I came across this image and the text that accompanies it the other day on social media. It appears to have been created by Karly Kingsley, a former chef and now writer and supposed influencer, who posted this message on June 10th on their Instagram page. I saw lots of people sharing this image on social media, which lead me to writing this post.
The image show four cops, in riot gear, who have just abused and are now standing over a civilian. The image is presumably from Los Angeles, where civilians, mostly from the Latine community, have been fighting back against ICE attacks on family members and neighbors.
The text reads:
The Obama administration deported over 3.16 million people. Biden’s passed 4.44 million. Not once did either need troops in the streets to do it. That’s all you need to know about what’s happening.
Wow! There is a lot to unpack with this statement.
First, the liberal social media influencer is acknowledging that the Obama and Biden Administrations collectively deported 7.6 million people during their two administrations, but somehow that is ok, because they never used the National Guard to respond to a public uprising. Let me be clear, the deportation of undocumented immigrants is harm, it is brutal, dehumanizing, it destroys families, and it causes deep trauma that will never go away.
Second, for Karly Kingsley, none of harm and trauma of deportation really matters, since the Obama, nor the Biden Administrations, never called in the National Guard to deal with those resisting ICE violence. In no way does the use of the National Guard by the Trump Administration make the harm done to immigrants by the Obama and Biden Administrations any less heinous.
Third, telling people that “this is all you need to know about what is happening” not only minimizing the brutal harm done to immigrant communities by the Obama and Biden Administrations, it also re-enforces the pathetic and sophomoric notion that the President’s we voted for aren’t as bad as the President you voted for. What is wrong with people? Are we in seventh grade? Do people actually want to hang their hats on the idea that no matter how much harm the President’s we voted for committed, it doesn’t compare to the harm done by Trump?”
Fourth, just to be clear, liberal and Democratic Presidents and governments have used the National Guard on civilians just as frequently as Republican Presidents and politicians have in this country’s history. Hell, during the 1960s, the Johnson Administration used the National Guard to suppress urban uprisings all across the US, when Black people took to the streets in response to police violence and systemic racism that their communities had been subject to for decades under Jim Crow policies. (See Elizabeth Hinton’s book, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s.) Even more recently, Michigan Governor Whitmer and then Mayor of Grand Rapids, Rosalynn Bliss, both identified as progressive liberals, called in the Michigan National Guard to suppress the George Floyd uprising in May of 2020.
Lastly, this whole “Democrats are not as bad as Republicans” mantra is shallow and weak. If we want to have a backbone and be honest about what is happening, then we need to own what any administration or politician is doing instead of minimizing the harm being done and say, “well, they aren’t as bad as so and so would be.”
Resorting to the message of “we aren’t as bad as the Republicans” is not only intellectually inferior, it exposes the fact that the Democrats are fundamentally similar on many major issues, they are just not as extreme. The “we aren’t as bad as the Republicans” also demonstrates that the Democrats and Liberalism doesn’t have a vision or practice radical imagination.
As long as Liberalism continues to promote and perpetuate the idea of lesser evilism and refuse to acknowledge the brutal harm it condones, it will continue to lose, have unenthusiastic support or be the reason for people not wanting to engage in the political process.
It has been 21 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Leaked Chats Show Pro-Israel Extremist Group Betar Organizing Street Confrontations
Internet Access Is a Lifeline for Us in Gaza — So Israel Attacked It
THEY WENT TO GET FLOUR WITH THEIR MOTHER IN GAZA. “SHE CAME BACK IN A WHITE SHROUD.”
THE ISRAELI PLOT TO EXTINGUISH THE JOURNALISTS DOCUMENTING GENOCIDE
Analysis & History
CHRIS HEDGES: PROFITING FROM GENOCIDE
Starvation and Profiteering in Gaza: Talking with Francesca Albanese
Trump Claims He Wants Ceasefire Deal “Next Week” as Israel Expands Attacks in Gaza and West Bank
The Devil in the Details of Trump’s “Final Proposal” for Gaza Ceasefire
Image used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/visual/child-malnutrition/
No Detention Centers in Michigan holds protest at the GEO Group ICE Detention facility in Baldwin on the 4th of July
Editor’s note: I was the police liaison for the action at the Geo Group’s ICE Detention facility protest in Baldwin, Michigan.
