Local news stories center cops and the law on immigration matters, omit the affected community and those who are actively defying unjust immigration laws
Over the past few days there have been several news stories regarding the possibility of mass deportations and how local institutions are planning to respond to it. I want to deconstruct each news story and then offer up several responses.
WXMI 17 recent aired a story that centered on the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese and the issue the threat of mass deportation.
The Fox 17 reporter framed the story around the Trump Administration’s decision to lift the policy of restricted areas where ICE can arrest and detain people, such as churches, hospitals, schools and libraries.
The only source used in the channel 17 story was someone with the Director of Immigration Legal Services for the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids. The spokesperson stated that people were afraid and that they were encouraging people to know their rights by not speaking to ICE officials. However, they also said that if ICE has a warrant they will comply. For me and for other abolitionists, just because ICE has a court sanctioned warrant, doesn’t mean it is just or fair.
A second WXMI 17 story sourced three people, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, the Kent County Sheriff and GRPD Chief Winstrom. All three of these people who are part of law enforcement in Kent County had different, but similar responses to the threat of mass deportation and ICE coming after immigrants.
Becker was quoted as saying, “I don’t think legally, it’s going to have too much of an effect…….It’s going to be more how the public, you know, and some of the, you know, people worry about getting deported. It’s always been an issue in terms of: Are they going to be willing to come forward and report crimes?…….You know, we’ve had some significant crimes of some dangerous individuals who were here in the country illegally. But if we don’t have other people who are in the country illegally reporting those crimes, they’re still out there. So, it’s kind of a very difficult situation, a delicate situation.”
Becker’s comment reflect his tremendous privilege, plus his own bias, since he emphasizes the immigrant behavior, not the function and role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The channel 17 reporter also used a statement from the Kent County Sheriff, which read:
“We are in the very early stages of the Trump Administrations Executive Orders related to immigration law enforcement and not much detail has been provided. Exactly what these new orders will mean for law enforcement at the local level is not entirely clear. We are carefully assessing the information we have been provided and will continue to do so as this very dynamic situation evolves.”
Needless to say, the Kent County Sheriff’s statement is vague and non-committal.
Lastly, here is what GRPD Chief Winstrom was quoted as saying: “Everyone in Grand Rapids can feel safe contacting the police………….Individuals need to feel comfortable talking to police officers. They need to know that when they call 911, they’re not going to be turned from a victim into a suspect…….The federal government has an immense amount of power; there are very, very clear lines in place of who has authority over who, and just the police here in Grand Rapids, we’re just simply not in the immigration business.”
The 3rd local news story related to ICE and Trump Administration policies was posted by MLive on Friday morning, with the headline, “Grand Rapids police ‘not in the business of immigration enforcement,’ chief says.”
Winstrom was quoted in the MLive story with pretty much the same comments from the WXMI 17 story. The only fundamental difference was the fact that MLive cited the GRPD and immigration policy that was enacted in 2019. The GRPD policy reference in the article is actually called the Foreign National’s Policy, which has lots of lofty rhetoric, but it also states, “The policy allows officers to provide assistance to federal immigration authorities when there is an emergency that poses an immediate danger to public safety or federal agents.” Ultimately, what the GRPD determines to be an “immediate danger to public safety” is often something as simple as marching in the streets, something I have witnessed first hand. In addition, it must be made clear that the whole reason why this policy was adopted in August of 2019, was because in 2018 the GRPD contacted ICE to racial profile a former US Marine who was a US citizen and have him sent to a detention facility. This action on behalf of the GRPD got national attention and was such an embarrassment to the City that they crafted this policy.
What I find so deeply problematic about these stories and the comments from people in positions of power are that:
- The Kent County Prosecutor, the Kent County Sheriff and the GRPD have demonstrated over and over again that they will fully cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- GR Rapid Response and Movimiento Cosecha confronted Kent County around the ICE contract they had since 2012. County officials ignored these push to end the contract but because of the constant pressure and media attention around the contract, ICE ended it in September of 2019.
- More importantly, the local news media not center and elevated the voices of those from the affected community, those who are at risk of arrest, detention and deportation from ICE.
