Earlier today, a United Church of Christ, in Wyoming, Michigan declared itself a Sanctuary Church in response to the ongoing repression of immigrants, especially those that are undocumented.
The Rev. Justo Gonzalez stated:
“Immigrants always have been and will be welcome here! The United Church of Christ (UCC) is an Immigrant Welcoming Church. IUC Ministerios Ríos de Agua Viva / Joy Like a River UCC is rooted in Love and Extravagant Welcome for all of God’s Creation. It is with Holy Boldness that we declare ourselves the first and only Sanctuary Church in the Grand Rapids Metropolitan area.
We are clear, no matter who you are or where you have been on life’s journey, you will welcome here. Within this church anyone who needs it will find a warm welcome in a Safe and Sacred Space. We do not care about your immigration status. We care about you. Let it be known that this Community of Faith celebrates diversity, experiences immigrants as a blessing, and will always uplift the dignity and worth of God’s creation.
Let it also be known that ICE, Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol will not be allowed to enter God’s house. Holy Ground is Sacred. They can choose to break down our doors and forcibly enter but we will NEVER allow them access into this Safe and Sacred Ground known as the Church.
Moreover, the war of Immigrants must end immediately. The Church cannot stand in silence as the Trump Administration unleashes ICE in our neighborhoods, disrupts our communities, profiles Black, Brown and Asian citizens and immigrants. We will not stand for the profiling of our Muslim and other Communities of Faith. A violation on any of us is a violation of all of us.”
Rev. Gonzalez went on to say, “ICE can come to this church, but they cannot enter. If they break the doors down, we will film them taking our brothers and sisters and expose them for for engaging in this type of repression.”
This is the first time that an organization has declared itself a sanctuary in the Grand Rapids area, since the Koinonia House did it in 1986.
Rev. Gonzalez was joined by a whole litany of people during the declaration made today, with several of the people standing with him invited to share a few thoughts about the importance of this work.
Rev. Grey, who is also a UCC Pastor, simply wanted to share some data, which illustrated how urgent this issue is. She stated that since the Trump administration took office, there have been 14,000 administrative arrests in the US of immigrants every month.
Gema Lowe, with Movimiento Cosecha GR, an immigrant led movement, shared the principles of her group by reading a statement, which stated in part that they are fighting for dignity, respect and permanent protection for all immigrants. Lowe also invited everyone in attendance to participate in the 4 day strike they are planning in late April through May 1st. They are asking people not to work, not to shop and to join them for several actions listed below.
There were two DACA students who also spoke during the Sanctuary announcement. Danny Caracheo, said that the US is not only a nation made up of immigrants, but that it is made up of people who are rebels.
The Rev. Colleen Squires, a Unitarian Pastor, said, “We can either build a wall or a longer table. My community choses to build a longer table to welcome everyone to sit at.
The Reverend Doug Van Doran, Pastor, Plymouth United Church of Christ, states, “Immigrants are our part of our American family. Dreamers are our children. This is their home, the land they know. We need to be certain that this is a land where DREAMS COME TRUE and Justice for Immigrants reigns and not where nightmares are inflicted.”
Richard Kessler, an immigration lawyer who has been practicing for 37 years, said that the current repression against immigrants might be the worst he has ever seen. “The Trump administration has a zero tolerance policy against immigrant. We need to have zero tolerance for ICE repression. We need to have zero tolerance for separating families. We need to have zero tolerance for the racism behind the federal government’s immigration policy.”
Lastly, Rev. Traci Blackmon, also with the UCC, shared her appreciation for what was happening in Grand Rapids. She shared a beautiful interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan during her comments. At the end of her comments she ten said, “There is not a wall so high that we can’t tear down.”
For those who are interested in supporting the new sanctuary church, you can contact Reverend Justo González, II at 716-989-9207, cell or jgonzo2@michucc.org.
In some ways it is hard to believe that 15 years has already passed, since the US militarily invaded and occupied Iraq. Fifteen years ago there was non-stop coverage of the invasion and occupation, but Iraq has faded from the news cycle for years now and is generally viewed as an outpost for the terrorist organization known as ISIS.
US news media generally fails to provide adequate contextual information about US foreign policy and for most Americans Iraq continues to be framed through whatever the US State Department has to say about it.
Here are fifteen things we think are important to know about the US and Iraq over the past 100 years.
- Iraq was essentially a creation of European Colonialism, with the British drawing the borders and suppressing numerous attempts for Arab and Kurdish self-determination throughout most of the first half of the twentieth century.
- European and US interest in Iraq has always been about oil, especially after WWII, when the US realized that in order to expand it’s global dominance, they needed to secure Iraq’s oil and other oil reserves in the region. This reliance on and control of Middle Eastern oil has been the formal policy of the US since WWII, as is well documented in the film Blood and Oil, featuring historian and author Michael Klare.
- Beginning in the late 1950s, the CIA began to support the Ba’athist Party, in order to destabilize the region enough that would benefit US interests. This support of the Ba’athists, included support for Saddam Hussein.
- The US was providing weapons to both Iran and Iraq, during the war between those two countries that lasted for most of the 1980s. The US even supplied Iraq with chemical weapons that were used against Iran and the Kurds. Declassified US documents show that in 1983, Donald Rumsfeld was the Reagan Administration’s connection to supply WMDs to Iraq.