Yesterday, over 200 people showed up to a protest outside the front gates of the newly converted prison in Baldwin, Michigan, a prison that was purchased by the GEO Group.
The protest was organized by No Detention Centers in Michigan, a grassroots group that formed years ago that organized a campaign to shut down the former North Lake Prison.
The GEO Group, which is one of the largest private prison companies in the world, purchased the prison in Baldwin and have converted it into the largest ICE Detention facility in the midwest.
The timing of yesterday’s protest was, was on the heels of the recently passed legislation dubbed as the “Big Beautiful Bill”, legislation that will increased the ICE budget by billions and make it the largest law enforcement agency in the US. We often didn’t hear about this aspect of the bill, especially since the Democrats did not make it an issue.
The protest organized by No Detention Centers in Michigan was also co-sponsored by Movimiento Cosecha, GR Rapid Response to ICE and the Lakeshore Rapid Response to ICE groups. Each of the co-sponsoring groups had representatives speak during the protest, along with a representative from a Detroit group who read a statement about the recent ICE raid that took place on the east side of the state. There are several videos of some of the speakers, videos you can find on the Cosecha Michigan Facebook page.
Some of the GEO Group security people were present the entire time of the protest, standing by their front gates in an attempt to prevent people from entering the grounds of the massive ICE Detention facility. Shortly after the protest began, several people were making the GEO Group security people uncomfortable, by standing in front of them at the gates, chanting and using noisemakers. The number of people engaged in this disruptive tactic increased as the protest went on and it further escalated when a GEO Group transport vehicle attempted to enter the facility off of the road where the protest was being held.
The increased disruptive tactic was likely what prompted the GEO Group security people to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Department, which sent several squad cars out in an attempt to remove protesters from the entrance to the detention facility. No arrests were made, but the Sheriff’s Department maintained a presence near the facility until the protest ended.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I was the police liaison for the protest, which means that I was the only person designated to interact with the cops. When the Lake County Sheriff’s Department arrived I attempted to engaged them, but they were not interested, and only wanted to deal with those who were engaged in the disruptive aspect of the action.
As a police liaison, I had no problem with those that were making noise and preventing what was likely GEO Group employees from entering or exiting the detention facility. Disruptive tactics have always been part of movement work, even if it makes some people uncomfortable. As an example, during the Civil Rights Movement, there were actions like the lunch counter sit-ins, where trained activists would defy segregation laws that allowed restaurants to segregate white and Black patrons. In the famous lunch counter protests Black activists would deliberately sit in the “whites only section.” This was a classic disruptive tactic that was rather effective over time and forced businesses to end their segregationist practices.
I mention this, because there were several people who not happy with those that were involved in the disruptive tactic at the GEO Group protest on Friday. One white woman told me directly that she felt that what they were doing was “not what you do at a peaceful protest.” I responded by saying that disruptive tactics have been central to all social movements throughout US history and that just because disruptive tactics are often confrontational, they are completely appropriate.
It was clear that some of the people at the No Detention Centers in Michigan protest want to do more than the standard protest. These kinds of protests should always welcome a diversity of tactics. The only issue I had with the disruption was that it could have put the immigrant organizers that were present at the protest at risk of arrest and possible detention. Those of us who were doing crowd safety did make sure that there were crowd safety people placed near the immigrant organizers at all times.
Equally important is the fact that this was the first public action that No Detention Centers in Michigan organized at the GEO Group detention facility in Baldwin. We should see this as just the beginning of a campaign to shut down the ICE Detention facility in Baldwin, so I urge people to get involved with their work and to follow them on social media for ways that people can be part of any efforts to resist ICE and to prevent the GEO Group from profiting off of human suffering.
