This past week, many in Grand Rapids, in my mail was a grocery bag and a card from Feeding America West Michigan. The grocery bag and the card had the same message, that featured cartoon characters that asked the question – Do We Have an Answer to Hunger? The answer was, Yes, It’s in the Bag.
Thousands of households were asked to either fill the bag to stamp out hunger or donate online on May 13th to Feeding America West Michigan. Both of these options are easy, simple and are based on the notion that if we donate food we can solve hunger.
Filling a grocery bag with processed foods will not end hunger, in fact, it is actually a false solution.
Feeding America wants us all to believe that hunger can be solved through charity. However, the anti-hunger industrial complex does is to keep our attention focused on the hunger problem without actually pursuing the necessary steps to truly end it. 
We have written about this issue in the past, looking at groups like Kids Food Basket and Feeding America West Michigan. Our analysis has drawn criticism because some people think that you should never challenge charitable groups that are “attempting to do good.” Such a simplistic and naive reaction to any critique of food charity not only seeks to silence any real dialogue around the need to move from food charity to food justice, it prevents us from having to come to terms with the fact that a food charity model will never solve the issues of hunger and poverty.
Andrew Fisher’s book, Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups, confirms the critique that the anti-hunger industrial complex only ends up perpetuating hunger. The book offers some fresh insight into the anti-hunger industrial complex and makes it clear that food charity is a false solution. One major theme of the book is this:
In both allying themselves with corporate America and not pursuing labor-related issues, anti-hunger advocates tacitly exonerated businesses from their role in foster income inequality and, in various cases, of engaging in practices that perpetuated hunger among their own workers or subcontractors.
This relationship between corporate America and Feeding America provides a clear example of why the anti-hunger industrial complex won’t end hunger and only perpetuates it.
According to Big Hunger, “Feeding America’s income from corporate promotions increased six fold from $3.5 million in 2008 to $20.6 million in 2014 (while other corporate donations went up four fold from $8.7 million to $36.2 million during the same time period).” This shift in the last ten years in significant and demonstrates how the much of the charitable food sector has been hijacked through their relationship with corporate America. Walmart is a prime example of how insidious the anti-hunger industrial complex’s relationship is with powerful corporations.
Walmart benefits from this relationship with Feeding America in many ways. First, the largest global corporation uses its relationship to Feeding America as a public relations stunt, that not only wins over the hearts and minds of consumers, it distracts us from looking at the low wages the company pays. Here is a recent commercial that Walmart and Feeding America are airing on TV stations across the country.
Second, the corporate relationship to the anti-hunger industrial complex is problematic, since so many of the major food commodity corporations occupy seats of the board of directors of many of these charitable food entities, as is evidenced by this list from Fisher’s book.
A third consequence is that many of the major anti-hunger organizations have adopted corporate governance models and pay their CEOs outrageous salaries, as you can see from the data below.
The Feeding America West Michigan CEO receives an annual salary of $118,818, according to their 990 documents from 2015.
As Fisher points out in Big Hunger:
The cumulative effect of this anti-hunger industrial complex is that the more moderate organizations, the ones that are more in synch with corporate philanthropy, become wealthier and squeeze out the more progressive organizations. Their approach becomes the dominant paradigm.
Indeed, the approach of Feeding America West Michigan is the dominant paradigm in this community. However, this paradigm is being challenged. Access of West Michigan in recent years is moving the organization away from a food charity model towards a food justice model, by challenging food pantries to shift their focus and look at root causes of hunger in our community. Some food pantries are now offering more fresh produce from local farmers, often through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) model.
Another local example that seeks to challenge the food charity model is the work of the Other Way Ministries. This long-time westside organization has run a food pantry for decades, but in recent years they have minimized the amount of unhealthy food they carry and promote more whole foods and fresh produce to those who are food insecure. The Other Way Ministries also make smoothies with people who come to the pantry, offers canning classes and has established its own food co-op.
In addition, the westside organization has a community garden and is partnering with Urban Roots to further develop that garden as a more dynamic mechanism for people to access fresh produce and to learn to grow more of their own food.
Lastly, the Other Way Ministries has been partnering with Gardens for Grand Rapids for the past two years to encourage people to access raised garden beds and news soil at no cost, so that residents in the area can be directly involved in some of their own food production.
These are just a few examples of how traditional food charity organizations have been moving towards a food justice model and are operating outside of the anti-hunger industrial complex to offer real solutions that are not rooted in the corporate/capitalist model.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos gave the commencement speech at one of the nation’s historically black universities, Bethune-Cookman University, located in Florida.
Current students and alumni had opposed having DeVos be the commencement speaker, because of racist and insensitive comments she made about black colleges and universities being “schools of choice.” The opposition was public, with marches, formal statements and a petition campaign that had generated some 50,000 signatures prior to May 10.
When DeVos was introduced students began booing and yelling to attempt to drown out the Secretary of Education. Many of the graduating students also stood and turned their backs on DeVos and the administration that invited her, all of which can be seen in this video.