- The US War in the Persian Gulf was an opportunity for the US to flex it’s military muscles at a time when the Soviet Union was imploding (1990-91). The US destroyed much of Iraq’s infrastructure, killed thousands of Iraqis through aerial bombing and used Depleted Uranium in the bombs, which has resulted in death and sickness for Iraqis and US soldiers who fought in that imperialist war.
- After the Gulf War, the US imposed the harshest sanctions on any country ever, resulting in the deaths of at least 500,000 Iraqi children between 1991 and 1998 (during the Clinton Administration). While being interviewed on 60 Minutes, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says 500,000 dead Iraqi Children was “worth it.”
- In the lead up to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the US government lied about Iraq’s WMDs. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell has since admitted that the administration lied about this, especially during the Powell’s February 5th, 2003 presentation before the UN Security Council. See declassified documents.
- The US Invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003 and it’s ongoing occupation resulted in at least 1 million dead Iraqis through 2008, even though that number was usually suppressed in the US media. However, the number is now estimated to be 2.4 million dead Iraqis.
- The US government used the invasion/occupation of Iraq to rewrite the Iraqi Constitution, allowing multination corporations and oil companies free reign to exploit Iraq’s resources. See Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine.
- The US Media coverage of the invasion/occupation primarily echoed the government’s position, with little critical inquiry into US policy. The Center for Public Integrity put together a list of 935 lies by the Bush administration about the war. GRIID also created a video and a report about Grand Rapids media coverage of the early months of the US invasion/occupation of Iraq.
- There was a tremendous amount of anti-war organizing against the US invasion/occupation of Iraq from 2002 – 2008. There were numerous groups involved, some more moderate and some more radical. For a great summary of the anti-war organizing see what Media Mouse wrote in 2008. Here is video of an anti-Iraq war protest at the home of Congressman Ehlers.
- The US invasion/occupation of Iraq provided the US to increase it’s military presence in the region and the construction of numerous US military bases in Iraq for geo-political and resource extraction purposes.
The US invasion/occupation of Iraq saw the largest use of private mercenary forces, like Dyncorp and Blackwater, which was founded by Erik Prince, the brother of US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Blackwater won millions of dollars in US contracts for its mercenary efforts in Iraq, which involved the murder of 17 Iraqi civilians. Erik Prince was never indicted for those war crimes.- The cost of the US invasion/occupation of Iraq is ongoing. According to the National Priorities Project, the US invasion/occupation of Iraq has cost over $800 billion to US taxpayers. Imagine what people could do with that amount of money if it went for things like affordable housing, health care, education, etc.
The current destabilization in Iraq is often laid at the feet of ISIS. However, as longtime journalist Patrick Cockburn, author of the book, The Age of Jihad: Islamic State and the Great War for the Middle East, the US was in many ways responsible for the creation of ISIS. Here is an excellent interview with Cockburn. In addition, the real culprit of Iraq’s destabilization and ongoing violence is rooted in the US military invasion/occupation that has devastated the country. The Bush administration began a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in 2008, which continued under the Obama administration with withdrawal of US troops not completed until the end of 2011. However, the SOFA agreement did not end the use of private military contractors, which has continued in Iraq.
On Monday, March 12, the day after 60 Minutes aired an interview with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, she spoke briefly at the American Enterprise Institute’s annual World Forum.
You can read Betsy’s comments here, which continues what she has been saying over the past year, which is to push for Neoliberal Education School policies.
Now, the American Enterprise Institute is one of the most powerful right-wing think tanks in the US and has been supportive of the larger neoliberal agenda: the transfer of public funds to the private sector, dismissing Climate Change, opposing an increase in the federal minimum wage, supporting US wars abroad and opposing any regulation of the economy.
Betsy DeVos did sit on the board of directors for the American Enterprise Institute, until the end of 2016, but now that she is part of the federal government, her husband, Dick DeVos has taken her seat at the table.
It is rare to actually read comments from the American Enterprise Institute’s World Forum, since the event is private. In fact, most of the people who attend the event are billionaires and millionaires, along with some politicians who embrace the AEI mission.
The event is so private, that the American Enterprise Institute’s own website doesn’t even mention forum and the only access to the forum electronically is by invitation, as is shown at this link.
Whatever one thinks about how the 60 Minutes interview with Betsy DeVos, it is clear that she is going to continue to address audiences that share her world view, the world view of the rich and powerful.
Does Doug DeVos and the West Michigan Policy Forum really want to change the prison system in Michigan?
We have been monitoring the West Michigan Policy Reform (WMPF) group, ever since it came into being in 2008.
This group is made up of the West Michigan power structure, like the DeVos family, Peter Seechia, John Kennedy, Michael Jandernoa and other CEOs and politicians that have been supporting and lobbying on state policies since they were founded in 2008.
The West Michigan Policy Reform has already been instrumental in pushing through state policy that benefits businesses on taxes, they were a force in making Michigan a Right to Work state, pushing for education policies that expand Charter Schools and last year got legislation passed to eliminate traditional public sector employees and public teacher pensions.
Now the group is taking on what they refer to as Criminal Justice Reform.
Over the past several weeks, the West Michigan Policy Forum has been posting pieces on their Facebook page, pushing what they name as criminal justice reform, with posts about recidivism in Michigan’s prison population, juvenile justice and a letter from Doug DeVos on behalf of the of the WMPF.
