Foundation Watch: Cheri DeVos and the CDV5 Foundation
The Cheri DeVos Foundation, also known as the CVD5 Foundation, is probably the least known of the DeVos family foundations. This is not surprising, as Cheri DeVos is not in the news like her other siblings, Dick, Doug and Dan. However, the lack of media attention, doesn’t mean that Cheri DeVos doesn’t have the same ideological commitments as the rest of the family.
Besides being born into the DeVos family wealth, Cheri DeVos owns numerous brands throughout the area. She owns CDV5 Property Management, that new restaurant on the corner of Wealthy & Fuller – Hancock, MSA Fieldhouse, MSA Sport Spot, MSA Woodland, Ottawa Beach General Store and Ada Village General Store. For more details on the various brands owned by Cheri DeVos, click here.
On the CDV5 Foundation website, it says, “We partner with select causes and organizations that are closely aligned with our passions.” So lets see what the foundation’s passions are that they contribute large sums of money to and what that means.
We looked at the three most recent years (2015 – 2017) of 990 documents for the CDV Foundation, as provided by the site Guidestar. According to Guidestar, this foundation has $61.5 million in assets. Some of the larger contributions from the CDV5 Foundation went to similar areas or entities as the other DeVos foundation supported.
(Public Education)
- Wake Forest $7,000,000
- Michigan State University $1,550,000
- Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation $770,000
(Private Education)
- Hope College $4,650,000
- Grand Rapids Christian School Association $2,875,000
- Ada Christian School Society $1,260,000
- Rehoboth Christian School Association $650,000
- Potters House $650,000
- ICCF $1,515,000 (all in 2017)
- Grand Rapids Whitewater Inc. $1,275,000
- Kids Food Basket $1,150,000
- Bethany Christian Services $685,000
- Mackinac Center for Public Policy $300,000
- AmplifyGR $160,417
Most of these contributions from the CDV5 Foundation are consistent with contributions from the Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation and the Dan & Pamela DeVos Foundation.
Like the other DeVos foundations, the CDV5 Foundation made significant contributions to private Christian schools, which certainly fits within the family’s ideological framework. What may not seem so predictable is the funding that the CDV5 Foundation has provides in recent years to the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation ($770,000), which is a funding arm of the Grand Rapids Public Schools.
Providing funding to the Grand Rapids Public Schools may seem to fall outside of the ideological commitments of the DeVos family, but that is because much of the public has been unaware of the DeVos families efforts to transform the GRPS. As we noted in our recent post on the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, that foundation contributed $1,122,800 to the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation, along with the fact that Maria DeVos sits on the board of that foundation.
Another significant common recipient of DeVos foundation money has been the Inner City Christian Federation (ICCF). Above we noted that the CDV5 Foundation contributed $1,515,000 to ICCF in 2017, which is the same year that other DeVos foundations contributed over $1 million each, along with other families in the Grand Rapids Power Structure. These contributions to ICCF coincided with the their announced partnership with AmplifyGR.
Other notable contributions from the CDV5 Foundation, as listed above, shows that Cheri DeVos also has support right wing think tanks like the Mackinac Center and has contributed to charity groups like Kids Food Basket, which do not have a commitment to ending the causes of hunger or poverty. Like the other DeVos family foundations, the CDV5 Foundation contributes to numerous charity-based entities because it is great PR for the family and because they know that these charity-based groups will not challenge or question the role that the DeVos families plays in creating poverty and increasing the wealth gap in Michigan.
It has been two days since it was announced that Captain Kurt VanderKooi, the GRPD officer who called Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, was formally suspended for two hours for his biased and racist actions.
Most of the daily news sources have reported on the matter, including MLive, WOOD TV 8, WZZM 13 and WXMI 17.
All four of these news outlets provided the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association with an opportunity to respond to the revelation that VanderKooi was suspended for two days, but only channel’s 8 and 17 reprinted the entire statement from the police union.
