Anti-Sanctuary Commissioner Zach Lahring ran on the campaign slogan, Make Muskegon Great Again
Muskegon County Commission Zach Lahring has been getting a great deal of press lately.
The County Commissioner has made a name for himself in recent months for taking two major political stands. First, Lahring pushed the commission to vote against continuing a lease for Planned Parenthood, which had been leasing space from Muskegon County. The conservative county commissioner framed Planned Parenthood as a “political” organization, even though he, and his supporter, objected to Planned Parenthood on religious grounds.
The second, and more recent controversy, involves Lahring’s effort to challenge Muskegon’s County’s decision to be a “Welcoming Community.” Lahring believes that being a Welcoming Community means that Muskegon County is a sanctuary community, which it is not. However, Lahring, has been successful in raising this point, since his goal was to talk about the need for Muskegon County official to cooperate with ICE and to push his anti-immigration agenda.
Zach Lahring was only elected to the Muskegon County Commission last November, but he is following the Trump school of political organizing, both by being brash in public and by pushing overtly racist policies. Lahring campaign slogan last year was, Make Muskegon Great Again.
Lahring promotes many of the same Neo-Liberal policies that groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Acton Institute or the Mackinac Center for Public Policy does, policies that benefit the business class and penalizes everyone else. In March, Lahring challenged the county’s policy of only hiring companies with unionized workers, arguing that it costs taxpayers more. However, the playbook of the Neo-Liberals is not to really defend taxpayers, but to undermine unions.
Lahring brags about how he was trained at the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC), an entity founded by former Constitutional Party Presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka. This is how the IOTC sums up their mission, “There is a God, our rights come from him and the purpose of civil government is to protect our God-given rights.”
If you go to Lahring’s Facebook page, you get a clear sense of where he is coming from, with regular posts that vilify immigrants and Muslims. Lahring also was endorsed by Michigan Right to Life and regularly posts about abortion, links to pro-gun sites and why socialism is not Christian. In short, Muskegon County Commissioner Zach Lahring is the kind of politician that normalizes violence against the most vulnerable people in society and he is clearly committed to imposing a broad Neo-Liberal agenda on the residents of Muskegon County.
The New Gilded Age in Grand Rapids: Why so few, control so much
We are living in an era that could easily be described as the New Gilded Age. A small faction of the world’s population controls over half of the world’s wealth.
This vast wealth gap was confirmed in a recent document published by the Global Wealth Report, which says that the number of millionaires has grown to 47 million. The report also stated that this growing class of rich people, which makes up 0.9% of the world’s population, now controls nearly half of the global wealth, estimated to be $361 Trillion.
In many ways these numbers make it difficult to even fathom the vast amounts of wealth that so few have, while billions struggle to survive. If we just looked at Kent County, we know that there were at least 600 millionaires in 2014, compared to just 407 in 2010. There are also a few billionaires living in Kent County, with names that are familiar to most.
The DeVos and Meijer families are both worth billions. According to Forbes, Doug & Hank Meijer are worth $10.7 Billion and the now deceased Richard DeVos was worth $5.7 Billion upon his death. We don’t know the combined wealth of all the DeVos family members, but if we just look at the wealth of the two Meijer heirs and Richard DeVos, the total comes to $16.4 Billion.
Now there are roughly 200,000 people who live in Grand Rapids. If we divided up the wealth of these two families amongst the entire population of Grand Rapids, that would mean that every person, not every household, every person would get $72,500. For some people this may not seem like a great deal of money, but there are tens of thousands of people in Grand Rapids who make less than $72,500 a year and that amount of money would radically improve their quality of life.
How about housing? If we say that on average a house in Grand Rapids goes for $200,000, 72,500 homes could be purchased with the wealth of Meijer and DeVos. This would mean that 72,500 homes could be paid for, which would mean pretty much all of the homes in the city, since the average family size is 4. This would eliminate homelessness, people having to work 2 jobs to pay rent, people facing foreclosure or having to decide if they have heat in the winter or can afford their current mortgage.
