On Monday, for President’s Day, WXMI 17 ran a story with the headline, “Gerald Ford is the only president from Michigan. Here’s why he has a unique place in US history.”
The channel 17 story ran a disclaimer early on in the story saying that the all of the information cited in their story was from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. Therefore, it is no surprise that the content that WXMI 17 used in their story was 100% positive about the Gerald R. Ford.
In addition, Rep. Hillary Scholten posted on her Facebook page for February 19, “Today has extra special meaning here in West Michigan as we get ready to celebrate the 50th anniversary of President Ford. Looking forward to celebrating together this summer!”
The “celebration” that Rep. Scholten is referring to will be on August 8, 2024, which will be the 50th anniversary of when Ford was sworn in as President of the United States. I think it is reasonable to ask, what exactly are we celebrating? Is it a celebration just because Ford became President 50 years ago, only as a result of the Watergate scandal that forced Nixon to resign? Is it because one month after Ford became President that he pardoned Nixon for the crimes he committed? Maybe we should ask the people of Vietnam, Cambodia, Chile, Cuba, Argentina or East Timor whether or not they will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ford becoming President.
What follows is what I wrote about Gerald R. Ford in my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids. You could also watch a shortened version of this history in the following video we produced about Gerald R. Ford’s legacy in 2011.
When Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency on August 9, 1974 due to his involvement in the Watergate break-in and the ensuing impeachment hearings, Grand Rapids’ very own Vice President Gerald R. Ford moved into the White House as President of the United States. Ford died in 2006 and the Grand Rapids Based media reported on his passing with nothing but platitudes about Ford.
Probably the biggest reference being made about Ford at his death and ever since he occupied the oval office was that he “healed the nation.” Not surprisingly, this is the title of Ford’s memoirs. But what exactly does that mean when pundits and politicians say he healed the nation? It means that Ford pardoned Nixon, which is to say that he did not seek an indictment of Nixon for illegal activities during what is now known as the Watergate scandal. The Ford Museum literature says that by pardoning Nixon, Ford helped restore confidence in the office of the presidency. Is this the reality or was it a way to sidestep any serious investigation of the illegal practices of the Nixon administration, which ultimately would lead people to see the very nature of the US Imperial Project?
When Nixon’s crimes are mentioned, what most people think of was the wiretapping of the Democrats before the election. What is usually omitted from the official record are Nixon’s war crimes in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This is what “official historians” mean when they say Ford healed the nation, that the American public was protected from the ugly realities of US foreign policy. Well, what are we being protected from? Looking at the brief history of the Ford administration might help us to answer that question.
Ford became Nixon’s Vice President in October of 1973 and was sworn in as President in August of 1974. He served as President until Carter took the oval office in January of 1977. Ford supported the repressive government in the Philippines in its counterinsurgency war against rebels. During the coup in Argentina in 1976, Ford supported the generals who took power and slaughtered thousands of dissidents. Under Ford the US provided millions of dollars in military aid to the right-wing movement in Angola known as UNITA. He negotiated military bases in Spain with the fascist dictator Franco. Ford maintained the illegal terror war and embargo against Cuba and was President during the final days of the US occupation of South Vietnam. But probably the foreign policy that best defines Ford was his support of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.
Much has been written about what took place in the meeting between Ford, Henry Kissinger, and Indonesian President Suharto on December 5th and 6th in 1975, but it wasn’t until December of 2001 when the National Security Archives finally obtained declassified documentation of what took place. What we now know is that Ford and Kissinger not only knew of the Indonesian plans to invade East Timor, but that they offered diplomatic and military support for the invasion, which became a multi-year and bloody genocidal campaign.
This is the history that is omitted from much of the media and the academic elite in this country. Ford himself did much to limit government transparency during his presidency. With revelations of US abuses abroad through the CIA, Ford attempted to pre-empt any serious investigation by creating his own committee headed up by Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. This did not set well with some members of Congress and an official investigation was headed up by Senator Frank Church. The Church Committee, as it became known, discovered that the US had been engaged in illegal activities such as assassinations and attempted assassinations of foreign heads of state. In his book Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA, National Security Archives staffer John Prados reveals that Ford tried to block the Church Committee hearings and then attempted to get members of Congress to not support the findings. 7 In 1974, Congress amended the Freedom of Information Act over Ford’s veto. “The new provisions took effect February 19, 1975 and obliged the Executive branch to disclose information of importance to public debate on national security issues,” according to Graeme Mount, author of the book 895 Days That Changed the World: The Presidency of Gerald Ford.