DeVos wrote his letter that was published in the Grand Rapids Grand Rapids Business Journal on March 9. DeVos begins his “letter” by stating:
More than a decade ago, law enforcement leaders supported smart criminal justice reform because they recognized that over-incarceration would not make Michigan safer. Despite these improvements, Michigan still incarcerates more people, keeps inmates longer and spends significantly more money on corrections than our neighboring Midwest states. One out of every five taxpayer dollars goes toward corrections — a proportion of Michigan’s general fund budget nearly twice that of the next highest spending state.
So, does this mean that Doug DeVos and the West Michigan Policy Forum are now interesting in dismantling mass incarceration? Hardly.
What DeVos goes on to say in his letter, is to promote specific legislation by Republican Representatives Klint Kesto and Hank Vaupel. DeVos never identifies this legislation, which is House Bill 5234. This legislation does provide county sheriff’s with the ability to provide medical treatment to inmates who are elderly or struggling with mental health issues.
This sounds like a humane thing to do, but why would the West Michigan Policy Forum being championing it? Again, Doug DeVos states:
While there has been discussion of business support of reform to fill jobs, the need for reform is much bigger than any economic impact. To ensure safety, we must keep those who need to be restrained in prison. However, more than 80 percent of Michigan inmates, or more than 32,000 of the current prison population, will be released and re-enter our local communities. For those who have broken the law and have faced appropriate accountability, we have a moral responsibility to create real opportunity for them. We should help them find confidence, meaningful work to support themselves and their families, rebuild lives and contribute to the well-being of our community.
Again, this sounds like a very humane approach, but something seems missing. I believe that this is really about the West Michigan Policy Forum wanting to have access to laborers, as DeVos admits in the above statement. In addition, the message of criminal justice reform also plays well with liberal and progressives.
However, this seemingly liberal legislative push by the West Michigan Policy Forum is a reform that will benefit business interests, plus it is simply a reform. In other words, there is no indication that the WMPF is now going to take on the issue of mass incarceration by dismantling it.
The West Michigan Policy Forum is NOT going to be advocating for the end of police surveillance of the black and latinx communities, they are NOT going to be calling for an end to bail money, they are NOT going to be calling for the end of the privatization of prisons and prison services, they are NOT going to be calling for the end of criminal history to determine eligibility for housing, education, licenses, voting, loans, employment, and other services and needs, they are NOT going to be calling for an end to ICE raids, they are NOT calling for changes in the condition of jails, prisons, juvenile detention facilities or immigration detention and they are NOT going to be calling for the end of capital punishment.
These ARE the kind of actions that groups like the Movement for Black Lives are calling for across the country, along with other black organizations and immigrant-led movements. This is the kind of platform we need to support and to embrace, NOT the weak, reformist legislation that the West Michigan Policy Forum is pushing.
Betsy DeVos Watch: Deconstructing the 60 minutes Interview
The following interview by 60 Minutes with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, aired on Sunday, March 11, 2018.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is a devout Christian grandmother from Michigan — who has spent most of her life trying to improve the quality of education for poor kids. So how in the world did she become one of the most hated members of the Trump Cabinet? [How media people frame things is important. Lesley Stahl states as a matter of fact that Betsy DeVos has spent most of her life trying to improve the quality of education for poor kids, yet there is no evidence presented to substantiate this claim.]
She is dedicated to promoting school choice [School choice is code for undermining public education and promoting charter and private schools.] but her critics say she really wants to privatize the public school system that she once called, quote, “a dead end.”
Now, after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, her portfolio is expanding. Monday, President Trump is expected to appoint her as head of a new commission on school safety charged with developing policies to prevent school violence.
Betsy DeVos visited the school in Florida on Wednesday, but like almost everywhere else she goes, she faced criticism. Some of the students sent out angry tweets: “You came to our school just for publicity and avoided our questions.” “Betsy DeVos came to my school, talked to three people, and pet a dog.” Many of the students are frustrated at the administration for talking about school safety, but not acting.
Betsy DeVos: I give a lot of credit to the students there for really raising their voices, and I think that they are not going to let this moment go by.
Lesley Stahl: They want gun control.
Betsy DeVos: They want a variety of things. They want solutions.
Lesley Stahl: Do you think that teachers should have guns in the classroom?
Betsy DeVos: That should be an option for states and communities to consider. And I hesitate to think of, like, my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Zorhoff, I couldn’t ever imagine her having a gun and being trained in that way. But for those who are– who are capable, this is one solution that can and should be considered. But no one size fits all. Every state and every community is going to address this issue in a different way. [When DeVos and others use the claim that it is up to state and communities to make these decisions, they are really echoing talking points from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN), both of which are funding by the Koch Brothers.]
Lesley Stahl: Do you see yourself as a leader in this– in this subject? And what kind of ideas will you be promoting?
Betsy DeVos: I have actually asked to head up a task force that will really look at what states are doing. See there are a lot of states that are addressing these issues in very cohesive and coherent ways.
Lesley Stahl: Do you feel a sense of urgency?
Betsy DeVos: Yes.
Lesley Stahl: ‘Cause this sounds like talking. Instead of acting.
Betsy DeVos: No, there is a sense of urgency indeed.
