New Video on Alberta Tar Sands – the most ecologically destructive project on the planet
We noted in our reporting on last year’s Kalamazoo oil spill that the company responsible for the oil pipelines that leaked a tremendous amount of oil into the Kalamazoo River was Enbridge.
We also made mention in that story that Enbridge is one of the major corporations involved in the Alberta Tar Sands Project, which according to numerous environmental organizations is the most ecologically destructive projects on the planet.
When Yves Engler spoke in Grand Rapids the other day, the author/activist noted that Enbridge is now Canada’s largest corporation. There is a great deal of information about the Tar Sands Project at Tar Sands Watch that looks at how this project contributes to ecological destruction, global warming, theft of Indigenous land and water depletion.
Here is a new video that exposes the insidious nature of the Alberta Tar Sands and who is profiting from this project.
On Monday, MLive.com reported that an “advisory group” has been established to study the proposal to merge the Grand Rapids City government with the Kent County government body.
The proposed merger became public earlier this year at a Kent County Commission meeting where the somewhat clandestine group of local power brokers revealed their intent to make the Grand Rapids area into a larger government entity. The One Kent Coalition claims that this consolidation would “make Kent County more competitive in the global market.”
Those pushing such a claim are: Tom Butcher (GVSU), Nyal Deems (former EGR mayor), Betsy DeVos, Dick DeVos, Jeanne Englehart (GR Chamber), David Frey (Grand Action), Kurt Kimball (former GR City Manager), David Leonard (Spectrum Health Corp.), Greg McNeilly (Windquest Corp.), Marge Potter (former Kent County Comm.), Jared Rodriguez (West Michigan Policy Forum), Milt Rohwer (Frey Foundation) Peter Secchia, Peter Wege, Kate Pew Wolters, Tim Wondergem and Andy Guy (Wondergem & Associates).
According to MLive.com there is a 21-member study group that will discuss this proposal at bi-monthly meetings. Those invited to be part of this study group are, in alphabetical order:
Rosalynn Bliss, Grand Rapids 2nd Ward Commissioner
Tom Butcher, general counsel to Grand Valley State University
Bill Cousins, Cascade Township Manager
Harold Hamilton, Grand Rapids City Planning Commissioner
Carol Hennessey, Kent County Commissioner, D-Grand Rapids
Curtis Holt, Wyoming City Manager
Joe Jones, community outreach minister at Brown-Hutcherson Ministries
Christina Keller, Cascade Engineeering
Jerry Kooman, dean of external affairs, MSU College of Human Medicine
Senita Lenear, president, Grand Rapids Board of Education
Jim Lapeer, Cannon Township trustee
Dave Leonard, general counsel, Spectrum Health
Roger Morgan, Kent County Commissioner, R-Rockford
Greg Northrup, president, West Michigan Strategic Alliance
Marge Potter, former chairwoman, Kent County Board of Commissioners
Rick Root, mayor, city of Kentwood
Carlos Sanchez, West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,
Jim White, Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Commissioner
Kate Pew Wolters, chairwoman, Steelcase Foundation
Mary Alice Williams, former Grand Rapids City Commissioner
Eric Williams, executive director, equity, community and legislative affairs, GRCC
Yesterday, Grand Rapids Press reporter Jim Harger provided some insight into the outcome of the group’s first meeting. Harger points out that some of the members of this study group are not thrilled with the proposal, such as Wyoming City Manager Curtis Holt who said the proposal, “read like a business plan that does not address local government concerns.” Others expressed concern that One Kent Coalition’s leader Nyal Deems was pushing for a decision by September so that state legislators could introduce legislation that would allow for this issue to be on the ballot in 2012.
What the Press reporter did not include in the story was a simple assessment of who is in this so-called advisory group. Many of the people included are either current or former government officials (11), along with some representatives from the education community (4), the private/for profit sector (5) and one non-profit representative with the religious group Brown-Hutcherson Ministries.
This begs the question as to why there are 5 representatives from the private/for profit sector and only one from the non-profit sector? The business community is significantly represented, but not organized labor or neighborhood-based groups.