While much of the news coverage focused on the student opposition, little was shared about what Betsy DeVos said and attempted to say. A story on Buzzfeed included these comments from DeVos:
“One of the hallmarks of higher education, and of democracy, is the ability to converse with and learn from those with whom we disagree,” she said. “I have respect for all those who attended, including those who demonstrated their disagreement with me. While we may share differing points of view, my visit and dialogue with students leaves me encouraged and committed to supporting HBCUs.”
Like much of her speech, reasonable people would take issue with what she had to say. In all the years of monitoring the activities of the DeVos Family and Betsy DeVos in particular, there is little indication that she is interested in conversations with those with whom she disagrees. In fact, what Betsy DeVos has demonstrated over the years is that she has used her family’s deep pockets to fight against people she disagrees with, particularly those who support public education, LGBTQ rights, public sector unions, pro-choice advocates, working class people in general and anyone who wants to keep religion out of the public sphere.
Betsy DeVos attempted to say many other things during the commencement speech, much of which was difficult to hear based on the videos and often ignored. However, it is worth deconstructing some of the comments from her speech, which can be found in its entirety here.
DeVos’s speech is entitled A Calling to Service, Courage and Grace. One question we might all ask ourselves is how does someone who was born into and married into the billionaire class practice service. It is well known that Dick and Betsy DeVos have numerous people working in their home ion Holland in varying capacities, but primarily as domestic servants.
Early on in her speech DeVos said, “I am at the table fighting on your behalf, and on behalf of all students across this great nation.” This has not been historically true, since Betsy has fought against public education for several decades, both by creating entities such as the Great Lakes Education Project and by funding anti-public education and school privatization campaigns across the country. 
What was most disconcerting about the Education Secretary’s speech was her misuse of comments from the university’s founder Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune. DeVos said there were three main themes she found in reading Dr. Bethune, one of which was that we should, “take responsibility for your families and your communities and never tolerate inequality or injustice.”
So how does Betsy DeVos reconcile her being part of the billionaire class when so many millions of families live in poverty? How does her class privilege relate to not tolerating inequality or injustice? Simply put, it doesn’t. Betsy DeVos, along with the rest of the capitalist class, made their wealth through injustice and inequality.
Lastly, towards the end of her comments, Betsy DeVos stated, “And when some pursue dissention, you can engage in debate with grace and poise, just as Dr. Bethune did.” While it is true that Dr. Bethune may have displayed a tremendous amount of poise and grace in her lifetime, the reality is that it was precisely because of her dissention, and the dissention of countless other black educators, that HBCUs were started throughout the country. Like any struggle for justice, black colleges and universities were build on dissention against institutionalized racism and white supremacy., something Betsy DeVos would know little about.
Housing Justice through a Historic and Intersectional Lens: Looking back, imagining forward and fighting right now
(The following post is based on a presentation given on May 10 at the monthly gathering hosted by Spectrum Health Healthier Communities.)
What I want to do is look at a brief history of housing justice in Grand Rapids, then look at the current housing crisis and lastly to discuss some possibilities about how to organize for the future.
This first slide is important because we need to acknowledge that the founding of Grand Rapids is rooted in the displacement of the Anishinaabe people that lived along the Grand River in the early past of the 18th century. The imagine you see here is of some of the early christian churches, because they played a significant role in the displacement of Indigenous people.
The early displacement is what Native scholar Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz names as Settler Colonialism, where Euro-Americans took Native land and colonized those communities, slowly pushing them out. This reality needs to be named the original displacement, which is what the West MI blog, If theRiver Swells, has identified it as such.
The above slide is a picture of the home of one of the furniture barons in Grand Rapids, William Gay. The amazing account of the 1911 Furniture Workers Strike by Viva Flaherty, documents that most of the 8400 people working in the furniture industry in Grand Rapids at the time, the average wage of those furniture workers was $1.91 per day. Thus, most of those who worked in the furniture industry did not own their own homes and the homes they did live in were very basic, often with extended family members. This wealth disparity between furniture barons and furniture workers translated into the capitalist class living in luxury and working class families living in substandard housing.
In the next slide below, we can see a map of the city of Grand Rapids, which at the time of the 1911 furniture workers strike had 12 wards. One of the lessons that the furniture barons learned during the 1911 strike is that working class people had too much support and sympathy at the city government level. The capitalist class crafted a ballot initiative in 1916 to change the city charter to reduce the political structure from 12 wards to three wards, a ballot initiative that was passed. This meant that the diverse ethnic communities in Grand Rapids now had less political representation after 1916, which is important in thinking about the larger political climate and how that impacted housing justice at the time. Essentially, the charter change was a form of class warfare against working class people.
The next several slides looks at how racism and White Supremacy has factored into housing issues, particularly as it impacted the African American community. The first example looks at how white residents in Grand Rapids felt so privileged that they could actually petition the city government to deny black people to buy homes and move into white only neighborhoods. Housing segregation was systemic in the early part of the 20th century and was perpetuated because of the structural racism that existed at that time.