The reason Betsy DeVos wanted to be secretary of education was so she could promote school choice, offering parents options other than traditional public schools – where 90 percent of kids go. She has proposed massive cuts in public education funding and wants to shift billions to alternative players like private, parochial and charter schools. [This is an accurate statement, considering what the budget was in 2018 and what is being proposed for in 2019.]
Betsy DeVos: We have invested billions and billions and billions of dollars from the federal level And we have seen zero results.
Lesley Stahl: But that really isn’t true. Test scores have gone up over the last 25 years. So why do you keep saying nothing’s been accomplished? [Challenging question that should be asked to all politicians.]
Betsy DeVos: Well actually, test scores vis-à-vis the rest of the world have not gone up. And we have continued to be middle of the pack at best. That’s just not acceptable.
Lesley Stahl: No it’s not acceptable. But it’s better than it was. That’s the point. You don’t acknowledge that things have gotten better. You won’t acknowledge that, over the–
Betsy DeVos: But I don’t think they have for too many kids. We’ve stagnated
Lesley Stahl: Okay, so there’s the big argument. So what can be done about that?
Betsy DeVos: What can be done about that is empowering parents to make the choices for their kids. Any family that has the economic means and the power to make choices is doing so for their children. Families that don’t have the power, that can’t decide: “I’m gonna move from this apartment in downtown whatever to the suburb where I think the school is gonna be better for my child” if they don’t have that choice – and they are assigned to that school, they are stuck there. I am fighting for the parents who don’t have those choices. We need all parents to have those choices. [If Secretary DeVos wants all parents to have a choice to move and put their kids in a better school, she should advocate for making the minimum wage $15 an hour, change the tax system to divert more money from the rich and stop supporting the federal government’s massive subsidies to corporations, while reducing public funding for education and other social services. However, advocating for parents in this way is completely counter to the neoliberal economic policies that the US government promotes and that benefits members of the capitalist class, like the DeVos Family.]
Question is: does her solution work? Do choice schools perform better than public schools? Naturally — there are conflicting studies. It’s complicated.
But DeVos spends a lot of time showcasing choice schools like Cold Spring Elementary, a public school in Indianapolis – that was allowed to get rid of the local teachers’ union and create an innovative curriculum.
But when parents choose these options, taxpayer funds follow the child and that means that the public school left behind can end up with less money.
Lesley Stahl: Why take away money from that school that’s not working, to bring them up to a level where they are– that school is working?
Betsy DeVos: Well, we should be funding and investing in students, not in school– school buildings, not in institutions, not in systems.
Lesley Stahl: Okay. But what about the kids who are back at the school that’s not working? What about those kids?
Betsy DeVos: Well, in places where there have been– where there is– a lot of choice that’s been introduced– Florida, for example, the– studies show that when there’s a large number of students that opt to go to a different school or different schools, the traditional public schools actually– the results get better, as well. [No specific study is cited to verify this claim. There are several studies cited in a Center for Media & Democracy piece from 2017, linked here.]
Lesley Stahl: Now, has that happened in Michigan? We’re in Michigan. This is your home state.
Betsy DeVos: Michi–Yes, well, there’s lots of great options and choices for students here.
Lesley Stahl: Have the public schools in Michigan gotten better?
Betsy DeVos: I don’t know. Overall, I– I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better.
Lesley Stahl: The whole state is not doing well.
Betsy DeVos: Well, there are certainly lots of pockets where this– the students are doing well and– [For all the millions of dollars DeVos and her family invested in the Great Lakes Education Project, it has not resulted in public education improving in Michigan.]
Lesley Stahl: No, but your argument that if you take funds away that the schools will get better, is not working in Michigan where you had a huge impact and influence over the direction of the school system here.
Betsy DeVos: I hesitate to talk about all schools in general because schools are made up of individual students attending them. [Avoiding the question.]
Lesley Stahl: The public schools here are doing worse than they did.
Betsy DeVos: Michigan schools need to do better. There is no doubt about it.
Lesley Stahl: Have you seen the really bad schools? Maybe try to figure out what they’re doing?
Betsy DeVos: I have not– I have not– I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming. [An important admission.]
Lesley Stahl: Maybe you should.
Betsy DeVos: Maybe I should. Yes.
DeVos is the only Cabinet secretary protected by a squad of U.S. Marshals because she’s gotten death threats. She’s frequently met by protesters who accuse her of pushing an elitist agenda.
She often manages to offend, as when she called historically black colleges and universities “pioneers” of “school choice” – as though they had a choice.
At this commencement speech at Bethune-Cookman University, students booed and turned their backs to her.
Lesley Stahl: Why have you become, people say, the most hated Cabinet secretary?
Betsy DeVos: I’m not so sure exactly how that happened. But I think there are a lot of really powerful forces allied against change. [Again, to evidence presented or naming specific forces allied against change.]
Lesley Stahl: Does it hurt?
Betsy DeVos: Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does. Again, I think– I think–
Lesley Stahl: Do you ever say–
Betsy DeVos: –I’m more misunderstood than anything.
Some of the criticism, she feels, is unfair, especially when it involves her wealth. She faced a hostile question about it during a speech at Harvard last year.
Harvard Question: So you’re a billionaire with lots and lots of investments. And the so-called school choice movement is a way to open the floodgates for corporate interests to make money off the backs of students. How much do you expect your net worth to increase as a result of your policy choices? [For a detailed account of Betsy DeVos’ investments, go to this link.]
