The housing market in West Michigan has been unaffordable for more than a decade now, and it keeps getting worse.
Last week, WZZM 13 ran two stories which reflect the unjust and inhumane nature of the current housing market. On April 4, channel 13 aired a story about an 80 year old woman who has been living in the same apartment for the past 30 years. She was one day late with her rent and was charged an additional $225 because she was late by less than 24 hour hours. The 80 year old woman was quoted as saying, “I just, I want help. I want to know, why did they turn like this? You know, I’m a person, I’m human. And what can I do?”
Then, on April 5th, WZZM 13 ran another similar story, this time about a senior citizen couple who has seen their rent costs increase significantly. The couple is on a fixed income and doesn’t know if they will be able to afford the rent costs any longer. They were also quoted in the story saying: “If one of us should perish, the other one couldn’t stay here. We lose our pension and social security of course,” said the husband. “You wanted to retire, but now you think ‘wow, maybe we should have waited until we’re 90 or something.'”
These two stories are both heartbreaking, but they are a reflection of the larger housing market, which is unaffordable for thousands of people living in the Greater Grand Rapids area.
What is even worse is the fact that in both stories the channel 13 reporter cites rent.com as a source for rent increases, and in one of the stories WZZM 13 interviewed the Rental Property Owners Association of Kent County. The Rental Property Owners Association of Kent County spokesperson justified the increase in rental costs, because of the added costs that landlords have in repairs and supplies. In the other channel 13 story, they included the Grand Rapids Housing Commission and Housing Kent as resources. It’s too bad that the channel 13 reporter did not cite the National Low Income Housing Coalition on rent increases in Michigan, specifically because they would then know that for people living in the Grand Rapids/Wyoming area, they need to earn $25.50 an hour to afford the average cost of rent in this market.
What is unfortunate is the fact that WZZM 13 did not include as a resource or interview anyone from the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU) as a resource, especially since both stories dealt with people confronted with rent increases. Equally frustrating is the fact that WZZM 13 probably doesn’t know about GRATU and their upcoming Tenant Assembly on Saturday, April 13. You can still register for this free event by going here tinyurl.com/GRTenantPower. For more details on the event, check out Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union Facebook event, where you we find out that the purpose of the Tenant Assembly on April 13 is to build tenant power and confront exploitative landlords and property management companies.
Nearly 50 people marched yesterday in Grand Rapids to demand justice for Patrick Lyoya on the 2nd anniversary of his murder by a GRPD cop.
The Comrades Collective organized the event, just two days after the hosted a candlelight vigil for Patrick Lyoya. And just like the vigil, Patrick Lyoya’s family was there demanding justice for their son and brother.
The march began at Fish Ladder Park on the westside of the Grand River, moving north initially, then turning right to cross the river on the Sixth Street bridge. Just as the marchers began walking on the bridge, three GRPD cruisers stopped the safety car that the Comrades Collective was using. Safety cars have been standard practice for marches that take the streets for years now, in order to prevent motorists who want to hit marches with their vehicle.
The cops surrounded the safety car and immediately demanded to see his ID. Crowd Safety members quickly came to the aid of the car safety person, but were also rebuked by the GRPD with threats of arrest if they didn’t get out of the street or if they got too close to the car. After 10 minutes, the GRPD ended up giving the car safety person a ticket, but told him that he would need to leave if he didn’t want to get arrested.
The march then continued across the bridge, while the three cop cruisers left and went in the opposite direction. On the other side of the bridge, Comrades Collective members who were using bullhorns let people know what happened and then asked the marchers and Patrick Lyoya’s family if they wanted to continue in the street or on the sidewalk. Everyone said, “In the streets!”
The march was then moving south on Monroe, with a new safety car following the marchers. There was at least a dozen cars backed up behind the march, but those in the cars were moving and would only be disrupted for a couple of minutes.
Just as the march was about to go under the 196 overpass, 6 GRPD cruisers showed up and the safety car person was again stopped and targeted. This time the GRPD removed the car safety person and put them in a cop cruiser, but not before them put them in handcuffs.
Of course, this decision by the GRPD got the marchers all roused up and nearly everyone was filing the incident. Next, the GRPD decided to search the car of the safety person, the front seat, under the floor mats, followed by the back seat and then the truck of the car. The cops were going through personal belongings of the car safety person, while the marchers yelled, “what probably cause do you have to search this car?”
By then, another 6 GRPD cruisers showed up, totaling 12 cop cars, with 15 GRPD cops. In fact, the GRPD blocked off Monroe, meaning the motorists who had been behind the march were now delayed way longer than the march would have delayed them. In addition, the GRPD, instead of letting someone else take the keys and driver the car, the GRPD called for a tow truck and impounded their vehicle.
Forty minutes later, the Comrades Collective asked the Lyoya family if they still wanted to march in the streets down to the Grand Rapids Police Department. The Lyoya family said yes. So, the march continued south on Monroe and then made a left onto Breonna Taylor Way. The Comrades Collective stopped at Rosa Parks Circle to give everyone a break and a chance to get some bottled water from the cart they brought with them.