So, it seems that despite the efforts of some to investigate and challenge US foreign policy practices before and during Ford’s administration, Grand Rapids’ “First Son” tried to prevent the public from knowing what the US government was doing in its name. Not only is this important information on the role that Ford played as President, it continues to be crucial since most US Presidents since, have engaged in illegal wars abroad.
Is Kent County going to have its own Ottawa Impact moment – Part I
In January of 2023, people first became aware of the group known as Ottawa Impact. Ottawa Impact, was formed in early 2022, by Republicans in Ottawa County to shift the politics in that county further to the right.
GRIID ran two articles in one week – January 4 and January 11 – which not only pointed out how the commercial news media had completed failed to report on the group Ottawa Impact, but we also provided some analysis of the contract that all political candidates signed with Ottawa Impact.
In 2024, there is a possibility that what happened in Ottawa County might be repeated here in Kent County. There is a group of Republicans in Kent County known as the Kent Contract Coalition. Their website is pretty clear cut, although lacking in content. Like the group Ottawa Impact, the Kent Contract Coalition has a list of candidates that have signed the contract agreement, which you can find here.
The contract consists of the some of the following policy commitments:
- Defending the 2nd Amendment and adopting a Constitutional Carry resolution.
- Anti-Public Education, Anti-Trans and Anti-CRT.
- Removing Kent County from the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, the Michigan Public Health Institute membership, and end the promotion of Planned Parenthood.
There are a few other contract talking points, but they are vague or promote notions of government transparency and accountability. This seems rather odd, since the Ottawa Impact made the same commitment, but have not really practiced accountability and transparency.
The Kent Contract has been signed by 14 GOP candidates for Kent County Commission seats, some are incumbents and some are hoping to become elected. The page has hyperlinks to their websites and/or FB pages, which I provide below. However, many of the pages didn’t work, had already been gobbled up by another entity or were questionable to open – at least that is what by MacBook told me.
Mark Jordan District #1
- votemarkjordan.com
- Site doesn’t work
Tom Antor District #2
- CommissionerAntor
- Content not available
Mark Laws District #3
- https://www.votemarklaws.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083727080640
- Both links work
Katie DeBoer District #4
- https://katie4kent.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/katie4kent
- Both links work
Stefanie Boone District #5
- booneforkent5.com
- https://www.facebook.com/xeus.boone
- Campaign page warns that connection isn’t secure
Stan Ponstein District 7
- https://www.stanponstein.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063712706170
- Both links work
Matt Kallman District #9
- http://www.mattkallman.com/
- Link works, but has very little content – also not secure
Bill Hirsch District #10
- electbillhirsch.com
- Expired site
AJ Hoff District #11
- ajhoff4kent.com
- Expired link
Nick Prill District #13
- nick4kent.com
- https://www.facebook.com/nick.prill
- Failed to open
Jerri Schmidt District #14
- jerrischmidtforkentcounty.com
- Site Not Found
Josie Kornev District #18
- josieforkent.com
- https://www.facebook.com/josie.kornev
- Website can’t be reached
Jeremiah Bannister District #19
- https://www.facebook.com/jeremiah.bannister
- Doesn’t have a campaign site
Wally Bujak District #21
- votewalterbujak.com
- Campaign page doesn’t work
So, you can see that this group doesn’t appear to be terribly organized, since many of their campaign sites don’t exist or are not secure. However, this shouldn’t be the only criteria we use to assess what this group is and what they are up to.
In Part II, I want to present some ideas on how to combat the ideology and the electoral strategy of the Kent Contract Coalition.
President’s Day should be renamed War Criminal’s Day
President’s Day is one of the officially recognized holidays in the US. Most local, state and the federal government have the day off, as do mail carriers. I’m glad that mail carries get another paid day off.
Companies love President’s Day, since they get to run sales and demonstrate how patriotic they are, even if they do sell sweatshop clothing made in Vietnam. However, the larger problem with President’s Day is that it prevents us from having any serious examination of those who have sat in the White House, especially the policies they enacted.
