On the last possible day to pass the Drive Safe bills in Michigan, the State House did not even have a quorum
Since 2017, when Movimiento Cosecha Michigan was born, the undocumented immigrant-led movement has been fighting for driver’s licenses. I have been fortunate to have been a part of much of this sever year fight for justice.
Over the years Movimiento Cosecha has engaged in mass marches on May 1st, held sit-ins at Kent County Commission meetings, offices of various state politicians and at several Secretary of State locations in the Grand Rapids area.
In 2018, Movimiento Cosecha organized a week-long pilgrimage from Grand Rapids to Lansing. There have been numerous fundraisers, actions to demand that local municipalities pass resolutions and send letters to State Legislators to pass bills to allow the undocumented community to obtain a driver’s licenses.
I have witnessed the complete and utter dedication from members of Movimiento Cosecha when dealing with fatigue, anti-immigrant hatred, constant police harassment, intimidation and surveillance. Yet, it the midst of all of this, Movimiento Cosecha has remained faithful to the wishes of the immigrant community’s desire to drive without fear and win driver’s licenses.
Yesterday, a small group of Cosecha Michigan members, along with a few allies, ended their hunger strike, an action they had been engaged in for about a week in the hopes of pressuring Michigan State Legislators to pass the Drive SAFE bills.
Cosecha Michigan members showed up once again outside of the State House Chambers to bear witness, to talk with State Representatives and to demand that during the Lame Duck session that State Legislators pass the Drive SAFE bills. After nearly three hours, the State House adjourned because they didn’t have enough State Representatives for even a quorum to be able to vote.
As I said, I have worked with Movimiento Cosecha Michigan since 2017, but on this day, when the State House could not even get enough of their members to show up to vote, I saw disappointment, disbelief and disgust in the faces of the Cosecha Michigan members.
Do those elected officials who didn’t bother to do their job and show up to vote for such a critical set of bills even understand how the lives of undocumented immigrants would be vastly improved because they would have a driver’s license? Do they know that without driver’s licenses that undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of being stopped by police, which will then contact ICE and have them arrested, detained and possibly deported?
And just to be clear, both Republicans and Democrats were not showing up to vote on the Drive SAFE bills. I saw the disgust, disappointment and disbelief on the faces of the Cosecha Michigan members, because despite all of the promises from State Legislators and from Governor Whitmer’s office that they would pass the Drive SAFE bills after they won the trifecta during the 2022 election, they failed to make that promise a reality.
Lastly, here is a video message from Cosecha Michigan members after the State House closed their session without a quorum.
There is no sense of urgency from MLive over the most recent Enbridge oil disaster in the western part of the Great Lakes
On Tuesday, MLive posted an article with the headline, Enbridge oil pipeline spills nearly 70,000 gallons in Wisconsin.
The article states:
The 465-mile pipeline ruptured underground near Cambridge, a village 18 miles east of Madison. Line 6 is part of Enbridge’s Lakehead system. The 34-inch line moves 667,000 barrels-per-day between terminals in Superior, Wis., and Griffith, Ind.
Most of the rest of the article talks about other oil spills in Wisconsin, then shifts to talking about a pipeline that is being re-routed because of a battle with an Indigenous tribe, with the article ending by talking about Line 5 in Michigan.
There was also some mention of the Enbridge oil catastrophe over ten years ago that resulted in some 843,000 gallons of crude oil contaminating the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. GRIID monitored the news coverage of MLive when the 2010 Enbridge oil catastrophe happened in the Kalamazoo River. At the time, I wrote: After wading through the 32 stories it was clear that the bulk of the coverage on MLive was about the “leak,” political responses from Michigan, the “clean up,” and reactions from those who live on or near the river where the oil has been detected.
In August of 2010, MLive decided to run an interview with the CEO of Enbridge, which was nothing more than a fluff piece. This article was followed by a piece in October entitled, Enbridge gives tour to show most of the oil from Kalamazoo River spill has now been cleaned up.” GRIID also critiqued that article, where I wrote:
Sure the article mentions EPA requirements for the clean up, but no one from the EPA was interviewed for the story in terms of how the clean up is going. The Press writer did not speak to any of the local residents, local biologists or environmental groups as to their assessment of the short-term impact of the Enbridge caused oil spill. Instead they just took the word of the company that caused the disaster in the first place.