“The Grand Rapids Police Command Officer’s Association is shocked and dismayed at how the rights of Captain Curt VanderKooi, who has served the City of Grand Rapids for nearly 40 years with honor and integrity, could have his rights so blatantly violated in an effort to discipline him for the first time in his career. His due process rights, the GRPCOA collective bargaining agreement, along with state law were trampled on throughout the Citizen’s Appeal Board process and now by the final disposition issued by the City Manager. He, and many others in City Hall, were put on notice and advised of these violations in the form of our grievance which was originally filed May 23, 2019. We were forced to file this grievance after he was cleared of the most serious accusations following an unprecedented three iterations of the same investigation.
Captain VanderKooi was given a two day suspension, which has recently been served. The City Manager advised the GRPCOA that he was willing to uphold the original exoneration in exchange for his agreement to retire. This discipline was unwarranted and is clearly an attempt to appease a vocal group of activists who made him a scape goat for their own political gain. We will be amending the grievance to appeal this most recent decision by the City Manager. We are also awaiting a very copious FOIA request involving all the communication reference this investigation and those involved in it. Captain VanderKooi is pleased to announce he has decided to postpone his original retirement date in 2020 and looks forward to serving the citizens and crime victims in the City of Grand Rapids as Commander of the Investigations Unit for an additional year.”
It is instructive to note that the only part of the police union statement that was contested in the news coverage, had to do with the conversation between the police union and City Manager Mark Washington. The point in question was specifically about whether or not the City Manager offered to exonerate VanderKooi if he was willing to take an early retirement.
However, this shouldn’t be the central issue surrounding VanderKooi’s two-day suspension. There are more important issues that should have taken front and center in the local news stories.
First, there is no formal response from Jilmar Ramos’Gomez’s family or his lawyer, there is no response included from the ACLU or the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, there was no response included by the Grand Rapids Civilian Appeals Board, and there was no response included by GR Rapid Response to ICE or Movimiento Cosecha GR, all of which took public positions on this matter and the later two entities even called for VanderKooi to be fired for the harm he caused Ramos-Gomez.
Second, there was no inquiry made by the local news agencies, asking for a response to the claims made by the police union in reference to the 2-day suspension:
“This discipline was unwarranted and is clearly an attempt to appease a vocal group of activists who made him a scape goat for their own political gain.”
This claim by the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association is not only baseless, but it is a deflection from the actual harm done by VanderKooi’s decision to contact ICE on Jilmar Ramos-Gomez. More importantly, reprinting parts or all of the police union’s response to the 2-day suspension and NOT examining such a statement, is an indication that the local news media does not and will not hold the GRPD accountable for the harm they are doing in this community.
Third, there is plenty of attention in the local news coverage surrounding VanderKooi’s two-day suspension, that he must attend some additional training sessions and that VanderKooi has decided to delay his retirement. Again, there is little attention to the fact that Jilmar Ramos-Gomez actually spent 3 days in ICE detention because of VanderKooi. There seems to be little concern of how the detention impacted Ramos-Gomez and there is little or no concern over how this issue impacted the larger immigrant community.
None of the news agencies seem concerned with how Jilmar Ramos-Gomez was victimized in this situation and how he must of felt when being put into the custody of ICE because of Captain VanderKooi. In addition, there seems to be no concern as to how the rest of the immigrant community feels about VanderKooi only having to serve a 2-day suspension. The immigrant community, in light of the minor consequences to VanderKooi, has to feel like racial profiling against their community is not taken very seriously by the City of Grand Rapids or the GRPD, considering VanderKooi only received a two-day suspension and the police union is challenging even that.
The news coverage of the 2-day suspension of Vanderkooi is symptomatic of larger issues, such as police accountability, how the GRPD contributes to the harm being done to the immigrant community and the larger mobilization of immigrants and allies fighting for immigrant justice. In every area listed above, the local news media has fallen short of providing the kind of reporting that asks hard questions and engages in critical analysis.
Kent County I-Bond Fund goes public with their efforts to raised bond money for immigrants who are being detained by ICE
Yesterday there was a kickoff event for the Kent County I-Bond Fund, a community bond fund that provides financial support to immigrants who are being detained by ICE.
The event was held at Tacqueria El Rincon Mexicano in Grand Rapids. Geoff Gillis and Richard Kessler facilitated the event, as well as introducing the history and purpose of the Kent County I-Bond Fund.