I don’t believe that we can put any faith in local or national law enforcement officers to respect the dignity of undocumented immigrants. They follow the law and the laws favor those with privilege and power. If people really want to engage in solidarity with undocumented immigrants then they should join the efforts of Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE. State agencies cannot and will not center those most vulnerable, so we have to look out for each other, take risks and take action at this moment in history.
The Grand Rapids Power Structure loves the new Michigan Senate Minority leader, who is also running for Governor in 2026
Since the 2024 elections, when the Democrats lost control of the State House and nearly lost control of the State Senate, there have been some changes in State government leadership.
Aric Nebitt, who attended the far right Hillsdale College, was first elected to the State House in 2010, representing Van Buren County and part of Allegan County. In 2018, Nesbitt was elected to represented the 20th Senate District in Michigan and he was named Minority Leader of the State Senate to begin 2025.
Last week, Aric Nesbitt announced he will run for governor in 2026. In an MLive article, Nesbitt is quoted as saying:
“The people of Michigan have been left behind under Democrat rule as they’ve raised taxes, wasted a $9 billion surplus, chose politically motivated corporate handouts over fixing our roads, and tried to impose their left-wing ideology on all of us.”
Nesbitt went on to say, “As governor, I will put Michigan first by supporting taxpayers over the woke left, empowering parents, keeping families safe, and standing with President Trump to revive our manufacturing industry and Make Michigan Great Again.”
The MLive article doesn’t question, challenge or verify Nesbitt’s comments, which is generally how commercial media covers candidates and elections. In addition, there is no information about Nesbitt’s voting record or his campaign finances, which are the only factors in determining who politicians really are.
If you look at the campaign funding for Nesbitt since he began his campaign to become a State Senator in 2017, you can see the kind of groups and individuals he has taken money from.
Some of the groups he has taken money from are:
Republican State Leadership Committee – $100,000.00
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan PAC – $57,100.00
MI Association of Health Plans PAC – $49,300.00
Comcast, Meijer PAC, DTE, MI Realtors, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, etc. We all know that these entities put profit over people and always want politicians to adopt policies that are favorable for their bottom line.
Then there are individuals who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, who have also bankrolled Nesbitt, such as:
John Kennedy III
JC Huizenga
Maria & Doug DeVos
Matthew Hayworth
Richard DeVos Jr.
Daniel Hibma
These people also have an interest in expanding their wealth, but they also embrace specific ideological principles that are anti-abortion, anti-union, anti-public education, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-government regulation.
If you want to look at Aric Nesbitt’s voting record as State Senator, you can see all of his 7,585 votes, legislation he has sponsored and amendments he has supported.
Next week, we’ll take a look at Jocelyn Benson and who has bankrolled her as Secretary of State, since she just announced her candidacy for Governor of Michigan.
If you are thinking about coming to the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting on 1/28, here are some talking points for why GR should be a Sanctuary City
As of this posting, the Action Alert from GR Rapid Response to ICE, already has 13,110 letters that were sent to Grand Rapids City officials.
However, groups have generated that many letters in the past, like in 2020, when groups like Defund the GRPD got thousands of people to send letters to GR City officials to reduce the amount of the City’s budget that would go to the cops.
We need people to show up in person and use their 3 minutes of public comment to pressure GR City officials to do the right thing and help create a social and political climate of safety for immigrants in this city.
There is a new Mayor and two new City Commissioners that are just getting their feet wet with city politics, so anything is possible. I will say, that in December, when I was in Lansing to support the Cosecha Hunger Strike, I saw the newly elected Mayor of Grand Rapids, David LaGrand. I pointed them out and one of the Cosecha organizers ask to speak with him, then asked if he would support Grand Rapids being a Sanctuary City. LaGrand took the conversation in a different direction and when Cosecha pressed him on what the City can do, he never committed to what they were asking him to support.