Imagine what $16.4 Billion would do to cover health care costs for people in Grand Rapids? How about paying for a mass transit system that would radically reduce the need for cars in the city? $16.4 billion could pay for solar energy for the entire city. $16.4 Billion could provide every student who is currently in K-12 with free college tuition. What would $16.4 Billion do to pay for dealing with lead exposure for children in Grand Rapids, making sure that every family ate healthy food or that no senior citizen had to worry about paying for prescription drugs. $16.4 Billion would go a long way to pay for reparations for African Americans in Grand Rapids. Hell, $16.4 Billion would wipe away the debt of every African American in Grand Rapids, pay for a new home, health care costs, education and pretty much anything else, just from the wealth of these two families.
Now, if so much could be done to not only alleviate suffering in Grand Rapids, from the wealth of just two families, plus the few other billionaires and the 600 millionaires in Kent County, but could radically improve the lives of everyone living in Grand Rapids, then wouldn’t it stand to reason that so few people controlling so much wealth is an absolute injustice.
In addition, the class of people, the millionaires and the billionaires are constantly buying politicians to keep re-directing more public money into their pockets. So, the question we should be asking ourselves is why are we not rioting? Do we actually think that this much wealth was actually earned by these two families? We know their names and they have addresses.
Movimiento Cosecha GR asks the City of Grand Rapids to pass a resolution in favor of drivers licenses for the undocumented community
Last night 18 people spoke during the public comment at the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to encourage the commissioners to pass a resolution that would endorse the statewide campaign known as Drivers Licenses for All.
Some people spoke in Spanish and some in English. Those who spoke addressed all aspects – safety, economic, mobility, social and how having a drivers license would significantly reduce the fear of being detained by ICE – of the Drivers Licenses for All campaign, which you can read in both English and Spanish at the document linked here.
One of the organizers with Movimiento Cosecha GR, Gema Lowe, shared a story about a friend who was stopped by police and then arrested for not having a drivers license. The woman who was stopped has children, which also meant that those children experienced trauma because their mother was arrested and detained by ICE.
Gema also told the commission that she recently had surgery and had to ask friends and family to driver her daughter to school, so she knows how important it is for immigrants to be able to obtain a license and meet the needs of their families.
Cosecha organizers from Kalamazoo also spoke, since Kalamazoo recently passed a resolution at the city and county level, demonstrating that local government bodies can indeed support these kinds of efforts.
Sr. Klingman, a member of the Grand Rapids Dominicans, addressed the commission and and urged them to support the resolution. Her religious order has endorsed the Drivers Licenses for All campaign and believes this issue is critical if the city believes in equity and justice for all.
There were several other people who spoke during public comment, who came to address other issues, but added that they too supported Cosecha’s desire to have the City pass a resolution in support of Drivers Licenses for All. One of those who spoke was Russ Olmstead, who is on the board of Equity PAC. He read a document from the city, which made clear that the city government must support the drivers licenses campaign, based on City’s own previous statements.
Commissioner O’Connor read a letter sent by the Mayor in April in support of changing the law in Michigan to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. O’Connor read it in such a way to suggest that they don’t need to do anything. Two commissioners followed up this comment by suggesting that the letter should be made into a resolution that could be adopted by the City Commission.
Who are the some of the largest donors to the Student Advancement Foundation and what does that mean for the GRPS?
The Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization serving as the strategic fundraising partner of the Grand Rapids Public Schools. Our purpose is to raise, grow and steward funds and other community resources to support the Grand Rapids Public Schools for the benefit of its students.
This above statement is directly from the website of the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation. As someone who constantly examines the members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and how they use their money to influence public policy, we are regularly looking at the foundations of those who seek to impose their will on the rest of us.