In the MLive article from Tuesday about the 69,000-gallon spill in Wisconsin, the only two people cited in the article was an Enbridge spokesperson, followed by someone from the Midwest Environmental Advocates.
Besides the problem of providing space to Enbridge to make claims without questioning them, the MLive article doesn’t provide a larger context for this most recent spill, such as how many oil spills/disasters Enbridge has had in its history. I looked on the Enbridge website, which does not provide this information and the most recent source I found was from the source linked here, which also include this chart on the right. According to the chart, Enbridge has had 1,276 different spills in the US and Canada between 1996 and 2014.
This is the kind of information that journalists need to provide the public whenever a new oil spill occurs, which it most certainly will. If the data that is provided in the 350.org report linked just above is accurate, then over an 18 year period Enbridge averaged 70.8 oil spills a year from 1996 to 2014. Context is vitally important and can provide the public with a greater sense of urgency around whether or not they want Enbridge pipeline running through the largest body of fresh water on the planet, the Great Lakes.
Earlier today, it was announced that the Amway families of Van Andel and DeVos will be the owners of the new soccer team that will play in the soon to be constructed soccer stadium.
MLive reported that the Van Andel and DeVos families will own the MLS NEXT Pro soccer team. The brief article features comments from Dan DeVos and David Van Andel, with some content that is recycled from previous posts.
The Crain’s Grand Rapids article was much more substantial, although it also had quotes from the billionaire Amway families. The content that was included in the Crain’s article provided more detail on the ownership structure, stating:
David Van Andel and his family will hold primary ownership of the club, with roles planned for his four sons: Jesse, Aaron, Kyle, and Christian Van Andel. Dan DeVos and his family will hold a minority stake, with his son, Cole DeVos, playing a key leadership role.
What is significantly different about the Crain’s piece and the MLive article was that Crain’s provided some context on the amount of sports teams the Amway families own.
The new soccer team will join the Grand Rapids Rise women’s volleyball team, which DeVos’ DP Fox Ventures launched in December 2022 and played its first season this year, as the region’s most recent professional sports team addition.
DeVos also serves as chairman of RDV Sports, which owns the NBA’s Orlando Magic, the NBA G League’s Lakeland Magic and the Orlando Solar Bears minor league hockey team.
DP Fox will assist with the process of forming the team, but the club will eventually need its own group to manage its operations in the future, according to the founders.
The rest of the coverage is fairly standard, with GR Mayor Bliss expressing their excitement about the new soccer team, along with more quotes from the Amway billionaire families.
What this means for Grand Rapids
First, as GRIID has been stating all along, especially when it was announced that Dan DeVos had purchased the Big Boy restaurant property in 2022, we all should have known that that the Amway families would own the soccer team.
Second, it means that when the billionaire families of DeVos and Van Andel want something done in Grand Rapids, they pretty much get to do whatever they want. Grand Action 2.0 was founded by the DeVos and Van Andel families, with the specific goal of getting the City, County and State governments to spend over a billion dollars of public money to build the Van Andel Arena, the Convention Center, the Downtown Market, the Amphitheater and now the Soccer Stadium. This also includes the apartment complexes that will be adjacent to the Amphitheater and the Soccer stadium with hundreds of millions in public funding and the new “3 towers project” on Fulton and Market, with at least $565 million in tax incentives.
Third, of course the ultimate goal of the DeVos and Van Andel families is to expand their wealth. By owning another sports team, they will get to hold the City and County hostage in the future, when the time comes to expand the soccer stadium or use more land for parking, etc. The DeVos family owns most of the hotels in downtown GR, so when people come to watch a game and don’t want to drive home, or because they are from out of town, the chances are high that they will stay in a DeVos-owned hotel.
Fourth, In Dave Zirin’s book, Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love, he discusses how wealthy sports team owners are constantly manipulating municipal governments and city residents to get them to provide massive subsidies for the construction of sports venues, like arena’s and stadiums. Zirin mentions how the DeVos family squeezed taxpayers in Orlando, when they wanted a new arena for their Orlando Magic basketball team. Zirin writes: “And he’s (DeVos) is getting $1 billion in taxpayers’ money to build the arena. That sends a bad message. Indeed. At its core, the DeVos model could be characterized as theft of public funds that turns teams and arenas into slush funds for radical right politics.”
