I am excited to share with people who follow this blog, that I will be coming out with another book in the fall, one that is based on my experiencing of doing solidarity and accompaniment work in Latin America and here in West Michigan. Below is the introduction for the forthcoming book.
“Fray Diego de Landa throws into the flames, one after the other, the books of the Mayas. The Inquisitor curses Satan, and the fire crackles and devours. Around the incinerator, heretics howl with their heads down. Hung by the feet, flayed with whips, Indians are doused with boiling wax as the fire flares up and the books snap, as if complaining. Tonight, eight centuries of Mayan literature turn to ashes.”
Memory of Fire: Volume 1 – Genesis, Eduardo Galeano
In January of 1992, just days before the ceasefire in El Salvador, I was sitting in the Central Plaza watching the crowds of people with my traveling partners. We noticed a large crowd in the center listening to a man speaking in English who was accompanied by a translator. I decided to walk over to investigate what was going on when I realized that the man speaking was a preacher from the US. As soon as I realized this, I turned around and rejoined my friends shaking my head in disgust.
When the crowd finally dispersed, I noticed that the street preacher was headed in our direction. Right away he began to speak to us in English and inquired about our being in El Salvador. We told him we were tourists because one never knows when there are people listening in (orejas) on your conversations. Before we could say any more, this guy began asking us if we had “come to know the Lord.” We all said “no,” much to his disappointment, but we were curious enough to ask him what he was doing in El Salvador. He said, “To spread the Gospel and to win souls for Christ.” We asked him if he was doing anything for these people in the way of food, housing, jobs, or opposing US military aid. He told us “no” and that those things were not relevant as long as people saved their souls. At that point, I remember telling him that he was no different than the long line of Christians who had come here to impose their will on these people. I told him that if he wanted to preach religion, maybe he might want to follow the model of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero.(1) Looking at me with a confused expression, our missionary friend simply said, “Who was he?”
This encounter reflects for me a fundamental tenet of the relationship that Euro- Americans have had and continue to have with people throughout Latin America. Over the past 500 years, Mayans and many other people have had various forms of intervention in their communities by people claiming to know what is best for them. Whether they have been missionaries, statesmen, Peace Corp workers, anthropologists, relief agencies, or even solidarity organizations – all of them, in some form or another, have gone to these countries with the position that they were going to “help these people,” “show them how it is done,” make their lives better or simply to “save” them from themselves.
The corporate-owned media in this country has contributed to this view since it rarely puts into context why there are rampant societal problems such as poverty, street children sniffing glue, political violence, government corruption, and ecological devastation. The cumulative effect of watching news stories about Latin America that are mostly disaster related is that viewers are left with the sense that “these people” cannot take care of themselves. Whether it is on the nightly news or a CARE ad showing malnourished children, the North American public is fed images of dependency and backwardness. From my studies of the local TV news coverage of Latin America, it is rare that we are given the opinions and perspectives of Latin Americans on what is happening there and a virtually nonexistent view from Latin Americans who hold no positions of power.
More and more people are beginning to question this notion of superiority and imperial mentality that permeates all social institutions in this country. Beginning with the observations that took place surrounding the 500 years of resistance by Indigenous peoples throughout the Western hemisphere, some people in the US are confronting their own relationships with the First Nations of North, Central and South America. This is due in part to an increase in solidarity groups sending people to various countries by way of invitation to stand with people in their struggles for justice.
Attitudes are also changing because people are becoming more familiar with the rich literary and cultural traditions that give a radically different view of the past 500 years. This transition has not been without resistance, some of it which wants to aggressively cling to the history of the victors, while others are scrambling to find “examples” of well intentioned people that they can hold up so as to not feel completely guilty about being in positions of privilege.
What I want to do in this book is to reflect on the fact that it has been I who have been “saved,” because of the people I have worked with in Guatemala, El Salvador and Chiapas, along with those in Grand Rapids who are from Mexico and Central America. In many ways it is I who have been transformed by these people and the experiences I had with them. I do not want to give the impression that I have some romanticized notion of who the people I met, rather I am saying that it is I who really gained from these encounters. It is sort of a reversal of the missionary position, where instead of going to change others I became changed. Who I am today, and what I do, is in large part because of my encounters with the people of Mexico and Central America.
What I hope to communicate in these pages is that solidarity was not just something I participated in on my journeys to Guatemala, El Salvador and Chiapas, it was something I learned and continue to learn from because of the struggles they have allowed me to participate in. They have taught me profound lessons on community, organizing, and the importance of having a vision. I learned that for them to obtain real freedom I had to learn to listen to what it was that they wanted. I was taught solidarity by not wanting to impose my will, my desires on them. In religious terms, it is as if I was being proselytize by them and sent back to the US to make converts here. I could not simply come back from my trips and claim that I had done “my time.” No, this is not solidarity. Solidarity requires an ongoing relationship and doing whatever it takes to improve, to build upon that relationship.