According to the 990 documents of foundations run by some of the most wealthy families in West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation has received roughly $2.5 million from the very sector that is working to undermine teacher’s unions and the very sector that supports a Neo-Liberal education model. Here is a list of the major donors to the Grand Rapids Students Advancement Foundation, based on Foundation records between 2015 & 2017.
- Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation $1,122,800
- Cheri DeVos/CDV 5 Foundation $770,000
- Steven & Amy Van Andel Foundation $250,000
- Jandernoa Foundation $109,500
- Richard & Helen DeVos Foundation $30,000
- Peter Secchia Foundation $25,035
- David & Carol Van Andel Foundation $5,700
I sent an e-mail to the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation (GRSAF), asking them if those who contribute large sums of money have any say in what the money is used for. I will post a response, once they respond.
It is a safe assumption, however, given how foundation money often has strings attached, that these members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure would have some influence in what the GRSAF funds are used for at the Grand Rapids Public Schools. In fact, we should all be asking how this money is used by the GRPS. Does major funding from those within the Grand Rapids Power Structure, who’s members have been promoting a Neo-Liberal education model for years, impact the GRPS in any significant way? Are these wealthy families behind the push to further privatize the GRPS and create charter-like schools? Are they part of the business advisory council that the GRPS has admitted to having and do they have any saying in the curriculum at the new academies, which are clearly designed to create future workers in very specific fields?
The public deserves to know the answers to these questions and students, parents, teachers and community members demand that the Grand Rapids Public Schools practice complete transparency on all of these issues.
MLive editorial says elected officials should be held accountable, yet their coverage of Inequity in the 3rd Ward gives elected officials a free pass
Last Thursday, the editorial staff of MLive wrote a piece about the lack of equitable funding and investment into the 3rd Ward of Grand Rapids. The opinion piece states earlier on:
Yet the city government has failed – time and again – to invest equally in the Third Ward. And that needs to change now.
However, the editorial piece from MLive doesn’t offer up any conclusions as to why this inequity has occurred, nor do they offer any examples of how it could be fixed. Last Wednesday, we wrote that much of the problem in the third ward stems from the fact that structural racism is deeply rooted in this community and that Neo-Liberal Capitalism is also to blame.
MLive has also published several additional articles about the 3rd ward and the lack of resources and investment going to that part of the city. On October 16, MLive posted a story headlined, Southtown aspires to be ‘secondary downtown’ in Grand Rapids’ oft-ignored ward , which focuses on the Southtown Corridor Improvement District. The Southtown Corridor Improvement District is primarily made up of business owners or representatives of business districts in the third ward, a fact that demonstrates that the city thinks that only business people know anything about investment or community empowerment. MLive repeats the notion that business knows best by suggesting that the 3rd Ward follow the examples of what has happened on Leonard Street, Bridge Street and Wealthy Street. Granted, these areas have been invested in by numerous business people, but we rarely asked who has been the primary beneficiaries of this investment. White people have been the primary beneficiaries, particularly white people who already had class privilege, while people of color and some poor working class whites have been displaced by increased rent costs in those areas or because the places they were living in were bulldozed to make room for new development projects.
Additional articles by MLive were also written last week, articles that came out after the initial piece that pointed out that the 3rd Ward of Grand Rapids was not getting the same kind of government and private investment that the rest of the city was seeing. However, the rest of the MLive pieces tended to focus on what those with power will do and not on what the public, or in this case, what the residents of the 3rd Ward might want.
The October 15th MLive story focuses on what City Manager Mark Washington is planning on doing, partly based on his experience as City Manager in Austin, Texas. The other MLive piece (Oct. 16) is essentially a video tour of the 3rd Ward, narrated by 3rd Ward Commissioner Senita Lenear. The video shows us people from the 3rd Ward, but we never hear from them, instead Commissioner Lenear gets to frame the issue as she sees it. This MLive piece was not what journalism should look like. Reporters should not be sending out video-graphers to films what those with political power want them to see and provide them with a voiceover opportunity. The function of journalism should be to hold those with political and economic power accountable. In fact, in the editorial piece from MLive on October 17, the editorial staff writes:
At the end of the day, it is our elected leaders who we must hold accountable for ensuring that all residents of Grand Rapids are treated fairly and granted equal opportunities, and that includes getting their fair share of parks and city-induced economic development.