After a few minutes, the march resumed and walked up to the GRPD headquarters. As soon as the march arrived at the police station, several more GRPD cruisers showed up, with 3 cops getting out and approaching the marchers who were standing in front of the police station. One cop said, “if you remain on the sidewalk you will be fine, but if you walk in the streets again, we will arrest you.” Once they said this, they promptly left.
Members of the Comrades Collective then spoke briefly about what has happed and what has not happened in the 2 years since Patrick Lyoya was murdered by the GRPD. After consulting the Lyoya family on what to do next, Patrick’s family felt that we should probably just return to the Fish Ladder Park. Everyone agreed, since the march had accomplished what it set out to do, which was to demand justice for Patrick and disrupt business as usual in downtown Grand Rapids.
Once the marchers arrived back at the park, the Comrades Collective thanked everyone for showing up and continuing the fight for Patrick Lyoya. Patrick Lyoya’s family also communicated their gratitude to everyone who organized and participated in the march.
From there, members of the Comrades Collective went to the Kent County Jail to wait for the release of the car safety person who had been arrested earlier. Their bond had already been paid and the person who had been taken by the GRPD was released Saturday evening.
If yesterday’s action by the Comrades Collective meant anything, it certainly communicated two things to this writer. First, there is no doubt that people will continue to fight for and demand justice for Patrick Lyoya. Lastly, the GRPD once again demonstrated that they only car about maintaining order and could car less about the safety of people who were non-violently protesting the GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya. As the Comrades Collective pointed out in a statement they released for the second anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s murder, “As police abolitionists, we want far more than what the system that killed Patrick Lyoya can offer – because the system that killed him is not set up to provide justice for his family and loved ones.”
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of April 7th
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
‘Obscene’: Biden Quietly OKs More 2,000-Pound Bombs, Warplanes for Israel
Israel Has Formed a Task Force to Carry Out Covert Campaigns at US Universities
What is behind the US Army’s Gaza pier project?
US Has Redefined “Human Shields” to Enable Israel’s Slaughter of Gaza Civilians
Israeli source of “executed children” lie admits story was untrue
HOW THE GAZA WAR IS RESHAPING SOCIAL MEDIA
Complicit in Genocide: Where Israel Gets Its Weapons From
Analysis & History
“MAN-MADE HELL ON EARTH”: A CANADIAN DOCTOR ON HIS MEDICAL MISSION TO GAZA
Conversation on the Gaza Genocide with Norman Finkelstein and Chris Hedges
Israel Has a Long History of Trying to Starve Gaza
This Is About What Has to Happen to Stop This Genocide’:
Local Events and Actions
Power the Palestine: Weekly Protest in Grand Rapids
Wednesday, April 10 at noon, Monument Park
Organizers hold space for Patrick Lyoya during candlelight vigil on the 2nd anniversary of his murder
Last night, about 50 people gathered in front of the Kent County Court building to collectively grieve over the murder of Patrick Lyoya. It has been two years since a GRPD cop shot Patrick in the back of the head, while sitting on top of the Congolese immigrant.
The Comrades Collective hosted the event last night and one of the Collective members addressed the crowd. They talked about what happened to Patrick on April 4th, 2022. They also spoke about what justice for Patrick Lyoya might look like.
The speaker would often break up their talk by inserting chants, which the crowd quickly responded to. The speaker asked question of those in attendance, eliciting various responses that also motivated those who had gathered on the chilling evening in downtown Grand Rapids. There were also long pauses from the speaker, which might have made some people uncomfortable, but we all should feel uncomfortable with the fact that the GRPD can shoot someone in the back of the head without any real accountability or consequences.
The Comrades Collective then invited people to join a march they are hosting this Saturday, with details you can find on their Facebook event.
Afterwards, other people were invited to share some thoughts. Several people offered up some words of solidarity, plus Patrick Lyoya spoke through an interpreter. He said the he was delighted with the turn and expressed gratitude for those who organized the event.
Lastly, the Comrades Collective put out a statement for the event, which I’m including here below.
Comrades Collective Statement on the 2nd Anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s murder at the hands of the GRPD
As police abolitionists, we want far more than what the system that killed Patrick Lyoya can offer – because the system that killed him is not set up to provide justice for his family and loved ones.
It has been two years since GRPD cop Christopher Schurr, while sitting on top of a face down on the ground Patrick Lyoya, shot him in the back of the head. In the past two years Patrick Lyoya and his family have not received an ounce of justice.
The GRPD released Christopher Schurr has a member of the GRPD, but that was meant to pacify us. Schurr’s lawyers have been playing legal chess games to keep him from going to trial and the Kent County Prosecutor doesn’t seem to be bothered by the constant delays of the legal system.
As abolitionists, the Comrades Collective understands that Patrick Lyoya and his family haven’t received justice, because the current legal system cannot provide real justice. We are not calling for better training for the GRPD or mild reforms, we are calling for the abolition of policing in Grand Rapids.