Fifth, with the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium construction projects will come a parking nightmare for those who live on the near westside of Grand Rapids. In addition, all of this construction between Fulton on the south and Bridge St. on the north, will likely result in an ongoing gentrification of the near westside. Low income and working class families will not be tolerated, since they have little to offer to the billionaire families and their network of other members of the Capitalist Class.
Sixth, all of this new development, which is primarily predicated on the expansion of wealth for the DeVos, Van Andel and other members of the Capitalist Class will also result in further justification of expanding the GRPD. People with deep pockets will always use cops to protect their wealth, which is what the GR Chamber was arguing with their push to get the city to deal with the “unhoused problem” in downtown GR in 2022. In addition, the GRPD also recognizes that more development where people are coming in large numbers to spend money will result in the “need” for more cops. GRIID reported on a WOODTV8 story where a GRPD Captain stated: “We want to expand our numbers in the next couple years quite a bit. So I would say in the next couple of years — without speaking for the city commission, they’d have to approve it — but we would like to be in that 330 or 340 range. There’s a lot going on downtown with the amphitheater coming in, the soccer stadium. There’s excitement with the river transformation. There is a lot of great restaurants and nightlife down here.”
A great deal more could be said about the announcement that the Van Andel and DeVos families will own the professional soccer team, but the six reasons I provided are plenty to chew upon for now. What the DeVos and Van Andel families are doing with owning sports teams is also comparable to the bread & circuses environment that was crafted during the Roman Empire. Distract the public with entertainment long enough and they will forget about how they are being constantly robbed by those who run this city. Just another example of West Michigan Nice!
“My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party. I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right.” Betsy DeVos
The election in Michigan ended with the Republicans regaining control of the State House in Lansing. The Democrats had won a trifecta after the 2022 election, but that will end beginning next year, as the GOP will now control the State House.
In response to the Republicans winning back the Michigan State House, Dick DeVos has shared his thoughts on the outcome of the election and what it means on his website dickdevos.com.
In a post from November 11th, Dick DeVos wrote an article entitled, Republican House majority means good things for Michigan. What I want to do is provide a little deconstruction of the article and correct some of the misinformation in the DeVos’ post.
One of the most glaring things about the post from Dick DeVos is that he never provides any sources or verification of the claims he makes. For instance, in the 2nd paragraph of the article, DeVos writes about what the Democratic-controlled State Legislation has done:
They’ve weakened small businesses, driven jobs and population out of the state, and made our neighborhoods less safe. They stripped workers’ rights by repealing Right-to-Work, raised taxes on Michigan families and small businesses amid record inflation, passed California-style energy mandates that increased costs while reducing reliability, handed billions to big corporations, and removed accountability and transparency in our schools, which rewarded their friends in the teacher’s union but hurt our kids.
Those with economic and political power rarely feel the need to substantiate claims they make, since this is one of the perks of being rich and powerful. The point about stripping workers’ rights by repealing the Right-to-Work policy is worth saying something about. If this policy was so anti-worker, then why did 10,000 workers show up to the State Capitol in 2012 to protest against the Right-to-Work policy that Governor Snyder put in place? In addition, it should be mentioned that Dick DeVos and his friends with the West Michigan Policy Forum were the main organization that pushed a Right-to-Work policy for Michigan beginning in 2010, when they brought in Rick Berman to speak at their annual policy conference. Lastly, it is worth noting that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy think tank was also working to craft a Right-to-Work policy for Michigan and one of their main funders has been the DeVos family.
Later in the article DeVos writes:
My family has called Michigan home our entire lives. We chose the state to build businesses, invest in our community, create jobs and raise our own families — and we want it to succeed.
First off, states to not succeed or fail, people do. There is no such things as a Michigan economy. There are only economies that are made up of people or entities like businesses. What Dick DeVos really means by wanting Michigan to succeed is that he wants to perpetuate Capitalism and economic policies that promote Capitalism. Capitalism has been very good to people like the DeVos family, which has tons of investments, owns multiple businesses and benefits from publicly funded projects in Grand Rapids. Second, while it is true that Michigan is the home base of the DeVos family, they own houses in other states, specifically in Florida, and have for decades.
Later in the article DeVos says he talked with Republicans who are, “nurses, business owners, law enforcement professionals and long-time community leaders.” This is not exactly a diverse list of people who live in Michigan, plus it is unlikely that Dick DeVos comes in contact with many working class residents from Michigan.