The next slide in many ways speaks for itself, since it provides a snapshot of the housing conditions of the African American community in Grand Rapids, based on a 1940 Urban League report.
The next slide provides a summary of another report produced by the Urban League in 1947, which has a section on the housing conditions for the Black community in 1947.
After WWII, much of the US highway system was constructed. In Grand Rapids, the construction of US 131 and 196 resulted in the destruction of hundreds of homes and the displacement of roughly 4,000 working class families. You can see from the images below that just east of St. Adalbert’s Catholic church, where the beginning of US 131 was being constructed, was once an area where hundreds of homes stood. The other photo depicts the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce sponsored ribbon cutting of the opening of the highway in Grand Rapids, especially since their members were not negatively impacted by the destruction of homes and displacement.
This next slide is based on the research conducted by Todd Robinson for his book, A City Within a City. Robinson makes the point that there was massive White flight beginning in the 1960s, since White people did not want to share neighborhoods with African Americans and because of the fear that White people had as it relates to the growing political disenfranchisement of the Black community. Not only did White people move to the suburbs, they took a great deal of wealth with them that deeply impact neighborhoods throughout the city.
The 1967 riot in Grand Rapids was sparked by police repression of several black youth in July of that year. Some of the rage in the Black community targeted rental units in the southeast side and businesses that were owned by White people. The images you see below are from the corner of Jefferson and Buckley SE and Pleasant St, near Jefferson. In addition, you can see the front page of the Grand Rapids Press from July 26, 1967.
What is instructive from some of the media coverage of the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids, were the comments from white people in communities close to Grand Rapids. In the slide below you can see the White Supremacist attitudes reflected in the comments, attitudes that mirror much of what we have seen since the Ferguson and Baltimore uprisings in recent years.
Lastly, after the 1967 riot occurred, the Planning Commission from the City put together a report about the riot, along with recommendations. The report is entitled, Anatomy of a Riot, which you can read at this link. It is interesting that the report suggests that the market should determine housing outcomes for the African American community.
Now that we have looked at some of the historical context into housing issues in Grand Rapids, lets look at the current crisis. I was asked to look at the homeless population and at least provide some data on those currently experiencing homelessness. First, maybe we could use the following definition of what it means to be homeless.
Next, we can look at the fairly current data taken from the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness. This data only reflects the number of people that were living in shelters, transitional housing, on the street or in cars.
What is problematic about this data is that is woefully underestimates the amount of people who are homeless, since it doesn’t include those that are temporarily staying with friends/family. The data also doesn’t include the thousands of people who are a paycheck away from being evicted or foreclosing on their homes because of losing a job or lack of adequate income. What I am proposing is that we view housing justice through a more complex and intersectional lens, that moves beyond the language of homelessness to what we might call Housing Insecurity.
All of these populations have been negatively impacted by the current housing crisis and are experiencing housing insecurity. Lets begin by looking at the issue of poverty in Grand Rapids and Kent County. This first slide is based on data from Kids Count Michigan and shows that 1 in 5 children lives in poverty. In the case of Black and Latino children the number is 1 in 4 are living in poverty.
In this map, one can see that higher levels of poverty are disproportionately located in neighborhoods where Black and Latino families live.
In this next slide you can a graphic from a recent report that identifies Grand Rapids as being 3rd on the list of top 10 cities with inequality.
In the following slide, we see another map based on a study done by the Economic Policy Institute, which shows the Grand Rapids/Wyoming metro area as having the worst income disparity in Michigan.
The next slide simply reflects the massive amount of wealth disparity between just two families and half a million children living in poverty in Michigan.
The graphic below shows the growing number of millionaires in Kent County from 2010 to 2014. This data can be found at the following link.
The next slide provides data on what someone would have to earn in Michigan in order to be able to afford rent.
The reality is that many people earn well below the $15.16 an hour that is necessary to rent in Michigan. In fact, the current minimum wage in Michigan is $8.90 and hour and will only increase to $9.25 an hour in 2018.
This next slide, produced by the group, Grand Rapids Homes for All, makes the point that while rent has nearly doubled in the past 10 years, income has not for working class people.
The next several slides look at how certain vulnerable and marginalized population have numerous obstacles to face in order to find adequate and affordable housing. This first slide shows how queer and trans youth are negatively impacted because of the homophobic and transphobic culture we live in.
If you are caught within the Prison Industrial Complex, housing because even more precarious, especially since it is nearly impossible to find housing with a felony conviction in Michigan.
For those who are undocumented, finding housing is also extremely difficult. The next slide reflects what the State of Michigan says about the necessity of having documentation in order to rent.
Now, let’s turn to how gentrification impacts people throughout Grand Rapids. The real consequences of gentrification can be felt by the increased cost of rent, the physical displacement of people and the destruction of homes from development projects and the social and cultural marginalization that people experience in gentrified neighborhoods.
The first example is from the GVSU incursion into the Belknap Neighborhood, where the university took out an entire block of homes and displaced dozens of working class families in the process.
