Once again the Biden Administration gets bipartisan support for a massive US Military Budget
Last weekend President Biden signed off on the FY2025 spending bill, which totaled $1.2 Trillion dollars.
Michigan Senator Gary Peters released a Media Statement on March 25th about all the money he secured for Michigan in the FY2025 spending bill. What is instructive about the statement from Sen. Peters is the fact that not only is military funding listed first, but there are more military relating funding items than any of the other categories – education, environment, economy, health care, child care or government efficiency.
The statement from Senator Peters’ office with the emphasis on military funding for Michigan is a microcosm of the $1.2 Trillion FY2025 budget. According to the National Priorities Project, 69% of the FY2025 budget will fund the military, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs, while a meager 31% goes to fund everything else. Just remember what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had to say about the US budget priorities in his famous Beyond Vietnam speech, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
The total US military spending in the FY2025 budget can be broken down to:
- $850 billion for the Pentagon
- $34 billion for nuclear weapons
- $11.6 billion in international military aid (so far)
- $62 billion in non-emergency funding for the Department of Homeland Security, including $9.3 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and $17 billion for Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- $113 billion for Veterans’ Affairs Medical Programs.
The 31% that is left over is being divided up between education, environmental, public assistance, medicaid/medicare, transportation and all the other non-lethal programs. What this means is that militarism is prioritized over things like funding public education, the massive housing crisis in the US, the climate crisis, the health care crisis and other social issues that the majority of Americans are facing.
Both Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow voted to use the majority of US taxpayers money for militarism then on social programs, as did Rep. Hillary Scholten and the majority of the Michigan members of Congress. Remember, it is never a question of there not being enough money to fund social housing, climate justice, immigration justice or public education, it all comes down to a matter of priorities. Hillary Scholten, Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters all chose militarism as their first priority over everything else.
On Tuesday, both MLive and Crain’s Grand Rapids posted stories about the additional development projects associated with the downtown Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium.
Grand Action 2.0, the development entity that is run by and serves the interests of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, will be pitching their new development projects at the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority meeting on Wednesday, March 27. I want to look at the Agenda Packet for that meeting, but first I want to look at how both MLive and Crain’s Grand Rapids reported on the Grand Action 2.0 announcement.
The MLive article is headlined, High-rise towers would bring 735 apartments to amphitheater, soccer stadium sites. The article begins by stating:
Two residential and commercial towers, containing 735 apartments, retail and parking, would be built next to Acrisure Amphitheater and the proposed Grand Rapids soccer stadium under plans being crafted by Grand Action 2.0 and the Downtown Development Authority.
The only people sited in the MLive piece is someone from the City of Grand Rapids and the head of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. The article is upbeat in terms of the prospects of both apartment complexes and how they can continue to promote “economic development.” However, the article never talks to residents in the area about the impact it may have during the construction time and the having 735 new apartments in that area.
The Crain’s Grand Rapids story’s headline is, Skyline-changing mixed-use projects envisioned with Grand Rapids amphitheater, soccer stadium. Their article is shorter than the MLive piece, partly because no one is cited in the article. The Crain’s piece is also framed as positive news, with no concerns reflected in the story.
MLive kept referring to a new city memo about these new development projects, but they never source where the memo can be found. I suspect that the “memo” the article refers to is simply part of the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority meeting for March 27, linked here, beginning on page 47.
Grand Action 2.0 submitted information about these new development projects to the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, simply because they are hoping to benefit from the Transformational Brownfield Program, which will increase the amount of tax that can be recaptured and reimbursed to developers. Remember, the developers are connected to the Grand Rapids Power Structure and will benefit financially from the tax reimbursements.
Then there is the issue of what the cost of these 735 apartments will be. The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Agenda Packet does mention that a certain percentage of the apartments will be set aside as more “affordable”, even though Grand Action 2.0 never really defines affordable, nor does it list what these proposed apartments will actually cost. It is important to remember that the term affordable is purposely vague and it is dictated by those who are part of the Capitalist Class, not the masses of people who make up the working class.
It is important to note that this is the first time that people who live in Grand Rapids, specifically people who live near the Soccer Stadium – the near westside residents, and the people who live just south of the Amphitheater – those in the Grandville Avenue corridor and the Black Hills neighborhood – are just now hearing about these new development projects.
Those with economic and political power will always inform people only after they have spent months, even years developing a plan before they go public. This means the public only gets to give input at certain city meetings, which are ultimately irrelevant, since those with economic and political power have already met with and discussed their plans with Grand Rapids City officials. This process is called the Capitalist Class two step, where they don’t inform the public, but they use public money for privately owned projects, thus increasing their wealth and conning us into believing they do this so we have more entertainment options. In ancient Rome they simply called this, Bread and Circuses.
Medicare Advantage Exposed
Editor’s Note: This article was written by Jack Prince, a retired teacher who lives in Grand Rapids.