Some people might think that the titled of this post is a bit over the top. I get it, we were all subjected to the US education system, where critical thinking, even at the university level is not really a priority. However, I believe there is plenty of evidence to show that every US President has committed War Crimes, in some for or another.
First, look at the history of Indigenous Nations in the US, where the US stole their land, murdered many of their people, forcibly relocated Native communities, violated virtually every treaty they signed and forcibly removed thousands of Indigenous children and put them in what are euphemistically called Boarding Schools.
Second, think of all the US Presidents that been complicit in chattel slavery, Jim Crow policies, the so-called Drug War and Mass Incarceration. See Margaret Kimberly’s book, Prejudential: Black Americans and the Presidents.
Third, look at how many times the US military, the CIA and other US agencies have directly intervened in countries abroad – always in the name of democracy – but ended up occupying those countries, building US Military bases, providing military weaponry, military training or propped up dictatorships. See Zoltan Grossman’s excellent chronological history of US Interventions from 1890 to the present. https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/interventions/
Just investigating each of these points should make any reasonable person question the very idea of celebrating President’s Day.
Lastly, it is important that we do our own investigations of this history. I think reading Howard Zinn’s book, A Preople’s History of the United States, is important, along with books by James Loewen such as:
Lies My Teacher Told Me
Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong
MLive article doesn’t challenge the unelected, anti-democratic DDA Board, who also makes decisions on how millions in tax dollars are spent
Last week Wednesday, MLive posted an article with the following headline, Riverfront amphitheater gets $20.5M commitment from Grand Rapids board.
The Grand Rapids board the headline was referring to is the Downtown Development Authority, the DDA. The MLive article states:
On Wednesday, the DDA approved a resolution to cover annual debt payments over a 20-year period on $20.5 million the city of Grand Rapids wants to borrow to help finance the venue at 201 Market Ave. SW.
The majority of the MLive story follows the usual pro-development line of thinking, with no critical assessment of what all of this means. The article does acknowledge that at least $45 million in public funding has been made available for the amphitheater project, but fails to mention that the public had no say in such matters.
If you look at the DDA agenda for the February 14th meeting (which you can find here), you can read for yourself what was included in the agenda packet for that meeting.
Before discussing more of the details from the February 14th meeting, it is worth noting that the DDA Board is made up of mostly corporate representatives, 2 government representatives and a representative from the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, although that person operates within the framework of the Grand Rapids Power Structure. Two of the corporate DDA Board members are DeVos family operatives – Richard Winn and Greg McNeilly.
In addition, the DDA Board is by appointment so they are not an elected body, thus they are only answerable to Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and Grand Rapids City officials.
In looking at the DDA Agenda for February 14th, one can see on page 7, that their current assets are roughly $32.5 million, money that is mostly generated from taxing entities within the official DDA boundaries. And speaking of the DDA boundary, there was a very useful map in the agenda packet (page 43), which shows the ever expanding boundaries of the DDA, which began in 1980 in the area shown on the map as area A, to 2024, with 18 areas, from A through R. It’s too bad that the MLive article didn’t include this map, as it is extremely useful for the public, since it provides a good visual of how much land/property the DDA controls. Again, it cannot be said too often, that the taxes generated from the DDA-controlled area are spent by an unelected body that primarily represents the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
Also included in the DDA agenda packet for February 14th (from pages 86 – 95) is a Memorandum of Understanding regarding the DDA’s plan to pay off the bond that the City of Grand Rapids will incur for the Amphitheater.
It’s too bad that MLive does not provide more details on these so-called private/public partnership projects. Not only do they not provide more details, they don’t even provide the necessary hyperlinks to make it easy for people to do their own investigations. More importantly, as part of the local commercially controlled media landscape, MLive fails the public by not questioning or challenging the undemocratic nature of the DDA and how this unelected body gets to decide how public tax dollars are spent.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of February 15
It has become clear that the Israeli government will continue their assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated, 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
CNN’s Israel Bias Has Been Laid Bare. But CNN Is The Norm, Not The Exception
Ilan Pappé: PA Is Not Relevant, Israeli Attack on Rafah Is Imminent
Fears of mass expulsion as Netanyahu orders plan for Rafah assault
IDF Storms Largest Hospital in Southern Gaza and Attacks ‘Ward Full of Patients’
The Unrepentant West Embraces Israeli Genocide in Gaza
Israel engineers “deep pockets of starvation” across Gaza
Analysis & History
NOWHERE LEFT TO GO IN GAZA AS ISRAEL’S GROUND ASSAULT ON RAFAH LOOMS
The Chris Hedges Report with Dr. Ahmed Alhussaina, vice president of Israa University in Gaza, on Israel’s demolition of every university, along with hundreds of schools and cultural centers, in Gaza.