The GVSU destruction of housing also opened up opportunities for private developers, like Orion Construction to develop expensive market rate housing such as their Gateway project.
A second example can be seen on the near westside, with all the development that Rockford Construction is involved in. In the pictures below you can see just some of the houses that were demolished, which displaced numerous families.
This destruction of homes and displacement of families has paved the way for what Rockford Construction calls the “super block” project.
Another issue that is connected to all of these recent development projects resulting in the gentrification of neighborhoods, is the massive amount of state and city tax breaks being given to developers. Millions of dollars are provided in tax breaks for market rate housing projects while there is an urgent housing crisis confronting thousands of working class individuals and families. In addition, the power structure in Grand Rapids is putting an emphasis on creating more tourism and recreation while thousands of people are faced with a housing crisis.
The last slide that looks at the impact of gentrification in Grand Rapids is based on a recent Michigan Radio story called Push Out, which affirms what many people have been saying for years. The report also shows the dramatic increase in out of town and out of state investors that are buying up property since Grand Rapids housing prices have sky-rocketed.
Now lets talk a bit about how we can organize around housing justice. The slide below is making the point that we need to implement all of the ideas as a way of recognizing the intersectional nature of the housing crisis. There is no one single answer, but the need to implement a variety of tactics and strategies in order to have get what is necessary. People need to make no less than $15 an hour in order to afford the current housing costs. Tax breaks should primarily be given to those who will be building affordable housing. We have to stop tearing down houses and be about the work of rehabbing houses for working class families. The city needs to put restrictions on the amount of properties that outside investors and investors in general can own in the city. There needs to be a development process that begins with the neighborhood, where people have a direct say in any proposed development project in their communities. We need a viable Tenant Union that will be made up of tenants that are most impacted from the current housing crisis, which will allow them to engage in rent freeze campaigns, like what we see happening all across the country.
Lastly, we need to seriously look outside of government to more autonomous ideas and actions that create housing justice. What would it look like for more people to practice radical hospitality and to provide free spaces in their homes for people who are housing insecure? We don’t need more shelters, we need people willing to take care of each other. We also need to develop more coop housing options and collective living opportunities that not only could solve some of the housing crisis, but could provide a catalyst for people to experience a less expensive and less stressful life. Considering how many churches we have in this city, what would it look like for churches to buy homes and then provide them to people who want to buy or rent a home at a fair price as a means to offer concrete support for families experiencing the housing crisis. Again, we need to rehab housing and stop demolishing homes. A great model is what was started by Habitat for Humanity, a model which could be replicated by all kinds of collective entities. People could get involved with Grand Rapids Homes for All and work on the issues they are focused on, along with introducing the idea of Community Land Trusts into how we can protect and expand housing justice in the city.
Calls for a State of Emergency in Grand Rapids elicits no meaningful response from City Officials
Last night about 40 people gathered outside of city hall for a Prayer Rally for Change. The Micah Center and mothers of the 5 Grand Rapids boys who were held at gunpoint by the GRPD organized the event as a way to respond to the recent examples of oppressive behavior from the police – holding 5 African American boys at gunpoint, the traffic study and the police shooting and killing an African American man.
The who spoke and offered up prayers were from the Black and Latino/a communities and was a moving display of solidarity between the two communities. One of the mothers who’s son was held at gunpoint by the GRPD on March 24, also spoke briefly and expressed disappointment and frustration at the lack of action being taken by city officials.
After the prayer rally, people were invited to attend the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting. The room was full, with only a couple of empty seats when the meeting started. After dealing with items on the agenda, the Public Comment period was opened and dozens of people got up to speak primarily addressing the oppressive incidents and tactics by the GRPD.
Early on, Rev. Jerry Bishop spoke and said that he had invited 100 Black men to a meeting the day before to discuss the level of violence in the community and was calling for a State of Emergency. He invited the men who had met with him the night before to stand up as a demonstration of their solidarity and commitment to the demand for a State of Emergency.
Many of those same African American men got up to speak with common themes. Most of them talked about not feeling safe in the community, specifically not feeling safe when the GRPD was around. Other men fought back tears when talking about how difficult it has been to have conversations with their children about what has been happening in recent weeks and how they fear for their children’s lives.
Members of the Latino/a community also spoke about being harassed by the GRPD and that they came to mostly stand in solidarity with their Black brothers and sisters in the struggle.
Other people addressed issues around the lack of response from City officials on these matters and were “shocked” that the city has taken no concrete action based upon the demands the community has made over the past 6 weeks.
Another speaker addressed the fact that the police department consumes a full third of the City’s budget and that instead of allowing the GRPD to use so much of the taxpayers money, it should instead be diverted to providing job opportunities and to fund many of the youth-based programs that many of the African American men who were in attendance, were involved in.
In the end the Mayor said that they heard people’s concerns and thanked them for speaking. However, no verbal commitment was made by city officials last night, which this writer finds unacceptable. How can you hear community member after community member address such crucial issues and collectively call for a State of Emergency and not make some sort of commitment to take action?