If you read the Action Alert for Grand Rapids to be a Sanctuary City, the language of that Action Alert says:
People in our city depend on and interact with immigrant neighbors every day: from the harvested food we eat, to the restaurants we patronize; from the construction of buildings we live and work in, to the manufactured products we use daily; from the clean hotel rooms and offices we visit, to the home health care we receive or provide for our loved ones. They are the children learning and playing in our schools, the drivers who stop and wave us through the busy traffic turn, and the neighbors who offer a smile on our daily walks and errands.
We must make clear that immigrants are valued members of our community and that their safety is a priority.
Adopting Sanctuary City status will mean that Grand Rapids:
- Declares itself a sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, and;
- Commits to preventing the Grand Rapids Police Department from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and any law enforcement agency that seek to arrest, detain and deport undocumented immigrants.
However, the letter itself has some important Talking Points, such as:
In declaring itself a Sanctuary City, Grand Rapids would implement and execute the following:
- policies restricting the ability of state and local police to make arrests for federal immigration violations, or to detain individuals on civil immigration warrants;
- policies restricting the police or other city workers from asking about immigration status;
- policies prohibiting “287(g)” agreements through which ICE deputizes local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration law;
- policies that prevent local governments from entering into a contract with the federal government to hold immigrants in detention
- policies preventing immigration detention centers in Grand Rapids.
You should also think about making your message personal, especially if you are part of the affected community or you have relationships with the affected community, such as friends, co-workers, people who are part of your faith community, etc.
For me, this issue is deeply personal for two reasons. In the early 1980s, I was part of the Koinonia House, which was a Sanctuary House for political refugees from Guatemala. I learned a great deal from the families who we offered Sanctuary, and have written about it.
Additionally, Koinonia House became a foster family to a young Guatemalan who had been forcibly recruited into the military at age 13. He went AWOL at one point and was picked up by the Guatemalan military, tortured, then went AWOL again and made his way to the US border. Since he was a minor, we were able to become foster parents and worked through Bethany Christian Services to get him to Grand Rapids.
For me, doing sanctuary work has been personal for several decades, so much so that it has been transformative work to engage in. I plan on sharing this story when I use my public comment time at the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting on January 28th.
Grand Rapids Hip Hop station does a story about the effort to get Grand Rapids to become a Sanctuary City
Local radio station, Magic 104.9, known as GR’s Hip Hop station, posted a story on Wednesday regarding the effort of GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR to pressure the City of Grand Rapids to declare itself a Sanctuary City.
As many would say, all press is good press. In this case the information is pretty good, since it seems to use some of the language around the Action Alert directed at Grand Rapids City officials.
The Magic 104.9 also mentions the Action Alert to pressure the Grand Rapids Public Schools to adopt a Sanctuary Policy for the district, which GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR began on January 13th.
Unfortunately, the only concrete source that was cited on the radio station’s website was the far right anti-immigration group, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). According to SourceWatch, The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is an anti-immigration group that has been branded a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). FAIR calls itself an “organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation’s immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest.” It was formed in 1979 by population control advocate and nativist John Tanton, who believes that immigration is a significant part of the US population “problem,” and is part of the anti-immigrant John Tanton Network.
It should also be noted that John Tanton was from Michigan, and created a number of Far Right groups that embraced White Supremacy and eugenics. Tanton died in 2019 and was from Petosky, Michigan.
While I support the efforts of Magic 104.9, it would have been best to contact GR Rapid Response to ICE and Movimiento Cosecha GR directly, since those two groups are the ones behind the push for institutions to declare sanctuary in Grand Rapids, plus Cosecha is made up of immigrant organizers who are directly impacted by ICE violence.
Separating rhetoric from voting record on US immigration policies: Why Rep. Scholten isn’t being honest about her immigration record
On Sunday, I received my weekly Email message from Rep. Hillary Scholten. These Emails come with the usual platitudes that politicians love to make about themselves and their political party.
One thing that stood out was headlined by this statement: A note about immigration work in the incoming Trump administration. What you see below here is a deconstruction and critique of what Rep. Scholten says and what her actions are.
As always we have to separate the rhetoric of politicians and look at what they actually do, especially in terms of policy and how they vote. My assessment of Rep. Scholten is that she is no real friend of immigrant communities, especially of undocumented immigrants.