Sadly, the reporters who wrote the pieces last week about the lack of equity in the city’s 3rd Ward, did not hold elected leaders accountable, instead they provided them with an uncritical forum to say what they wanted.
But what would accountability from the news media look like? First, MLive could have looked at all of the City Budget discussions since Senita Lenear was elected in the fall of 2014, to see what the 3rd Ward Commissioner did to fight for more equitable funding for the ward she represents. Second, MLive could have looked at the commissioner’s voting record as it related to funding issues or development projects. Lastly, MLive could have looked at who have been the major campaign funders backing Lenear as she has run for the 3rd Ward seat. There are campaign finance records that are easily accessed from the County Clerk’s office. One section of Commissioner Lenear’s 2014 campaign finance reports tells an interesting story about who back her first campaign.
Almost every contributor in that 2014 document represents individuals or entities that have tremendous power in Grand Rapids and the State of Michigan. The first contributor listed is Charlie Secchia, the son of Peter Secchia, who contributed $500, followed by Stephen Van Andel, who also kicked in $500. Then there are 12 separate contributions that all come from 126 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 500. This address belongs to the DeVos Family and RDV Corporation. The 12 separate contributions total $2,850, all coming from DeVos family members or personnel that works for them. Therefore, we have to ask, does this amount of funding from the DeVos family provide them with unlimited access to Commissioner Lenear? Does the 3rd Ward Commissioner seek their counsel? More importantly, which interests does Commissioner Lenear really represent, the residents of the 3rd Ward or the people who pay for her to get elected?
Rep. Lower has proposed legislation in Michigan that would punish schools not cooperating with ICE
Last month, State Representative Jim Lower introduced legislation in Lansing that would prohibit schools and school districts in Michigan from passing a resolution or adopting policy that would prevent an employee from, “communicating or cooperating with appropriate federal officials concerning the immigration status in this state.”
Rep. Lower introduced HB 4988 on September 17 of this year, just weeks after the Detroit Public Schools adopted a Sanctuary policy, affectively stating that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were not allowed to enter school property.
Lower’s proposed legislation is clearly a reaction to the Sanctuary policy that was adopted by the Detroit Public Schools, plus it sends a message to other school districts across the state, since the proposed legislation would levy civil fines (between $2,500 – $7,500) against any school district that did not cooperate with ICE agents or other Department of Homeland Security officials.
Lower, a Republican, who represents the 70th House District, is only in his second term of office for that district and has already made a name for himself as part of the Central Michigan Leadership PAC. Rep. Lower is a staunch supporter of the NRA, Michigan Right to Life and has received a 100% voting record with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Farm Bureau.
Lower has provided a substantial amount of money to his own election campaigns, along with other major campaign funders, such as:
- Michigan Realtors Association PAC $9,500
- DeVos Family $9,000
- DTE Energy PAC $8,500
- Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association $8,000
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan $5,000
- CMS Energy $5,000
In addition to voting for conservative legislation, such as the reactionary HB 4988, Lower announced earlier this year that he is running for the 3rd Congressional District, currently held by Justin Amash. According to Lower’s 3rd Congressional candidacy website, he is running to Stand with President Trump. Check out this video from Lower, which clearly demonstrates his allegiance to far right policies.
HB 4988 is currently in the Education Committee, which is chaired by Pamela Hornberger (R), with no clear timeline when it might be voted on in the House.
In the meantime, there are other communities looking to adopt Sanctuary School policies in the state. In fact, GR Rapid Response to ICE, working with Movimiento Cosecha GR, is providing a Sanctuary School Toolkit to Parents, Students and Stakeholders in Local School Districts. If you would like to obtain a copy of the Toolkit, contact GR Rapid Response to ICE on their Facebook page.