In addition to those directly involved with the creation of the I-Bond Fund, there were other people who spoke, those involved in doing immigrant justice work in West Michigan and members of the immigrant community who have already benefited from the fundraising efforts of the Kent County I-Bond Fund.
Both of the immigrants spoke about the importance of having a bond fund for those detained by ICE, shared their personal stories about enduring the trauma of being arrested and then being detained without knowing how long they would be in detention. In fact, they both said that had there not been efforts to raise funds for them, they both could very well still be in detention or even possibly deported. Both of these courageous women implored those in attendance to support the Kent County I-Bond Fund and how this is a concrete way for people in West Michigan to support immigrants who have been the targets of state violence.
In addition to members of the immigrant community who shared their stories, Gema Lowe, with Movimiento Cosecha GR, talked about the importance of the bond fund. Lowe named the ICE targeting members of the immigrant community as a form of kidnapping. She then said that the bond amount that the judge would set for people who were eligible for being bonded out, this bond money was in actuality a ransom that these families would have to pay in order to see the loved ones in detention. Gema also referred to the bond fund as, “community helping community.”
Sr. Mary Brigid Klingman also spoke briefly, by providing a religious and theological basis for people in the community to come to the aid of those who are being held in detention. Sr. Mary Brigid is a member of the Grand Rapids Dominicans.
One additional speaker was Amy Carpenter, who is a volunteer organizer with GR Rapid Response to ICE. Carpenter talked about how, as a person who carries a great deal of privilege, that they needed “to weaponize” their privilege. They also stated that it was really an honor to be involved in this work and that they have been fortunate to have learned to do this type of solidarity work from those in the immigrant community.
For those who want to keep up to date with the Kent County I-Bond Fund, you can follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Kent-County-IBOND-Fund-374417653364919/.
To donate to the Kent County I-Bond Fund, there are two options. You can go to a GoFundMe page and make a contribution online at https://www.gofundme.com/f/kent-county-ibond-fund or mail checks to Joy Like a River and send them to this address Kent County I-Bond Fund PO Box 150350, Grand Rapids, MI 49515.
The Grand Rapids Police Department has a fairly new program, where they are asking businesses and residents to register their security cameras, so the GRPD can expand their reach.
The new program, called citywatch gr, was recently being promoted on the Facebook page of the John Ball Area Neighbors. Someone from the neighborhood association must have received something in the mail, since they took pictures of the material and posted it on the Facebook page.
WXMI 17 also ran a story about the program earlier this summer. In their story they interviewed the owner of Mayan Buzz Cafe, who now has cameras registered with the GRPD, allowing the police department the opportunity to utilize footage from the various cameras located inside the cafe.
Here is a link to how you can register your security camera with the GRPD. The language used in this program is rather disturbing and is essentially a forum of state monitoring and surveillance that is increasing all across the country.
So what is the big deal? Why should we be concerned with the public sharing footage with the GRPD?
The editors of the book, Life During Wartime: Resisting Counterinsurgency, would argue the following:
“A shift in police philosophy, beginning in the 1970s, places domestic policing into a frame of counterinsurgency. Rather than seeking out the perpetrators when crimes have been committed, counterinsurgency emphasizes widespread surveillance and infiltration to identify and neutralize threats before they materialize. Based as it is on a war paradigm, counterinsurgency justifies police action on the basis of intent, suspicion, and association rather then the higher standards of evidence associated with a crime-fighting model. Within the logic of COIN (short for counterinsurgency), civil society is a breeding ground for subversion, crime and terror and must be closely monitored to guard against outbreaks.”
The authors of the book go on to say that, “Counterinsurgency policing exactly complements this conservative agenda by disrupting opponents of corporate power and suppressing the responses of the hardest hit communities.”
The GRPD would argue it wants access to your security camera footage, not just because they might want to find people who are responsible for crimes, but the real reason is so that the cops can potentially undermine the efforts of dissidents, radical groups or groups that they consider to be a threat to the local power structure. Just consider how many examples we have seen recently, where someone from the public caught on camera officers with the GRPD using violence against black and brown people. One could argue that this new program by the GRPD, to get people to register their security cameras, is a direct response to all the footage that people have taken of the GRPD, footage that demonstrates that the cops are a threat to public safety.