Moderator: You can choose not to answer that secretary.
Among President Trump’s cabinet of moguls and titans, DeVos is the richest: she grew up wealthy and married even wealthier. In their hometown of Grand Rapids, the DeVoses have been exceedingly charitable, their name decorates buildings like the civic center and children’s hospital. [For a more complete critique of the DeVos Family impact in Grand Rapids/West Michigan, see our DeVos Family Reader.]
At her bruising confirmation hearing, she was grilled about her wealth and lack of experience. She’s been an advocate, not an educator.
Lesley Stahl: What happened there?
Betsy DeVos: I’ve not had a root canal, but I can imagine that a root canal might be more pleasant than that was.
Lesley Stahl: So you’ve been on the job now over a year. What have you done that you’re most proud of?
Betsy DeVos: Yeah. We’ve begun looking at and rolling back a lot of the overreach of the federal government in education.
By overreach she means regulations. And like most of President Trump’s cabinet, DeVos is a devoted de-regulator. Part of her job as Secretary of Education is overseeing guidelines that protect the civil rights of students.
Just days after being confirmed, she rescinded a guideline implemented under President Obama that allowed transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice – sparking even more protests.
She is now considering scrapping the Obama-era “guidance on how to identify, avoid and remedy discriminatory discipline,” which aims to prevent schools from punishing students of color more harshly than their white classmates.
Betsy DeVos: We are studying that rule. We need to ensure that all students have an opportunity to learn in a safe and nurturing environment. And all students means all students. [This statement is in direct conflict with the 2018 federal education budget cuts, which disproportionately impact students of color. The de-regulation around civil rights within education also conflicts with DeVos’ claim to create a safe space for all students.]
Lesley Stahl: Yeah but let’s say there’s a disruption in the classroom and a bunch of whites kids are disruptive and they get punished, you know, go see the principal, but the black kids are, you know, they call in the cops. I mean, that’s the issue: who and how the kids who disrupt are being punished.
Betsy DeVos: Arguably, all of these issues or all of this issue comes down to individual kids. And–
Lesley Stahl: Well, no. That– it’s not.
Betsy DeVos: –it does come down to individual kids. And–often comes down to– I am committed to making sure that students have the opportunity to learn in an environment that is conducive to their learning. [Here, the Secretary of Education ignores decades of discrimination against African American students within the education system. It’s as if she was saying, “All student lives matter,” which is a ridiculously false notion that makes black student lives invisible. See our post Betsy DeVos and White Savior Politics and see the report, DeVos Watch Year One.]
Lesley Stahl: Do you see this disproportion in discipline for the same infraction as institutional racism?
Betsy DeVos: We’re studying it carefully. And are committed to making sure students have opportunity to learn in safe and nurturing environments. [Again, avoiding the question about institutional racism.]
While this regulation is under review, she has already drawn fire for changing Title IX guidelines on handling sexual assault on college campuses. She’s allowing colleges to require stronger evidence from accusers, and give the accused a greater benefit of the doubt. [See our post, Fake Sympathy from DeVos on MSU victims, while undermining the existing Title IX protections against sexual assault.] 
Lesley Stahl: Are you in any way, do you think, suggesting that the number of false accusations are as high as the number of actual rapes or assaults?
Betsy DeVos: Well, one sexual assault is one too many, and one falsely accused individual is one too many.
Lesley Stahl: Yeah, but are they the same?
Betsy DeVos: I don’t know. I don’t know. But I’m committed to a process that’s fair for everyone involved.
Lesley Stahl: The Me-Too Movement has come along at the same time. This is all feeding into it. We’re not talking about colleges anymore. We’re talking about men in positions of power in industry and government. Have you ever had an issue?
Betsy DeVos: I can recall a number of moments in the past– several decades ago that I think today would just be viewed as unacceptable. Yeah.
It’s been an unlikely journey and balancing act for grandmother Betsy DeVos, from her sheltered life in Michigan – to her life now as a lightning rod in Washington. [Not sure this is a fair comment, since Betsy DeVos has not been sheltered, as she was the head of the GOP in Michigan for years and active in numerous national groups and campaigns to undermine public education around the country. See the article Betsy DeVos’ Holy War.]
If we want Housing Justice, then it must be lead by those impacted by the housing crisis, not by developers, politicians or non-profits
All across the US, there is a housing crisis. The crisis is complex, but it is not difficult to understand. Gentrification is impacting virtually every city, with “urban renewal” taking the form of white flight. However, unlike the 1950s and 70s, white flight is white people leaving suburban areas to taking over core urban spaces that currently are made up of communities of color.
The gentrification is causing massive displacement and the re-investment of urban spaces, because white people now want to live there. This has caused the housing market to skyrocket in costs, both for those seeking to buy homes and those wanting to rent. Rent costs have doubled in the past 5 – 10 years, depending on which community you live in, making it virtually impossible for people making minimum wage to afford current rent cost. This current housing crisis is particularly felt by single families, particularly black and brown families, which often cannot afford to purchase a home or afford rental fees.
The same housing crisis that is facing communities all across the country, is also happening in Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids has seen the cost of buying a home soar, the cost of rental fees explode and the impacts of gentrification felt in just about every neighborhood in the city. The difference has been in how Grand Rapids is responding to this crisis, as opposed to how many other communities are responding.