It has been exactly 100 years since thousands of the second wave Klan members marched in Grand Rapids, not as some anomaly, but as an outward reflection of how normative White Supremacy was in West Michigan. It was on the 4th of July, with floats in a celebration of patriotism.
Both the Grand Rapids Press and the Grand Rapids Herald reported on the gathering of Klan members 100 years ago. In fact, one of the headlines of the Grand Rapids Herald read, Klan, Looking for 16,000 here today, erects tent city.
Klan members started arriving on July 3rd, 1925, in order to prepare for the parade they would hold on July 4th. Now the parade began on the westside, at Lincoln Park and moved east on Bridge Street. According to the Grand Rapids Herald, the parade started at 3pm. “Passing along Monroe Avenue it was greeted by throngs which crowded into the streets to witness the pageant. The crowd was orderly and for the most part friendly, breaking into applause frequently as one or another patriotic float passed.” It is also worth noting that the parade was led by a “squad of motorcycle police.”
After passing along Monroe Avenue, the parade turned right on Fulton and went all the way down to John Ball Park, where the thousands of Klan members held a rally. What is interesting, is that none of the newspaper reporters happened to mention anything about what was said at the rally, which means they completely ignored the message and the platform of the KKK gathering, which was always a central part of their rallies.
What we do know about the 2nd wave of the Klan, is that they were anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-immigrant and anti-Black, yet there was no reporting on the Klan platform and no one from the Catholic, Jewish, recent immigrant or Black communities was asked to comment on the large gathering of the White Nationalist and White Supremacist organization in 1925. (See Craig Fox’s book, Everyday Klansfolk: White Protestant Life and the KKK in 1920s Michigan, for additional background on the Second wave Klan.)
Equally important is the fact that this Klan gathering didn’t just happen, where KKK members happened to come to Grand Rapids in 1925. In fact, the Kent County chapter of the KKK hosted this gathering of Klan members from across the state.
Additionally, according to a retrospective piece by GR Press writer Garrett Ellison, written in 2012, where he relies on GVSU history professor Matthew Daley, Ellison, “Members began arriving in Grand Rapids in the weeks ahead of July 4 and set up a tent city on the municipal outskirts near the Bridge Street hillside. Daley said mentions of “a symbol” seen atop the hill the night of July 3 suggest Klansmen fired off a cross, possibly with a matching one over Belknap, to announce their presence the next day.” Such a display certainly sent a message to the residents of Grand Rapids.
So the Klan set up a tent city on the outskirts of Grand Rapids, which suggests that the tent city was legal. Interesting, considering that in the present, the City of Grand Rapids will not tolerate tents being put up in Grand Rapids by those who are unhoused. I guess people who are unhoused need to embrace an outwardly White Supremacist worldview if they want to set up tents in Grand Rapids.
All of this is to say that it was quite normal for the KKK to show up for a parade in Grand Rapids in 1925, where the public applauded them, where there were no visible signs of opposition and the GRPD even provided a motorcycle escort for the parade, thus demonstrating institutional support from the City of Grand Rapids.
However, the normalization of White Supremacist values continues to be entrenched in Grand Rapids even today. Sure, we don’t see throngs of KKK members in their white robes, but we do see lots of white people rallying to support white political candidates in Grand Rapids and white people applauding the massive investments into the downtown, while Black and Brown neighbors experience disinvestment.
We still see white people opposing the support of immigrants in this City and white opposition to Black people when they demand accountability for the brutality of the GRPD, or when they call for a defunding of the police. We see white people and white dominated organizations calling for the criminalization of the unhoused. We see white people silent on the contemporary manifestations of White Supremacy. You know who you are. We see you!
Politicians generally don’t have a great grasp of US history and they often buy into the official narrative about this country’s founding and legacy. In her most recent Monday Minute Email message, Rep. Hillary Scholten wrote:
“This week, we’re getting ready to celebrate America’s birthday–249 years young. We didn’t make it this far by accident. The freedoms we enjoy are because of the brave men and women who served our country in arms.