Local Events and Actions
Not My President’s Day Rally/March
Friday, February 16
2 – 6:30 PM
Lansing State Capitol – 100 N. Capitol Ave
Campaign to pressure the Grand Rapids Catholic Bishop to call for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and and end to US military Aid to Israel.
For upcoming events/action also check the FB page for Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids.
MLive article on DeVos family property donation completely omits the real motives of the most powerful family in West Michigan
The headline from a February 14 article on MLive reads, DeVos family donates land eyed for Grand Rapids soccer stadium.
The MLive article states that Dan and Pamela DeVos donated the property to the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority (DDA) with the intent that that land might be used as part of the land that will be necessary to construct a soccer stadium in Grand Rapids.
The only source cited in this article was DeVos family spokesperson Nick Wasmiller. One of the quotes from Wasmiller states:
“This donation is the next step in advancing exploration of such a use. Having the location be the potential home for a downtown soccer stadium is exciting, and Dan and Pamella are eager to see the results of future due diligence determining if such a vision can become a reality.”
There are several things that the MLive article omitted, which I believe most people would find useful, such as:
The Downtown Development Authority, which received the property donation from the DeVos family, has a 9 member Board of Directors. Of those 9, two are direct DeVos family operatives – Richard Winn, the DDA Board Chair, who is with ACH Hospitality, a chain of hotels that the DeVos family owns; and Greg McNeilly, with the Windquest Group, which is run by Dick and Betsy DeVos.
The MLive article quotes the DeVos family spokesperson as saying, “Dan and Pamella DeVos acquired this property because they believed it held tremendous potential for a future community use benefitting West Michigan residents, employees and visitors.” However, they failed to mentioned that the property in question was purchased in the fall of 2022, at the exact same time that Grand Action 2.0 first began to propose a soccer stadium for Grand Rapids.
It is mentioned that there are public and private partners involved in the soccer stadium proposal, like the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority, but the MLive article also omits the fact that the DeVos family has an operative who sits on that Board. Richard Winn, the President of ACH Hospitality, a DeVos-owned hotel consortium. Notice that Richard Winn sits on the board of the DDA and the Grand Rapids-Kent County Convention/Arena Authority. Winn, like most DeVos family operatives are on these committees or serve as Board of Directors, not only so they can influence outcomes, but because these development projects will assist the DeVos family to increase their profits and the wealth. More people coming to the downtown for a soccer match or the amphitheater, will be more likely to spend the night in one of the DeVos hotels in downtown GR.
The last major omission in the MLive article, has to do with the fact that the donated property from Dan DeVos to the DDA, will make it easier for him to own the soccer team that the new soccer stadium will be home to. Dan DeVos is the chairman of the NBA team, the Orlando Magic, is co-owner of the Grand Rapids Griffins and was owner of the now defunct arena football team, the Grand Rapids Rampage. I’ll wager money that Dan DeVos will be involved in the ownership of the newly former soccer team, once the city/county has given the green light to use public funds for the new soccer stadium.
In the end, it would have been more honest if MLive had made these connection or at least raised the points I have listed above. Had they done so, their headline could have read, DeVos family donates land eyed for Grand Rapids soccer stadium….NO SHIT!
Social Movements and Elections: Stop giving away your vote without demanding something in return
Elections are often the graveyard of social movements.
People who know me, know that I am deeply committed to the power of social movements. Social Movements are the primary mechanism for which to make change, both because we can pressure those in power to bend to our will, and we can create new ways of organizing that doesn’t rely on governments or other institutions that continue to betray us.
Let’s face it, electoral politics is deeply corrupt and elitist. Here is just a short list of why the US political system is corrupt:
- Those with the largest war chests often are the winners in elections.
- Candidates are often vetted by political party elites to make sure they are not too radical
- Political Parties do not want to dismantle the Electoral College, even if their members do.