One thing that the Micah Center, LINC, the NAACP=GR and MOBB United is doing is hosting meetings to discuss the 12-point plan the city has been working on since the summer of 2015. The first meeting will be held at LINC on Tuesday, May 23 from 5:30 – 8pm in the LINC Gallery, 1167 Madison Ave. SE in Grand Rapids.
Two weeks ago Michigan Radio ran an investigative story that confirms what many of us in this community have been saying for years about the current housing crisis. Pushed Out: A documentary on housing in Grand Rapids is an important and timely contribution to the current affordable housing crisis in this city. The story makes it clear that the cost of rent and the cost of housing has skyrocketed, along with the fact that more and more companies from outside of the area and outside of the state are buying up properties all across Grand Rapids.
This recent story on Michigan Radio is what makes the recent announcement so difficult to swallow. On Thursday, MLive posted yet another story about developers asking for millions in tax breaks, Tax breaks worth $4.8M urged for 3 urban redevelopment projects.
The article states that there are three development projects asking for $4.8 million in tax breaks. The MLive reporter then states that these projects, “will transform their city neighborhoods.”
The MLive reporter doesn’t ask how they will transform neighborhoods, not do they provide any evidence to support such a claim. These development projects many very well transform the neighborhoods they will be located in, but the question is, who will benefit from these development projects? Again, this is not a question that is asked, rather it is assumed it will benefit everyone in these neighborhoods.
One project is the develop another downtown hotel, a project that is being led by CWD, a company that owns a great deal of property in downtown Grand Rapids already and is part of the West MI power structure, as we noted in a recent posting. The 130-room hotel will certainly be a benefit to the downtown business and property owners, since it provides even more rooms for those coming to Grand Rapids on business trips or as tourists. The CWD hotel will also be run by the Amway Hotel.
The second development project will re-develop an old auto parts building and include a limousine rental business along Ann Street near US 131. One could easily draw conclusions as to who will be the class of people renting limousines, and it won’t be the working class.
The third development project is a project that will be run by Orion Real Estate Solutions, which has been a major contributor to the gentrification of Grand Rapids, with projects like the Gateway at Belknap. This new project, located at 38 College NE, which will house a four story market rate apartment building.
So yes, these project will transform the neighborhoods they are located in. These development projects will benefit the professional class, those who are upwardly mobile, which means it will disproportionately benefit white people.
In addition, the $4.8 million in tax breaks also means that it is money that does not get directed toward providing truly affordable housing for working class and communities of color. The projects and the tax breaks they receive are announced almost every week. This particular amount of $4.8 million could provide simple homes for 48 working class families, at a cost of $100,000 a piece. Even if the construction cost was $150,000 per home, it would still provide 32 homes for families who are struggling to make a living. With millions of dollars in tax breaks being offered by the state and the city on a regular basis, it could translate into hundreds of affordable housing options.
Let’s say that $5 million in tax breaks is being offered by the city and state each month (which we know to be a low estimate). This would mean there would be $60 million in tax breaks for development projects in each year. Imagine the amount of affordable housing options that could be provided in just one year for people who are currently being displaced or priced out of the neighborhoods that they live in.
Betsy DeVos is slated to deliver the spring commencement address next Wednesday (May 10) at a private historically black university in Daytona Beach, Bethune-Cookman University.
This announcement has received a tremendous amount of push back, especially after the Secretary of Education stated in February that historically black colleges and universities were “the real pioneers when it comes to school choice” and “living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality.”
“Colleges of choice. I mean, we had no other choice but to create HBCUs,” Cynthia Slater, president of the Daytona Beach NAACP Branch, said.
The NAACP, students and residents marched for about a mile on Wednesday from New Mt. Zion Church in Daytona Beach, showing their disapproval of DeVos as BCU’s commencement speaker.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the Florida chapter of the NAACP called the scheduled speech a “slap in the face to minorities, women and all communities of color.”
Students and Alumni have created a petition to demand that the university dis-invite the Secretary of Education. The petition, in part, reads:
Betsy DeVos doesn’t understand that HBCUs were created because African Americans were excluded from mainstream institutions. Secretary DeVos has no understanding of the importance, contributions, and significance of HBCUs.
Having DeVos speak at the commencement ceremony is an insult to the BCU graduating class, students, alumni, family, friends, and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s legacy.We, the proud alumni of Bethune-Cookman University, do not want Betsy DeVos to have a seat at our table. Please rescind her invitation to speak at the graduation ceremony.
For years the school privatization movement, which has included Betsy DeVos as one of its champions, has attempted to win over the black community and push for “school choice” or school privatization. In a recent article on Black Agenda Report, Glen Ford made the following point:
“Never in history have Black Americans marched, rallied or petitioned for private school vouchers.”
Evelyn Bethune, granddaughter of school founder Mary McLeod Bethune, said a commencement is the wrong forum for DeVos because it should be a “very sacred ceremony.”
“Graduation is a really big deal for our kids and for their families,” said Bethune, who graduated from Bethune-Cookman in 1979 and whose grandson will graduate with a master’s degree next week. “That spotlight should be on them and not on the controversy of the speaker that has been invited.”