It’s also because of those who stood up to serve in elected office–brave presidents who held faithful to our principles of democracy, leaders of conscience who represented their people well.
And last, but certainly not least, it’s because of citizens like you, who have spoken up when you felt this country was getting off track. I hear you every day and respond with action. It’s truly the honor of my life to do this job.”
Rep. Schoten’s words are both revealing and instructive. Her words reveal that she embracing the dominant narrative about US history, a history which is rooted in White Supremacy and imperialism.
Rep. Scholten’s comments just ahead of the 4th of July are also rather instructive. The 3rd Congressional District Representative demonstrates how she prioritizes those she believes have made the US what it is. In one sense, Scholten’s acknowledges three groups of people as essential to US history, plus she prioritizes them within the dominant narrative. What follows is a deconstruction of Scholten’s comments and the three groups of people she decided to acknowledge.
First, Rep. Scholten states – The freedoms we enjoy are because of the brave men and women who served our country in arms. – Here Rep. Scholten wants us to believe that the US military has given people their freedom in the US. Scholten doesn’t have to support her claim, since it is a given that we are all supposed to believe that whatever freedoms we have it is because of the US military.
The reason why Rep. Scholten doesn’t provide any evidence to support her claim is that there really isn’t much. Think about it. The US military early on fought with other colonial powers to expand the US territory, not to defend “our freedoms.” Did the US war with Mexico result in providing greater freedoms in the US? Absolutely not. Besides expanding the US territory, the US went to war with Mexico to protect Texas’s right to continue to practice chattel slavery. I’m going to skip the Civil War, as I will address that in the third response.
In the later half of the 19th Century, during the so-called Indian Wars, the US also expanded their claim to land and took away the freedom and sovereignty of Native nations. Near the end of the 19th Century, the US begins to look abroad, so I suggest that people look at the excellent list of US military interventions that Professor Zoltan Grossman has put together, from Wounded Knee to the present, linked here. Looking over this list, how many times did the US military actually protect of expand the freedoms of people living in the US?
Second, Rep. Scholten states that our freedoms were because of, “those who stood up to serve in elected office–brave presidents who held faithful to our principles of democracy.” Again, Rep. Scholten provides not evidence, since this is just a truism within the dominant US narrative. I would argue, as do many historians like Zinn, Chomsky, Dunbar-Ortiz, Mays, Bronski, Marable, ect., that most US politicians have defended systems of power and oppression in the US. To the degree that US politicians introduced legislation that would expand freedoms and civil rights, it was primarily because of the organized social movements that were demanding these freedoms, rights, etc. Take the FDR administration, often cited for adopting New Deal policies. The FDR administration didn’t come up with New Deal policies on their own, they were responded to the massive social unrest in a post-depression era were working class people were not only demanding more rights, but fundamentally challenging the system of Capitalism. In much of the 1930s there were roughly 1000 strikes per year, according to the research in Jeremy Brecher’s book, Strike.
Third, Rep. Scholten states, “it’s because of citizens like you, who have spoken up when you felt this country was getting off track.” Again, Scholten provides no evidence to such a claim, plus the way she frames this third group is blatantly false. The fact that Scholten uses the word citizens is instructive, since Indigenous people were not citizens for a very long time, those enslaved were not citizens and millions of immigrants were never, and still aren’t citizens.
More importantly, Scholten fails to understand or acknowledged that the expansion of freedoms and rights have always come about because of organized people, often within organized movements. The resistance from those who were enslaved in the US is what forced politicians and the North to eventually go to war to end chattel slavery. The fact that workers have any rights at all in the US, as limited as they still are, is only because of labor organizing since the mid-19th Century, often at great cost to workers. African Americans are the ones who fought, struggled and died to end Jim Crow policies and continue to fight against institutionalized racism. Women had to fight to win the right to vote, to not be property of their spouses, or to have control over their bodies. Queer, trans and other gender non-conforming people collectively fought for greater freedoms and continue to do so today.