Grand Rapids lets developers and non-profits decide
There have been numerous efforts to organize around the housing crisis in Grand Rapids, but the one that has received the most attention, is the Mayor’s housing task force that was developed nearly two years ago.
This task force is made up of city staff, numerous commercial developers, some non-profit housing organizations and social service providers. In other words, there is no one on the Mayor’s housing task force who represents those most impacted from the housing crisis.
This lack of representation from people experiencing the housing crisis, is clearly reflected in the recommendations that the task force came up with, linked here.
Many of these recommendations benefit developers, with either incentives or by allowing development to determine outcomes. Other recommendations have to do with zoning or other government enforcement mechanism. What we don’t find in the recommendations are specific to tenants and their needs, particularly around rental costs and tenant power, which is exactly what has been developing across the country by those most impacted from the current housing crisis.
When tenants and those impacted from the housing crisis decide
The national Homes for All movement, which is led by those most impacted from the housing crisis, engages in a theory of change, which uses strategies and tactics that directly result in challenging the real estate industry, landlords and property management companies.
Every month, tenant unions and other campaigns focuses on housing and land issues across the US, are using direct action to achieve their goals by winning rent freezes, winning rent controls, exposing landlords/property management companies and organizing grassroots power that is led by those most impacted by the housing crisis. You can read about these victories in the Homes for All Press Room section on their website.
The Homes for All organization has lots of great resources available for tenants who want to organize in their community, with reports and fact sheets that can be modified by any community to address the housing crisis.
One recent report put together Homes for All and Right to the City, is entitled, Communities Over Commodities: People-Driven Alternatives to an Unjust Housing System.
This 80 page report, linked here, is full of great strategies and examples of people organizing around housing justice over the past 80 years. The report begins with an introductory section on the current housing crisis, that provides important analysis on how it came about.
However, most of the report provides information and examples of how to De-Commodify Housing. The four areas/strategies for de-commodifying housing are:
- Limited Equity Cooperatives
- Community Land Trusts
- Tenement Syndicates
- Mutual Aid and Housing Cooperatives
Limited equity cooperatives, or LECs, are a model of affordable cooperative housing that exists today in at least 29 states in the United States and in several other countries, including Canada and throughout Europe. In LECs, like with all housing cooperatives, member-residents jointly own their building, have democratic control and bene t socially and economically from living in and owning the cooperative. As a prominent type of affordable housing cooperative in the United States, LECs seek to ensure that the housing remains affordable for the long term.
Community Land Trusts – There are close to 300 CLTs in the United States in rural and urban settings, all of which share the basic objective of providing affordable and stable housing in perpetuity, as well as community investment in upkeep. CLTs began in the United States during the civil rights movement as a means to support the independence and self-determination of Black Americans in the South.
The Tenement Syndicate model is unique in its creation of a “circular model” that uses the limited liability company structure to keep houses afford- able, ensure legal security, and prevent houses from being resold on the speculative market.Today there are 128 house-projects in Germany that typically each have 10 to 20 units, and several initiatives throughout Europe that follow this model. Common to all is a vision of long-term affordability of living and working spaces that are transformed from for-pro t entities into spaces of self-determination, community and collective ownership.
Mutual aid housing cooperatives are founded on the principle that housing is not a market commodity, but rather a communal public asset. They exist in several countries in Latin America, the first such cooperatives having been founded in the late 1960s. Unlike the other three alternative housing models discussed in this report, in mutual aid housing cooperatives, residents participate in build- ing their own houses. Most mutual aid housing cooperatives not only strive to provide affordable housing, but to also foster self-management and political mobilization of the community.
Grand Rapids doesn’t have to follow a failed organizing model
Some people might say that Grand Rapids isn’t Chicago, New York or Minneapolis, when it comes to how people organize. However, Grand Rapids does have a radical history and can continue to be part of radical change, if, and only if, the grassroots movements it builds is made up of those who are being oppressed.
Next month, we celebrate the 107th anniversary of the furniture works strike in Grand Rapids. That strike was lead by workers who were being exploited. Today, movements like Cosecha GR, an immigrant justice movement, is being lead by immigrants and fighting for justice. If we truly want a housing justice movement, then it must be led by those most impacted by the gentrifying housing crisis.
Financial Documents used to entice Amazon to come to Grand Rapids finally released, but 103 pages still missing
On Wednesday, the Right Place Inc. held a press conference and released 5 pages of financial information about the plan to attract the online sales company, Amazon, to open another headquarters in Grand Rapids.
The 5 pages of financial incentives are linked here, with a summary of the various options and the price tag in the graphic on the right.
It is clear that the financial incentives that the Right Place Inc, Grand Rapids, the Ford International Airport and Wyoming were offering was substantial.
News coverage of the newly released documents was covered by most commercial media outlets, like MLive and WOODTV8, but these news sources primarily focused on the dollar amounts of the proposals pitched to Amazon.
However, an article in MiBiz, does a much better job of asking important questions from the Right Place Inc executive Birgit Klohs.
The MiBiz story states:
Klohs said the organization’s decision to release the incentive information stemmed from Freedom of Information Act requests news outlets filed with the MEDC.
“This is not how we’re used to it,” Klohs said. “Sharing this kind of information … is extremely rare. And to be quite honest, it’s not in our best interest to share some of this information.”