Now, we know that abolition is a process and won’t happen over night. As we work towards abolition, we are demanding that the City of Grand Rapids end the practice of traffic stops, particularly for BIPOC individuals. Patrick’s murder wouldn’t have happened if there was no traffic stop that morning.
We want an abolition focus, with accountability to the whole system, not just for Christopher Schurr being held accountable, because it will just happen again with another officer if we don’t look at the whole picture. When Christopher Schurr shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, it was not about some character flaw in Schurr, it was because of how policing functions in this city.
We want to live in a city where everyone’s needs are met. We want community care, not cops. We demand the abolition of the GRPD because we believe that the $64 Million of taxpayer money that went to the GRPD for FY2024 could be used for real harm reduction and community care. Imagine how many lives could be uplifted if $64 Million was going to the most vulnerable in our city and not to a system that is rooted in punishment and violence.
The great abolitionist Angela Davis once said, “We have to be consistent in our analysis and not respond to violence in a way that compounds it. We need to use our radical imaginations to to come up with new structures of accountability beyond the system we are working to dismantle.”
Justice for Patrick Lyoya!
For people who were part of the Civil Rights and Black Freedom Movement between the 1950s and the 1970s, the murder of organizers was all too frequent.
White Supremacists, which were often part of the law enforcement community, were the ones responsible for the assassination of many of the leaders and organizers within the Civil Rights Movement. They took the lives of people like Medgar Evers, Bobby Hutton, Malcolm X, Fred Hampton and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is the 56th Anniversary since they took the life of Dr. King in Memphis Tennessee, while he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
Dr. King had been receiving death threats for years and he knew it was just a matter of time before they took his life. People are somewhat familiar with the death threats against Dr. King and other organizers in the South during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and later with the Freedom Rides. However, what is less known, were the threats that Dr. King received in the North, especially after he moved his operation to Chicago. Dr. King often noted that there were larger crowds and more hate-filled verbal assaults on his life in cities in the North than there were in the South.
When Dr. King was a passenger on a bus or a plan, the departure times were always delayed, because of bomb threats against him, his family and other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. It is hard to quantify the amount of stress that Dr. King had to endure. However, we do know that after Dr. King was assassinated, the medical examiner who preformed the autopsy, reported that he was surprised to see the 39-year old’s heart had the wear and tear of a 60-year old man.
In addition to the white public backlash against Dr. King, the FBI had been monitoring and threatening Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for several decades. This history of FBI surveillance is well documented in Michael Friedly and David Gallen’s book, Martin Luther King Jr.: The FBI File.
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, often referred to the Civil Rights leaders as, “that burrhead King” or “the most dangerous Negro in America.” At one point the FBI even sent Dr. King a letter, suggesting that he kill himself, as you can see in this partly redacted letter.
It is no surprise that the FBI saw Dr. King as the “most dangerous man in American,” considering his own evolution. Dr. King was referring less in his speeches about having a Dream, instead he came to the conclusion in his 1967 speech, Which Way It’s Soul Shall Go, to say: I’m sorry to have to say that the vast majority of white Americans are racists, either consciously or unconsciously.
Dr. King realized that demanding an end to racial segregation was not enough. The fiery minister came to see that racial justice was demanded, that the US should pay reparations to black Americans, that economic exploitation was a crime and that the US war in Vietnam was immoral. In fact, Dr. King had come to believe that, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today was my own government.”
What Brought Dr. King to Memphis?
One of the strongest criticisms that King had developed in the last few years of his life, was a criticism of poverty, economic exploitation and capitalism. In King’s famous speech, Beyond Vietnam, he provides his own commentary on the story of the Good Samaritan, see here on the right. Restructuring the edifice that produces beggars means we need to change the economic system.
In addition to King’s increasing critique of capitalism, King was in the midst of working on the last campaign he was organizing, the Poor People’s Campaign. Dr. King and the other organizers of this campaign were planning on using direct action in the nation’s capital, by having a tent city, where poor people from all over the country would be occupying land in Washington, DC to not only draw attention to the issue of poverty, but also to demand the promissory note that King spoke often about, which is just another way of saying reparations.
Considering Dr. King’s increased focus on economic justice and the Poor People’s Campaign, it’s no surprise that he would support the black sanitation workers in Memphis.
Michael Honey’s well research book, Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King’s Last Campaign, provides critical insight into King’s support for the striking sanitation workers. Honey provides detailed background material on the black population in Memphis and how that community was plagued by poverty and white supremacy.
The sanitation workers were paid substandard wages and were not permitted to organize a union. On top of that, the work conditions were horrid, with white supervisors constantly harassing black employees.