Near the end of the article, DeVos then makes this statement, “Electing a Republican majority in the state House is just the first step in getting Michigan back on track.” What Dick failed to mention is that his family was collectively the single largest contributor to the Republican Party and Republican candidates in the 2024 election, which GRIID documented on November 3rd. In fact, if you can look at how much money Dick DeVos personally contributed to Republican candidates in Michigan in 2024 ($296,175.50) at this link.
Lastly, I want to point out that this is not a partisan issue for me. I have not been very happy with what the Democratic Party has done in the past two years in Michigan, despite having control of the Governor’s office and the State House & Senate. In November of 2022, I wrote a three part series entitled, What Kind of Change Do We really want to see in Michigan, but most of what I included in those articles have not come to fruition.
Editors note: The source of the Betsy DeVos quote at the beginning of this article comes from a 2017 article in Politico. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/betsy-dick-devos-family-amway-michigan-politics-religion-214631/
Rep. Scholten votes for an $895 billion US military budget, to suppress the death toll in Gaza, and to codify an anti-LGBTQ policy all at the same time
On Wednesday, December 11th, the House passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 281 to 140, with 81 Democrats and nearly all Republicans voting yes.
Rep. Hillary Scholten was one of those 81 Democrats who voted with the Republicans to provide $895 billion for military spending in 2025. This US military spending bill is the largest in US history and demonstrates once again that when it comes to massive spending on the US military it has bi-partisan support.
Rep. Scholten once again proved to her constituents that she unconditionally supports the US military and makes sure that US military funding priorities are more important that meeting the needs of the millions of people in the US who don’t have adequate health care, safe housing, or a livable wage.
Rep. Scholten has made it a point to brag about the fact that she has brought $2.9 Million back to West Michigan for a variety of projects. What Rep. Scholten does not talk about, nor does she post this on her Facebook page, is the fact that the amount of federal taxes that have left the 3rd Congressional district, specifically for the US military, is $1.82 Billion.
Now, according to the National Priorities Project, the $1.82 Billion that leaves the 3rd Congressional District for US military spending could provide incredible resources to people in Rep. Scholten’s district if she valued their needs over military spending. For example, $1.8 Billion could be used for:
- 256,312 Public Housing Units for 1 Year, or
- 31,873 Scholarships for University Students for 4 Years, or
- 657,002 Children Receiving Low-Income Healthcare for 1 Year, or
- 5.96 million Households with Solar Electricity for 1 Year
In addition to making sure that US military spending is a priority, Rep. Scholten also voted for some additional provisions that were in the National Defense Authorization Act. One of those provisions, according to a recent article on The Intercepted, “would bar the Pentagon from publicly citing as “authoritative” casualty data from the Gaza Health Ministry, effectively concealing the full extent of the death toll in Gaza in the military’s public communications. The data from Palestinian authorities has been the only consistent and reliable count of the death toll out of Gaza over the last 14 months, with Israel consistently denying human rights workers access to the enclave and preventing foreign media journalists from entering.” This fits with Rep. Scholten’s unconditional support for Israel, especially in the past 14 months while Israel has been committing a genocide against the Palestinians.
A second provision that Rep. Scholten voted for would prohibit transgender children on military health insurance from receiving gender-affirming care. This provision was included by the Republican Party, which would codify explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ policy into federal law for the first time in decades.
In the end, Rep. Hillary Scholten decided to vote for the largest US military budget in history at $895 Billion, voted to prevent the Pentagon from citing casualty data from the Gaza Health Ministry, and to codify into federal law that US military personnel could not use health benefits for gender-affirming care for their transgender children. With her vote Rep, Scholten demonstrates that she fully supports US imperialism, wants to suppress information about Israel’s genocide, and her support for anti-trans policies.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of December 15th
It has been 14 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 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
The Tectonic Shift: The Gaza Genocide and the Limits of Israeli Hasbara
TRUMP’S PRO-ISRAEL DREAM TEAM: PATEL NOMINATION CAPS HAWKISH CABINET
Gaza Ministry Says 50 Killed in a Day as Israel Bombs Flour Line, Hospital, and Refugee Camps
Trump genuflects to Genocide Joe, pushes “hell” for Gaza
Trauma and Terror in the North of Gaza
Doctors in Gaza Say They Have No Doubt Israel Is Targeting Them
Genuine Solidarity Is Not Conditional: Gaza and Unity Around Palestine
Israel Is Also Waging an Economic War Against Palestinians
Analysis & History
A new report from B’Tselem, Unleashed: Abuse of Palestinians by Israeli Soldiers in the Center of Hebron
Image used in this post is from the B’Tselem Report.