The kind of solidarity that the Guatemalans/Salvadorans and Mexicans have taught me is learned solidarity. This type of solidarity requires that after standing with those communities, I have to also work here in the US to change the policies that make it nearly impossible to achieve lasting change in their country’s of origin. The main difference between dogmatic religion or political ideologies and learned solidarity for me is that learned solidarity is based on real principles of democracy, equality and mutual respect, not just paying lip service to it. Learned solidarity is the desire and the experience of standing with people, of having a presence with them, regardless of differences or world-views.
Learned solidarity is not following an ideological blueprint or something you read in a book. Learned solidarity is a process and a commitment to practicing what I learned from the Zapatistas and the values they embrace. One Zapatista value comes from the phrase, “we build the road by walking together.”
One experience I had of learned solidarity came during my first stint in Guatemala while working with Peace Brigades International. I was working with a newly formed group of Guatemalan widows called CONAVIGUA. They were meeting in a church courtyard in Chichicastenango one afternoon when a group of soldiers entered and made threats. The women definitely stood their ground and the soldiers left. That night one of the women said to me that they were grateful for our presence that day, but then she went on to tell me something that I can never forget nor ignore. She said, “It is important that you are here, but more important that you return to your country to tell the people what is going on here. The way you live determines how we live.”
This book is the product of learned solidarity. It is divided into three sections, each reflecting on the various ways that this learned solidarity has impacted me. Part I of the book is entitled Q’anjobal Mayans Invade Amway Territory. I share thoughts on being bit by the Central America bug, part of the Sanctuary movement in the 80’s and how I negotiated cultural solidarity in an area permeated with Christian conservatism.
Part II is called Sembramos, Comemos, Sembramos – We Plant, in order to Eat, in order to Plant. This is a saying I learned from a Mayan farmer that reflects the simplicity and consistency in the lives of the Mayans I met in Guatemala, El Salvador and Chiapas. Here I gleaned sections from my journal entries from various trips between 1988 to 2006, where I have had numerous opportunities to accompany and observe the relentless persistence of the Guatemalan and Salvadoran popular movements and the participatory democracy of the Zapatista communities.
Part III, The Way You Live, Determines How We Live, is a collection of articles that I have written over the years on various aspects of how US foreign policy impacts Central America and Mexico, and what we might do to change those policies. As Noam Chomsky has always pointed out, the responsibility of the citizens of countries that dictate global policies are key in determining the outcome of many liberation struggles around the world.
I am forever indebted to the people I have met and learned from in these pages. My encounters with them have transformed my life forever. It is because of them that I am the person I am today. It is for them that I dedicate this book.
Photos:
Top picture is from Guatemala, with the Mothers of the Disappeared group
2nd picture is from Chiapas, Mexico, where Zapatistas converge on a Mexican military base to shut it down.
3rd picture is from Guatemala, during International Women’s Day.
In Part I, I revealed the statements that came from police unions, police apologist organizations and Grand Rapids City officials. Today, I want to look at some of the response to the mistrial of Schurr from those who are supportive of/sympathetic to the Lyoya family.
There was an outpouring of support and solidarity on May 8th, from a number of organizations offering sympathy to the Lyoya family. The Grand Rapids Pride Center wrote in part, “We mourn, we stand, we fight. The Grand Rapids Pride Center joins the collective grief and outrage surrounding the injustice faced by Patrick Lyoya and his family. We send our deepest love, strength, and solidarity to the Lyoya family during this painful time.”
The Latino Community Coalition said, “We recognize how significant this moment is in the history of Grand Rapids and in the life of our community. As Latine people, we know we have a responsibility to stand with our Black community. Our lives are deeply connected. We are grieving alongside our neighbors, and we call on all of us to use our voices, leverage our collective power, and continue building community. We must keep showing up and demanding justice; not just today, but always.”
The YWCA posted on their social media, this brief statement: “The news of a mistrial in the case of Patrick Lyoya’s murder is deeply painful for many in our community, especially for those who have long borne the weight of injustice. While the courtroom process has reached a standstill, the pursuit of justice must continue. As an organization committed to eliminating racism, we stand with those calling for accountability, transparency, and transformation—not only in our justice system but across all systems that affect safety, opportunity, and equity for all.”
The ACLU of Michigan responded with the following comments: “Despite devoting considerable time and energy to the effort to reach a verdict in the killing of Patrick Lyoya by former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr, the jury was unable to do so. The mistrial leaves continued pain and uncertainty in our community. But what the mistrial does not change is the fact that the death of Mr. Lyoya, a beloved son, brother and father of two, who came to this country in search of a better life, was both preventable and predictable. True accountability means a commitment by the City of Grand Rapids and its police department to real and lasting policing reform – a commitment evidenced by no more lives lost.”
The Grand Rapid Urban League also weighed in and wrote in part: “This is a grave injustice the Lyoya family must now bear—not only today, but for the rest of their lives. It is a wound that also marks the conscience of every Grand Rapidian who believes in the promise of justice. Until every system—education, health, housing, economic, and criminal justice—works for all, our community cannot and will not thrive. The Urban League of West Michigan calls on the Kent County Prosecutor to swiftly retry the murder case against former officer Christopher Schurr without delay. Additionally, we invite the City of Grand Rapids Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) to an immediate and transparent dialogue with us and the broader community. This conversation should focus on a thorough examination of the training, policies, practices, and procedures currently in place within the Grand Rapids Police Department – particularly in instances were these actions result in a loss of life. Our city’s future depends on the courage to confront hard truths and the will to make meaningful changes. Justice delayed is justice denied—not just for one family, but for all of us.”