- Political Parties do not support Ranked Choice Voting, even if their members do.
- The duopoly of Republicans and Democrats both despise 3rd Party candidates or the creation of Independent Political Parties.
- The GOP/DEM duopoly are equally committed to Capitalism, Militarism, Colonialism and US Global domination.
- Elected officials, while in office or while they are running for office, deceive and lie to us on a regular basis in order to win votes.
On this last point, think about how much the Biden Campaign pledged around issues like Climate Justice, but then started giving out oil and gas licenses left and right; how they claimed to fight for working people, but couldn’t even raise the federal minimum wage; that they were about racial justice and racial reconciliation, but supported increased funding for policing; how they campaign on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, but have continued many of the same border/immigration policies as Trump and have deported thousands on immigrants; how they were going to put more money into housing and other basic community needs, but have passed the largest US military budgets in US history; and how the Biden Administration is deeply complicity in Israeli war crimes and the Israeli genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.
Now for those who want to say stupid things like “we have to vote for the lesser of evils” or “choosing to not vote, is the same as voting for the GOP.” The more we continue to embrace lesser of evilism, the more we allow politicians to continue to drift to the right.
Why is it that people feel like they have no real choices, so they vote for the lesser of evils? I think a large part of the problem is that we think of voting as a process where we support the candidate we find the least offensive.
Well, what if we engaged in the voting process in a totally different way. What if we, because this is a collective strategy, what if we think about candidates as not just vying for our votes, but for our vision and our collective platform.
What if groups in Grand Rapids such as Movimiento Cosecha, Defund the GRPD, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, the Latino Community Coalition, the Comrades Collective, the Institute for Global Education, Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, Linc Up, the Urban Core Collective, neighborhood associations, labor unions, those working on Climate Justice, Housing Justice, Food Justice, Reproductive Justice, etc., would come together with their wish list of changes.
Our collective vision/platform/demands could be something like the following:
- Reduce the US military budget (currently $886 Billion) and redirect those funds for real community needs.
- Make housing a human right, invest in social housing and prevent the market from dictating the cost of housing.
- Make sure everyone made a livable wage.
- Adopt a Green New Deal
- Pass Driver’s Licenses for All policies.
- Provide Permanent Protection for all immigrants!
- Dismantle anti-trans and and anti-LGTBQ policies and practices
- Make sure that every individual and family would be able to eat healthy and nutritious food
- A Single Payer Health Care System or a Health Care System that didn’t operate within the market
- Stop the oppressive system of policing and develop real community safety policies/practices.
- Dismantle the Prison Industrial Complex.
- Make sure that the accessibility was woven into every aspect of society.
- Develop a truly sustainable mass transit system
- End Settler Colonialism and return land back to Indigenous People.
- Get rid of shitty jobs and create work that is shared, valued and benefits people and eco0systems.
- More time for leisure, play, dancing, potlucks, learning new languages, making art and making love!
Once we put together a collective platform, we present it to any and all candidates and say, “If you want us to vote for you, then you have to adopt our collective platform. We will no longer be held hostage by a corrupt and shitty electoral system that does not support a radically imaginative future that is necessary of we want to survive and thrive.”
Now, as someone who embraces the anarchism as a political practice, I don’t want to really perpetuate an electoral system that is unjust. We need to seriously rethink about how we want to govern ourselves, since the current representative democracy we have in the US doesn’t work to create collective liberation. However, it you chose to participate in the current electoral system, then stop giving away your vote without demanding something in return.
I was invited to present on A People’s History of Grand Rapids at Calvin University last night
It has been an exciting year, since I first published my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids. I have had numerous opportunities to speak about the book and about some of the history in this community, especially history that is not widely known.
I spoke at Calvin University last night, as the result of an invitation from someone in the Sociology and Social Work Department.
I talked a little bit about my own background and how I came to be interested in history from below in Grand Rapids, along with the years I have spent teaching a popular education class on the history of US Social Movements, using Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States.
I then began talking about the history of Settler Colonialism in Grand Rapids and why it is important that this is a starting point when talking about the history of this city. Settler Colonialism is the foundation of the founding of this city and you can’t really talk about the history of Grand Rapids without talking about Settler Colonialism.