The point here is that organized people have won their rights, they have won their freedoms and their dignity, not because of the US military or US politicians. Social movements in the US have always been central to the expansion of freedoms and we should never confuse the US military or US politicians as being those that have made any of us free. Rep. Scholten once again demonstrates that she perpetuates the dominate narratives about US history. Scholten in no way can claim to be a progressive politician.
Philanthropy is just reputation laundering for the oligarchy.
It is that time of the year again, when GRIID posts about the various West Michigan Foundations from families that make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure. I start with the DeVos family, which has 5 different foundations.
The DeVos Family Foundation
GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. Four weeks ago I looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, then three weeks ago I investigated the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. Two weeks ago it was the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, and last week it was the CDV5 Foundation, which is the Cheri DeVos Foundation. Today, I want to look at the DeVos Family Foundation.
According to GuideStar, in 2023, the DeVos Family Foundation contributed $4,372,976 leaving them with $4,825 of funds left in their foundation account.
The DeVos Family Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2023, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few.
However, what is different about the DeVos Family Foundation in relation to the other DeVos Foundations is that this foundation is what remains of the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, which is why as of 2023 there was only $4,825 of funds left in that foundation account. You can also see from the 990 document for 2023, there are several Florida-based recipients, which makes sense, since this was where Rich and Helen DeVos spent more of their time in their final years.
Here is a list of some of the Florida-based recipients, followed by a list of the contributions to DeVos created entities.
Florida-based recipients:
- AdventHealth Foundation Central Florida – $150,000
- Covenant House Florida – $60,000
- Education Foundation Osceola County – $15,000
- Every Kid Outreach – $15,000
- First Tee of Central Florida – $10,000
- Foundation for Orange County Public Schools – $15,000
- Foundation for Seminole County Public Schools – $15,000
- Habitat for Humanity Greater Orlando and Osceola County – $150,000
- Harbor House of Central Florida – $95,000
- Lift Orlando – $150,000
- New Image Center – $60,000
- United Against Poverty – $45,000
- Urban Think Foundation Inc. – $30,000
- Zebra Coalition – $30,000
DeVos-owned, created or connected groups
- Alliance for Children Everywhere – $500,000 – Amway provides material support and several DeVos Foundations are partnersChicago Cubs Charities – $10,000
- Corewell Health Foundation – $1,000,000
- Degage Ministries – $300,000 – someone from RDV Corp sits on the Board of Directors
- Orlando Magic Youth Foundation – $385,000
- Start Garden LLC – $360,000
Foundations are tax shelters for the rich
Since the DeVos Family Foundation appears to be phasing out, it is an excellent time to talk about how much money the DeVos family has collectively put into their foundations to avoid that wealth from being taxed.
If you add up the assets from the five DeVos foundations that we have looked at the total comes to $206,104,533.00, which is just shy of a quarter of a billion dollars that the DeVos family has is not taxed.
According to inequality.org, “Private foundations are only required to payout 5 percent of assets annually to charities and donor-advised funds (DAFs) have no payout requirement. To make matters worse, some wealthy donors are playing shell-games to fulfill these minimal obligations.”
In a 2023 report published by inequality.org, entitled, The True cost of Billionaire Philanthropy, the report provides some interesting findings:
- $73.34 billion in tax revenue was lost to the public in 2022 due to personal and corporate charitable deductions.
- If we include just the little data we have about charitable bequests and the investments of charities themselves, the revenue loss is pushed up to roughly $111 billion.
- And if we also include the capital gains revenue lost from the donation of appreciated assets, the true revenue costs of charity likely add up to several hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
Thus, while billionaires like the DeVos family love to brag about their philanthropic giving, the foundations are not only tax havens, they are another mechanism to fund far right and religious right organizations, which is ultimately subsidized by regular taxpayers.