On top of the general climate of exploitation, the black sanitation workers were often forced to seek refuge inside the garbage trucks, just to get out of the rain. On February 1st, 1968, while some of the workers were inside the garbage truck, the compactor malfunctioned and killed Echol Cole and Robert Walker, crushing them. On February 11, 700 sanitation workers attended a meeting and decided to go on strike. A week later the NAACP passed a resolution supporting the strike, as did King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Dr. King arrived on March 18 and that same day gave a speech, where he told the crowd, “You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we are all down.” At that same speech, King not only endorsed the striking workers, he joined others in supporting a city-wide work stoppage on March 28th.
The March 28th city-wide work stoppage also included 22,000 students who boycotted going to school. These students, along with the sanitation workers and people from all over the city marched to demand justice for the dead workers, for the right to organize a union and for better wages and working conditions.
However, the march was disrupted by violence and a 16 year old was shot and killed by Memphis police. Police also followed marchers to a local church, entered the church, released tear gas inside the sanctuary, and clubbed people as they lay on the floor to get fresh air.
The next day, the Mayor of Memphis, Henry Loeb, a Democrat, called for Marshal Law and had 4,000 National Guard Troops brought in to the city.
In response, striking workers and Dr. King decided to organize another march. Dr. King came back to Memphis on April 3 and delivered what would be his last speech that evening at Bishop Charles Mason Temple.
The next day, while Dr. King, and those with him, were getting ready to go to dinner, he was shot while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
Who Killed Dr. King?
For years the US government presented conclusive information that lone gunman James Earl Ray had shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We were always led to believe that this individual racist had taken the life of Dr. King in a fit of rage over what the man had stood for.
Considering how much Dr. King, and those closest to him, were being monitored by the FBI and local law enforcement, how is it possible for a lone gunman to have shot and killed Dr. King in such a public setting as outside hi motel room? The police were constantly nearby and the motel had been checked by local police for bombs the day before his assassination. Something didn’t seem right.
Along comes William Peppers, a lawyer, who decided to look at this case in greater detail. Peppers interviewed dozens of people who were there in Memphis that day and was able to gain access to lots of documentation and reports on what local law enforcement and the National Guard were doing at the time of Dr. King’s assassination.
After years of research and investigation, William Peppers published a book in 2003 entitled, An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King. In this book, the author provides a detailed analysis, along with evidence that 1) either the government was directly involved in the assassination of Dr. King, or 2) the government turned a blind eye to what had happened on April 4, 1968.
What Pepper’s argues is that at a minimum, the US government had turned a blind eye to the assassination of Dr. King. However, what seems more plausible, is that law enforcement agencies and the National Guard had collaborated to participate in and allow the assassination of Dr. King.
How People Reacted to King’s Death?
There were demonstrations and riots all across the US in the aftermath of Dr. King’s assassination, with dozens of cities reporting that people were taking out their rage on white-owned businesses.
In Washington, DC, Stokely Carmichael and SNCC were going around the city demanding that businesses close for the day out of respect to the black community. However, the crowd of protestors grew larger by the minute and eventually people were smashing windows and taking items from stores. The National Guard was called in to suppress the uprising.
The scenario repeated itself in cities all across the country, in places like New York, Chicago, Baltimore and Detroit. Michigan Governor George Romney had called in the National Guard to stop people from protesting, much like he had done the previous July during the uprising in July of 1967 in both Detroit and Grand Rapids.
How did Grand Rapids Respond to the Death of Dr. King?
On April 5, the Grand Rapids Press put the assassination of Dr. King on the front page.
However, most of the Press coverage framed the reaction to the death of Dr. King in a negative way. The GR Press did interview people from the community to get reactions.
It states, in an article from the Grand Rapids People’s History Project:
Reggie Gatling, referred to as a black power militant, said, “Members of the black community had a meeting last night and decided we would not give out a public statement that would be reflective of feelings. We’re in mourning for Dr. King, but to say anything further would only give comfort, or possibly discomfort, to white racists.”
What is instructive about Grand Rapids, is how the White Power Structure responded. Again, we refer to the Grand Rapids People’s History Project:
It is vitally important that we continue to morn the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In addition, we must not forget this history. We must not forget that Dr. King was in Memphis to be in solidarity with sanitation workers who were striking. We must not forget that Dr. King was working on the Poor People’s Campaign, which was a direct action campaign designed to gain reparations for the black community and poor people in general. And we must not forget that the US government was spying on Dr. King, making threats against him and most likely involved with his assassination.
To honor Dr. King’s Legacy, we should practice the same kind of justice and love in our actions and campaigns today. Anything less would be dishonorable.
Grand Rapids African Diaspora Meets in Historic Event; Calls on Community to Stand Against Western Complacency in DRC Violence
Editor’s note: This post was written by Kellan Martin, who identifies as a Communist journalist.
On Saturday, March 23rd, members of the Michigan Congolese Refugee Community put on a historic event concerning the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the likes of which have not occurred in Grand Rapids for at least thirty years. The event centered around the question, which was also the event’s namesake, “What is Happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Why”? Kawiye Jumale took the role of emcee and guided in-person and virtual attendees through the informative and at times incredibly difficult conversations about issues affecting people on the ground in the DRC.