I then addressed some of the history of the African America fight against Systemic White Supremacy throughout the 20th Century, including the 21st Century. People were shocked to learn about the KKK parade in Grand Rapids on July 4th, 1925 – pictured above. In additionally we talked about Institutionalized White Supremacy in Grand Rapids over the passed century, along with the Black-led resistance to it.
I also spoke briefly about the 1911 furniture workers strike, the documentation of that strike and the response from the Grand Rapids furniture barons.
However, the rest of the presentation centered on some people’s history that was specific to Calvin College/Calvin University. I talked about one of the earliest critiques of the Amway Corporation, which was written by a Calvin student in 1971, entitled Cleaning Out the Third World.
Next, I spoke about the robust anti-Vietnam War organizing that took place on the Calvin campus, by both students and faculty. According to archives of the student paper, The Chimes, Calvin students and faculty hosted numerous lectures, debates and forums on the war, with an emphasis on Christian moral responsibility. In March of 1968, forty seven Calvin Professors ran an anti-war ad in the Grand Rapids Press.
Students organizing against the war were involved in organizing Teach-Ins, rallies and informational resources for students on the draft, as is seen in the picture. In addition, students at Calvin participated in the national Moratorium Campaign against the Vietnam War, with rallies on campus and organizing buses to DC. Go to this link for all of the archival anti-Vietnam stories in The Chimes.
Lastly, I presented information on the well organized campaign by Calvin students and faculty regarding the divestment campaign against South African Apartheid. Beginning in the early 1980s, students and faculty members began investigating the issue, especially since the Christian Reformed Church was directly involved in the historical dynamics that contributed to Apartheid policies in South Africa.
One thing that made the Anti-Apartheid campaign get off the ground was the presence of Allan Boesak, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and one of the leading Anti-Apartheid activists from South Africa. Boesak not only spoke at Calvin College in 1983, he was invite to be a visiting professor.
This relationship with Boesak was important for the longevity of the Anti-Apartheid Movement on Calvin’s campus, because now students and faculty had a relationship with someone who was the target of South African government harassment. Evidence of how the Calvin community was engaged around this personal relationship with Boesak is evidenced by a letter sent and signed by dozens of Calvin faculty (pages 1 – 10), which was addressed to then South African President Botha. The letter, like so many others from that movement put pressure on the South African government to end their abuse of those involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
Coverage of the Anti-Apartheid efforts at Calvin can be found in the student newspaper, The Chimes, over a several year period. One can see that there were ongoing efforts to educate the campus community on the issues centered around South African Apartheid, but most of the coverage was about the actual campaign of divestment.
Students and faculty had begun a campaign to get Calvin College to divest from any company profiting off of racist Apartheid policies. The Student Senate had done the research looking into how much money Calvin College had invested in companies doing business in South Africa and in a letter to the college president in October of 1985, they provide a breakdown of this money. (page 13)
This well organized campaign paid off, when the finance committee of the Board of Trustees decided to divest Calvin College funds from two companies in November of 1986. The Chimes article (page 9) on this action states, According to President DeWit, “These two companies were right on the verge of the legitimate classification in the Sullivan system. It was proper, rather than to press the point, to sell them.”
It was the efforts of people at institutions such as Calvin College, using the tactic of divestment, which eventually dismantled the Apartheid policies of South Africa.
The discussion afterwards was lively and people were very animated when learning about this rich history in Grand Rapids and on the Calvin campus.
Since Sunday, there have been at least three of the four major daily commercial news outlets in Grand Rapids that have reported on the City of Rapids’ attempt to get the lawsuit from the family of Honestie Hodges against the City dismissed.
In 2017, Honestie Hodges was an 11 year old African American whom the GRPD detained and handcuffed at gunpoint, while the police were looking for a crime suspect. Honestie died several years later after she had contracted the COVID virus.
In November of 2023, the family of Honestie Hodges fired a lawyer who filed a lawsuit seeking to sue the Grand Rapids Police Department for the trauma Honestie experienced in 2017. The lawyer who filed the lawsuit was quoted in a November 2023 MLive article as saying:
“After that confrontation by officers, Honestie’s life was marred by extreme emotional and psychological distress significantly diminishing her quality of life and her ability to cope both physically and mentally.”