Also, as the private security sector expands, they will stop at nothing to make money by partnering with law enforcement, in what could be considered the surveillance industry complex. A recent example of this is where Amazon is providing free use of their security company Ring, if local police departments will advertise the company’s services.
To counteract this effort by the GRPD to recruit the public to help them monitor our communities, we encourage people to be involved in a CopWatch program, where the public monitors the activities and behavior of the GRPD.
A Momentary Celebration: ICE contracts, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department and how systems of oppression make tactical adjustments
As we reported on Saturday, there was another direct action done at the Kent County Jail, calling for an end to the contract with ICE.
Since the action on Saturday, the Kent County Sheriff’s office has released a statement that was reported on WOOD TV 8, which said:
“The current contract with ICE will expire on September 30, 2019 as ICE is not seeking to renew the agreement,” Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said in a statement Sunday. “In January of this year, we adjusted our protocols within the correctional facility to manage the way we handled ICE requests for detainees. We have thoroughly evaluated this policy and determined it to be effective in protecting the community and in the safe and fair handling of persons of interest to ICE. Therefore, we intend to keep it as part of our standard operating procedure. As a result of the addition of our January protocol, ICE informed my office they would not be seeking a renewal of the contract. The Kent County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work collaboratively with ICE, as we do with all law enforcement agencies, to ensure public safety, due process, and the rule of law for all people in Kent County.”
There are several important responses to this statement.
The Power of Social Movements
First, GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR, the groups that have been fighting to end the contract between ICE and the Kent County Sheriff’s Department, are both acknowledging that since ICE does not want to renew their contract with the county, that this is a victory for the immigrant justice movement in West Michigan. Furthermore, it must be said that everything that has happened around the ICE contract in the past 14 months has been due to the important work that GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR has done.
When the Kent County Sheriff said that ICE needed to obtain a judicial warrant in order to put holds on immigrants at the jail, this was due to the pressure of this movement. The fact that ICE has decided to not renew their contract with the county, this is also due directly to the work done over the past 14 months. And it should be stated that this work has included disrupting County Commission meetings, speaking at County Commission meetings, doing incredible education work in the community, holding rallies at the Kent County Jail, pressuring the Kent County Sheriff’s Department, circulating petitions, organizing marches and generating a great deal of news coverage, both local and national.
When Systems of Oppression Push Back
Second, it is also important to note that ICE is the one that has made the decision to not renew the contract with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department. Back in March, both the White House and the Department of Homeland Security both condemned the county for their decision to require judicial warrants. ICE referred to Kent County’s decision to require judicial warrants as a “Sanctuary Policy.”
It is extremely important that we understand that the decision by ICE to not renew its contract with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department is a tactical shift on the part of ICE. Whenever movements for social justice make gains, systems of power and oppression will push back and make adjustments to further their power. For example, when chattel slavery was abolished in the US, white supremacist institutions adjusted by passing Jim Crow laws as a way of punishing and criminalizing the black community. Another example would be how corporations who have been under attack for their awful environmental practices have decided to practice green capitalism, which attempts to present companies as environmentally friendly, when in fact their very existence does harm to the environment.
And this is exactly what ICE is doing in Kent County. Yes, it is a victory for the immigrant justice movement that ICE does not want to renew their contract with the Sheriff’s Department. However, as we also pointed out in the article about the rally at the jail on Saturday, ICE has shifted their tactic to coming into the jail and apprehending undocumented immigrants who were in the process of getting out of the Kent County Jail, thus circumventing the need for a contract. The decision by ICE to come into the jail and then apprehend undocumented immigrants who were there for some minor offense, like an expired drivers license, makes complete sense. ICE is hoping that those who have been resisting the harm they have been doing in Kent County will feel like without a formal contract those resisting will just give up.
This brings us to the third point we want to make, a point which is reflected at the end of the statement made by the Kent County Sheriff’s office, when they stated:
“The Kent County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work collaboratively with ICE, as we do with all law enforcement agencies, to ensure public safety, due process, and the rule of law for all people in Kent County.”