Medicare Advantage is neither Medicare or an advantage! It is not a social program but rather a private insurance plan making billions of dollars for private insurers. Medicare Advantage (MA) is a scam covered and disguised by a deceptive moniker devised and perpetuated by conservative corporate cohorts with George W. Bush. Bush knew he had to hide his maneuver to privatize Medicare so he used the same trusted name Medicare coined in 1965 for socialized care with the added descriptor Advantage for private insurance! That sleight of hand was sufficient in convincing millions that Medicare Advantage is just medicare improved! When in actuality it is private insurance with the bill paid by medicare in an incredible fashion unknown by most Americans. Once a person is enrolled in an Advantage plan it’s difficult to undo and if they remain for over a year they are not able to return to regular Medicare with a Medigap plan at all.
Once trapped here are some of the disadvantages to MA:
1.Unlike Medicare doctors must get approval from the insurer before being able to treat their MA patients.
2. The private plan many times has inadequate networks of doctors, hospitals and essential facilities. This stands in severe contrast to actual Medicare where nearly all doctors and hospitals are available to patients without referral
3. When a patient knowingly or accidently sees a doctor or or goes to a hospital out of network they will pay thousands of extra dollars out of their pockets.
4.Even worse the private plans have networks that typically only cover the patient ‘s home area meaning doctors and hospitals including centers of excellence outside of the patient’s home area are out of network.
5.People enrolled in MA are not allowed to buy supplemental coverage to reduce out of pocket expenses, unlike original Medicare enrollees. That can mean additional payments as much as 7000 to 8000 dollars per year.
6. MA consistently has been known to refuse claims payments for a plethora of reasons. 7. The excessive cost to taxpayers because of the overpayments by the government to a private program that costs 6 -7% more to operate than traditional Medicare. (Stop the Medicare Advantage Scam before Medicare is dead Medium 8/5/22 Taxpayers Cost)
Then President George W. Bush with willing congressional Republicans and fellow neoliberal Democrats created the MA racket in 2003.Since that time it’s estimated that over a trillion dollars of taxpayer money has landed needlessly in the pockets of private insurers that could have replenished the actual Medicare fund and ensured its longevity. “Just the overcharges happening now with MA are costing Americans over 140 billion a year which is more than the entire budget for the original Medicare Part B and D program. These ripoffs that no one seems to have an interest in stopping are draining the Medicare trust fund while trapping gullible seniors exposed to 24/7 MA television ads into the private program where they are often denied life-saving care! It must be remembered that real Medicare pays the claim the minute they’re presented. MA however has a person in a corporate cubicle somewhere who delineates what charges get paid. MA gets paid a calculated amount of money each year in a lump sum of tax money before any medical service is even rendered to the people enrolled in MA. Payments to MA plans boosted Medicare Spending by 7 Billion in 2019 alone and have increased measurably since then! The federal government spent 321 dollars more on each person on MA in2019 than they would have if they had been on Traditional Medicare! MA spending is expected to rise to 664 billion per year by 2029 doubling what it is presently! Imagine the federal government giving a private grocery store millions of dollars the first of January for a specific group of people to be doled out throughout the year and the private grocery can keep any money left over at the end of the year! To emulate this analogy with MA the grocery executives would send out so called concerned workers to question the hunger and eating needs of the designated group then inflate their findings to request more money from the government! Next they would reduce the quality of food for their own profit while reducing their outlets of distribution to limit consumer accessibility! Lastly they would simply refuse to give food insisting it’s not really necessary recommending gym membership and fasting. With the profits realized with such a scam the grocery would use some of their money to advertise for increased membership to the specific group using bodybuilders and famous athletes to espouse their lies! They would saturate the media i.e the Television with their great offer non stop 24/7 for months all the while knowing that the less you would eat the more they would make! I personally experienced an MA visitor for a health check in my home who then exaggerated negatively my health evaluation to increase the government’s pre-payment to MA. It is crucial to realize MAs real concern is for the profit and wellbeing of their shareholders and CEOs while Actual Medicare does not seek a financial profit for anyone!
These tactics and more are elucidated in the doctors group Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) which has recently published a shocking report on the extent of the MA ripoffs which greatly impacts individual customers and Medicare itself!
Hospitals and Doctors Refuse to honor Medicare Advantage
If you consider treatment when on MA they will consistently second guess your decision and try anything to intimidate you into paying out of pocket! They are infamous for urging people considering hip or knee replacement to only get therapy or exercise more to escape surgery. Many times they will simply refuse payment after a procedure to see if you will file a complaint against them. As a result hospitals and Dr. groups across America are beginning to refuse to take Medicare Advantage Patients. (Hospitals are dropping Medicare Advantage plans left and right, Beckers Hospital Review 12/14/23). Scripps Health based in California had cared for over 30,000 people in MA and recently notified their members that Scripps will no longer offer medical services to them unless they pay out of pocket or go back to real Medicare. Scripps made their decision because 75 million worth of services their physicians had recommended to their patients were turned down by MA! BTW Scripps provided the care and were stuck with the bill!