Finally, here is an excerpt from a statement from the Concerned Clergy of Grand Rapids : “As clergy representing diverse faith communities in Grand Rapids, we stand united in our commitment to truth, justice, and human dignity. The killing of Patrick Lyoya placed our city at a painful crossroads – a moment that demands moral clarity, communal resolve and transformative action. Patrick Lyoya was a son, a brother, a neighbor—and a child of God. His life was taken by an act of violence at the hands of law enforcement, and the pain of his death reverberates still, especially among our Black and immigrant communities. We acknowledge that the deeper crisis is not solely about one case—but about a system that continues to fail the very people it claims to protect.”
All of these responses center the Lyoya family and the collective grief that many are feeling since the mistrial of the ex-cop who killed Patrick Lyoya. These statements are important, not only because they are embracing the Lyoya family, but because they honor the need for collective grief, loss and mourning.
Several of these groups also included some comments about the need for change, specifically the ACLU of Michigan and the Grand Rapids Urban League. However, the Concerned Clergy of Grand Rapids was the only statement I have seen which communicates a list of demands. They write:
- “We are not only calling for justice in this case—we are demanding structural transformation. This includes:
- Immediate and transparent review of police training and testing practices, especially those related to de-escalation, racial bias, and use of force
- Changes in recruitment and hiring that reflect the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our community
- Thoughtful and community-informed officer placement to foster trust rather than fear
- Greater investment in non-policing solutions to public safety, including mental health responders and violence interrupters
- The establishment of ongoing, accountable partnerships between police leadership and trusted community representatives
- As faith leaders, we want to collaborate with the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability to establish a plan of shared action that addresses these systemic issues, supports community healing, and ensures ongoing institutional accountability—regardless of the outcome of this trial.”
The calls for accountability and reform, while understandable, are unlikely to achieve what is necessary to actually prevent the systemic harm and function of policing. Alex Vitale, in his groundbreaking book, The End of Policing, provides an important critique of police reforms, stating:
“For liberals, police reform is always a question of taking steps to restore the legitimacy of policing…………They want the police to be better trained, more accountable, and less brutal and racist – laudable goals, but they leave intact the basic institutional functions of the police, which have never really been about public safety and crime control………..The reality is that police exist primarily as a system for managing and even producing inequality by suppressing social movements and highly managing the behaviors of poor and nonwhite people; those on the losing end of economic and political arrangements.”
In Part III, I want to explore what an abolitionist response to the GRPD would be and how it might be achieved.
“This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” Frederick Douglass
If you are concerned about issues like Climate Change, the ridiculous cost of housing, reproductive justice, gentrification, the non-profit industrial complex, public education or the recent mistrial for the ex-cop that shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, then you might consider why a Grand Rapids Power Analysis is important.
If you are involved in social movement work, you will be familiar with the fact that politicians, organizations and institutions will object to what you are doing, push back or put roadblocks in front of any efforts to address injustices, especially systemic injustices.
A local power analysis can help us understand the economic, political and social power that institutions, organizations and members of the capitalist class play in opposing, infiltrating or undermining specific campaigns or the long haul work that social justice movements engage in. What follows is a recent example where social movement work, campaigns and collaborative efforts to demand structural change was defeated by those in the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
Campaign to defeat Grand Rapids ordinances that criminalized the unhoused
The Grand Rapids Power Structure has spent several decades to transform downtown Grand Rapids into a hub for expanding the wealth of the capitalist class and prioritizing the city as a tourist destination rather than meeting the needs of the most vulnerable in the community.
In July of 2022, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce first submitting a letter to the Grand Rapids City Commission, which stated in part: “The Grand Rapids Chamber shares many of the values and priorities set by the City’s Strategic Plan, including goals for economic prosperity and a safe community. Unfortunately, as many of you are hearing, the high rate of shootings, violent crimes, trespassing, harassment and many other unacceptable actions continue to harm businesses and their employees in downtown, neighborhood business districts and other critical commercial corridors.”
In December of 2022, the GR Chamber of Commerce not only submitted an ordinance proposal to criminalize the unhoused, they got over 100 of their business friends to support said ordinance.
In response to the GR Chamber’s effort to push the city to criminalize the unhoused, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU) began an information campaign to expose what the local Chamber of Commerce was doing and to initiate a boycott of businesses in downtown Grand Rapids.This campaign began in late December of 2022.
Then, in June of 2023, the City of Grand Rapids put forth two ordinance proposals that adopted some of the same language as GR Chamber ordinance proposal.
The Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union then organized a campaign to oppose these ordinances, which led to a Housing Not Jail campaign to pressure Grand Rapids City officials to not adopt ordinances that would criminalize the unhoused. This campaign by GRATU generated several thousand letters to the Gand Rapids City Commission. In contrast, the GR Chamber of Commerce got a handful of letters submitted by downtown business owners.