New Report ranks Michigan amongst the worst in the country for utility performance
Do you ever wonder about the costs your utilities, especially gas and electric? Does your power go out regularly, especially during severe weather? Also, does it take a long time for you to get power back once you lost it?
These are all important questions, since most of us do not generate our own power and we rely on companies like Consumers Energy and DTE.
In a new report from Citizen’s Utility Board, Michigan ranks as one of the worst states in the country around utility performance. The 2024 edition of CUB’s annual Utility Performance Report is out now, and once again it uses federal data on key metrics for gas and electric utilities to compare the performance of Michigan utilities to those in all other states in the three categories of reliability, affordability and environmental impacts.
One major finding from the report is:
A recurring theme across different versions of this report, reinforced by the latest data, is that Michigan utilities have continually failed to improve their basic reliability performance, a weakness that is likely to be magnified during severe weather, which experts expect will be more common as the climate continues to warm.
Other important findings on Michigan utilities are:
- Average time to restore power following an outage: 49th (and last in the Midwest) Duration of outages per customer: 43rd (and last in the Midwest)
- Energy Expenditures per Household as % of Median Income: 38th (and last in the Midwest)
- Cost of Electricity in the Residential Sector: 41st (and last in the Midwest)
- Clean Generation as % of Total Generation: 34th
- CO2 Emissions Intensity (kilograms per megawatt-hour of electricity generated): 36th
To read the full report, go here.
Another excellent resource for people is The Electric Utility Toolkit: An Activist’s Guide to Changing the Power Grid, a resource developed by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Another way to take action is by joining the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition by heading to the Michigan Public Service Commission hearing on December 19th, 2024. MEJC staff and community members will be driving up together in one bus to attend the MPSC meeting, leave a comment and hand out energy democracy goodie bags! Please meet at the MEJC office, 2701 Bagley St, by 11:00am. We’ll head to Lansing and be at 7109 W. Saginaw Highway, Lansing, Michigan, 4891. We should be back at the office no later than 4:00pm. Lunch will be provided! You can register here.
Lastly, if you are interested in working on utility justice matters here in Grand Rapids, then contact the Urban Core Collective, specifically their Climate Justice team, which does work on utility costs and utility performance issues locally and at the state level. Contact the Climate Justice team members at this link.
Over $1 Billion in public money for recent projects and the Convention Arena Authority wants the public to pay for another hotel
Last Friday, MLive posted a story with the headline, Push for publicly financed convention hotel back under consideration in Grand Rapids.
On the heels of providing $565 million in tax incentives to the billionaire families of DeVos and Van Andel, this just seems like a slap in the public’s face. And of course they have been talking about it for some time, but always without the public being made aware of or consulted if they want their tax dollars to go towards the expansion of the convention center, plus another hotel for convention attendees.
Then there is the fact that the Convention Arena Authority (CAA) has already hired a consultant to tell them that they are “turning away a lot of business” because of a lack of space.
Rick Winn was also quoted in the saying, “We need to expand the (convention) center. We need to stay competitive.” At least the MLive reporter acknowledged that Winn, who is the chair of the CAA, but is also the president of Grand Rapids-based AHC Hospitality, which manages the Amway Grand Plaza, JW Marriott and other downtown hotels. The MLive reporter did fail to say that AHC Hospitality is owned by the DeVos family.
The estimated cost of the Convention Center hotel is estimated to be $282 million. However, the article provides no estimate for how much public funding would cover of the total cost.
I went back and looked at some of the more high profiled downtown Grand Rapids projects in recent years to see how much the public is funding and here is what I came up with:
- At least $100 million in public money for the Amphitheater.
- $318 Million for the 2 apartment buildings that will be next to the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium
- $100 million for Soccer Stadium
- $565 million in tax incentives/subsidies for the DeVos/Vandel 3 towers project on Fulton and Market.