This is why I continue to say during public presentations and on the GRIID blog that while I have nothing but contempt for the DeVos family, it is a mistake if we ignore how strategic they are with their wealth. I am convinced that they are brutal and cruel in how they use their money, but they are not stupid, and it would be a mistake to think so.
Kent County Airport Board Authority statement essentially normalizes human rights violations
Last week I reported on the action that GR Rapid Response to ICE did at the Kent County Airport to inform and dramatize the impact of the Avelo Airlines contract with ICE.
As a follow up to that June 21st action, GR Rapid Response to ICE invited people to attend the Kent County Airport Authority’s monthly board meeting and to pressure the board members to demand that Avelo Airlines end its contact with ICE. Both WOODTV8 and WZZM 13 reported on that meeting, which included comments from several people who want to see Avelo Airlines either be removed from operating at the Kent County Airport or end their contract with ICE.
The Kent County Airport Authority Board did not respond directly to the issues about Avelo Airlines that people raised during their monthly board meeting, but has since released the following statement:
“The airport is required by federal law to allow all airlines to use our gates as long as they comply with FAA rules and regulations and remain in good financial standing. To do otherwise would unfairly discriminate against an airline, which could jeopardize our FAA funding.”
The Kent County Airport Authority statement reveals several things. First, the Kent County Airport Authority is making it clear that even if private airlines have contracts with ICE, contracts that allows them to transport undocumented immigrants to El Salvador with little hope of justice, that this is NOT a violation of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). Indeed, having a contract to do harm to immigrants does not violate FAA rules and regulations, which means the FAA rules and regulations normalizes human rights abuses.
Second, the Kent County Airport Authority statement makes it clear that apart from not violating FAA rules and regulations, as long as Avelo Airlines remains “in good financial standing”, they can continue to profit off of human rights abuses. This is exactly why GR Rapid Response to ICE, along with a national movement, is calling for a Boycott of Avelo Airlines, which could impact the financial standing of the airline company. In the toolkit that groups across the country are using to confront Avelo Airlines it states:
If we put pressure on Avelo – “Abduction Air” – management through targeted escalating actions that threaten the company’s reputation and already shaky financial situation, they will be forced to discontinue their DHS contract to avoid insolvency and become an example for other bad actors who provide deportation logistics.
We will do this by strategically influencing different financial levers of Avelo airlines and uplifting competitors who haven’t decided to make the decision to profit off of deportations. Making a clear example of Avelo on what can happen to airlines who participate in deportation logistics will help us ensure that no commercial airline decides to gamble with people’s lives.
This is why a boycott of Avelo Airlines is the most effective strategy at this point, especially since the Federal Aviation Authority condones airlines that have contracts with ICE or any other US government entity that violates human rights.
A few additional talking points are:
- Avelo Airlines says the contract with ICE is necessary for its bottomline, which makes them vulnerable to a Boycott.
- Avelo has cancelled and shifted flight plans before of financial issues – it is clearly struggling with solvency.
- To manage the intake of ICE flights, the company announced it would draw down some scheduled flights in order to operate deportation flights – which it plans to fly on unmarked planes.
- Avelo is trying to raise $100M to expand their operations and is actively trying to hire staff to staff these flights.
Clearly, Avelo Airlines is vulnerable to a Boycott. Use the toolkit, inform people how we won’t tolerate profits over people, and that we can win the battle by targeting Avelo Airlines with a Boycott! Lastly, you can follow https://www.stopavelo.org/ for additional information on the national campaign against Avelo Airlines and follow GR Rapid Response to ICE about other actions regarding Avelo Airlines.