WXMI 17, WZZM 13 and MLive, all ran stories about the City’s response to the lawsuit over the past few days. The channel 13 story is the shortest (45 seconds), and only provides an overview of what happened in 2017 and the claims made by the lawyer hired by the Hodges family. There were no comments from the City of Grand Rapids included.
The WXMI 17 story was more substantive (2 minutes and 43 seconds), which provided an overview of the case, a summary of the lawsuit against the City of Grand Rapids, along with a response from Grand Rapids City attorneys. Here is what the City attorneys had to say:
“No one doubts that Honestie Hodges was frightened by the situation she suddenly found herself in, or that her mother Whitney Hodges was frightened for her daughter and confused by what was happening,” attorneys representing the city of Grand Rapids say. “Nonetheless, under the the totality of the circumstances as pled in the complaint, and as shown by the relevant body-worn camera footage, these defendants are entitled to dismissal as a matter of law.”
The MLive story was also fairly lengthy, with a more detailed account of what happened in 2017, along with comments from the lawyer who filed the lawsuit against the City, and comments from Grand Rapids City attorneys. Both the MLive and the WXMI 17 stories made mention of the GRPD’s Youth Interactions policy, which was developed after the GRPD detained, handcuffed and held Honestie Hodges at gunpoint. However, neither MLive, nor WXMI 17 provide a link to the GRPD’s Youth Interactions policy, plus neither of local news outlets question the legitimacy of the policy.
In 2018, GRIID reported on the so-called Youth Interactions policy of the GRPD, which included a link to the actual policy document. Here is part of what GRIID wrote about the GRPD’s Youth Interactions policy:
The Youth Interactions Policy is rather vague. It also frames the issue primarily around youth who are suspects. This notion that youth are suspects is exactly what people were so upset by in the community, both in the case of the 5 black youth held at gunpoint a year ago and the 11 year old Black girl held at gunpoint and handcuffed last December. In both of these cases, the youth were not suspects, they just happened to either fit the profile of other suspects or they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
However, most of the 2-page document deals with youth suspects. Under the section General Procedures, there are 5 points made. Only the 5th point talks about what to do if the youth in question is not a suspect and what to do with them. At this point the document includes 3 ways in which Grand Rapids Police Officers are supposed to deal with youth that are no longer determined to be suspects.
Even these operational procedures, which are to be applied if the youth in question is no longer a suspect, uses language that still views the youth and or the parents as problematic. How many families from communities of color have had difficult and unpleasant experiences with Child Protective Services? If the youth are not suspects, why should an officer be assigned to them?
According to a story on WXMI 17, the cost of the updated training curriculum that is specific to youth interaction, is costing the City of Grand Rapids $9,995.
The Youth Interaction Document doesn’t seem like it will prevent the GRPD from holding youth in Grand Rapids at gunpoint. In fact, the document provides little evidence that the GRPD will be making much of an effort to NOT further traumatize youth, particularly youth of color.
This document was crafted with input from a Task Force, made up of members of the GRPD and community members, listed here at this link from the City. However, despite some public input, the Youth Interaction Policy provides no real guarantees that the police will attempt to minimize any future harm directed at Grand Rapids youth, and more importantly, it does not address more root causes or systemic issues related to why youth would be considered suspects to begin with.
It would seem to me that the news media that apart from reporting on the lawsuit and the City’s desire to have it dismissed, that they should also be reporting on how the Youth Interaction’s policy has been used since 2018, with some analysis. Of course, this would require news agencies and reporters to commit to a more substantial investigation, rather than relying on Media Releases.
Not only did Senator Peters ignore my message about US complicity in Israeli war crimes, his response brags about US support of Israel
Yesterday, I received a response from Michigan Senator Gary Peters about the US funding of Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.
Actually, what I got back from Sen. Peters was a form letter, which completely ignored the message that I sent to him. What follows is the text of what Sen. Peters sent to me, followed by my response to the Michigan Senator’s bullshit propaganda about Israel.
Here is the message from Senator Peters:
Thank you for contacting me about the war between Israel and Hamas. I appreciate you taking the time to express your views. Hearing directly from Michiganders like you helps inform me of the issues that matter to our state. I am so grateful for your input.