This means that the total of just these projects comes to $1,083,000,000. This means that the public has provided over $1 Billion in funding for projects just in the last few years.
One question we should all be asking ourselves is, what has been, or will be, the public benefit of over $1 Billion in these publicly funded projects? How many jobs will be created that pay a living wage to people? And I’m not talking about construction jobs, since those are over once these projects are completed. Some might argue that we will attend concerts and soccer games. But how affordable will they be to the working class people who are already struggling to make ends meet? We know that the CAA just signed a 25 year contract with Live Nation to books shows at the amphitheater, despite the fact that Live Nation charges extremely high ticket fees because of the near monopoly ownership of Ticketmaster.
Another argument is that all of these venues will attract more tourists, which brings more money into the city. Well, how about we think about that for a second. Yes, tourists spend their money when they visit GR, but a large portion of what they spend is on hotels, parking, entertainment venues, restaurants and bars. Sure, the owners of those businesses will benefit, but most of those businesses are already doing well and they don’t tend to pay people a living wage. Tourist driven economics is simply another variation of trickle down economics and we all know that is essentially a lie. Trickle down economics is a lie, especially when you include the fact that over $1 Billion of public dollars will be going to cover the cost of just a few projects, which is not trickle up economics, but a river flow up to the business class that is already filthy rich.
At this point we really need to pay attention to any committee meetings that might happen, where they are discussing the expansion of the Convention Center and we need to pressure our City and County officials to make sure they are transparent and alerting the public when this matter is being discussed. If we are going to resist more public funding for projects that will benefit the Capitalist Class, then we need to be in the know and we need to be organized with clear demands. One of the demands should be, when are the City and the County going to commit to using $1 Billion for housing or other basic needs in this community.
Doug DeVos exposes his class privilege in video talking about “How to Help Everyone Thrive and Prosper”
In August, I wrote about the group called Thrive and Prosper, where I said the group is a concrete manifestation of West Michigan Nice. I went on to say:
Therefore, the label of West Michigan Nice could aptly be given to the recently created group known as Thrive and Prosper. Yes, Thrive and Prosper. Sounds like a get rich quick scheme or a cult or just simply the logical outcome of how Grand Rapids deals with everything.
More recently, in a conversation I was having with a local religious leader, they were saying that Thrive and Prosper was essentially a DeVos front group. This sentiment was confirmed when I had looked at Doug DeVos’ podcast page called I Believe. On the page it was promoting a mini-series of videos from the, “Believe in Our City” event that was organized by Thrive and Prosper in the summer.
There are a total of 7 episodes, with numerous speakers, but the 3rd episode features Doug DeVos speaking about, “How to Help Everyone Thrive and Prosper.”
The video with Doug DeVos is about 22 minutes long, which you can watch here, but I will provide you with some highlights so you don’t have to sift through the bullshit.
One theme that DeVos spoke about was what he called the Abundance mentality. For DeVos, abundance mentality means that we don’t have to stop something from happening when looking at what else is happening that is problematic.He said that just because there are problems in some parts of the city, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t build up other parts of the city.
Of course this is hypocritical, since the DeVos family has primarily been about building up the downtown area of Grand Rapids, while other parts of the city are neglected. Doug DeVos has spent millions in the Boston Square neighborhood and then set up the AmplifyGR project to impose the DeVos family values on an entire neighborhood, which GRIID has written about since AmplifyGR went public in 2017.
DeVos then went on to talk about how as a city we are often unsettled. The Amway CEO explained what he meant by be unsettled, stating, “We saw that in our own community, about 4 years ago. We saw that here, very unsettled. We started experiencing some of the mob, some of the rioting and some of the lawlessness that don’t really comport with a civil society.”
These comments from DeVos clearly demonstrate his class privilege, since what happened with the uprising in 2020 was rooted not only in how the police murder and repress Black communities, but how there is deep seated structural injustice and exploitation that people like DeVos are removed from and responsible for. The DeVos family is the best example of the growing wealth gap in Grand Rapids, where a small number of people are benefiting from the labor and suffering of the majority of the population.
Doug DeVos further demonstrated his class privilege by saying of the 2020 uprising in Grand Rapids, “Certainly protests are fine, but peaceful.” It is instructive how those with political and economic power are always preaching that our outrage and our frustration with systemic oppression is only legitimate when it is peaceful. The irony of this is that when those with private power or the state use force against those protesting, it is always necessary and reasonable. Violence that flows down from the top is legitimate, but when violence flows from the bottom of society it is always condemned.