Here are several previous GRIID posts that support my analysis of Rep. Scholten’s recent Email statement about immigration.
Deconstructing a Hillary Scholten political ad: Promoting xenophobic nationalism
Rep. Scholten votes with the Republicans to further criminalize the undocumented immigrant community
Despite cold weather conditions, more than 100 people marched for immigrant justice in downtown Grand Rapids
The weather advisories were bleak, with warnings of sub-zero temperatures that caused closures and cancellations throughout West Michigan. However, even the frigid cold did not prevent Movimiento Cosecha from organizing a march on the day of the Presidential Inauguration in D.C.
In a Media Advisory sent out early Monday morning from Movimiento Cosecha, the advisory stated:
“Movimiento Cosecha Michigan is mobilizing a march on MLK Day to demand an end to deportations in our state. We march in solidarity with immigrants, including the undocumented, who are human beings striving for a better future for their children and communities. They deserve to live with dignity, respect, and without the constant fear of deportation. The new administration rose to power with promises of mass deportations, but our commitment to the struggle for immigrant rights remains steadfast. We will resist these threats with strength and unity.”
The march began at Rosa Parks Circle, with several large banners, signs, drums, chants, hand-warmers and an animated crowd of around 100 people. The march went east on Pearl Street in downtown Grand Rapids, then turned north onto Ottawa Avenue.
Shortly after entering onto Ottawa Avenue, Cosecha organizers invited people to enter the Waters Building, where people gathered in the lobby to hear from the affected community about what immigrants are fighting for. Another Cosecha organizer from Muskegon read a declaration in Spanish, which was translated into English, a declaration that condemned the threat of mass deportations from the incoming Trump Administration. While people listened to the declaration, a few other Cosecha organizers slipped away to an out of the way stairwell that brought them to the Investigations office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The office was not open, so they taped a copy of the declaration on the door of the ICE office (pictured above), making sure that local ICE officials knew that immigrant justice organizers were going to resist the threat of mass deportations.
Heading back out to the street, the marchers made their way down to Michigan Street and stopped in front of the Federal Building, where another Cosecha organizer provided a powerful testimony against the fear-mongering and the xenophobic nationalism that the US government has been perpetrating against undocumented immigrants over the past few decades.
The Cosecha March for NO DEPORTATIONS, then went south on Monroe and was headed towards the convention center, when organizers directed them to starting crossing to the other side of the street. However, when most of the marchers were in the street at the crosswalk, they stopped and occupied that space for the next 10 minutes. Standing in the street and chanting in English and Spanish, completely stopped traffic on Monroe Avenue. This disruption further animated the crowd, which was just the energy boost they needed to finish the march back to Rosa Parks Circle.
People mingled for a bit at the end of the march and even gathered for a group photo. The event was successful and involved the support of numerous other autonomous groups in Grand Rapids that helped make the Cosecha Michigan action an excellent counter-narrative to the banality coming out of the nation’s capital. Cosecha Michigan will need this kind of energy, especially from allies, in order to actively resist what is coming. This fight will not be easy, but last night was a good start.
Fifteen years of blogging on Martin Luther King Jr. Day has taught me that people still want to hold on to the nice man image
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a fighter and never backoff from calling out systems of power and oppression, specifically what he referred to as the “Evil Triplets” – systemic racism, militarism and materialism/Capitalism.
Dr. King was also an organizer who believed in direct action and disruptive actions, actions that would inspire people and to mobilize people join the movement. However, Dr. King’s actions and that of the Civil Rights Movement also got the attention of systems of power and oppression, which led to an intense FBI surveillance campaign, along with the FBI recruiting infiltrators to disrupt the movement. King’s involvement in the Black Freedom Struggle ultimately got him assassinated, not by a lone racist, but by a system that collaborated to end his life.
Over the past 15 years that I have been blogging here on GRIID, I have consistently written about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., what he did while working within the larger Black Freedom Struggle and how he was part of a resistance struggle against systems of power and oppression.