Mass displacement of families, direct targeting of women with sexual violence as a tactic of war, and wanton destruction of lives were all described as abysmal effects of an international power struggle waged on African soil. Proxy militias aided by Rwanda and Western governments such as the United States were said to be fighting for control over areas in the Kivu region of the DRC that are flush with minerals containing copper and cobalt.
Cobalt can be obtained as a by-product of large scale copper mining. Both elements are used everywhere in the world to produce high-tech products like phones and computers. The U.S. in particular has a great demand for these materials as it reportedly contains one third of the $5 trillion global IT market. The panel pointed out that due to this mad dash for minerals in the Congo, there are negative effects on the spirituality of the country, and there is no help provided for even this aspect.
West Michigan religious leaders and institutions were criticized for not doing enough to try and stop the violence. Israel Siku and Pastor Banza both stated religious entities were choosing not to express their opposition to the violence in the Congo and call for peace. “Churches will go to Ukraine but not to Congo,” said Pastor Banza. He also pointed out racial disparity in U.S. immigration practices. It is commonly known among refugees in America that Ukrainians have a much easier time going through the immigration system and becoming naturalized citizens, while it is notoriously difficult for refugees from the DRC to even be allowed in.
Questions from the audience were taken by panel members near the end of the event. When one attendee asked “What will it take for the US to help the Congo,” responses from the panel centered on the fact that the U.S. benefits from this destabilization. “The world is delighted we are suffering because it [divides Africa and] helps [foreign investment] interests,” said Didas Mbongya, who also provided interpretation services for the event.
The discussion concluded with commitments by the panel to have more events of a similar nature and to improve outreach among the community. The panel feels it is necessary for people’s consciousness to be raised towards the issues in the DRC and all of Africa, and to promote of Pan-African unity so people can see the issues in Africa affect all Africans.
Anti-Immigration hysteria in Kent County: Part II
Within the last week there has been a great deal of hysteria over the murder of Ruby Garcia, a young woman who was murdered by a man who was in a relationship with the victim. The death of Ruby Garcia is a tragedy, but her death has nothing to do with the killer’s immigration status.
In Part I, I looked at how the immigration hysteria has played out in Kent County regarding the issue of whether or not Kent County is a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. Several Republican members of the Kent County Commission, along with the Kent County Sheriff and a Kent County Administrator made it clear that this county in not a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. It is true that Kent County is ideologically opposed to undocumented immigrants and that they continue to fully cooperate with ICE in the arrest and detention of those immigrants. Today, I want to address what Michigan members of Congress are saying on this matter, specifically on the matter of the recent death of Ruby Garcia.
Knee jerk reactions from West MI members of Congress
On Friday, March 29th, MLive ran another piece with the headline, Michigan Republicans blast immigration policies after man in U.S. illegally accused of murder.
The article begins with a jingoistic comment from the Chair of the Michigan GOP Pete Hoekstra saying: “West Michigan is not going to accept the open southern border causing murders in our backyard.”
The MLive article continues with details on how the man that killed Ruby Garcia had been deported under President Trump, but then re-entered the country without documentation. The MLive reporter knowingly or unknowingly was setting up their story to provide responses by elected officials to engage in anti-immigrant rhetoric that was never challenged. The MLive piece then says, “Former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids, wrote Wednesday on social media that the federal government failed Garcia. “Ruby Garcia was shot and killed, her body dumped on the side of US-131,” wrote Meijer, who is running this fall for an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan. “The man who confessed to her murder was deported in 2020, and came back into the US illegally.”
The jingoistic trope was allowed to stand and was never challenged by the MLive reporter. During the Obama Administration 3 million undocumented immigrants were deported, while the number of deportations under the Trump Administration decreased, according to the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Annual Reports, which you can see in the graphic below.
In addition, numerous people who have been deported will often re-enter, primarily out of desperation because it is either too dangerous to remain in their country of origin or the economic conditions are so grave that they would rather risk being arrested, detained and deported again if it means they can earn money to send home to family members. In fact the majority of undocumented immigrants that come to the US work their butts off – often two jobs – doing difficult work that doesn’t pay well, so they can support their families, a point that is well documented in books like Aviva Chomsky’s, “They Take Our Jobs!”: And 20 Other Myths about Immigration.
So, the MLive reporter doesn’t question the claims of the Republicans they cited in the story, instead, they would rather just provide a response from the Democrats, thinking this balances out the reporting. The article then quotes Rep. Hillary Scholten who says:
“My heart breaks for Ruby Garcia and her family as they grapple with this unspeakable tragedy,” Scholten said. “The individual who committed this heinous crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I’m continuing to push for bipartisan immigration reform that both secures our border and makes sure that individuals who come to our country are fully vetted to keep our communities safe.”
The bipartisan immigration legislation that Rep. Scholten is referring to is the Dignity Act, which GRIID has previously critiqued. The Dignity has some positive elements to it, but it also has an emphasis on enforcement, which Scholten spoke to. She said, “Crossings have increased, but so has enforcement. Border agents do have adequate technology resources, which means more enforcement.” Rep. Scholten discussed the need to enforce the existing US immigration laws, but failed to bring up the issue of why so many people are fleeing Mexico and Central American, to come to the US.