Why do we continue to ignore the role of Structural Racism and Neo-Liberal Capitalism when talking about the black community in Grand Rapids?
Within the last few days there have been a few news articles that people have been sharing on social media, articles that specifically have to do with economic issues facing the black community in Michigan and in Grand Rapids.
The first article appeared in the online news source Michigan Advance, with the headline, Michigan gets called out for having the most Black children living in concentrated poverty.
The Michigan Advance piece is based upon data in a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, looking at child poverty in the US. According to the report, Michigan has the highest rate of African American children living in poverty than anywhere else in the country.
The second article appeared on MLive yesterday, with a headline that read, Grand Rapids ward with highest black population gets least investment from city.
The MLive article focuses on the City’s 3rd ward and how there has been a lack of investment in that area, both from government and the private sector. The MLive article relies exclusively on former or current city officials, which means that those most impacted by the economic disparity are excluded from having any input.
Third Ward Commissioner Senita Lenear is referenced quite a bit in this article and talks a great deal about the need for equity in the third ward. Having more equity in the third ward would be a good thing, but there is no real conversation about how to create equity, besides advocating for more public and private investment. In fact, what is glaringly absent from both articles is a critique of structural racism and neo-liberal capitalism.
The omission of both structural racism/white supremacy and neo-liberal capitalism should not surprise us, considering most mainstream news sources do not explore these themes. In both of these news articles it is more focuses on how resilient black people are or, in the case of the MLive story, how the third ward can get the private sector to invest in the area. Ironically, calling for more private investment will likely exasperate the problem, since private investment is just one form of neo-liberal capitalism.
In fact, there has been recent private sector interest in the third ward, specifically from AmplifyGR and Start Garden. Of course, both of these entities are DeVos family creations, with AmplifyGR seeking to dictate economic policy in the Boston Square area (by spending millions on buying up property), and Start Garden attempting to convince black people that if they have a great business idea, Start Garden will give them start up money. However, both attempts have serious flaws.
The AmplifyGR model follows the White Savior model of outside investment, but only on the terms that benefit those doing the saving. The Start Garden model might benefit a few select members of the black community, but it ignores the larger, structural problems caused by white supremacy and capitalism. I mean, what does it say about the economic system of capitalism, when people in Grand Rapids have to pitch business ideas within a contest format, with money supplied by the wealthiest family in the area, and then that same family gets to keep some of the profits made by the few black business ideas that are successful.
There are some real alternatives and solutions. Look at what the Movement for Black Lives has been advocating over the past few years. Their platform is very comprehensive and includes the following: An End to the War on Black People, Reparations, Divest-Invest, Economic Justice, Community Control and Political Power.
Implementing this kind of platform would not only confront structural racism and neo-liberal capitalism, it would eliminate the need for the AmplifyGR and Start Gardens of the world.
(Editor’s note: I am writing as someone who is a beneficiary of Settler Colonialism and addressing what the State of Michigan did with regards to their declaration. I do not want to downplay how this declaration is viewed by indigenous people, as their views on this matter are theirs.)
Recently it was announced that Michigan’s Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, declared October 14, 2019 as Indigenous People’s Day.
Many non-indigenous people have already declared this to be a great victory of Michigan and a demonstration of equity and inclusion. It is a good start………but a whole lot more needs to happen. In fact, even some of the language within the declaration is problematic, so lets take a look at some of that language.
The second paragraph of the declaration states:
WHEREAS, in 1990, representatives from 120 Indigenous Nations at the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance unanimously passed a resolution to transform Columbus Day into an opportunity to reveal historical truths about pre-existing indigenous cultures that have survived an often violent colonization process and continue to exist and thrive in present day America; and,
This part of the declaration is not so much problematic, but it does omit something. The European invasion of Turtle Island would more honestly be named as Settler Colonialism. According to Native scholar and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of the book, An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, there is a major difference between colonialism and settler colonialism.