Such a statement demonstrates how morally bankrupt the Kent County Sheriff’s Department really is. In other words, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department will do nothing to prevent ICE from apprehending undocumented immigrants who are in the process of getting out of the jail, AND in fact, they will cooperate fully with ICE to make sure that undocumented immigrants will be treated as criminals. Of course, the complicity that the Kent County Sheriff’s Department is guilty of with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has nothing to do with “public safety” or the “rule of law,” as suggested in the Sheriff’s statement.
Therefore, it is important that we understand that the Kent County Sheriff’s Department is enabling ICE to continue to terrorize the immigrant community in West Michigan. And once we understand this, we must continue to fight against ICE violence, we must continue to expose the complicity of the Kent County Sheriff’s office and we must continue to engage in organized resistance against this matrix of violence by adopting the only rational approach, which is to ABOLISH ICE.
If you are not already involved in the work of GR Rapid Response to ICE or Movimiento Cosecha GR, then by all means, join this movement for immigrant justice. If you are already involved in the work, then we thank you for the victory of ending the contract between ICE and Kent County, but we implore you to continue in the work to resist and Abolish ICE in this community.
Immigrant Justice groups rally at the Kent County Jail and Demand an end to the ICE Contract
Earlier today, about 50 people marched to the Kent County Jail to demand that the Kent County Sheriff’s Department end their contract with Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Kent County Sheriff’s Department has had a contract with ICE since 2012.
The rally was organized by members of GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR, both of which have been working to end the contract since June of 2018.
Those who participated in the march were encouraged to go inside the jail. The crowd did come into the jail and began to chant for an End to the ICE Contract, fully expecting that the Sheriff’s Department or the GRPD would ask them to leave. Neither law enforcement agency showed up, so the organizers decided to hold their brief program in the lobby of the jail. This writer asked someone how it felt to be in that space, which is usually space that is frequented by families 
coming to see those who are being held in the jail or for those who are attempting to bond people out. “It felt liberating to be in here, making noise and disrupting the jail staff,” said one person who had never done anything like this before. It is important for social movements to take over or reclaim spaces that are the sites of oppression. Being in spaces like the jail can signal to people that they do have power, that they don’t need to sheepishly obey the dictates of those in authority and that these kinds of actions can help foster the kind of radical imagination we need to overthrown systems of oppression.
The program that took place inside the jail consisted of three different speakers. The first person to speak was Rosa, who shared her story about how her mom had been in the Kent County Jail because her license was expired. When Rosa’s mom was being processed out, ICE had already come into the jail and essentially took her into custody and then transported her to the 
Battle Creek detention facility. Ever since the Kent County Sheriff announced that they would be requiring a judicial warrant for ICE to put holds on people, ICE has shifted their tactics.
The next speaker, Nerida, was speaking on behalf of Movimiento Cosecha GR. Nerida also talked about how the ICE contract was impacting members of the immigrant community and why it needed to end. She spoke about the constant fear that her community experiences because of ICE. Nerida told those who had gathered for the rally to join the immigrant community in ending the ICE contract.
The last speaker was Karen, with GR Rapid Response to ICE. Karen read the following statement, which was an excerpt from a letter written by the legal counsel that represents the Sheriff’s Department:
Despite the declaration in January that the Sheriff’s Department would no longer hold immigrants in the Kent County Jail without a judicial warrant, the jail continues to cooperate with ICE. Here is an excerpt from a statement made by lawyers who represent Kent County. The statement was written in February, and regards a person who was seized by ICE on her release from the Kent County Jail.
The name of the person who was taken by ICE has been redacted to protect her identity.
“Since the Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young instituted a policy that she will not detain anyone for ICE without a judicial warrant, ICE has opted to be present and take physical custody instead of seeking a judicial warrant . . . In the situation of Ms. X, she was being processed out of the KCCF [Kent County Correctional Facility] custody in the normal course following the resolution through bond of the local charges. Since there was an I-247-detainer request, it is part of the normal process that ICE is made aware an individual is being processed for release . . . Prior to the completion of the normal processing-out procedure, an ICE officer appeared at the KCCF and took Ms. X into ICE custody and transported her to Calhoun County. Had the ICE officer not appeared prior to the completion of the release processing procedure, Ms. X would have left the KCCF without any restraint by the Kent County Sheriff Office. The Kent County Sheriff Office completed its processing out of Ms. X after she was taken into ICE custody.”