Scholten also talked about having bipartisan support for the Dignity Act, specifically with Rep; Salas from Florida. However, the Dignity Act is not Comprehensive Immigration Reform, nor does it address more structural elements of root causes of immigration, such as the US role in supporting military and trade policies in Latin America that have destabilized most of the region, along with the fact that more and more people are being displaced and forced to flee their homelands because of Climate Change. (See Todd Miller’s excellent book, Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security.)
The MLive reporter then gives space to Rep. Huizenga, who states: “President Biden can act right now using the same executive action to improve border security that he used to open the border.” Again, this comment is not verified, even though it is completely not factual. The reality is that the primary difference between the Trump Administration’s immigration policy and the Biden Administration’s is rhetorical. In a post from last year, I methodically documented that the Biden Administration was detaining immigrant children and holding them in awful conditions, increasing funding for US Border Patrol, continuing to build the wall that Trump set out to build, along with many other policies that have been similar. Even during President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address he referred to undocumented people as illegals, which is the same rhetoric coming out of the Trump camp.
Still no independent perspectives
The rest of the MLive article then continues to support the GOP claims by discussing at length one other case where an immigrant who had been deported came back to the US again and murdered someone in Georgia, along with more details on the Ruby Garcia murder. As I said earlier, there is no real correlation between undocumented immigrants and homicides in the US. Hell, even the libertarian think tank, the Cato Institute, which was founded by the Koch brothers, recently posted a study entitled, Illegal Immigrants Have a Low Homicide Conviction Rate: Setting the Record Straight on Illegal Immigrant Crime.
This is exactly why we need to have journalism that not only verifies the claims of those with political and economic power, we need journalism that investigates critical issues like US immigration policy.
Unfortunately, the MLive article does neither of what I am suggesting, instead they finished the article by including comments from a GOP candidate who is running against Rep. Scholten in the 2024 Election. GOP candidate Michael Markey, Jr stated:
“Inaction by Joe Biden and Hillary Scholten have left another innocent American dead at the hands of an illegal immigrant,” Markey wrote Monday on social media. “Washington is failing the American people and it’s time to disrupt the status quo. Under Joe Biden, every state is a border state.”
Once again, the MLive reporter doesn’t question or verify the rhetorical claims by the GOP candidate, thus leaving the public in the dark about what the actual record is of the Biden Administration or previous US administrations on the matter of immigration policy. Equally important is the fact that rarely does mainstream commercial media ever talk about the root causes of immigrants entering through the US/Mexican border. Those root causes have been because of the longstanding US commitment to support military dictatorships in Latin America, which has cause people to flee their own countries, US initiated trade policies like NAFTA and CAFTA, which has increase poverty in Mexico and Central America, and the serious issue of Climate Change, which has displaced thousands of people, making them climate refugees. These root causes and the history of US policy are addressed in a GRIID popular education document, which is based on an 8 week course on the history of US immigration policy that I offer.
Anti-Immigration hysteria in Kent County: Part I
Within the last week there has been a great deal of hysteria over the murder of Ruby Garcia, a young woman who was murdered by a man who was in a relationship with the victim. The death of Ruby Garcia is a tragedy, but her death has nothing to do with the killer’s immigration status.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump was in Grand Rapids on Friday and he certainly used the opportunity to demonize immigrants and refer to them as predators. This anti-immigrant sentiment and jingoistic ideology that undocumented immigrants are destroying the US is not only patently absurd, it is simply not true. Numerous elected officials have weighed in on this issue, including members of Congress that represent West Michigan, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party and several Republican members of the Kent County Commission. There are essentially two separate immigration-themed issues at hand, both the death of Ruby Garcia and the recent designation of Kent County as a “sanctuary county” by a national anti-immigration organization. We’ll deal with the later in today’s post.
On Thursday, MLive ran a story with the headline, Kent County leaders deny ‘sanctuary’ claims after Mexican citizen charged with murder. This story is centered around the fact that the Center for Immigration Studies, a far right immigration think tank, gave Kent County a designation as a sanctuary county. The Center for Immigration Studies created a sanctuary cities map, which includes Kent County, with the following information shown here on the upper right, when you click on the yellow square over Kent County on the map. There is no blog post on the site that gives this designation to Kent County, so I’m not sure why the Republican members of the Kent County Commission responded to the claim.
However, the Republican members of the Kent County Commission did respond to the designation of by a sanctuary county with the following comments in the MLive article:
“As individual county commissioners, we want to set the record straight. Kent County is not a sanctuary county,” the Republican county commissioners wrote. “As the elected representatives for our respective districts, we will never support any policy that encourages illegal immigrants to make their home here.”