“Settler colonialism has best been defined as more of an imposed structure than an historical event. This structure is characterized by relationships of domination and subjugation that become woven throughout the fabric of society, and even becomes disguised as paternalistic benevolence. The objective of settler colonialism is always the acquisition of indigenous territories and resources, which means the native must be eliminated. This can be accomplished in overt ways including biological warfare and military domination but also in more subtle ways; for example, through national policies of assimilation.”
In the fourth and sixth paragraphs of the declaration, it acknowledges the Native Nations that are in the area now currently occupied by the State of Michigan.
WHEREAS, the state of Michigan recognizes the presence of the three major groups in our state today, the Chippewa (Ojibwe), Ottawa (Odawa), and Potawatomi (Bodéwadmik), who have lived upon this land since time immemorial, and values the progress our society has accomplished through Native American thought and culture; and,
WHEREAS, the resolution states that Indigenous Peoples Day shall be used to reflect upon the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples on this land, and to celebrate the thriving cultures and values that the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and other indigenous peoples contribute to society; and,
Acknowledging the indigenous nations that exist in what is called Michigan is important, but there is no reference in the declaration that names them as nations. The US government entered into treaties with each of the three Native Nations that now exist within Michigan, since governments can only enter into treaties with other sovereign nations. The Odawa, Ojibwe and Potawatomi are not just cultures and people’s, they are sovereign people, a critical point that we can never forget.
In the seventh paragraph of the declaration it says that we should celebrate indigenous contributions:
WHEREAS, on this second Monday of October, we should honor the historic, cultural, and contemporary significance of Indigenous peoples and their ancestral lands that also became known as the Americas and celebrate their contributions to communities throughout Michigan, the United States, and all over the world;
Ok, sure, we can acknowledge contributions, but framing it this way omits all of the harm. Any declaration that comes from settler colonial powers needs to acknowledge the harm committed by White Settlers. Failure to acknowledge genocidal policies not only erases the brutality, it is designed to make those of us who benefit from Settler Colonialism fell better about ourselves. If we were honest, we would acknowledge the theft of land, the displacement of whole native communities, the forced removal of children who were put into boarding schools, the ongoing impact that mining and the oil pipelines has had on Native communities, plus the fact that indigenous people, in what is now called Michigan, are some of the poorest people in the state.
For the State of Michigan to declare Indigenous People’s Day is a good start, but it is not enough. We have to own this history of Settler Colonialism and we have to work towards dismantling it. Those of us who are the beneficiaries of Settler Colonialism have to listen to what it is that the Native Nations that live on the land currently occupied by the State of Michigan, we have to listen to what it is that they want. One major thing would be to shut down Line 5 in Michigan, something that the Governor said she would do. All the declarations in the world don’t mean anything unless their is direct action that primarily benefits and improves the lives of indigenous people.
Opening up a whole new pool of potential employees: Criminal Justice Reform and the West Michigan Policy Forum
Last Monday, the Econ Club of Grand Rapids hosted a panel discussion on the topic of criminal justice reform in Michigan.
The panel was moderated by the VP of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Andy Johnston, who was quoted in an MLive article stating:
“It will help make us safer, it will spend our taxpayer dollars better, and it opens up a whole new pool of potential employees. We need to increase our workforce participation rate in West Michigan, and one of the ways we can do that is being one of the best communities out there when it comes to getting returning citizens connected with employment.”
Not surprising that someone with the Chamber of Commerce would make criminal justice reform about jobs, or as Johnston stated, “it opens up a whole new pool of potential employees.”
Those on the panel were echoing much of the same sentiment. The panel of three consisted of a CEO, the director of a non-profit criminal justice reform group and a strategist from the neo-liberal think tank, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
JT Weis is the CEO of Arbor Industries, a company based in Holland that hires former felons. Weis says his faith dictates that he hire former felons. Indeed, for Weis, his faith is pretty central to who he is. The CEO of Arbor Industries is the School Board President of Sacred Heart Academy in Grand Rapids, a westside Catholic school that has gone through a significant change in recent years, under the leadership of Rev. Robert Sirico. Sirico is the founder and leader of the Acton Institute, also based in Grand Rapids. In addition, Weis and his family are involved in the conservative Catholic radio station Holy Family Radio and they are active participants in the anti-abortion March for Life actions.