Also not acknowledged is the fact that four members of the study group are part of the One Kent Coalition – Tom Butcher (GVSU), Dave Leonard (Spectrum Health), Marge Potter (former Kent Co. Comm.) and Kate Pew Wolters (Steelcase Foundation). Why would they allow anyone who is directly involved with the One Kent Coalition to “study” this issue when they clearly are biased in favor of local government consolidation?
It is also important to remember that the One Kent Coalition is not just interested in making government more efficient, but to weaken the public sector unions as was revealed in a memo from the group in March. That memo read in part:
“….with respect to existing contracts, and collective bargaining agreements, those contract agreements would continue in place until their current length of term. The legislation would not alter vested pensions or retirement rights or merit system employment benefits but does not restrict future changes.”
It is important that this “advisory group” is getting some attention, but it is more important that these meetings be made open to the public with full transparency. Something as critical as the future of local government cannot simply be left to people with vested interests and local government officials. GRIID has contacted several GR City officials who are part of this advisory group and will report back with information once we receive responses.
Documentary explores US Drug War this Saturday
A documentary film that looks at the impact of the drug war in the US will be shown this Saturday in Grand Rapids.
According to the film press kit, American Drug War: The Last White Hope –
35 years after Nixon started the war on drugs, we have over one million non-violent drug offenders living behind bars.
The War on Drugs has become the longest and most costly war in American history, the question has become, how much more can the country endure? Inspired by the death of four family members from “legal drugs” Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth sets out to discover why the Drug War has become such a big failure. Three and a half years in the making, the film follows gang members, former DEA agents, CIA officers, narcotics officers, judges, politicians, prisoners and celebrities. Most notably the film befriends Freeway Ricky Ross; the man many accuse for starting the Crack epidemic, who after being arrested discovered that his cocaine source had been working for the CIA.
AMERICAN DRUG WAR shows how money, power and greed have corrupted not just drug pushers and dope fiends, but an entire government. More importantly, it shows what can be done about it. This is not some ‘pro-drug’ stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it.
This film screening is in conjunction with a new GRIID class, which is using the film to explore the impact of the US War on Drugs over the next 6 weeks. Anyone can attend the film, but if the content intrigues you then you can sign up to participate in the weekly discussions.
American Drug War
Saturday, June 4 beginning at noon
Heartside Ministry
54 S. Division
Interview with Yves Engler – Cars & Capitalism
Yesterday, we had the opportunity to talk with Yves Engler, co-author of the new book Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the road to economic, social and ecological decay.
The author is on a book tour via bus throughout the US and stopped off in Grand Rapids on Sunday to be part of a discussion at The Bloom Collective and the Green Party of West Michigan.
Yves spoke with us about numerous aspects of the book: the association of cars with freedom, cars & advertising, the political power of the auto industry, the health & ecological consequences of auto dependency and numerous examples of how communities are challenging the role of cars in society.
Earlier in May, we reported on a grassroots effort across Michigan to repeal Public Act 4, the EFM law that has been called “fiscal martial law.”
A petition has been drafted and accepted. Now Michigan Forward has notified GRIID that it is ready to begin collecting signatures in the Grand Rapids area. The Detroit-based organization is also going to spearhead the signature canvass here. And Grand Rapids is crucial to the success of this initiative, since it is the second-largest city in the state.
Throughout the summer, signatures must be collected and then verified. Once there are enough signatures to put a repeal vote on the 2012 ballot, it will suspend the new EFM law until the election. Snyder and the Michigan Legislature will be forced to go back to using the much more reasonable EFM law that was in use prior to this year.
Help stop Public Act 4 cold. Michigan Forward will hold training sessions for all canvassers. The canvass launch date is Saturday, June 4, and a training session will be held here that day in Grand Rapids. To sign up, use this link and fill out the form.
(This article was written by Joshua Sadowski)
Congress narrowly passed the extension of the warrant-less wiring taping bill known as “The Patriot Act” on Thursday. Parts of the law were slated to expire at midnight pending an extension from congress and signature by the president. The bill was nearly blocked by Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky, who filibustered for two days prior to reaching an agreement with opponents.
Paul opposed the bill on the grounds that it violated the privacy and civil rights of Americans. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada was a fierce advocate of the bill stating, “When the clock strikes midnight tomorrow, we would be giving terrorists the opportunity to plot attacks against our country, undetected.”