As someone who has directly been involved in making the area a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants since 1986, when my community house was a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, and as someone who has been working with Movimiento Cosecha, an undocumented immigrant-led movement, the GOP members of the Kent County Commission are telling the truth. The truth being, that the GOP commissioners have actively opposed any welcoming policies for undocumented immigrants since Cosecha began working on a campaign to end the County’s contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2018.
When Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE began organizing a campaign to end the ICE contract with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department, in June of 2018, they discovered immediately that the Kent County Commissioners were not interested in ending the contract. And to be clear, both the Republican and Democrats on the County Commission refused to end the ICE contract. In fact, the ICE contract with the Kent County Sheriff’s Department was ended by ICE in 2019, primarily because of all the negative attention that the campaign generated. All of this history can be read in a GRIID post from 2021, after some Democrats wanted to claim (falsely) that they ended the contract.
The MLive article did, however, provide some insight into the ongoing relationship between ICE and the Kent County Sheriff’s office, who also publicly refuted the designation of Kent County as a sanctuary city. The MLive article provides some background on the County’s policy of holding undocumented immigrants at the Kent County Jail until ICE decided what to do with them. When the Kent County Sheriff decided to end the policy to no longer honor federal immigration holds without an arrest warrant signed by a judge. This when the Center for Immigration Studies gave the county the sanctuary designation, but Kent County, as the Sheriff acknowledged, never ended their cooperation with ICE, and still hasn’t to this day. You can read the letter from the GOP Kent County Commissioners and the letter from the Kent County Sheriff’s office, both of which were included on a post by WOODTV8. What is instructive about the Kent County Sheriff’s letter, is the fact that they provided the number of people they turned over to ICE in 2023 (26) and the number they have turned over to ICE since the beginning of 2024 (10).
The irony of this story is that the far right think tank, the Center for Immigration Studies, essentially embraces the same ideological framework that the Kent County Republicans embrace, which doesn’t tolerate undocumented immigrants living in this area.
In Part II, GRIID will discuss the response to the immigration hysteria coming from members of Congress that represent West Michigan.
Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg says that the US should deal with Gaza like “we did with Hiroshima and Nagasaki”
Last week, during a town hall meeting with Congressman Tim Walberg, a Republican who represents the 5th District, he was asked about humanitarian aid to Gaza. Walberg’s response was harsh and revealed that he has any lack of understanding of US foreign policy.
“Yeah. Um — It’s Joe Biden’s the reason: We need to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. I don’t think we should, I — I don’t think any of our aid that goes to Israel to support our greatest ally, arguably maybe in the world, to defeat Hamas and Iran and Russia and probably North Korea’s in there, and China too, with them in helping — helping — uh — uh, Hamas. Um, we shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It — it should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick.”
It is worth noting that in the 2022 Election, the single largest donor to his re-election campaign was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which contributed $25,000 to Walberg. Other notable contributors, specifically the DeVos family, in the 2022 Election were:
- RDV Copr. – $23,200
- Windquest Group – $11,600
- Amway/Alticor – $7,000
- Amway Corp. – $5,800
- Dp Fox Ventures – $5,800
- Pamella Roland (wife of Doug DeVos) – $5,800
- Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation (Jerry Tubergen is the CEO of RDV Corp.) – $4,750
This means that the DeVos family and their associates, collectively contributed $39,500 to a man who thinks that the current Israeli campaign of genocide that is happening in Gaza is not enough. Walberg believes, with AIPAC and DeVos funding, that the US should deal with Gaza the same way the US dealt with Hiroshima and Nagasaki…….drop a nuclear bomb.
Not only do these words from Rep. Walberg reflect a deep disregard for human life, it demonstrates that he doesn’t care about the likely consequences of sending a nuclear weapon to annihilate Gaza. Such an action on the part of the US would likely result in nuclear war with other nuclear powers.
To watch/listen to a video of Rep. Walberg’s comments, go the this link.
Deconstructing Memes: Just because US Presidents aren’t indicted doesn’t mean they didn’t commit crimes
A meme can be an excellent way to communicate powerful messages with few words and sometimes images. At the same time, a meme can oversimplify or distort historical facts. GRIID will now regularly deconstruct memes, in part because memes continue to increase in number on social media, but also because they often engage in misinformation.
The meme I want to look at today includes a photo of former US Presidents George H.W. Bush, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The tag line for the meme states, “Five Presidents, 31 Years, Not a Single Indictment.” Clearly, the meme is meant to communicate the idea that these 5 US Presidents were never indicted for crimes, but former President Donald Trump has been.
It is true that the 5 US Presidents in the meme were never indicted, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t commit crimes or engage in morally repugnant behavior. What is criminal in the US can be misleading. For instance, if a US President decides to launch a nuclear strike it would be legal. If a US President provides weapons to a dictatorship or a country that is committing war crimes or genocide, that will also bring no indictments. Subjecting huge numbers of US residents to poverty is legal, as is mass incarceration, providing large subsidies to fossil fuel companies while the planet is warming is legal, and abusing undocumented immigrants and locking them in detention is legal. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is right.