It has been more than 20 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Israel ‘Disappeared’ Almost 400,000 People in Gaza, Half of Them Children: Report
Gaza First Amendment Alert (6/24/25)
‘An Avoidable Disaster’: Israeli Blockade of Gaza Could Starve Hundreds of Premature Babies
Against Israel’s New Middle East Vision
ISRAELI SOLDIERS KILLED AT LEAST 410 PEOPLE AT FOOD AID SITES IN GAZA THIS MONTH
Gaza’s Grassroots Effort to Ensure Humanitarian Aid Reaches Starving Palestinians
Analysis & History
‘Their Goal Is to Equate Protests for Palestine With Support for Terrorism’
The Crime of Opposing Genocide w/ Kathleen Brown & Michael Mueller
Image used in this post is from Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
It is exactly seven years since Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE began a campaign to get Kent County to end their contract with ICE.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Department had a contractual agreement to hold immigrants in the Kent County Jail for ICE and ICE would compensate them per person, per bed for as long as they were in the County Jail.
In late June of 2018, there was a call to show up to the Kent County Commission meeting to pressure the commissioners to end the contract with ICE. Roughly 200 people showed up to that meeting, which I wrote about 7 years ago.
ICE eventually ended their contract with Kent County in September of 2019, some 15 months after the End the Contract campaign had begun. To be clear, ICE ended the contract, not Kent County. In fact, there was essentially no support from Republican and Democratic Commissioners to the demand to end their contract with ICE. However, because of the collective efforts of Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to use a variety of tactics and strategies, ICE decided to end the contract because of all the publicity the campaign received, both locally and nationally. Here is a list of the tactics the End the Contract campaign used, which is included in my, A People’s History of the End the Contract Campaign in Kent County article.
- We held dozens of strategy meetings, which always resulted in planning future actions.
- We attended every Kent County Commission Meeting to continue to make our demands, to offer testimony on family separation that was happening by ICE in Kent County and to monitor any comments made by commissioners about the contract.
- Some of the people involved in the campaign met with individual commissioners
- We ran a petition campaign to End the Contract, which we delivered at one of the Commission meetings.
- We held a protest outside of Chairman Saalfeld’s home the night before one of the commission meetings.
- We organized several protests at the Kent County Jail.
- We organized several protest outside of the various ICE offices in downtown Grand Rapids.
- We organized a disruption protest during ArtPrize, on their main stage, drawing attention to family separation in Kent County.
- We created educational materials, which we distributed.
- We created artwork and had sign making parties.
- We spoke to community-based groups about the campaign.
- We utilized social media to educate and get the word out about the End the Contract Campaign.
- We held a People’s Commission action during one of the Kent County Commission meetings.
- We worked with the Western Michigan branch of the ACLU and MIRC, who not only obtained their own FOIA documents, but offered their legal expertise on why Kent County was not legally obligated to cooperate with ICE.
Seven years later Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are still resisting ICE in Grand Rapids and Kent County
Since the first Cosecha march in January, which coincided with the Presidential inauguration, there has been lots of organizing and efforts to get more and more people involved in resisting ICE and Grand Rapids and Kent County.
Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE began campaigns to get the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County to adopt Sanctuary policies. Hundreds of people have attended a GR Rapid Response to ICE training and after ICE agents abducted immigrants attending their scheduled appointments at the ISAP office, GR Rapid Response to ICE has been providing accompaniment to people who have appointments at the ICE and ISAP offices.
Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE also organized an ICE out of Grand Rapids 10 days ago, in solidarity with how people are mobilizing in Los Angeles against ICE raids. Then last Saturday, GR Rapid Response to ICE did an action at the Kent County Airport to bring attention to the fact that Avelo Airlines now has a contract with ICE to transport immigrants to a prison in El Salvador.
Upcoming Actions to resist ICE
In July, there are several opportunities for people to get involved with Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE and resist Immigration and Customs Enforcement in this community.
On Monday, July 7th, there is a meeting at Linc Up at 6pm to update people about what Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE are doing. The brief meeting will be followed by a local action to resist ICE in Grand Rapids. You need to attend the meeting for details on the action.
On Thursday, July 24th, people are invited to come to the Kent County Commission meeting to pressure that elected body to adopt Sanctuary policies that Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE initiated back in February. The Kent County Commission meeting will take place at 8:30am on July 24th, on the 3rd floor of the County Building. You can still sign the Action Alert to get Kent County to adopt Sanctuary Policies.