After passage of the bill, President Obama was awakened in the early hours of the morning in Paris to sign it, only minutes prior to expiration. The president used an autopen to sign the bill remotely, a technological first.
Media coverage of the bill’s passage was fleeting and unfocused. National Public Radio aired a story that focused almost exclusively on the history and constitutionality of an autopen being used by the president while in France. This type of story would only be appropriate after a thorough examination of the content of the bill itself. An article on NPR’s website chronicled the Paul-Reid debate, blow by blow, but again ignored the content of the bill and its continued implications for Americans.
The Associated Press release on the topic did mention ACLU opposition to the bill along with public opinion poll numbers, however avoided the official name of the bill altogether in the headline, referring to the Patriot Act as a “Terrorist Fighting Bill”. It is hard to know if the AP was intentionally trying to avert attention from the matter, as “Terrorist Fighting Bill” is quite euphemistic when compared to the other options such as “Wiretapping Bill”, or even “The Patriot Act”.
The New York Times used the occasion to scrutinize Rand Paul for his parliamentary procedures. The Grand Rapids Press did not carry the story.
Laura W. Murphy of the ACLU has commented that “we’d hoped for a much more progressive position out of the Obama administration (on The Patriot Act)”. Which begs the question: Why is a conservative “Tea Party” senator filibustering the extension of a law passed during the Bush administration with Obama in the White House? Are progressives left only with the Tea Party for advocacy in congress?
Locally, Michiganders have senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, both Democrats, to rely on to protect their interests. Stabenow and Levin both voted in favor of the extension. Grand Rapids is home to Michigan’s third congressional district, represented by Justin Amash. Amash is a Republican and was voted into congress with Rand Paul and likeminded Tea Partiers in 2010. Amash voted “No” on the bill. Amash has a record of not only breaking ranks with his party to join with other outlying Tea Party members of the house, but also of opposing intrusive government measures and even expansions of military power. Levin has long been a Democratic hawk, supporting all the current military efforts. Stabenow has a mixed record in terms of national security, but has consistently supported domestic surveillance and spying.
Obama has also been a long supporter of the Patriot Act, though one would not know that by simply listening to his words and speeches, as he has consistently fed the public anti-spying and, more poignantly during the campaign, anti-Bush rhetoric. However, while Senator Obama was bashing the bill in his speeches and accusing his opponents of being too hawkish on domestic spying, he was voting in support of it. It follows that now, President Obama has signed extensions of the bill at every opportunity. Occasionally though, congress has needed a little bit of encouragement.
Historically, the Obama White House has sent letters to senators Feingold and Durbin pressuring them to support the extensions. With Feingold swept out last year during “Tea Party Fever”, Obama may not have expected even more fierce opposition on Bush era legislation that is “tough on terrorists”. This year, the administration insisted that failure to extend the bill would compromise terrorist investigations and thus, national security. When that wasn’t enough, Obama sent his director of national security, James Clapper, to inform congress that “information obtained at the Osama bin Laden compound” may be at jeopardy if party members failed to support the bill. In only a few short years we have a seen a change in power from one party to the other, however the values of those in power has changed very little. The values of Senator Obama, such as governmental checks and balances and the civil liberties of citizens, among others, seem to be only obstacles to be hurdled by our current president. One gets the sense that 2006 Senator Obama would have some harsh criticisms of 2011 President Obama.
It appears that so long as President Obama is hawkish and right-leaning, he can avoid any scrutiny (or even much notice) from the press, and he can rely on fellow democrats to follow suite. Indeed, Rand Paul has received more flak for opposing this issue than the president has for supporting it. Obama taking the path of least residence here conforms with the democrat and republican consensus reached during the Carter administration and continuing ever since, which dictates expanding the American Empire abroad and keeping social spending to a minimum at home. Ultimately, this is just the latest example of Obama betraying his vast promises to the left during his campaign, and bowing to business and military interests. We are thus assured that any real change will not come from either of the two political parties that have dominated American politics for far too long.
Rob Bliss’s Lip Dub Sparks Some Questions
It’s released. It’s a big hit on YouTube. And even Newsweek, which called Grand Rapids “a dying city,” has taken notice of Rob Bliss’s gigantic lip dub of Don McLean’s song “American Pie.”