During the July 12th hearing on the proposed ordinances to criminalize the unhoused, the majority of people who spoke during public comment were against it, but the GR Chamber of Commerce made sure that their campaign contributions to members of the City Commission were in place, as you can see from this image here.
In the July, the Grand Rapids City Commission voted to adopt the ordinances that now criminalize the unhoused. This was a clear example of how organized money from members of the GR Power Structure were able to defeat the grassroots organized effort from the community.
It is also important to note that the local news media provided more time to the GR Chamber perspective than they did to those who would be most impacted by these ordinances. In addition, the local non-profit industrial complex, particularly those involved in housing were either silent on this matter or endorsed the ordinance campaign. One such group was Mel Trotter Ministries, which was one of the groups that supported the original GR Chamber ordinance proposal, was then rewarded with $200,000 in public money from the City for a personal storage program. One of the City’s ordinances would fine the unhoused for carrying their belongings with them in sacks, trash bags or shopping carts.
Lastly, the GRPD was then given license to detain and arrest unhoused people who violated either of the two ordinances adopted in July of 2023.
This example demonstrates that members of the capitalist class in Grand Rapids wanted to protect their investments, the GR Chamber of Commerce wanted to influence local policy, the news media normalized the criminalization of the unhoused and the City of Grand Rapids adopted policies to make GR a more appealing tourist destination, and using the GRPD to enforce the ordinances. This is why a local power analysis is so important for movement work.
This Thursday, May 15, beginning 7pm at Fountain Street Church, I will be doing a Grand Rapids Power Analysis.
It has been an intense few weeks in Grand Rapids, especially since the trial for former GRPD cop Chris Schurr began, after Schurr shot and killed Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop.
To put into proper context, on May 5th I wrote an article with the headline, As the jury prepares to render their decision in the Schurr trial, why is there so little attention around police killing civilians and cop convictions? In that post, I referred to the site mappingpoliceviolence.org and noted on May 5th that police in the US have killed 387 people in 2025. I checked the mappingpoliceviolence.org site again today and the number of people killed by police in the US has risen to 403, which means 16 people have been killed by police in the US in just one week.
Today’s post is the first installment in a 3 Part series. I want to provide responses to the mistrial of Schurr from those who are supportive of/sympathetic to the Lyoya family (Part II), and I want to talk about an abolitionist response (Part III). Today, in Part I, I want to look at pro-police and pro-policing responses in the mistrial of former cop Chris Schurr.
Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge of Michigan released a statement on May 8th, which said:
Today’s outcome in the trial of Grand Rapids Police Officer Christopher Schurr—a hung jury—highlights the deep complexities surrounding this case and the difficult position law enforcement officers face when forced to make split-second decisions in high-stress situations.
This result reflects the reality that reasonable people can and do disagree when evaluating an officer’s actions under extreme pressure. Officer Schurr responded according to his training during a rapidly escalating encounter. The inability of the jury to reach a unanimous decision underscores the uncertainty and controversy surrounding the charges brought against him.
We continue to believe the prosecution of Officer Schurr, initiated by Prosecutor Becker, was unjust and driven more by public pressure than a fair assessment of law and evidence. These types of politically charged prosecutions risk discouraging proactive policing and jeopardize public and officer safety alike.
We stand with Officer Schurr and all law enforcement professionals who serve with integrity under incredibly difficult circumstances. As the case moves forward, we urge the public and judicial system to remain committed to fairness, due process, and an understanding of the realities of police work.
This statement is exactly what you would expect from the Fraternal Order of Police, siding with one of their own, never mentioning Patrick Lyoya and babbling on about how stressful it is to be a cop.
- The Grand Rapids Police Department has been silent on the matter and haven’t even made a post on social media since April 19.
- The Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association did not make their own statement, they just reposted the FOP statement.
- The local police apologist groups, Voice for the Badge and iCI Nation, were also silent on the matter.
However, maybe the most insulting message that was released in recent days, came from the City of Grand Rapids on May 8th. I will put the City’s statement in italics and provide some of my own responses on bold.
Today, the trial of former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr concluded without the jury reaching a unanimous verdict regarding the death of Patrick Lyoya. Consequently, the court has declared a mistrial in this case.
We acknowledge the considerable time and effort the jurors dedicated to carefully consider the evidence and testimony presented during this complex and difficult trial. We thank them for their civic service.
We understand that the inability to reach a verdict brings continued uncertainty and pain, most significantly for the Lyoya family, who have already endured so much. We also recognize this lack of resolution is difficult for our entire community and extends the period of uncertainty for Mr. Schurr as well. If the city wants to talk about the pain for the Lyoya family, then why have they fought the family’s civil lawsuit for the killing of their son.
The next steps in this legal matter will be determined by the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office, which has the authority to decide whether to retry the case.