Leonore Anderson is the President of the Alliance for Safety & Justice, a rather moderate group that has worked on efforts to reform state legislation in numerous states in the US. The Alliance for Safety & Justice is a mild criminal justice reform non-profit.
The third member of the panel was David Guenthner, a senior strategist with the Mackinac Center. Guenthner, who spent years working for another conservative think tank based in Texas, now works for the Mackinac Center which is a strong supporter of privatizing the prison system.
The MLive did not share many details of the panelists or what they were advocating for during the Econ Club gathering. The MLive story did include some comments from Doug DeVos on the subject, even though the article does not indicate in what capacity DeVos was speaking. We assume that DeVos was speaking on behalf of the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF), since he wrote an opinion piece for the Detroit News the day after the MLive article on the Econ Club event.
There is not much compelling information in DeVos’ opinion piece, although he does source specific legislation that the WMPF would like to pass. In fact, the West Michigan Policy Forum has some specific changes they would like to see in the area of Criminal Justice, such as:
- Earned time credits (i.e. job training)
- Removing barriers to employment (licensing reform)
- Raise the age (allow up to 18 yrs. old in juvenile court)
- Civil asset forfeiture (require conviction)
- Cash bail reform (judicial discretion)
Now, these are not bad policies, but they are most definitely mild reforms that do not address more structural issues or root causes. In both the MLive article about the panel discussion and the opinion piece by DeVos, there is not one mention about race, racism or how the current criminal justice system disproportionately impacts black and latinx communities. The West Michigan Policy Forum is not advocating for an end to police violence or ICE repression, they are not calling for a reduction in state or local budgeting for police, they are not calling for an end to private prisons or the end of detention centers for immigrants.
We should not be fooled by the mild criminal justice reforms that the West Michigan Policy Forum are advocating for. These “reforms” do not threatened business as usual politics, but they do benefit the members of the business community that are always looking for new sources of low wage workers and ways to promote the communities where they are based as “safe communities.”
What Michigan and the rest of the country needs is what a growing number of people are gravitating towards, which is a prison abolitionist stance. The Prison Abolition movement states:
Abolition isn’t just about getting rid of buildings full of cages. It’s also about undoing the society we live in because the PIC both feeds on and maintains oppression and inequalities through punishment, violence, and controls millions of people. Because the PIC is not an isolated system, abolition is a broad strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.
In more concrete terms, we can look to the vision of the Movement for Black Lives, which has laid out a very clear vision and platform for what prison abolition would look like. In the section End the War on Black People, they list 10 things that would effectively move in the direction of abolishing prisons. In addition, under the section of Community Control, they are calling for democratic control of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.
These are the kind of visionary goals that we should be working towards, goals that are rooted in radical imagination and not the neo-liberal agenda of those who are part of the existing systems of power and oppression. When are we going to stop celebrating the vision of those who have most of the wealth in this community, while thousands live in poverty? When are we going to stop listening to those who have historically financed politicians that have promoted mass incarceration? When are we going to act in solidarity with those who have been most affected by the Prison Industrial Complex?
How the local news media reported on the Grand Rapids for Education Justice action on Monday
On Tuesday, we posted a story about a new community-based effort to challenge what they are calling a two-tiered system of education at the Grand Rapids Public Schools.
The new movement, Grand Rapids for Education Justice, held a press conference prior to the School Board meeting and provided the local news media with a set of statements that they would be presenting to the School Board members that night.
There were four local news agencies that came to the Press Conference and the subsequent School Board meeting, which is the subject of this posting. We will provide a summary of the local news coverage and deconstruct what each news agency reported.