No matter what Kent County says about not holding immigrants without a judicial warrant, the fact is they continue to cooperate with ICE’s violent kidnapping of our immigrant neighbors and the separation of them from their community and families. The jail tells ICE when they are holding an undocumented immigrant. They alert ICE when that immigrant is being released from the jail. And they allow ICE inside the jail to seize that person–even before they have been processed out from the jail.
But this doesn’t have to be the case. Kalamazoo, after a week or so of protests, signed a resolution to defund all collaboration with ICE. The Dearborn City Council just four days ago decided not to renew its prisoner housing contract with Calhoun County after anti-ICE activists protested and showed up to the city council meeting.
It is time for Kent County to do the same, and show the immigrant community that it is welcome and safe here by not renewing this harmful and destructive contract.
After the brief program in the jail, the rally then marched to the administrative offices of the Kent County Sheriff’s Department. Upon arriving at the administrative building, someone read a statement written by GR Rapid Response to ICE. The statement was pointing out the reasons why having a contract with ICE was unjust, plus it demanded that the Kent County Sheriff end the contract with ICE, a contract that is scheduled to expire on September 30 of 2019. People then attached the document to the front door of the administrative office, as well as placing yard signs in the lawn in front of the Kent County Sheriff’s Department administrative building.
Before end the rally, organizers made some announcements of other upcoming actions, which included a phone zap starting on Monday, where people were encouraged to call the Sheriff’s office and demand an end to the contract with ICE. People then marched back to where the action had started, just a few blocks from the Kent County Jail.
I just finished teaching this class for the 3rd time in the past eight months, so I thought it would be useful to share with those who read the GRIID blog, what the class on the history of US immigration policy consisted of.
I also wanted to share this information by way of letting organizations, community groups, churches, etc, know that I am willing to offer the class again, especially since immigration is one of the urgent issues we face right now in the US. Immigration is an issue that involves White Supremacy, Capitalism, US Imperialism, Settler Colonialism, Climate Change and American exceptionalism. What follows is the material that we cover, the readings, images and other resources used in this popular education class. Contact me at jsmith@griid.org, if you are interested in hosting a class.
Betsy DeVos used a poll conducted by a pro-education privatization group to justify Department of Education policies
On Tuesday, US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, released a statement, which said in part:
American families want more control and more options when it comes to education, which is why every poll conducted shows the growing, bipartisan support for education freedom. This research is just the latest indication that voices of America’s parents are growing louder in demanding something other than a government-assigned, union-controlled school for their children.
The “research” that DeVos was referring to was a new poll taken by the group, Education Next. The poll, conducted in May 2019, asked 3046 adults a variety of questions. The data from the poll can be seen at this link.
While Betsy DeVos emphasized that this poll showed that people support federal funds for education being turned over to state governments, so that states can decide how to use the funding, DeVos failed to mention that the poll also supported other positions.
The poll showed that a majority of people supported things like increased teacher pay, local schools, increased education spending and free college for those who want to attend a public college or university. All of these opinions, reflected in the poll, were casually omitted in Secretary of Education DeVos’ comments.
However, the poll also showed that there was significant support for school vouchers & tax credits, charter schools and Common Core State Standards.
Another glaring omission from Betsy DeVos was that she never identified what the group Education Next was affiliated with. Education Next, according to SourceWatch:
is a propaganda outlet for corporate education reform policies such as charter schools, school vouchers, and merit pay. Its editorial board consists of the members of the Koret Task Force, the education task force of the conservative think-tank the Hoover Institute.
None of this is surprising, considering that Betsy DeVos has been spending the past 25 years promoting and defending her own ideological positions on education, positions which seek to undermine public education, attack teacher unions and to re-direct public funds to pay for privatized forms of education, like Charter Schools.
Perpetuating Misinformation: MLive article is nothing more than a version of a US Customs and Border Patrol Media Release
It is not a new thing for news agencies to act as stenographers for systems of power. However, with the consolidation of news agencies under greater corporate control, journalism increasingly becomes a mouthpiece of state or private power.