The City of Grand Rapids remains focused on its commitment to public safety, internal accountability based on our established policies, and the continuation of our ongoing efforts aimed at strengthening community trust and ensuring accountable constitutional policing. We also recognize the challenging and often dangerous nature of police work, and we appreciate the dedication of the many GRPD officers who serve our city with professionalism and integrity every day. Professionalism my ass. Since the Schurr trial began on April 28th, the GRPD arrested an local BIPOC activist that has been speaking out against Patrick Lyoya’s death at the hands of the GRPD, threats, intimidation and civil infractions against Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE, the arrest of another Black activist while the jury deliberated and another arrest and police violence directed at someone in a wheelchair during the May 8th rally.march demanding a retrial in the murder of Patrick Lyoya.
City services are operating normally, and maintaining peace and safety throughout Grand Rapids is paramount. We urge the community to remain patient while the legal process unfolds and to express any reactions peacefully and respectfully. To help community members process this court decision, we invite them to connect with The Wisdom Center. It will provide mental health support today and tomorrow. The Wisdom Center, 1333 Alger St SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507, will have licensed therapists available from 3 to 8 p.m. to offer free mental health support for those in the community. When the City of Grand Rapids tells the community to be peaceful and respectful, they really mean that the public should be compliant and obedient. Also, The Wisdom Center that the City of Grand Rapids is plugging here at the end provides “Biblically-based principles” in their counseling….because of course they do.
Lastly, the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability has said nothing, which is par for the course for their role in holding the GRPD accountable.
In Part II, I will look at responses to the mistrial of Schurr from those who are supportive of/sympathetic to the Lyoya family.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of May 11th
It has been 19 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. We will also provide information on local events and actions that people can get involved in. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Palestine Has Exposed Every Lie the West Tells the World
UCLA GAZA PROTESTERS SUE COPS FOR SHOOTING THEM IN THE HEAD WITH RUBBER BULLETS
Gaza and the end of humanitarian law
Israeli Airstrikes Decimate the Last Restaurant in Gaza City in Nightmarish Bloodbath
Famine in Gaza: Will We Continue to Watch as Gaza Starves to Death?
The Obscenity of Collective Punishment in Gaza
Warnings Grow Over US and Israel-Backed Plan for Gaza Aid
Analysis & History
How Hamas Sees the Current Moment: An Exclusive Interview With Osama Hamdan
‘Our Position on Palestine Is Not Fringe’
Image used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/visual/stolen-steps/
Last week, Grand Rapids celebrated its 175th anniversary as a city. WXMI 17 ran a story about the city’s birthday, the TV station omitted significant aspects of this history and the founding of this city.
The channel 17 post states at one point:
While the area around the Grand River was the home of the Hopewell Indian tribe for thousands of years, the first permanent white settler was Isaac McCoy, a Baptist minister who arrived in 1825.
This sentence suggests that Indigenous were no longer living in this area, and then white settlers just arrived.
Whitewashed history
As a foundational framework, it is vital that we come to terms with the fact that Grand Rapids, like virtually all US cities were founded on what Native scholar Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz calls Settler Colonialism. Settler Colonialism in West Michigan is the result of a larger White Supremacist strategy that included legal means (treaties), forced relocation, spiritual violence (role of churches) and cultural imperialism, most radically seen with the policy of putting Native children in boarding schools with the goal of, “Killing the Indian, Saving the Man.”
We know that hundreds of Native children from the Three Fires Nations were taken and put into boarding schools by settler colonialists, many of which were run by Christians. In these instances Native children were denied the right to speak their own languages and practice their own spiritual traditions. Most of the removal of Native children from their communities happened in the later part of the 19th Century and first half of the 20th Century.
However, on the matter of Christian missions attempting to make converts of Native communities in the 1820s and 1830s along the Grand River, it is less clear on whether or not this could be defined as a form of genocide. How much free will did Native people have on choosing another religion? Was the adoption of Christian beliefs a form of assimilation into the dominant culture and was it tied to larger socio-economic issues like food and land?
It should come as no surprise that right after the 1821 Treaty of Chicago was signed, the first christian missions came to what is now West Michigan. The Baptist Church established a mission in 1824, under the leadership of Isaac McCoy, and Catholic missions were begun in 1833 by Fr. Frederic Baraga.
One of the things that lured missionaries to the area after the signing of the Treaty of Chicago, was a provision in the treaty which allowed funds for people to work as teachers of blacksmiths amongst the Native people along the Grand River. The government treaty called this, the “civilization fund,” a phrase that underscores the settler colonial mentality. However, whatever tensions existed, they were most useful in pushing Native people out of the area as more white settlers colonialists came to the area. This increase in settler colonialists, along with greater desire for land and settler colonial expansion, resulted in a new treaty being drawn up, the Treaty of Washington in 1836. This treaty turned over an additional 13,837,207 acres of land to settler colonialism’s expansionist desires.
It seems that all along, the goal with relations of Native people along the Grand River were to take the rest of their land. Whether or not there was direct complicity with the early Christian missions to this land takeover is not relevant, the fact remains that they did nothing to resist such an effort.
What the City of Grand Rapids says about the 175th anniversary
On the 175th anniversary of the founding of Grand Rapids, the City also posted an announcement about a party they are having in June.