The first piece we look at is a story done by the local NPR affiliate, WGVU radio. In the WGVU story, provides a fairly accurate picture of Grand Rapids for Education Justice, but singles out just one comment, where the group addressed how the GRPS policies in recent years follow those being implemented by Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos. The WGVU quote is:
“Betsy’s charter ideas are directly related to the school’s transformation plan,” Bierns said. “And that Transformation Plan is changing the look of education in our country today. We are essentially privatizing education in this country and in West Michigan, the home of Betsy DeVos.”
However, the full statement made by GREJ about Betsy DeVos, which the news media had a copy of was the following:
GREJ opposes the significant influence of the business interests on the school curriculum, business interests who even have their own advisory council in our district. We oppose the charter school-like entities that exist within the GRPS system. We see as a threat the furthering of the corporate model as it is being pushed across the country by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
The major difference here has to do with the group’s inclusion of the impact that area businesses are having on school curriculum, not just the influence of Secretary DeVos.
Besides quoting someone from GREJ, the WGVU reporter got a comment from the GRPS communications director John Helmholt, who responded to GREJ’s position that the GRPS was a two-tiered system, saying:
“That is just false and inaccurate, and not really representative of the real numbers,” Helmholdt said. If you look at what we have accomplished under the Transformation Plan, the numbers, graduation rates are up 60 percent, for African-American students, its 75 percent,” he said. Helmholdt added that the district is also investing $17 million to upgrade Ottawa Hills High School.
In the MLive story, the reporter provided more context about GREJ and quoted three different members, each addressing different points about what they found to be problematic about current GRPS policies.
MLive also relied on a canned statement from GRPS director of communications, John Helmholt, who continued to dismiss the issued raised and even went so far as to claim the group has, “a lot of false and misleading information that does not present a fair and accurate picture of the district.’’
The one main difference between the NPR story and the MLive story, is that MLive included a response by one of the School Board members, Kristian Grant, who said, “There are disparities and we know that. We are going to be taking a closer look at some neighborhood schools, the schools that need support, and figuring out how do we position board goals and our mission to help uplift these schools and provide even more wrap around support.”
Here, the school board member was not dismissive of GREJ and acknowledged that there were some disparities that needed to be addressed.
The last point about the MLive article worth mentioning is that John Helmholt mentioned that the school district was investing $17 million into Ottawa Hills, specifically for what the GRPS is calling “career academies.” The one that will be housed at Ottawa Hills will be the Academy for Hospitality and Tourism. These kind of theme schools are specifically designed to direct students into jobs, specifically in the hospitality sector. In an article that appeared about a year ago, the Academy for Hospitality and Tourism will be run by the following partners – GVSU, GRPS, Experience Grand Rapids, and AHC+Hospitality. In addition, there will be, “other industry leaders, who will serve on an advisory board.”
This last point, where members from the business community will have more direct influence on curriculum in these theme schools, is one of the major concerns that GREJ had raised on Monday and will likely be raising in the near future.
There were also two local TV stations that reported on the the group Grand Rapids for Education Justice and their action on Monday night. WZZM 13 included comments from GREJ from the press conference and the statements made during the School Board’s public comment period. Channel 13 also provided plenty of airtime to John Helmholt, who again was dismissive of the GREJ. However, in the WZZM 13 story, Helmholt himself admits that the most vulnerable students in Michigan have been negatively impacted because of how schools are funded, an admission that Helmholt says has been happening for some time now. Those with GREJ would not disagree with this last statement from Helmholt, since many of the members are teachers who spent more than a decade in GRPS and saw first hand how inadequate funding for the most vulnerable students has hurt the GRPS.
WXMI 17 also reported on the actions of GREJ on Monday. There wasn’t much of a difference in their coverage, citing a few of the GREJ members and then giving Helmholt the last word.
Because Helmholt was so defensive in his response to what the members of Grand Rapids for Education Justice had to say, they released the following statement in reaction to Helmholt’s dimissive comments:
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 