The MiBiz article also offers additional insight into the issues, by citing a report from the far right Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Good Jobs First group, which tracks taxpayer subsidies around the country.
This kind of reporting is important in that it does not simply echo the information that the Right Place Inc wanted to share, it asked more pressing questions and provided other perspectives.
However, what is still not know, is why the other 103 pages of the proposal that was submitted last year have not yet been released. If public tax breaks were part of the equation and public land (which was revealed in the document), why has the entire document not made available to the public?
As we reported in January, the massive tax breaks issue is also echoed by Neil deMause, who was interviewed on Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting’s radio show, CounterSpin.
“I think that clearly paid off for Musk and Tesla, to the tune of $1.4 billion. So I’m not really surprised that Jeff Bezos and Amazon are looking at something similar here, and I think, given what we’re seeing from what’s leaking out about some of the bids (which are not public) for Amazon, it looks like they’re going to be looking at some kind of tremendous taxpayer windfall as well.”
deMause goes on to say:
“And, this is what really is driving the bidding war so crazy, what Greg LeRoy talks about, is that you’re seeing these crazy numbers being thrown around, because it’s not like there’s another company down the road that you can say, well, if we don’t get Amazon, we’ll just get the second-best thing to Amazon, because there is no second-best thing to Amazon. It’s Amazon or the highway.”
Sure, there would have been new jobs provided by the company, but Amazon has a track record of having many of their workers needing to rely on Food Stamps, just to get by.
However, the lack of transparency is what is particularly troubling in this case, especially since public funds and public land we part of the deal.
Incumbents, Money and the Michigan Congressional Races
In electoral politics, money rules. This is the case with the upcoming Congressional races in Michigan, particularly the races in West Michigan. We take a look at the Michigan Senate race and the races in the 2nd and 3rd Congressional Districts, which are just 8 months away.
Senator Debbie Stabenow has $6 million more in campaign funds than her closest competitor, Republican Sandy Pensler, according to recent campaign finance data. Senator Stabenow has raised $11,428,649 and the leading Republican candidate, Sandy Pensler, has raised $5,015,888.
Stabenow, who is the ranking member of the Agricultural Committee, also sits on the Budget Committee, Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Finance Committee. Committee seats often determine what sectors candidates receive lots of money from during elections.
You can see listed here, the top 20 entities contributing to Stabenow’s re-election campaign. 
There are numerous financial entities, like Goldman Sachs, Rock Holdings (a subsidiary of Quicken Loans), Citigroup, BlackRock Inc and the Sterling Group. In the Energy and Natural Resources arena, Stabenow receives money from DTE Energy and CMS Energy. In addition, the Senator from Michigan has received funds from Ag sector companies such as DowDuPont, Monsanto and the Coca Cola Co.
Other notable contributors are Votesane PAC, which is a bipartisan group, which has contributed to more Republicans than Democrats and the Blackstone Group, which is the largest real estate company in the world. The Blackstone Group has been the target of many popular movements and tenant unions around the globe, according to the group Right to the City.
2nd Congressional District
In the 2nd Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Bill Huizenga ($873,441) is way ahead of the his challenger, Democrat Rob Davidson ($139,478).
Huizenga sits on the House Financial Services Committee and is Chairman of the Capital Markets, Securities, and Investment Subcommittee. Therefore, it is no surprise that nearly all of the top 20 contributors in the 2018 Elections are from the financial sector.
3rd Congressional District
Of the three races we are looking at, the 3rd Congressional race has the least amount of money in it. Incumbent Rep. Justin Amash has raised a total of $382,709, with the three Democratic candidates raising a combined $35,000.
Amash sits on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and is part of the Subcommittee on Information Technology and the Subcommittee on National Security. Amash’s campaign contributors are more homegrown, with entities like Michigan Industrial Tools, S. Abraham and Sons, Wolverine Gas & Oil, Autocam Corp, Morning Star Company and the Windquest Group.
However, Amash has also received sizable contributions from the House Freedom Fund, the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Libertarian Think Tank founded by the Koch Brothers, the Cato Institute.
It seems pretty clear that in all three of these races, the incumbents, all of which have far big campaign war chests, will be the likely winner in the November 2018 Election.
A small victory against Settler Colonialism in Kalamazoo: An interview with Ben Williams
On Tuesday, Kalamazoo City Commissioners voted to remove the Fountain of the Pioneers statue from Bronson Park.
The statue of the Fountain of the Pioneers has attracted attention since a master plan was approved in 2016. The fountain includes a representation of a European settler with a weapon in his hand towering over a Native American.
Yesterday, we interviewed Ben Williams (Potawatomi) about his thoughts on the significance of the vote to remove the statue that contributes to a Settler Colonial narrative.
Women, Influence and the Neoliberal Model
On Wednesday, the Grand Rapids Business Journal will celebrate their annual list of the Most Influential Women in West Michigan.
This celebration, will feature Lis Wiehl, who was a reporter and legal analyst for Fox News for 15 years. The event, which is March 7, is one day before International Women’s Day. Now, I don’t know if this is intentional, but International Women’s Day and the Grand Rapids Business Journal (GRBJ) event have nothing in common, except that it involves women.
International Women’s Day was started based on the exploitative working conditions of women in the garment industry, which resulted in a fire at the Triangle Factory in New York City, on March 25, 1911. One hundred and twenty-three women died that day, which led to an international outcry and the birth of a new movement led by women.
