ideological framework that the DeVos and Van Andel families do. If this guy thinks that they are stewards of Grand Rapids, then the DeVos and Van Andel families made the right choice to hire the Magellan Development Group.
An article on the GR& Riverfront site also clarifies why the billionaires families chose the Chicago-basrd real estate developer. They write:
“For Magellan, Grand Rapids stood out as a city ready for this scale of investment.
- Civic alignment: With community, business, and elected leaders rallying behind the Acrisure Amphitheater, Amway Stadium, and riverfront redevelopment, Grand Rapids signaled it is in growth mode.
- Market demand: The city is primed for new levels of residential and hospitality offerings, with unmet demand for high-quality urban living spaces.
- Stewardship: The ownership families’ stewardship and commitment to the community were decisive factors.
For Ryan Schell, Magellan’s Vice President of Development, the decision was also personal. A Michigan native, Schell has spent time in Grand Rapids throughout his life and returns often with his family. “I’ve seen this city grow and evolve,” Schell said. “To now help shape this site — steps from the amphitheater and riverfront development — is incredibly exciting. The opportunity is here, and it’s exactly the kind of project that aligns with our expertise.”
For those of us who actually live in Grand Rapids and have not bought into the DeVos and Van Andel model of entrepreneurship, we see them as occupiers, looters and exploiters. Remember, the Three Towers project, which is estimated to cost $738 million, was gifted $565 million in tax breaks. DeVos and Van Andel are just the opposite of stewards.
Being a steward means carefully and responsibly managing something that has been entrusted to your care, but does not belong to you. The opposite of being a steward would then be someone who carelessly and irresponsibly disrupts or destroys something that does not belong to them. This defines who the DeVos and Van Andel families really are.
GRIID articles on the billionaires families of DeVos & Van Andel and their three towers project:
GR Chamber of Commerce group Housing Next says there are 4 Roadblocks to Housing in Grand Rapids, but I have a much different list
The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce created group Housing Next says that have a plan to create more housing. In a recent message headlined, 4 Roadblocks to Housing and How You Can Help Remove Them, they provide a brief narrative and the following list:
Housing demand is outpacing supply, but delays are driving up the cost of housing. Right now, developers and architects across West Michigan are facing these barriers, which slow progress and increase costs.
Here are four challenges they’ve identified:
- Local planning commissions lack the data to make informed decisions
- Zoning inconsistencies and unclear expectations vary by municipality
- Delayed feedback loops drag out timelines and inflate budgets
- Financing hurdles make too many good projects fall apart on paper
The plan for change regarding housing availability and cost are what you would expect from a GR Chamber of Commerce created group, which I have written about in recent years.
Housing Next sees the issue as supply and demand as the major problem with housing in this market. This is a flawed view of housing. What I would propose, and what tenant unions across the country are proposing, is a much different list, or a list that would offer real solutions instead of the false solutions that Housing Next offers.
- Make housing a human right, not subject to Capitalism. Everyone should have a decent and safe place to live. If housing were a fundamental right it would not be part of the system of market capitalism, which makes most housing unaffordable. Housing as a human right would guarantee a place to live……period!
- According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition renters in Michigan need to earn $26.33 an hour in order to afford a two bedroom rental in Grand Rapids. This just covers housing costs, so a more realistic living wage would be more like $40 an hour. If you want to make more housing affordable for people, then pay them a living wage!
- Government regulated rent control. Rent Control was proposed in 2023, while the Democrats control the state legislature in Michigan, but it never got out of committee. However, just because there is no state regulated rent control that doesn’t mean that renters can’t demand it from their landlords and Property Management Companies. Tenant Unions have been demand rent control and have won in many cases.
- Confront Landlords and Property Management Companies in their homes and offices, making life uncomfortable for them until they meet the demands of tenants.
- Create more co-operative housing options. We should not expect governments to do this, but create them ourselves.
- Limit large corporate property management companies or real estate investors from operating in Grand Rapids/Kent County.
- End government subsidies/tax breaks for developers. We need to pressure local governments from using public money to subsidize the for-profit housing system – developers, contractors, etc.
- Lastly, join the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union and fight for housing rights and housing justice.
There are lots of other possible tactics and strategies that could be developed to address the current housing crisis, but we need a social movement to confront the current market driven housing system and to implement non-market housing solutions. We cannot be fooled by groups like Housing Next, nor can we allow them to continue to dictate the narrative about how to address the current housing crisis.
Deconstructing Memes: when liberals misrepresent what it means to be antifa
Last Monday the Trump Administration issued another executive order which designated the antifa as a “major terror organization.”
This should not come as a surprise, considering during the first Trump Administration the President also referred to antifa as “terrorist organization” in 2020, specifically in reference to the George Floyd uprisings all across the country.
Such designations of domestic terrorism have also happened under previous administrations, such as the nearly unanimous adoption of the USA Patriot Act in 2001, which also included language that identified domestic terrorism in such a way as to allow the federal government to target leftist groups that many would refer to as anti-fascist.
The same was true during the Palmer Raids, where federal agents were targeting, arresting, incarcerating and even deporting hundreds of people who were part of the more militant labor movements and those opposing WWI. For an excellent source see the book, From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America.
This brings us to the meme I want to deconstruct, especially since the meme refers to US military generals – Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton – as founding members of antifa. This claim is patently false. In Mark Bray’s book, ANTIFA: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, the author makes it clear that the first anti-fascists that were using such a designation were in various parts of Europe that were resisting the fascist government of Mussolini in the 1920s, and with German and other European groups resisting the Nazi Party. I would also recommend Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, and Gord Hill’s, The Antifa Comic Book: 100 Years of Fascism and Antifa Movements.
A second point that we can make about what it means to be anti-fascist or antifa, is that you don’t operate hierarchical model, like the military. Anti-fascists are people who more often than not identify as anarchist or socialists and are generally leaderless, often using the consensus process to make decisions. The US military is most definitely is a hierarchical system, where most people take orders from people like military generals.
A third aspect of what is problematic about this meme is that it over simplifies what role the US military played in WWII. It is worth noting that there were local Italian and French antifascist groups that were able to win back their communities and cities from fascist forces, but those were often removed from power by British and US forces who came through after the German and Italian fascists were defeated by their own people. As Noam Chomsky notes in his book, Deterring Democracy, US and and British military forces actively removed the socialist, anarchist and communist movements that had defeated the fascists in Europe. Chomsky states that these antifascist forces were often replaced by fascists collaborators they had defeated, “to weaken unions and other popular organizations, and to block the threat of radical democracy and social reform.” The fascist collaborators were more inclined to embrace capitalism and the social order that came with it, which means that the US and British military ended up being complicit with fascism by putting fascist collaborators in charge of cities in France, Italy and Germany.
I understand the sentiment behind this meme, but this is a standard liberal interpretation of anti-fascism that is not rooted in historical fact and ignores the role that the US government has played in collaborating with fascist governments since WWII. The Trump Administration, like previous administrations will use the US military and cops to target and hunt down those are actually practice anti-fascism by engaging in direct action, being anti-capitalist and acting as autonomous efforts to oppose systems of power and oppression.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 