The City’s announcement also states:
The celebration kicks off with an opening prayer by members of the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, the original Indigenous peoples of Grand Rapids. and a proclamation by Mayor LaGrand, recognizing the city’s founding on May 2, 1850. Grand Rapids City Commissioners and federal, state, and local elected officials will be on hand to hand out cupcakes as part of a festive “We Serve You” moment of gratitude.
Wow. So, the city is using Indigenous people for their event, the very same people that the City founders stole the land from. Is this just some weak attempt to omit the brutal history I mentioned earlier? Does the city really think that by using Indigenous people in this way is a form of guilt washing for white people?
To make matters worse, they are inviting politicians to come and hand out cupcakes? What the hell is that? Do they really think that people are so gullible, that they believe these politicians serve the public. Politicians serve those with the real power, the wealthy individuals, businesses and institutions that dictate what happens in this city.
Grand Rapids is nothing more than a playground for the rich and powerful, which get whatever they want. Grand Rapids is a deeply racist city, which practices gentrification, housing injustice, and gives the GRPD carte blanc to suppress and repress any effort to demand justice. Grand Rapids is more committed to expanding capitalism and maintaining business as usual, than it is to centering the most marginalized and practicing justice. This is the legacy of not coming to terms with Settler Colonialism.
Editors Note: The fact that Episode #5 aired on Tuesday night, while white people and other police apologists are still defending Schurr, and the GRPD has been arresting people who are supporting the Lyoya family at the court house.
Episode #1 affirmed stereotypes about Black people, thus perpetuating structural racism. The episode also demonstrated that this TV series will be a highly constructed show with the GRPD dictating the narrative about who they are and what they do.
Episode #2 once again centered on a criminal case involving Black people, where Police Chief Winstrom said people who don’t want to talk with cops suffer from “generational mistrust.”
In Episode #3 follows the case of a Black person charged with a shooting, which further normalizes the white supremacist belief that Black people are inherently deviant and violent. In addition, the Black woman who was charged with the shooting experienced domestic violence from the man she shot. The GRPD uses this opportunity to talk about Domestic Violence and how there is a new Domestic Violence court. However, police and domestic violence cases are problematic, as cops don’t know how to deal with domestic violence, plus they often perpetrate more harm in domestic violence cases, which is discussed in this toolkit.
Episode #4 was essentially about drug dealers and drug users in the Heartside area of Grand Rapids. Every one of the dealers and users were Black people, so this episode continues to perpetuate racial stereotypes and present the GRPD as compassionate saviors of the unhoused.
Episode #5 begins with another shooting, on Cesar Chavez Avenue near downtown GR. Two Black men were killed in the shooting. The two suspects are twin brothers, who are also Latino. One of the twins was also hit with a bullet and he ends up at the hospital, while the other twin drove away. The GRPD picked him up later at his house.
The GRPD brings the brother in for questioning, but he refuses to talk and they let him go, since they really don’t have enough information to hold him. We then hear Chief Winstrom’s voice and he says what happened was “outrageous”. Winstrom then says to the camera, we need answers and we need them quick.” All the racist bullshit that this show perpetuates aside, the writing for this show is do damn awful.
Back at the GRPD headquarters, cops watch video of what happened, video from the area, because Grand Rapids is a highly surveilled city.
The GRPD then brings in the mother of one of the shooting victims and shows her the video from the parking lots of the shooting. Why the hell would they do that and do it on camera. This is such an invasive scene and is an example of trauma porn.
Next, the GRPD calls in one of the twins and is baiting him with questions so he would admit to wrong doing.
The episodes then cuts to a different shooting, just to emphasize how shootings are bars are “common.” The cops provide all the commentary and pontificate about what is happening.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker gets involved and provides his own commentary, talking directly to the camera.
One of the homicide detectives then starts talking about how this “can’t be self-defense, it’s murder…..and we have to call it that.”
Another cops starts looking at video footage from the other shooting, the one outside of the Metro Bar. Everyone who has a guns in the footage, as either Black or Latino/Latinx people.
The homicide detective then decides to ask Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker for another meeting, in the hopes of convincing him that this was an “execution.” For several minutes, the GRPD cops are arguing with the Kent County Prosecutors office, attempting to ingest some drama here, but it is clearly a constructed dialogue.
The next scene shows more video footage of the shooting at the Metro Bar, which leads to suspects and eventually the arrest of – you guessed it – another Black man.
Back again at the GRPD headquarters and two homicide detective are smiling because Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker is going to file charges against the shooter from the beginning of the episode. One of the homicide cops says, “this is very exciting.”
In the final minutes of the episode, the GRPD shows up to the suspects home, with more than a dozen heavily armed cops, compelling the Latino suspect to give himself up. He does give himself up, while walking backwards with numerous rifles pointed at him. The scene cuts to the Kent County Jail, where he is being booked in and the cop tells him the judge hasn’t set bail yet.
Chief Winstrom gets the final word while the credits are rolling to say that the end result was justice. Simple as that. Winstrom gets to decide when justice happens, because it’s his show. However, after 5 episodes, the only thing that changed is that there were Latinos included as part of those committing crimes in Grand Rapids. I’m still waiting for the episode showing how the GRPD monitors community organizers and organizations to suppress any form of dissent against those challenging systems of power and oppression.