Still, Evelyn Bethune takes exception to school administrators comparing the work of her grandmother to what DeVos stands for today. She said her grandmother was a strong proponent of education while being able to relate to common people.
“I don’t see any of that in Ms. DeVos,” said Bethune, who still lives in Daytona Beach and heads up an educational foundation and education consulting firm. “I’ve looked at her history, I’ve looked at the things that she has been connected to and I don’t see any resemblance to anything related to my grandmother.”
There are an estimated 10 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, immigrants who live in constant fear of harassment, intimidation, arrest, detention and deportation.
During the Obama administration, roughly 2.7 million undocumented immigrants were deported. Under the Trump administration the anti-immigrant discourse has increased and some of the earliest Executive Orders focused on building a wall along the US/Mexican border, hiring more Immigration, Customs & Enforcement officials and deporting more immigrants that are undocumented.
The urgency to take action in response to federal policies has resulted in a growing coalition of organizers and activists that are calling themselves the Grand Rapids Immigrant Solidarity Network. This group of people has been meeting since late last year to discuss ways in which those who hold a whole lot more privilege in this society can stand in solidarity with the immigrant community.
On Monday, there was a large march in Grand Rapids, there have been forums on providing sanctuary to those living in fear, know your rights trainings to inform the immigrant community what their legal rights are and an effort to respond to the repressive practices of Immigration, Customs & Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The campaign is called Rapid Response to ICE and consists of two major components. First, the group is distributing cards in the community that say, What to Do if ICE Shows Up? These cards are in English and in Spanish, provide information on what to do if ICE agents show up and encourage people to call 211 if they live in Kent County.
If people call 211 when ICE agents show up at their homes or places of work, they will be directed to a Rapid Response Team. The Rapid Response Team is made up of nearly 200 people who have been training in a variety of tactics and responses when ICE agents attempt to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
There have been several trainings that have taken place in the community for Rapid Response and the next one will be help on Thursday, May 11, beginning at 6:30pm. These trainings are designed for people who want to take action and stand in solidarity with those being targeted by ICE. These trainings are not informational session, rather they are for people who are willing to use their privilege to prevent and respond to any attempted arrests, detentions and deportation of the undocumented community.
For more information on the May 11 training, go to the Facebook event and make sure you follow the instructions on how to register.
2,000 march in Grand Rapids to demand Respect, Dignity and Permanent Protection for All Immigrants
(Just as a matter of transparency. Yesterday, I participated in a march for immigrant justice by providing some security for those marching.)
An estimated 2,000 people turned out yesterday to march for dignity, respect and permanent protection against harassment, arrest and deportation.
Those marching were mostly Latinos, Latinix, and indigenous people from Mexico, Central America and numerous Caribbean nations. Some proudly displayed flags from their country of origin, while other carried signs with demands to stop Separating Families because of the decades-long policy of deporting those without documentation.
The march was organized by Movimiento Cosecha Grand Rapids, which is part of a national movement led by those most impacted by the repressive and unjust immigration policies in the US. The organizers had hoped to match the march that was held in 2006, when 10,000 people marched for immigrant rights, but fell way short of that goal.
However, in 2006, there was no clear long-term strategy and the movement died out in just a few months. Those who organized the march that was held yesterday only see this action as the beginning of a campaign to achieve dignity, respect and permanent protection for all immigrants.
The march began at Garfield Park on Burton and moved west to Division Avenue. People cheered from their porches or came out of the businesses that are along Division, while others decided to join the march.
The march organizers did not obtain a permit, since they felt that it was their right to march for what they were demanding. The GRPD was frantic before the march, calling organizers and others connected to the movement, but no one was giving up any information. The GRPD decided to close down roads on their own to clear a path for the march, but the march organizers were clear in that they were providing enough protection for marchers on their own.
At one point the march made a left onto Franklin St. and was head west towards Grandville Ave.You can see from the photo above that the cops had blocked the entire road and were determined to not let anyone continue west on Franklin. 
When the marchers arrived at the cop blockade, the GRPD then not only made it clear that people could not continue west on Franklin, but that people would be arrested if they attempted to do so. From that point on, the cops clearly wanted to dictate the march route and make sure they were in control.
Undeterred, the marchers continued along Ionia making noise and marching slower so as to draw as much attention to the march as possible to those working downtown, shopping or living in one of the many development projects that have popped up throughout the downtown in recent years. At one point the march stopped completely to allow one of the marchers to share her story that reflected the difficulty that most immigrants face when coming to the US.
At one point a band joined the march, which elicited a loud response from the marchers. The band accompanied the march until it reached its destination at the Calder Plaza. Once the march arrived, march organizers made a few brief comments about next steps. People were invited to a meeting this Saturday at 9am to talk more about the Movimiento Cosecha and how to get involved.
I have been writing about the Acton Institute for more than 20 years. My first article on the Right Wing Think Tank was published in 1994, was entitled, Lord-ing it over others: Local Think Tank Feels Right at Home. 