Lastly, On Tuesday, July 29th, people are invited to the Grand Rapids City Commission at 7pm to continue to demand that the City adopt Sanctuary policies that were introduced in January. People can still sign the Action Alert to demand that the City of Grand Rapids adopt Sanctuary policies, policies which are listed in the Action Alert.
Just like in 2019, when Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE organized to End the Contract with ICE and Kent County, these two groups believe that we can pressure Grand Rapids and Kent County to adopt Sanctuary policies that make it harder for ICE to harm our immigrant neighbors in our community. #ResistICE
Philanthropy is just reputation laundering for the oligarchy.
It is that time of the year again, when GRIID posts about the various West Michigan Foundations from families that make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure. I start with the DeVos family, which has 5 different foundations.
The CDV5 Foundation
GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. Three weeks ago I looked at the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, then two weeks ago I investigated the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation. Last week it was the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, so today will be the CDV5 Foundation, which is the Cheri DeVos Foundation. Cheri DeVos owns CDV5 Property Management, which does property management for retail, office and residential buildings, like the one I wrote about in 2022.In addition, it is important to point out that the CDV5 Foundation has provided funds to other DeVos family economic assets, specifically Ottawa Avenue Private Capital $212,047.00 and the RDV Corporation $151,581.00.
According to the most recent 990 document on GuideStar, in 2023, the CDV5 Foundation contributed $3,872,500.00 leaving them with $73,236,396.00 of funds left in their foundation account.
The CDV5 Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2023, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few. Below is a listing of each from these categories, with a dollar amount and a brief analysis.
I also include groups that are DeVos owned or created, along with liberal non-profits. With the liberal non-profits, we believe that funding from foundations like the DeVos family foundations ARE a form of hush money. When I say hush money, I mean that these entities will not publicly challenge the system of Capitalism, the wealth gap, structural racism and other systems of oppression, which the DeVos family benefits from and perpetuates through their own political funding.
Religious Right
- Basecamp Urban Outreach – $20,000
- Keystone Community Church – $100,000
- Partners Worldwide – $30,000
- Young Life-Central Grand Rapids – $25,000
These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the DeVos family is committed to.
Education-centered groups
- Ada Christian School Society – $250,000
- Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation – $135,000
- Potter’s House – $75,000
- Rehoboth Christian School Association – $100,000
Most of the education groups that the CDV5 Foundation contribute to are conservative Christian Schools. The Ada Christian School society is where several of the DeVos family members have sent their children. Betsy DeVos has had a special relationship with Potter’s House school, and the Rehoboth Christian School Association is one of those old school missions for Indigenous children. It is important to note that the DeVos family foundations have contributed millions to the Grand Rapids Public Schools Foundation over the last decade or so, with the goal to always influence GRPS practices and policies.
DeVos-owned, created or connected groups
- Chicago Cubs Charities – $10,000
- Corewell Health Foundation – $25,000
- Downtown Grand Rapids Inc./DBA ArtPrize – $25,000
- Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital – $10,000
Of course all these entities that were created by DeVos family members, also promote their ideological religious and capitalist values. On top of that, it also means that DeVos family members are funding their own entities and using their foundation to fund their own pet projects, and arts and culture institutions that cater primarily to members of the Capitalist Class.
Groups receiving Hush $
- Baxter Community Center – $30,000
- Bethany Christian Services Inc. – $40,000
- Community Food Clubs – $30,000
- Exalta Health – $50,000
- Home Repair Services of Kent County Inc – 115,000
- Hope Network – $50,000
- Kids Food Basket – $100,000
- Safe Haven Ministries – $50,000
- YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids – $250,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service – people fleeing domestic violence, those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and immigration. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the DeVos family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups.
Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The CDV5 Foundation has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID began documenting over a decade ago when I started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that Cheri DeVos, like all of the DeVos family members, make significant candidate campaign contributions to further impact public policies, policies that often create the need for charity and social services, since those policies create poverty, privatize public services and oppose labor unions or minimum wage increases.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 