Bliss told the Grand Rapids Press that the lip dub video was intended to promote Grand Rapids as “a growing, fun place to live.” And boy, does it ever look fun. The streets are so clean you could eat off of them. Everyone is cheerful, upbeat, waving and smiling. (Requirements for extras were that people who showed up for the event “dress classy” and “bring a good attitude to represent the city.” “Help us look the best we possibly can,” Bliss stated.)
To give credit where credit is due, the amount of organization and planning that went into this one-take video is mind-boggling. It looks like the filming came off without a hitch; the editing is great; and it certainly is spirited.
There’s nothing here to trouble or raise questions. Just lots of brisk energy and grins and people in the background sitting at café tables, swaying back and forth, or having pillow fights. (Well, that last one might trouble some people who don’t know it’s a homage to an earlier Rob Bliss event.)
Your eye might be jarred from time to time to Bliss’s version of product placement. The line of Fox, WZZM, and WOOD-TV trucks traveling side by side down the street…the bus with the Downtown Grand Rapids slogan on the side…grnow.com and Metro PCS t-shirts…chalk graffiti galore extolling various Grand Rapids boosters. It’s not subtle, and it gets distracting.
Otherwise, Grand Rapids looks like Oz. And the people look like they’ve been reincarnated from those peppy family-style 1970s musical acts from Disney World or Knott’s Berry Farm.
GRIID raised some questions about this Bliss project earlier this month. Now that it’s available for viewing, this writer has a few more.
Although the lip dub promotes Grand Rapids, how well does it represent the people of Grand Rapids?
As was noted earlier on GRIID, the interests of capitalists are definitely well represented by appearances of “movers and shakers,” as the Press called Paul Jendrasiak, Ryan Slusarzyk, George Aquino, Bill Holsinger-Robinson of Rick DeVos’s Pomegranate Studios, plus plenty of local media people. These included featured performances by WOOD-TV people, where Bliss works in the sales department.
Who’s underrepresented here?
Nearly 25 percent of Grand Rapids residents live below the poverty line. The average income in the city is just over $37,000.
There are more women than men living in Grand Rapids—for every 100 women, 92.5 men.
Racial make-up of the city is 57 percent White, 18.9 percent Black, 13 percent Latino/a, and 1.62 percent Asian-American.
As I watched the video, I had to ask myself how well the featured “celebrities” and the extras represented our city’s demographics. Check for yourself.
How well does the lip dub represent the actual city?
All of the action in the video takes place in the immediate downtown area. There are places a stone’s throw away—such as Heritage Hill, the Division Avenue area, the warehouse district—that aren’t shown. Instead we see the cleanest store facades, the most upscale businesses, and the Amway Grand Plaza (twice). We don’t see areas that offer small start-up businesses, alternative art galleries, or any housing other than the downtown condos owned by local real estate power brokers. And I guess it was a given that areas like the Black Hills neighborhood and Heartside don’t make an appearance, either.
How else could the money to make the “American Pie” lip dub have gone to benefit Grand Rapids?
If this video is supposed to help us here in Grand Rapids, then it just begs the question: how else could that $25,000 filming cost have been spent?
According to Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank, the organization is able to buy 33 pounds of food for every dollar donated. That means that the fund to make the Grand Rapids Lip Dub could have bought a staggering 825,000 pounds of food for the food-insufficient families in Grand Rapids.
If you buy all your seeds for a vegetable garden, the annual benchmark cost is usually given at about $50 to yield $1,250 of food. Attending seed exchanges at programs in Grand Rapids like Our Kitchen Table lowers the seed cost a lot. But even using the highest estimate, the cost of this video could have gone toward launching 500 new home or community gardens in the city.
The average cost for a wellness class through the City of Grand Rapids—which teach exercise techniques, offer health information and screenings, and provide courses in organic gardening, is $35. So 714 Grand Rapids adults could have benefited from health advice for the same cost as the lip dub video.