The GRBJ event doesn’t honor working class women, it honors primarily professional women and mostly women who are part of the business class.
The list of 50 women ranges from women in government, to those in business and women in the non-profit sector. There is one woman who is identified as a community asset and advocate and two women who work in the media business.
The list of 50 most influential women made up most of those in business (25) and those in the non-profit sector (17), with those in government tallying 5.
Since the list was created by the Grand Rapids Business Journal, it is no surprise that women in business dominated the list. However, even though there were 17 women listed as being in the non-profit sector, in many ways it is difficult to distinguish at times the difference between businesses and non-profits.
The non-profit sector is structured like a business, with a board of directors and is often staff with professionals who have little or limited experience with the populations they provide services to.
Before people get all bent out of shape, I am not suggesting that none of these women do good work. Doing good work is not the point of the critique here, instead I want to challenge our notion of what it means to be influential in West Michigan.
The definition of the word influence is, the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself. The definition is somewhat vague and does not imply that having influence over people is to the benefit of the community.
Those in government often make decisions that have negative consequences for some people, most often communities of color and working class individuals and families. For instance, the tax structure, police policies, housing and education policies can be extremely detrimental to communities who are the most marginalized, as we have seen in West Michigan, when it comes to policing policies, housing and especially how policing impacts communities of color.
Betsy DeVos clearly has influenced education policy in her first year as Secretary of Education. DeVos has pushed her neoliberal education policy preferences that has favor charter and private schools, cut funding for schools that impact communities of color and changed Title IX policies by allowing men’s rights groups a larger say in campus sexual assault policy, as we have been documenting in section called Betsy DeVos Watch.
In addition, the kind of influence that Mayor Bliss and Commissioner Lenear, both included on the list, has often not faired well for people living in poverty and communities of color. The last year has seen bad decisions or a lack of action on the part of the Grand Rapids City Commission around police violence, immigration status and housing issues that has benefited developers over renters in several neighborhoods.
When we look at how women in business can influence people, here it is also clear that those most vulnerable can be negatively impacted. Women in business can make decisions that perpetuates the wealth gap, impact the environmental justice issues like air quality and food, plus women in business can also make decisions that determine the larger political climate, through contributing to political campaigns, lobbying and what networks or associations they are part of that influences public policy.
Consider Birgit Klohs with the Right Place Inc., one of the 50 Most Influential Women in West MI. The Right Place Inc. tries to attract businesses to set up show in West Michigan, particularly international companies. For instance, the Right Place Inc. has been instrumental in bringing several Israeli military companies to the area, plus Klohs sits of the board of the Michigan Israel Business Bridge, which develops business relationships with Israel and the companies in Michigan.
In addition, the Right Place Inc Board is made up of many of the members of the local power structure, a network of people and businesses that make up the wealthiest in West Michigan, who also make it their business to influence public policy to their benefit.
There are several other business women on the list of 50 most influential, such as bankers, consultants and CEOs of PR firms, which also all tend to serve the interests of those in power.
Then there are all those women who represent non-profits. While many of these non-profits provide necessary services to people who are marginalized, these same non-profits tend to provide those services in a way that keeps the systems of power in place. In other words, all of the services that these non-profits provide, do not address the root causes of poverty, food insecurity, poor public health, racism or patriarchy. Instead these non-profits work within a charity model that focuses on individual opportunity as opposed to dismantling systems of oppression.
Therefore, if we are measuring these women as being the most influential, then what we really mean is that these women are influencing social, political and economic systems which generally do not threaten power. Another way of looking at this list, is that many of these women were chosen for the list of 50 most influential women in West Michigan because their influence serves a larger neoliberal agenda, which means systems of power are not challenged, economic disparities are perpetuated, systemic racism is protected and the transfer of public funds/resources going to the private sector escalates.
If we are determining that these women are the most influential through this neoliberal lens, then yes, they are influential.
Another model
There is another model that runs counter to the neoliberal model. It is based on feminist principles, like mutual aid, where people look out for each other and make sure that any injustice that exists is dismantled. This counter model practices prefigurative politics, which is a feminist principle where groups of people practice relationships that are based on the kind of world we want to live in – horizontal, not hierarchical, autonomous, relational, where justice is practiced and where the most marginal voices are centered.
I can think of lots of women in West Michigan who practice this model, women who do amazing work through grassroots organizing and insurgent cultural practice. There are lots of black and latinx women who are not interested in awards, but in fighting for their communities. These women fight against white supremacy, against male domination and against environmental racism. These amazing women also fight against the violence inflicted on immigrants, police brutality, gentrification, sexual assault and they fight against neoliberal capitalism and philanthro-capitalism.
These amazing women come from a long tradition of women that have fought for collective liberation, women like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, Rosa Parks, Ella Baker, Elizabeth Martinez, Angela Davis, Dorothy Day, Audre Lorde and the members of the Combahee River Collective. These women are part of Black Lives Matter and Movimiento Cosecha, they are Indigenous women, women who make up artist collectives, do the work of mutual aid, create safe spaces, do the heavy lifting of emotional labor and community mourning. These are the women I find to be the most human, the most compassionate and the most influential in a world that I want to live in. To all of the amazing women who do not seek recognition, rather justice and collective liberation, I say Thank You!