The billionaire DeVos continued to reflect on how you deal with being unsettled, by sharing a story from the 1990s. DeVos talked about the Plaza Towers, which were not constructed well and was deeply problematic. He said there were two options, tear it down or rebuild. Jay Van Andel was at a meeting where the fate of the Plaza Towers were being discussed where he said, “we don’t blow things up, we build things up.” DeVos was using this story to say when there is a problem, you don’t blow up the institution or throw it away, you reform it and work from within. Sage advice from billionaires.
Another theme that DeVos wanted to stress was the need to come up with a vision. In this case, the Amway executive talked about downtown Grand Rapids, turning it around took vision, a vision that was nurtured by Grand Action. Of course Doug DeVos would say this, since his family has been the primary beneficiaries of the downtown development projects.
There were also references to the Amway business model, but through a top down view, nothing remotely honest about the Amway business model being a pyramid scheme.
Amway business model, independent business owners – pyramid scheme, it’s your vision.
There were other fluffy statement and glittering generalities, but Doug DeVos then wrapped up his comments by asking, “What are you going to do? That is your homework? What are you going to make it better in this city?”
Such sentiment is of course code for – how can you build wealth and then expand your wealth over a lifetime? Once you have begun to build wealth, use some of that money to buy politicians who will push public policies that benefit the Capitalist Class while hurting everyone else. The next step is to start a foundation and give a small amount of your wealth to promote individual responsibility and assist people who are struggling because of the economic and political policies that you benefit from. Your charity wins you PR points and shields you from being scrutinized for helping to create the social and economic problems to begin with.
This is just one of the videos from the Thrive and Prosper gathering in the summer of 2024. GRIID will deconstruct others in the coming weeks.
Cosecha Michigan begins a hunger strike, while Democrats fail to keep promises and the Michigan Freedom Fund practices xenophobia
Earlier today, Movimiento Cosecha Michigan held a Press Conference in Lansing to announce the kick-off of a hunger strike at the Capitol. The Press Release reads:
Undocumented Michiganders need access to driver’s licenses now. Movimiento Cosecha Michigan has been leading direct actions to demand that state legislators pass the Licenses for All bills without further delay.
On Tuesday, December 10th, Movimiento Cosecha Michigan members and supporters will begin a HUNGER STRIKE until the Michigan Legislature approves the Drive S.A.F.E. bills.
Governor Whitmer and Democratic leadership have publicly expressed their support for these bills. However, their continued inaction in moving these bills out of committee and bringing them to a vote highlights why many Michiganders distrust the Democratic Party’s leadership.
Movimiento Cosecha Michigan will hold a press conference on the steps of the Capitol to announce the hunger strike and introduce the individuals who are putting their health and well-being on the line for justice. Undocumented Michiganders deserve the right to drive without fear, and it is time for elected officials to deliver on their promises
The Press Conference just happened, which you can watch here. As of right now, members of Movimiento Cosecha Michigan will be engaging in a hunger strike until the Democratic Party controlled State Legislature decides to pass the Drive S.A.F.E. bills. The Michigan Democrats have been promising for several years to pass the Drive S.A.F.E. bills, but after they lose control of the State Legislature in January, they will not be able to keep that promise, which is why Movimiento Cosecha Michigan wants them to pass these bills NOW!
Unfortunately, there are also organizations that are actively opposing the Drive S.A.F.E. bills, groups that are in no way allies to the immigrant community.
One example of a group opposing driver’s licenses for undocumented people is the DeVos-created, DeVos-funded organization known as the Michigan Freedom Fund. The Michigan Freedom Fund is essentially a GOP front group, which not only opposes undocumented people from having driver’s licenses, they have been using racist, xenophobic and anti-immigrant language in action alerts they are sending out to people telling them to not vote for the Drive S.A.F.E. bills. On the right is an action alert that the Michigan Freedom Fund has been sending out, where they specifically use xenophobic language, referring to undocumented immigrants as “illegal.”
Movimiento Cosecha Michigan needs your support to get the Drive S.A.F.E. bills passed. Contact you State Representative and State Senator immediately by going to this link to find out more details about the Drive S.A.F.E. bills and to find your State Representative and State Senator.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 