Tuition varies for programs at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, but let’s take an average program cost for a summer session of arts education at $5,000. Rob Bliss’s “American Pie” video could have sent five students whose parents could never dreamed of affording this tuition to one of the best arts academies in the country for a life-changing summer. Closer to home and more cost efficient, a children’s arts class at the Grand Rapids Civic Theater (as just one example) costs $285. The “American Pie” video money could have bought 87 Grand Rapids kids an incredible educational experience in the theater. And they would have learned about a lot more than lip-sync techniques.
One other question kept going through my head as I watched this great social experiment:
Who knew this song was so freaking long?
I’ve heard it ever since I was a child, but apparently, I was listening to some Readers’ Digest condensed version. The entire song seems…well…endless. And suddenly the Disney connection clicked. It reminded me of the time I got trapped on the mind-numbing “It’s a Small World After All” ride at Disney World. What a nightmare.
Take a look for yourself:
Last night WGVU hosted an event for the 40th anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers at the downtown campus of GVSU. The vent featured a 30-minute excerpt from the documentary film The Most Dangerous Man in America, with a panel discussion afterwards that included Daniel Ellsberg via Skype.
The panel included former 2nd Congressional Representative Pete Hoekstra, who was also Chair of the House Intelligence Committee; Devin Schindler, a lawyer and law professor at Cooley Law School and Gleaves Whitney, head of the GVSU Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies.
Whitney began the discussion by stating that Americans are naïve in trusting what the government tells the public. He made the point that the approval rating for Nixon went up, even after the release of the Pentagon Papers.
Dr. Ellsberg disagreed with Whitney’s assessment and pointed out that the Pentagon Papers ended with 1968, so it did not deal with the Nixon administration, thus exposing Whitney’s lack of historical knowledge. Ellsberg also stated that what he had hoped to demonstrate with the release of the Pentagon Papers was that four continuous President’s, both Democrats and Republicans, had all supported the war and lied to the public.
The next panelist was Devon Schindler who said he was “ambivalent about the Pentagon Papers.” Schindler clarified that point by saying that in many ways Daniel Ellsberg is similar to Oliver North, saying that, “they fundamentally did the same thing. People cannot put themselves above the law or there will be chaos in the country.”
Ellsberg challenged Schindler’s read of the Espionage Act that does not support government secrecy. Ellsberg said he took an oath to the US Constitution, not a government that was lying and operating in secret. This is significantly different than what Oliver North did by participating in covert operations involving drug and weapons sales, which have nothing to do with upholding the Constitution.
Former Congressman Pete Hoekstra spoke next and did something that this writer did not expect, which was that he agreed with much of what Ellsberg had to say. At one point Hoekstra even said that we needed more whistleblowers. While this was somewhat unexpected it also may have served Hoekstra well since there ended up being no discussion of Hoekstra’s role in the deception of the American public in regards to the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) that the Iraqi government possessed, according to the Bush administration. In fact, Hoekstra was claiming at the very end of the Bush years that Iraq still had WMDs.
Where Hoekstra admitted that he disagreed with Ellsberg was on the legality of the NSA spy program to monitor phone conversations of Americans that began under Bush and continues with Obama. Here Hoekstra believes that the domestic spy program was legitimate.
Devon Schindler then questioned Ellsberg on his actions to distribute the Pentagon Papers saying that it violated his oath. Here is a video clip that has Schindler adding to his point followed by Ellsberg’s response:
There wasn’t much time for questions from the audience, but there were several good points raised by Dr. Ellsberg. When asked about whether or not the news media is doing its job today he said they were doing a terrible job because they continue to take the government at its word and often “act as stenographers.” “The Press is not nearly investigative as it should be, which is due in part to pressures from advertisers and consolidation of owners,” according to Ellsberg.
There was also a question asked about the comparison of WikiLeaks and the Pentagon Papers. Devon Schindler and Hoekstra both agree that the accused whistleblower Bradley Manning should be punished because he put the national security of the country at risk. Again Ellsberg criticizes Obama for his treatment of Private Bradley Manning and makes the point that one of the main differences was that the Pentagon Papers were Top Secret, whereas the documents Manning leaked were lower level combat information, not that of high-level administrative policy decisions and therefore did not put national security at risk.