Now, in case anyone thinks I am defending Trump, let me be clear that I consider Donald Trump to be a despicable human being and someone who engaged in policy decisions that did tremendous harm to countless people. Having said that, it is worth looking back at some of the policy decisions of the 5 US Presidents in the meme that would either be criminal under international law or caused tremendous harm to countless people. Mind you the following are just a few samples. I will do the run down in chronological order.
Jimmy Carter
- Supported the Somozan dictatorship in Nicaragua until the Sandinistas revolution in 1979
- Maintained the blockage on Cuba, which caused tremendous economic hardship
- Supported the illegal CIA activities in Angola
- Supported the brutal regime of the Shah of Iran
- Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero sent a letter to Carter demanding that he not send more weapons to El Salvador, but humanitarian aid instead. Just weeks after Romero sent that letter he was shot dead by Salvadoran soldiers who has received training at the US Army School of the Americas.
- Carter did little to respond to the beginnings of the counter-offensive against the gains of the Civil Rights and Labor movements.
George H.W. Bush
- Was complicit in the Iran/Contra Affair
- The Bush Administration continued the Reagan Administration commitment to providing $1 Million a day to El Salvador for their bloody counter-insurgency campaign that killed some 80,000 Salvadorans between 1980 and 1990.
- Invaded Panama in 1989 and used new bombs that were dropped on civilians
- Invaded Iraq under false pretenses in 1991, killed Iraqi combatants and civilians in large numbers. The US military also targeted key parts of the Iraqi infrastructure, followed by imposing brutal sanctions on Iraq.
- Bush I negotiated and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which would have devastating effects on workers and the environment.
- The Bush Administration was complicit in the financial crimes of the Savings & Loans scandal.
- Police brutality was caught on tape in the 1991 Rodney King case, which led to riots. The Bush Administration’s response to to increase funding for the police.
Bill Clinton
- Clinton maintaining the sanction on Iraq throughout the rest of the 90s, resulting in at least 500,000 Iraqi children dying. When asked about this, Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said of the 500,000 child deaths in Iraq, “We think it was worth it.”
- The US Military committed war crimes during the Kosovo war.
- Clinton gave orders for a missile strike in Sudan, blowing up a pharmaceutical plant, which denied thousands access to vital medicines.
- US military bases expanded in Colombia under the claim of fighting the War on Drugs, but it never resulted in a reduction of drug trafficking
- Clinton expanded World Bank and IMF austerity measures, which was resisted at the 1999 Battle in Seattle.
- Clinton ended welfare as we know it with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.
- Clinton signed the Crime Bill, which gave the police more power, more money and led to an explosion in the Prison Industrial Complex and mass incarceration.
George W. Bush
- 9/11 gave the US military a green light to start an invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, which lead to a 20 year occupation and thousands of Afghani and US soldier deaths.
- In March of 2003, the US invaded and occupied Iraq, leading to over 1 million Iraqi deaths on the bogus claim that Iraq had WMDs.
- The US military was involved in the ouster of Haitian President Aristide in 2004/2005 which further destabilized Haiti.
- Under Bush the US Congress adopted the Patriot Act, which criminalized public dissent, saw the interrogation and imprisonment of thousands of Arab Americans and Muslims in the US, along with increased high tech surveillance of US residents.
- Institutionalized racism was on display when President Bush failed to act quickly and provide adequate resources to people, especially Black people after hurricane Katrina. In addition, the Bush administration used this natural disaster to further privatize public resources and public schools.
- The beginning of the economic crash of 2008-2009 began under Bush because of continued deregulation of the financial sector.
Barack Obama
- The US used cruise missile in Yemen.
- The US bombed Libya, removing Qaddafi and killed civilians.
- The Obama Administration engaged in a massive drone assassination campaign against supposed terrorists, which also resulted in a large number of civilian deaths.
- The Obama Administration was complicit in the military coup in Honduras.
- The number of police killings of Black people increased dramatically during the Obama years, which led to the birth fo the Movement for Black Lives.
- The wealth gap in the US grew substantially, which led to the Occupy Wall Street movement during the Obama years.
- The Obama Administration chose to bail out Wall Street instead of bailing out main street, especially those that were conned in the housing finance scandal, which disproportionately impact Black and Brown families.
- The Obama Administration deported 3 million undocumented immigrants.
Lastly, all 5 of these US presidents provided $3 billion a year in military aid to Israel, along with diplomatic support for the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Sources used:
US Military Interventions from Wounded Knee to Yemen https://sites.evergreen.edu/zoltan/interventions/
National Security Archive https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/
Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II https://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope/
School of the Americans Watch https://soaw.org/home
In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond, by Jeremy Brecher
Obama drone assassination policy https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/the-assassination-complex/
https://www.citizen.org/article/naftas-20-year-legacy-and-the-fate-of-the-trans-pacific-partnership/
https://jacobin.com/2016/08/welfare-reform-clinton-twentieth-anniversary-poverty/
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 