As your Senator and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East. I was horrified by the vicious, coordinated terrorist attacks by Hamas on innocent Israeli citizens. I condemn this terrorism in the strongest terms. That is why I am a proud cosponsor of a resolution reaffirming Congressional support of Israel as well as a resolution calling for the safe return of all hostages. Furthermore, I joined all my Senate colleagues in passing Senator Schumer and McConnell’s resolution condemning the Hamas terrorist attack. I also voted in favor of advancing national security supplemental funding to provide critical aid to both Israel and Ukraine. In addition to security assistance, this package included emergency funding for humanitarian efforts in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine, and other conflict zones. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives has thus far failed to pass national security funding legislation and the Senate is continuing to negotiate a path forward for the emergency supplemental bill.
As this conflict continues, innocent civilians, including American citizens in Gaza, are desperately in need of lifesaving humanitarian aid. In order to support efforts to provide aid to the civilians of Gaza, I joined dozens of my fellow senators in sending a letter to Secretary Blinken calling on the administration to provide additional humanitarian support. I am deeply troubled by the allegations that twelve employees from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were involved in the October 7th terrorist attacks. The United States has paused funding in response to the allegations. The UN must hold those involved accountable and strengthen oversight of UNRWA operations in order to restore donor trust. It is imperative that the UNRWA is able to continue serving the millions of Palestinian civilians who depend on its services.
In addition to the needs of those in Gaza, Palestinian civilians abroad know returning home remains unsafe. That is why my colleagues and I sent a bicameral letter to President Biden calling on the administration to designate the Palestinian territories for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and/or authorize Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Palestinians present in the United States. In addition to supporting Israeli efforts to root out Hamas, we must do our part to protect all civilians.
Israel has the right to defend itself and its citizens from the indiscriminate violence perpetrated by Hamas. Additionally, Israel has the authority and responsibility to rescue hostages being held by Hamas. While engaged in rescue efforts, the Israeli government must make every effort to ensure innocent civilians in Gaza and the West Bank are not targeted by the Israeli military.
The current situation in Gaza is dire and I support efforts to work with the Israeli government to minimize civilian deaths and allow more aid into Gaza. As we look ahead to the future, I remain hopeful that a two-state solution can be achieved and that there is a more peaceful and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians. I have joined 49 of my Democratic colleagues in cosponsoring an amendment led by Senator Schatz that was filed on the national security supplemental package reaffirming that a two-state solution is the policy of the United States. A two-state solution remains the best option for lasting stability in the region and this amendment underscores the critical role U.S. diplomacy must continue to play. As the Senate considers policies related to Palestine and Israel, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.
In the first paragraph of Sen. Peters’ response, he basically acknowledges all of the policies and resolutions that he has supported, which also happen to be policies and resolutions that support Israel. My original message to him was to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to end US military aid to Israel and to condemn the genocidal assault on Palestinians…….all of which Senator Peters ignored.
In the second paragraph, Senator Peters says he care about humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, but then quickly used Israeli propaganda, which claims that staff from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), were involved in the Hamas attacks on October 7. Such claims are not true, since “Channel 4 reported that, despite being used by many countries to justify withdrawing aid amid horrific conditions in Gaza and risk complicity in genocide, the document actually “provides no evidence to support its explosive new claim that UNRWA staff were involved.” Equally important is the fact that if Senator Peters really was concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, then he would own the US role in creating the crisis.
In the fourth paragraph, Senator Peters continues the Israeli talking point of its right to defend itself, but doesn’t answer the question of what that has to do with the nearly 30,000 Palestinians that have been killed so far including the 12,300 Palestinian children.
In the fifth paragraph from Senator Peters he reiterates why it is so important for the US to support Israel, without providing any evidence to support such a claim. In addition, Sen. Peters makes the claim that a two-state solution is the only solution for lasting peace. First, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu does not support a two-state solution, nor do many Palestinians. One of the main reasons to not support a two-state solution has to do with the fact that it ignores the Nakba the 1948 Israeli theft of Palestinian land and it ignores decades of the Israeli occupation. In fact, many Palestinians support a one-state solution, which Israeli author/activist Jeff Halper calls the One Democratic State Campaign.
In the final analysis, Senator Peters, who has been the recipient lots of pro-Israel PAC money, completely ignores Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinians and will not support any efforts to reduced US military aid to Israel thus making the US complicit in, along with Senator Peters, Israeli war crimes.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 