One glaring omission from the forum was the lack of any serious discussion about what really motivated both Ellsberg and Manning – the desire to stop the killing of innocent human beings in both Vietnam and the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems that the desire to stop the killing for both men was paramount in their decision to release documents, but that point was never really addressed other than a minor reference to torture.
Yesterday, the 8-year old Iraqi boy we reported on three weeks ago, that lost his right leg due to a US missile attack outside his home in Baghdad, Iraq, took his first steps with a new prosthetic leg.
The local group Healing Children of Conflict (HCC) brought Hamzah and his father from Iraq so that the boy could get a prosthetic leg. Several HCC members were present yesterday when the doctors attached the leg and witnessed a joyful smile from both Hamzah and his father.
Hamzah then tried to walk with the new prosthetic leg and did quite well, according to the doctors at Mary Free Bed Hospital. He will need physical therapy to re-learn how to walk since it has been just over two years ago that he lost his leg to a missile explosion.
The doctor explained that as Hamzah grows minor adjustments can be made to the prosthetic, but after a few years he will need to be fitted with a new one. HCC members reiterated to Hamzah and his father that they were committed to bringing them back to Grand Rapids in order to get a new prosthetic leg over the years.
HCC members said this was a clear manifestation of the work they have set out to do in order to take responsibility for the innocent civilians that have been killed or murdered in recent US wars.
Hamzah is one of over a million children that have been killed or seriously wounded since the 1991 US War in the Gulf. Many civilians were killed during the US bombing in early 1991 and declassified records show that the US military strategically targeted civilian infrastructure in those 1991 attacks, which led to massive suffering and loss of life in the 1990s, especially children.
The lack of clean water, loss of medical facilities and the US/UN sanctions imposed on Iraq all contributed to tremendous loss of life. In fact, according to UNICEF, the number of Iraqi children that had died in the 1990s due to the sanctions was 500,000 by 1999. Some may remember that shortly after the UNICEF report came out that then Secretary of State Madeline Albright was interviewed on the CBS show 60 Minutes. Here is what Albright had to say about the death 500,000 Iraqi children:
The sanctions continued even after the US invasion/bombing campaign that began in March of 2003, which has led to even more children dying or being seriously wounded like Hamzah. It is difficult to find specific numbers of Iraqi children that have died or have been wounded as a direct result of the now 8 – year US occupation of Iraq, but the website Iraq Body Count does provide a year to year data base that gives some indication of the number of Iraqi children that have been killed.
Bringing Hamzah to the US to get a new prosthetic leg does not undue the horrible suffering caused by several decades of US warfare in Iraq, but the smile on Hamzah’s face yesterday sure looked like a power symbol of hope and the willingness of some Americans to take responsibility for the actions of the US military in Iraq.
Unions fight for the rights of workers. But those battles are more often fought these days on picket lines, in contract negotiations, and through media coverage. However, violence and intimidation against union organizers and members can be found throughout labor history—and May 26th’s historical event was one of the most significant examples of that; a battle that ultimately cost the capitalists their cover-up of lies and deception.
This battle took place outside Detroit in 1937. The setting was Ford Motor’s Rouge Complex, a huge Dearborn industrial park on the Detroit River. Walter Reuther and other UAW organizers were at the complex to show their solidarity with Ford workers as they attempted negotiations for better pay and shorter hours. A leaflet campaign had been prepared, and the press showed up to cover the event. What happened next—unfortunately for Henry Ford—was captured on film by a Detroit News photographer.
In 1937, the infamous Harry Bennett was in charge of security for Ford Motors. He was, essentially, Henry Ford’s “fixer,” a former boxer. Ford hired Bennett after asking him a single question: “Can you shoot?” Bennett was tough and paranoid. He had built himself a home on the Detroit River that was a veritable fortress. Styled like a Chinese pagoda, it had hidden tunnels, an interior stair that went directly down to a dock under the house and complete with getaway motor boat, and a moat ringed with explosives ready to be triggered. Bennett also built himself a northern Michigan home that had the same features, only it was built to look like a gigantic log cabin.
Bennett created a security force for Ford, called “service men,” that was composed of former athletes, Detroit gang members, and ex-convicts. It was this security army that had opened fire along with police on auto workers during their Ford Hunger March in 1932, killing five and wounding 60.