I am not going to include ever blog post about Dr. King, but I have gone back a selected some of the post that I think are always relevant for the current and ongoing struggles for justice today. The first post from 2010 is entitled, The Dr. King We Rarely Hear About. That post begins with quote from Dr. King, which generally isn’t invoked during MLK celebrations. “I am sorry to have to say that the vast majority of white Americans are racists, either consciously or unconsciously.”
In 2011, I posted a piece entitled. Which Dr. King will you celebrate? I ask the question, since too often at MLK events we talk about the I have a Dream speech or we talk about diversity. What we don’t hear about very often in those public events is people talking about how Dr. King condemned the Vietnam War, US militarism and US Imperialism.
In 2016, I wrote a 3 part piece about Dr. King. Part I centered on his Beyond Vietnam speech that was delivered in 1967, a speech that many in the Civil Rights Movement did not support. In Part II, I focused more on Dr. King’s critique of economic matters, using the title, The slums are the handiwork of a vicious system of white society: Seeing the world through the eyes of Dr. King. The third post in that series focused on racism and White Supremacy where I apply Dr. King’s vision on what is happening in Grand Rapids.
In 2018, I wrote two articles around MLK Day, with the first post providing a summary of several excellent books either written by Dr. King or about him and the Black Freedom Struggle. Celebrating the Real Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The second article talked about how business associations and corporations and exploited the legacy of Dr. King, which was entitled, From Organizing a Poor People’s Campaign to hosting a Corporate Breakfast: The Uses and Abuses of Dr. King’s Legacy.
In 2020, I wrote a piece about how Dr. King fought against structural racism and White Supremacy. In that same piece I wrote about what it means to be an anti-racist, with book resources and talking points.
In 2023, my article, was entitled, The uses and abuses of the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Grand Rapids. In that article I talk about how both conservatives and liberals misuse the legacy of Dr. King to justify that actions and inactions.
Finally, in 2024, I wrote an article entitled, Virtually every politician you know will misrepresent and bastardize the legacy of Dr. King today. So many politicians will bastardize the legacy of Dr. King, but in this post it looks specifically at how Senator Gary Peters has used to Dr. King to justify his own public policy choices.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of January 19th
It has been more than 15 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
A DEAL TOO LATE: ISRAEL AGREES TO THE CEASEFIRE IT REJECTED MONTHS AGO, THOUSANDS MORE DIED
“America’s Stamp Is Everywhere” on Bomb Shells in Gaza, Report Finds
Israel Bombs, America Yawns and Gatekeepers Con
Israel Destroyed Gaza ‘for Generations to Come’ and the World Stayed Silent
Palestinian Authority kills its own people, proves loyalty to Israel
How U.S. Media Hide Truths About the Gaza War
The Trump Factor: Gaza Ceasefire Deal Appears Close
Arming Israel Still Has Bipartisan Support in Washington
Israeli Minister Boasts About Blocking Ceasefire Deals as Media Blames Hamas
The Gaza Genocide: The fall of Israel’s Immunity
Analysis & History
Do Boycotts Against Israel Work? Fatima Bhutto & Omar Barghouti | Reframe
Image used in this post is from the https://visualizingpalestine.org/.
Rep. Hillary Scholten lied once again, then she insulted the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
On Thursday, January 16th, Rep. Hillary Scholten made a couple of posts on her Facebook page that were both instructive and infuriating, especially if you honestly care about justice and truth.
In one post, which included an article from the New York Times about the tentative ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, Scholten wrote:
Since day 1 of this devastating conflict, I’ve called for humanitarianism and encouraged negotiating parties to work toward a cease-fire deal.
I pray that hostages are finally reunited with their loved ones and will continue working to support the innocent people devastated by this war.
These two sentences include a lie and performative non-sense that only acknowledges Israeli hostages, yet never mentions Palestinian deaths, suffering or the thousands of Palestinian prisoners that have also been part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
GRIID has methodically documented the role that Rep. Scholten has played in Israel’s war crimes and the ongoing genocide, which you can read here. So when Rep. Scholten says that she has, “called for humanitarianism and encouraged negotiating parties to work toward a cease-fire deal,” she is outright lying. Whatever US humanitarian aid that was earmarked for Palestinians, the Israeli military has consistently either prevented or significantly delayed such aid. Numerous independent media sources have documented this dynamic, such as the Electronic Intifada, which nearly a year ago wrote a post entitled, Israel blocking aid, fuel to Gaza hospitals. The Biden Administration has know about this and said and done nothing.