On May 1st, there was an interview posted on the C-Span site, where a C-Span reporter had a brief interview with Rep. Hillary Scholten about tariffs and US immigration policy.
Rep. Scholten’s response on tariffs was to essentially blame President Trump, with no strong analysis on why what Trump did was bad for people. I’m more interested in the comments from Scholten regarding US immigration policy, which begins about 5:40 into the interview.
Rep. Scholten’s initial comments were to talk about her history of working on immigration issues and her tenure with the Department of Justice. Scholten said several times that she knows the law and how to defend the rights of immigrants.
The 3rd Congressional Representative then pivoted to talking about how the first Trump Administration did not adhere to the “rule of law.” Scholten points out that the Trump Administration is deporting US citizens and children with cancer. The Congresswoman also said that her constituents were contacting her and saying enough.
The C-Span reporter then said, “You were one of the many Democrats that supported the Laken Riley Act. What led you to make that decision?” Scholten responded by talking about the Ruby Garcia case, where she was killed by her boyfriend. However, voting for the Laken Riley Act isn’t about people to violence to other people, it is about criminalizing those who are undocumented. When people commit violence, it has nothing to do with their immigration status, it simply has to do that they did harm to someone.
What is really at issue here is that politicians want us to buy into the idea that we should fear immigrants – especially undocumented immigrants – and equate immigrants with increased crime.
Fortunately, the facts can dismantle the mantra of “undocumented immigrants are criminals.” The National Institute of Justice wrote in September of 2024, “An NIJ-funded study examining data from the Texas Department of Public Safety estimated the rate at which undocumented immigrants are arrested for committing crimes. The study found that undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.”
The American Immigration Council compared crime data to demographic data from 1980 to 2022, the most recent data available. The data showed that as the immigrant share of the population grew, the crime rate declined. In 1980, immigrants made up 6.2 percent of the U.S. population, and the total crime rate was 5,900 crimes per 100,000 people. By 2022, the share of immigrants had more than doubled, to 13.9 percent, while the total crime rate had dropped by 60.4 percent, to 2,335 crimes per 100,000 people. Specifically, the violent crime rate fell by 34.5 percent and the property crime rate fell by 63.3 percent.
The Migration Policy Institute wrote in October of last year, “A growing volume of research demonstrates that not only do immigrants commit fewer crimes, but they also do not raise crime rates in the U.S. communities where they settle. In fact, some studies indicate that immigration can lower criminal activity, especially violent crime, in places with inclusive policies and social environments where immigrant populations are well established.”
In an NPR story from March of 2024, it states: “Some of the most extensive research comes from Stanford University. Economist Ran Abramitzky found that since the 1960s, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born people.”
In a Brennan Center for Justice article from May of last year, they write: “When looking specifically at the relationship between undocumented immigrants and crime, researchers come to similar conclusions. Numerous studies show that undocumented immigration does not increase violent crime; research examining crime rates in so-called sanctuary cities also found no discernable difference when compared to similarly situated cities without sanctuary policies. One study that focused on drug crimes and driving under the influence found that unauthorized immigration status was associated with reductions in arrests for those offenses.”
Rep. Scholten then ends her response to the question about her stance on immigration policing by say that during the 2024 election, the American people spoke pretty loudly about wanting more to be done about immigration enforcement. This true, but what many Americans wanted was to prevent people from coming to the US, especially if they were undocumented. If you look at Rep. Scholten’s political ads from last fall, you can she that she took a very pro-militarize the border approach, which I deconstructed.
In the end, Rep. Hillary Scholten did not condemn the Trump Administration’s mass deportation executive order, in fact she didn’t even mention it. Rep. Scholten only stated that she was incensed by US citizens being deported, along with children who have cancer. Rep. Scholten’s weak response exposes where she really stands, which is to criminalize undocumented immigrants and militarize the US/Mexican border.
I don’t usually like to post about myself, since I prefer to write about movement work in this community. Granted, I am part of some of that work and have been for more than four decades. Today’s post is meant to reflect my thoughts and feelings about the GRPD, especially in the past week.
In my post from last Friday, where I talked about how the GRPD acted during the Cosecha May Day march, I left out some information, which at the time didn’t seem as relevant. However, after thinking about it and having to deal with cops attempting to repress the actions of those involved in movement work, I really need to say some things.
First, during the first day of the Schurr trial, our friend and comrade Ky was arrested. While waiting for Ky to be bonded out last Tuesday, we came to find out that their bail was denied and they are still at the Kent County Jail until they go before a judge on May 7th. Ky has been targeted by the GRPD, like many local organizers, so I invite you to listen to an interview I did with Ky almost a year ago.
The day after I posted the interview with Ky, I wrote a post entitled, The criminalization of dissent in Grand Rapids. In that article I wrote:
It would be understandable, in light of the increased GRPD repression, for people to pull back on direct action. However, we also know that if we are committed to systemic change and collective liberation, we cannot afford to lessen our resistance. We do need to take care of each other and protect those that are the primary targets of this repression, but we must not diminish our resistance, no matter the cost.