In that article I spoke about Acton’s mission, politics and who sat on their board of directors in the early 1990s. The Acton Institute has grown significantly since then, with dozens of staff members, the publication of books and lots of online media. The founder, Rev. Robert Sirico and many other Acton Institute staff members are regularly invited as guests on national media outlets, like Fox News.
In that 1994 article, I did focus a bit on some of the members of the board of directors, since many of the members then were part of the larger far right network. This still holds true today. Therefore, I would like to spend the rest of this article looking at who makes up the current Board of Directors at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.
The current board (2017) continues to be made up of people who not only share similar ideological perspectives, they are part of the far right, religious right and neoliberal capitalist class that perpetuates harm done to the most vulnerable in our society.
The Acton board consists of 14 members. Two of those members are part of the Acton Institute’s leadership, with the founder of the Institute, Rev. Robert Sirico and Kris Mauren, who has been one of the longest staff members and is currently the Executive Director. The other 12 board members will be listed in alphabetical order.
Elsa Prince Broekhuizen
Elsa Prince Broekhuizen is the former wife of Edgar Prince, who made his money from a company he founded in Holland called the Prince Company. As a couple, Edgar and Elsa Prince, were a formidable pair that funded numerous right wing causes and controlled a great deal of the economic, social and cultural dynamics in Holland. Edgar and Elsa Prince are the parents of Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, and Betsy Prince, who married into the DeVos family and is the current Secretary of Education.
The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation has for years funded efforts to limited LGBT equality around the country. However, the Prince Foundation has primarily funded Christian organizations that promote patriarchal values, groups like Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Promise Keepers and the Rutherford Institute. This foundation also contributes substantial amounts of money to pro-free market think tanks like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Acton Institute.
Gaylen Byker
Gaylen Byker was the President of Calvin College from 1995 – 2012. Before becoming Calvin’s President, Byker was an international businessman with ties to the energy sector and international banking.
A 2016 MLive article revealed that Byker lived in a $10 million mansion along Lake Michigan, near Montague. Before leaving his tenure at Calvin College and since then, there has been numerous stories about financial conflicts of interest. While Byker was President of Calvin College, the school accrued some debt, so the college made some investments. Some of those investments were managed by the Fuller Foundation, an entity that included Gaylen Byker as a member of the Board of Directors while he was President of Calvin College.
Byker was also a director at the InterOil Corporation, which now appears to be part of the largest oil conglomerate in the world, ExxonMobile. The connection to big oil makes sense, considering the fact that the Acton Institute took money from Exxon for years in exchange for their commitment to deny climate change.
Alejandro Chafuen
Alejandro Chafuen is the former president of the Atlas Network, “a Washington DC-based non-profit organization that works to support and grow a network of more than 400 think tanks in more than 80 countries promoting individual liberty and free market ideals.” 
Know as the Johnny Appleseed of anti-regulation groups. The Atlas Network also has a history of climate denial and works closely with the State Policy Network, a Koch brothers funded organization that pushes state policy changes like Right to Work, privatization and other austerity measures at the state level.
Chafuen is a serious defender of free market capitalism, and like Acton founder Robert Sirico, believes that Christianity and Capitalism are perfect bedfellows. Chafuen sits on the boards of numerous other far right entities and is a regular columnist for Forbes Magazine.
John P. Crowe
John Crowe is the founder of the John Crowe Company and has a history of being involved in start up companies. Crowe founded JFJ Traders in 1987 and JFJ Real Estate in 1992, which owns and operates commercial buildings around the country. There is not much additional information on Crowe, but it is clear that he is deeply committed to the neoliberal capitalist principles that the Acton Institute was founded on.
David A. Durell
David Durell is connected to the George Edward Durell Foundation, which funds lots of far right organizations and think tanks, like the Acton Institute. Durell was also appointed as a Trustee of the arch-conservative center of higher learning, Hillsdale College.
Hillsdale College is noted for being a hyper-conservative college, with far right ties. Former president of Hillsdale, George Roche sat on the advisory board of the US affiliate of the World Anti-Communist League. This educational institution has hosted forums with speakers such as Manuel Ayau, a member of Guatemala’s Amigos del Pais, a group linked to death squads. Hillsdale also houses the late John Bircher Clarence Manion’s tape collection, with lectures by former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. Hillsdale’s magazine Imprimis provides a forum for anti-minority views. In one issue they gave space to the director of English Only, to condemn advocates of cultural diversity and bilingual education.
Sean M. Fieler
Sean Fieler is a founder of Equinox Partners and former co-founder of the hedge fund group, Mason Hill Advisors. Inside Philanthropy refers to Fieler and the Hedge Funder who promotes conservative values. According to that same Inside Philanthropy article, “Fieler has opposed gay marriage, and once said, according to the New York Times, “the problem with gay marriage… is it promotes a very harmful myth about the gay lifestyle. It suggests that gay relationships lend themselves to monogamy, stability, health and parenting in the same way heterosexual relationships do. That’s not true.”