The US has also done a great deal to delay any real ceasefire agreement, as has been documented in an excellent article entitled, A Year of Empty Threats and a “Smokescreen” Policy: How the State Department Let Israel Get Away With Horrors in Gaza. A major point of the article states:
Time and again, Israel crossed the Biden administration’s red lines without changing course in a meaningful way, according to interviews with government officials and outside experts. Each time, the U.S. yielded and continued to send Israel’s military deadly weapons of war, approving more than $17.9 billion in military assistance since late 2023, by some estimates. The State Department recently told Congress about another $8 billion proposed deal to sell Israel munitions and artillery shells.
Another article from the Intercepted also encapsulates the absurdity of the Israeli willingness to negotiate a ceasefire, which is cited in their article, A Deal Too Late: Israel agrees to a ceasefire deal it rejected months ago, thousands more died.
In addition to lying to us about her call for humanitarianism in Israel’s brutal genocidal campaign against the Palestinians, Rep. Scholten then claims to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, writing:
Today we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was born on this day in 1929. While his life was tragically cut short, his legacy has lived on for generations. It is our duty to continue following in his footsteps in our work toward freedom and justice for all.
Dr. King was fundamentally opposed to militarism and violence. In his famous 1967 speech at Riverside Church, he came out against the US war in Vietnam, stating: “As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems… But they asked, and rightly so, ‘what about Vietnam?’ They asked if our own nation wasn’t using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.”
Rep. Scholten has been deeply committed to militarism. Since she was elected to office in 2022, she has voted for every Department of Defense Budget, with the last budget being the largest in US history at $886 Billion. Rep. Scholten has unconditionally supported the US sending billions to Israel during the genocidal campaign, along with supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the Israeli system of Apartheid. Rep. Hillary Scholten insults the memory of Dr. King and we must call her out on this fact.
Source of the photo above is from CNN.
Grand Rapids news agencies cite far right organization that doesn’t like BIPOC students benefiting from scholarships
Several local news agencies reported that Grand Valley State University (GVSU) is being challenged over who is benefiting from scholarships.
The Equal Protection Project filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education after it received a tip about the school’s practices. The EPP alleges GVSU is violating Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In both the WOODTV8 and the WZZM 13 stories, it appears that they used part of a Media Release from the group known as The Equal Protection Project. However, in the WOODTV8 story, they provide a fair amount of airtime to the founder of The Equal Protection Project and current President, William A. Jacobson.
There are no other sources cited in either local TV news station, especially no sources from GVSU. Equally important is the fact that the local news stories don’t provide proper context on the group The Equal Protection Project. The Equal Protection Project is part of the effort to undermine and undo years of efforts from the Civil Rights Movement, especially in the area of higher education. This has been a wide-spread practice since the late 1970s, to attack the gains of the Civil Right Movement and turn back whatever gains were made to address racial inequality and racial injustice.
In addition, The Equal Protection Project is only part of the work that William A. Jacobson is behind. Jacobson also created the Critical Race Training in Education, which tracks school that teach Critical Race Theory and provides resources to people who want to attack those education systems.
However, both the Critical Race Training in Education and The Equal Protection Project are offshoots of Legal Insurrection, a group that practices and promotes Far Right politics. Check out their website and their Facebook page and you will see what kind of information, who they feature and what kind of far right ideas they promote. In many ways, it appears that what Legal Insurrection is all about, is providing a platform to promote and amplify the Trump Administration and the ideologues that are in the Trump camp.
This is all just another example of how Grand Rapids-based commercial news agencies don’t question or verify their sources, nor do they provide background information on the sources they cite. Just because an organization calls itself the Equal Protection Project, doesn’t mean they believe in or practice equality.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 