Going back to the Cosecha May Day march that happened last week, where I mentioned that the GRPD threatened everyone with arrest if we walked in the streets and those driving in vehicles at the front or rear of the march.
However, after I communicated this information to Cosecha organizers, one of the GRPD bike cops approached the motorhome that was originally slated to to in front of the march. I immediately walked over and asked the cop what he was doing. He responded by telling me to calm down. I responded by say, “Don’t tell me to calm down. Cops and ICE are arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants whenever they want to, so don’t don’t me to calm down when you are trying to get inside a vehicle that you damn well know is being driven by immigrants.”
You can see the picture of this GRPD cop at the beginning of this article, the one with the shitty smirk on his face.
Later in the May Day march, just after we disrupted traffic at the Wealth and Division intersection, the GRPD pulled myself and another police liaison off to the side “to talk”, when suddenly several of the GRPD bike cops put their bikes and bodies between us and the 150 marchers. You can see one of the GRPD bike cops pictured here who was part of the barrier between me and the rest of the marchers. Fortunately, I was not arrested, but this demonstrates how they are willing to threaten and arrest people who disrupt traffic for a few fucking minutes. A GRPD Captain was one of the cops who was “talking” to me, but the same GRPD bike cop with the shitting smirk was also present, with the same stupid smile on his face.
Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, where I was downtown with 30 – 40 supporters of the Lyoya family, we were waiting to hear if the jury had made a decision. The whole time that those demanding Justice4Patrick were present, the GRPD and the Wyoming PD were present, most on bicycle. Sure enough, one of the GRPD bike cops was the same guy with the dumb ass grin on his face.
Not only has the GRPD been on high alert during this trial, they have increased surveillance, placed more cameras in the down, put up more barricades by the GRPD headquarters and overtly threatened to suppress any dissent. But damn, their TV show says they have regained the community’s trust!
The GRPD arrested at least 2 more people after I left the protest in support of the Lyoya family at the 61st District Court House. The charges are most likely bogus, but these latest arrests just underscores the point of this point…….the criminalization of dissent!
I have been monitoring the local news since the Schurr trial began on April 28th. There have been over 60 combined news stories from the four daily Grand Rapids commercial news outlets – MLive, WOODTV8, WZZM13 and WXMI 17.
However, despite the heavy saturation of news coverage, there has been no significant reveals in terms of information about the day that now ex-GRPD officer Schurr shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, while sitting on top of him.
More importantly, local news reporters have not talked about the larger, more systemic issues regarding police killings in the US. According to mappingviolence.org, the police in the US have killed 387 people in 2025 (through April 20th). In fact, there has not been a single day in 2025 that the police have not killed someone in this country.
Other important facts are:
- Black people are 2.8 times more likely to be killed by cops than white people.
- 1260 people were killed by cops in 2024, which is the highest number in any given year since 2013.
- Most killings began with police responding to suspected non-violent offenses or cases where no crime was reported. 154 people were killed after police stopped them for a traffic violation.
- 119 people were killed after police responded to reports of someone behaving erratically or having a mental health crisis.
However, maybe the most alarming statistic from mappingviolence.org is the fact that in 2024, in which cops killed 1260 people, cops were only charged with a crime in 9 of those cases.
Now, it is true that the lawyers representing Schurr have gone out of their way to delay the trial or to have the trial dismissed by higher courts. Schurr’s lawyers even trial to have the trial dismissed last week, say that people were negatively biased because of the videos of Schurr shooting Patrick Lyoya.
However, lawyers who defend cops prefer to go to trial because of two major factors. First, the laws in the US are ridiculously biased in favor of cops, making it very difficult to charge them with crimes. In fact, when violence is do against cops, the punishment is way more severe than in regular assault cases. Thus, the police and their powerful unions have the law biased in their favor.
The second reason has to do with the fact that policing in the US is so normalized that we rarely can find criticism of it, especially within the dominant commercial news media. In addition, our collective view of policing has been manufactured because of all the movies and TV shows about cops since the invention of TV, where police are lionized as the good guy. To the degree that entertainment media has shown corrupt and racist cops, it is always framed through the few bad apples narrative.
This leads me to my last point, which is how often are police convicted of murder. Based on the recent data, it would appear that police are prosecuted for murder in less than 2% of fatal shootings. This is a very small percentage, considering how many people are killed by cops every year.
Then there is the matter of having all white or majority white jurors, as is the case with the Schurr trial. While there is no hard data to demonstrate that all white or mostly white juries will let cops off the hook, historically it has not been good for families seeking justice.
I know that these are structural and systemic issues around police killings. I don’t want to down play or be dismissive in any way over the eventual outcome of former cop Christopher Schurr’s killing of Patrick Lyoya. However, until we address the systemic violence of policing in the US and how little that cops are even charged with crimes when killing people, communities, especially BIPOC communities, will continue to be brutalized by policing in this country.
As Alex Vitale notes in his book, The End of Policing, “The reality is that the police exist primarily for managing and even producing inequality by suppressing social movements and tightly managing the behaviors of poor and nonwhite people; those on the losing end of economic and political arrangements.”
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 