According to an article in the Huffington Post:
Beyond his electoral spending, Fieler has donated millions to anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage advocacy groups, mostly through his Chiaroscuro Foundation. The nonprofit group, named after a Renaissance painting style favoring high contrast between dark and light, has received more than $19 million from Fieler since 2010.
Most of the foundation’s contributions have gone to Catholic, anti-abortion and anti-birth-control organizations, but some funding has gone to anti-gay groups as well. The foundation has directed at least $220,000 since 2010 to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, a nonprofit that advocates against LGBT rights at the United Nations. C-FAM backed the anti-gay laws in Uganda that have been denounced as criminalizing homosexuality and deployed lawyers to help defend Belize’s anti-gay laws. It voiced support for the anti-gay laws adopted by Russia in 2013 and encouraged the United States to adopt such policies.
Leslie B. Graves
Leslie Graves is the president of the Lucy Burns Institute (LBI), a non-profit based in Madison, Wisconsin that has direct ties to the State Policy Network.
According to SourceWatch:
LBI is an “associate” member of the State Policy Network (SPN), which connects and funds conservative state-based think tanks and receives partial funding from The Claude R. Lambe Foundation. SPN is an ALEC member and “Chairman” level sponsor of its 2011 Annual Meeting, and many of its affiliated think tanks are ALEC members as well.[4] LBI offers free wiki training seminars to SPN members[5] and LBI’s President Leslie Graves and LBI have been featured at SPN events.[6]
Frank J. Hanna III
Frank Hanna III is the CEO of Hanna Capital and has been instrumental in the funding and advocacy of numerous Catholic Institutions around the country.
During the administration of George W. Bush, Frank served as co-chair of a Presidential Commission on Education and oversaw the production and delivery of its report to the President: “From Risk to Opportunity.”
Hanna Capital is also a financial supporter of numerous religious right entities and has consistently provided funding to the Acton Institute.
J C Huizenga
JC Huizenga is founder of Huizenga Group, which operates seven diverse manufacturing companies, a commercial contracting firm, and a consumer products packaging company.
In 1995, Huizenga began (and presently chairs) National Heritage Academies, now serving over 51,000 students in 76 schools across nine states. National Heritage was founded out of Huizenga’s conviction that every child deserves the opportunity to achieve their dreams. National Heritage was listed in Inc. magazine’s “500 Fastest Growing Private Companies” four consecutive years.
Huizenga is a West Michigan native and in addition to sitting on the Acton Institute board,he also sits on the board of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Huizenga has been part of the West Michigan power structure for years.
David C. Humphreies
David Humpheries is President and CEO of the Tamko Building Products, based in Joplin, Missouri. Last July is was revealed that Humphries was funding political races in Missouri, specifically to target Republican candidates that did not support Right to Work laws.
John C. Kennedy III
John Kennedy is the CEO of Autocam and part of the West Michigan Power Structure. Kennedy is also a board member of the West Michigan Policy Forum, which pushes for state policy changes that benefit those in the capitalist class.
Kennedy is also on the board of the Right Place Inc, the GVSU Foundation and is currently a trustee of Grand Valley State University.
James C. Rahn
James Rahn is the President of the Kern Family Foundation. The Kern Family Foundation promotes “entrepreneurialism,” meaning they fund neoliberal capitalist entities, like the Acton Institute.
The Kern Family Foundation is also a major player in funding Charter Schools and other “school choice” programs.Kern’s K-12 Education program has clear ideological roots — namely, the idea that choice and competition will improve the quality of education across the country. James C. Rahn serves on the national council of the conservative American Enterprise Institute and is on the board of the Charter School Growth Fund.
Therefore, it seems pretty clear that those who sit on the board of the Acton Institute are free market capitalist proponents, part of the religious right, are anti-union, anti-LGBT, anti-Choice, anti-government regulation, pro-school privatization and are well connected to the vast network of far right organizations and infrastructure all across the country.
Grand Rapids Cosecha Movement holds Press Conference to draw attention to May 1st Day Without Immigrants
Earlier today, three people who were arrested on April 20 for taking action in solidarity with the undocumented community, all plead not guilty to misdemeanor charges at the Kent County Court House.
Gema Lowe, who is a volunteer with the Grand Rapids Cosecha Movement, spoke first at the press conference, to provide some context for the April 20 action and the upcoming May 1st march themed as Un Dia Sin Immigrantes.
Gema spoke about this movement being about the dignity, respect and permanent protection of immigrants, particularly of undocumented immigrants. “When our families members die in our country of origin, we often can’t go, because we would never be able to get back in the US. This means we often don’t get to pay proper respect to family members who have died.
After Gema, an immigrant shared her story about coming from the Dominican Republic and becoming a foster parent to several refugee children who fled war-torn countries.
The rest of the Press Conference consisted of two of the three people arrested on April 20th, sharing a few words about why they did what they did. In the video below, we hear from Louis DeShane, a member of the Grand Rapids ATU, which is the bus driver’s union in Grand Rapids.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 