A recent example of how journalism fulfills this the function as stenographer and thus fails the public to provide an independent or critical perspective on the issue of immigration.
Below there are two versions of what happened when US Customs and Border Patrol agents arrested 10 undocumented immigrants in the town of Munising in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The version on the left, is a Media Release from US Customs and Border Patrol dated August 15. On the right, we have what MLive printed on August 15, later updated on August 16.
The similarities are striking. It is as if MLive just re-worded the US Customs and Border Patrol Media Release, without doing any actual journalism.
This practice of acting as a stenographer is dangerous on two levels. First, it normalizes the idea that whatever information the government provides is unquestioning. It is extremely dangerous if we are not encouraged to question official positions, whether those positions are from private or state sources.
The second reason why it is dangerous for MLive to act as a stenographer for the US Customs and Border Patrol is that it promotes misinformation. Since MLive simply ran a re-worded version of the US Customs and Border Patrol Media Release, they are perpetuating inaccurate information when they focus on the one person arrested who had previous drug charges. The majority of undocumented immigrants in the US do not have a criminal conviction.
However, the damage was already done, since the US Customs and Border agent is quoted as saying:
“Today the men and woman of the United States Border Patrol made Munising safer by removing a convicted illegal alien drug dealer and nine others from the streets.”
This statement by the US Customs and Border Patrol agent is misinformation. We don’t really know what the narcotics charges were for the one man named in the story and more importantly, the other 9 people were not charged or convicted of anything other than being in the US without “proper” documentation. Being in the US without documentation is not a criminal offense, it is a civil infraction. The matter is compounded when the US Customs and Border Patrol agent says that the arrests made Munising safer. The US Customs and Border Patrol agent provides no evidence as to how these arrests would make Munising safer. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants in the US are not engaged in criminal activity, even though the MLive article, which relies on the US Customs and Border Patrol Media Release, would have readers believe just the opposite.
It is no surprise then that this kind of journalism not only misinforms the public, it affirms the anti-immigrant sentiment that permeates so much of the political climate.
Borrowing money from the Teacher Pension gains ground in Michigan, but what would the MEA be willing to do to stop it?
Over a month ago, we first reported about a proposal from the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF) an economic scheme to pay for road repair in Michigan.
Under the WMPF proposal, the state would issue a 30-year pension obligation bond to borrow $10 billion that would be pumped into the Michigan Public Schools Employees Retirement System. This proposal fits within the larger agenda of the WMPF, which is to promote and pass neoliberal economic policies in Michigan.
Even though this plan seems rather outlandish, it is finally getting some traction. Late last week, the West Michigan Policy Forum posted on their Facebook page back to back articles, suggesting that the their Teacher Pension plan is gaining ground and even Gov. Whitmer is warming up to the idea.
Crain’s Detroit Business reported that Gov. Whitmer was “warming up” to the idea put forth by the West Michigan Policy Forum, in a late July article. However, an article in Bridge Michigan states that the Governor has not committed to anything in terms of how to fund the roads, but that the clock is ticking since the legislature has yet to approve the state budget.
On August 7, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) stated that the:
“MEA will oppose any efforts to bond, borrow, delay payments, re-amortize or otherwise underfund our pension system to pay for road repairs. All these amount to the same thing – schemes that put the health of our pension system at risk for current and future school retirees.”
While this stated provides clear opposition, what is the MEA prepared to do to protect the teacher pensions? The MEA has for years banked on the strategy of funding Democratic lawmakers to further their interests, but Democrats have been a minority in the legislature for years and not all Democrats endorse their positions.
If the GOP can convince Gov. Whitmer to support the Teacher Pension plan to fund the roads, what is the MEA prepared to do in order to stop this from happening? If the MEA can’t lobby elected officials to oppose the Teacher Pension plan, then they need to adopt other strategies like Direct Action. The MEA only need to look to other teacher unions across the country, which have been striking in recent years and in most cases they have won their demands. Eric Blanc documents the teacher uprising across the country in his recent book, Red State Revolt: The Teachers’ Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics (Verso Books). Unfortunately, there is no indication that the MEA will adopt any kind of direct action strategy, which is why the teacher union in Michigan continues to loss major battles against the larger neoliberal education policies being championed by groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 