Henry Ford wanted the press to be sympathetic to him in his fight against the workers that were asking for an extravagant two dollars more a day in pay. So Bennett hosted a lavish breakfast feast for the media at the beginning of May. Some of those same reporters and photographers turned up to cover the UAW presence at the Rouge Complex on May 26.
Reuther, Richard Frankensteen and other UAW organizers posed for News photographer James Kilpatrick on a pedestrian overpass that led from the plant to the parking lot. Bennett arrived with 40 of his security force. The service men immediately attacked and began to beat the union negotiators. Reuther was thrown down one flight of stairs on the overpass bridge, kicked and punched, and then thrown down a second flight of stairs. Frankensteen’s jacket was pulled up over his head and then he was savagely beaten. One union organizer had his back broken by Bennett’s thugs; he was thrown off the overpass and landed 30 feet below.
Members of the women’s auxiliary of Local 174 had arrived to start passing out the leaflets to workers as they came off shift. These women were also attacked and some beaten as well. Dearborn police officers stood by and watched. Later they explained that Bennett’s security forces were “defending private property” and they did not want to interfere.
Bennett’s attacking security officers then turned on the members of the press who had attended the event. Reporters had notes ripped from their hands. Cameras were smashed. Film was confiscated and burned. One reporter was chased by a group of “service men” for five miles before he finally ducked into a police station, into which the attackers did not follow him.
But Kilpatrick, the News photographer, escaped and managed to protect the glass-plate negatives of his photographs. He hid the real negatives in his back seat and surrendered some blank ones to Ford security before making his getaway.
Bennett declared to the media, “The affair was deliberately provoked by union officials…I know definitely no Ford service man or plant police were involved in any way in the fight.” The News photographs, however, told a different story.
Detroit, and the nation, had been told for years by the media that the capitalists had their workers’ best interests at heart. For example, in January of 1937, Reuther and other organizers along with GM workers were gassed, wounded with shotguns, hosed with fire hoses, and beaten during a sit-down strike, but details of this barely reached the newspapers. But when confronted with the visual story of Kilpatrick’s photos, the public learned a harsh lesson about the real level on which the battle against unionization was being fought.
The outcome of the Battle of the Overpass was the negative attention it brought on Henry Ford and the way he treated his workers. Called before the National Labor Relations Board, Ford had to answer charges involving dozens of unfair labor practices in his violation of the Wagner Act. Ironically, the members of the press gave the most damning evidence at the hearing. Ford lawyers tried to undermine the negative effects of their words by asking questions like, “So, you’re a communist?” when reporters gave their credentials as a members of the Newspaper Guild.
Ford workers were questioned about their working conditions and Bennett’s security force. A Time Magazine report stated, “Witness after witness told how he had been suddenly taken from an assembly line by two service men, marched off for his pay and escorted to the gate, with no explanation except his own—that he had just joined the UAW.” One worker testified that he had a blank union application on him, and it fell from his shirt to the floor where it was picked up by another worker. Five days later he was fired; his foreman just said, “I guess you don’t want to work here.”
Prior to the hearing, Henry Ford tried to head off bad publicity by raising worker pay by $1.50 a day, an announcement he made immediately after the “battle” ended. But the opinion of both the National Labor Relations Board as well as the country went against him and forced him, three years later, to sign a UAW contract.
As an added insult to Ford’s humiliation, Detroit Labor party candidates won twice as many votes as other candidates combined in the election following the May 26 battle, and swept into a majority.
The Pulitzer Prize committee was so impressed by the importance of James Kilpatrick’s photographs as a record of the truth that it instituted the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography shortly after the Battle of the Overpass.
Today, we are watching our state’s governor, abetted by the Michigan legislature and the Mackinac Policy Center, hard at work busting unions and preparing to overturn union contracts at will. We need to remember that the rights of worker are never going to be secure in a capitalist system.
Like the Battle of the Overpass, the culmination of years of workers standing up to intimidation tactics by auto executives, we too are standing at a pivotal moment in labor history. The strength of workers to confront these tactics is in solidarity and the courage to topple the capitalists by exposing the truth of their agendas.
So speak up. Take action. And the next time you attend a protest or a labor march, be sure to bring your camera.