Likewise the Mayo Clinic has warned its customers in Arizona and Florida that they won’t be accepting Medicare Advantage anymore! ( Mayo Clinic warns it won’t Take Most Medicare Advantage Plans (Medpage Today- 10/20/2022).
Complicit Politicians
One plausible reason this National insurance fiasco is allowed to continue unchallenged is because of the amount of Politicians on the take from lucrative private insurance and systemically allowing them to shear the middle class. The Pew research center conducted a comprehensive research poll and unequivocally discovered that 70% of Americans felt the US economic system unfairly favors the economically powerful! Gandhi stated that the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest members. Many are realizing the American economic reality is just the antithesis of Gandhi’s vision. Ironically the American Public while voicing their sense of economic injustice miss corporate malfeasance and its collusion with the political parties. They have not remotely grasped the immense Elephant in the room theft by Medicare Advantage or how it works! It is pertinent to realize that over one third of congressional members hold significant health-care related financial assets while two thirds of congress members cashed Pharma campaign checks in 2020. (State news .com 6/9/21)
Advertisement Deception
A clear explanation of the exploitation can be traced directly to expensive hired Media deceptive and manipulative advertising for the misnamed MA! If you have been anywhere near a television or read newspapers and magazines you can recall a non-stop bombardment of the last few months of health insurance ads which were devised for the most part to transition Medicare members to MA. “Paid corporate marketing skews heavily toward the indoctrination of MA, which is more than twice as profitable for private insurers than any other type of coverage they offer. Incredibly 9 out of 10 TV ads that ran last fall explicitly focused on MA. (Kaiser Family Foundation 10/16/23). Reminiscent of gambling ads most of those ads featured celebrity spokespeople touting the plans supposed benefits”! ( Forbes 2/21/24).
Personal experience
As a retired educator for 30 years of service my health insurance during my career was always crucial to me especially with five children! I carefully monitored my coverage and at retirement in 2014 when I was 65 I enrolled in original Medicare and fully expected to remain there for life. By accident in 2024 in a phone conversation with the Michigan ORS I discovered that I was taken from Medicare in 2016 and placed in MA along with every state worker without any notification. I have since talked to other friends who worked at ATandT, unionized carpenters, and other private workers who experienced the same transition without any warning! The ORS, MEA, MARSP nor Democratic party were unable to explain to me why no notification was given to the state workers in this state! I met Senator Gary Peters at an Alma College football tailgate party last fall. We had friendly conversation as we are both Alma Alumni but when asked about the forced placement of retirees here in Michigan and nationwide into MA his expression changed pleading no knowledge of the situation. I asked what he thought of the privatization of any social program including Social Security, the Post Office, Public Schools or more specifically Medicare and did he recognize the conservative age long penchant to do just that. He also claimed to be unaware of the Democratic Mayor from NewYork Bill de Blasio who attempted to also switch hundreds of public workers to MA but got caught admitting he was just trying to save the city money!
New York City the Perfect Prototype
There is a stark contrast between the thousands of public workers in NewYork with those in Michigan as they experienced the same switch to MA! Amazingly the NewYorkers stormed city hall in protest, sued the city and won a ban by a New York Supreme justice to stop MA! The lack of protest here in Michigan or even cognizance to the issue is telltale and can be traced to a constipation of information not emanating from the Unions and the Democratic party which were traditional expected sources of help to workers. It is a historical fact that in July of 2023 hundreds of retired New York city workers physically stormed city hall and challenged the plan to change their health plan to MA! That secretive plan would have impacted over 250,000 municipal workers. “ A stunning move by the city with political help and corporate coaxing to change the health benefits of hundreds of thousands of retired workers has prompted them to claim they are being forced to accept an inferior and costly plan called Medicare Advantage that could bankrupt them in their golden years. ( New York CBS New York) In addition, thousands of angry emails flooded Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office such as the following: “ I am angry, I feel it is a betrayal, 30 year city worker William Shenton said! Shenton pointed out the real catalyst for the switch maintaining it was a nexus with the Mayor and city unions to save millions for both. Shenton’s wife Susan suffers from a chronic lung disease and discovered that MA would only pay for a fraction of his wife’s needed medicine. ( Irate retires inundate CBS2 with emails 10/14/21). Rose, a retired teacher’s email stated: I can no longer get the needed cancer treatment from my doctors quickly because the new MA program is requiring pre-authorization which delays my treatment by a week, if I can get it at all! It was a backroom deal in a smoky room fumed NY retiree Loraine Motola ( CBS NY).
An actual ban to Medicare Advantage
The organized protest in NY resulted in a Manhattan Supreme Court judge permanently banning the MA as a substitute insurance for NY city retirees. ( Judge permanently Bans NY City from executing Retire MA plan MMIT Network 8/17 /23). In his decision the judge Lyle Frank ordered the city “ permanently from requiring any City retirees, and their dependents from being removed from their current health plans, and from being required to enroll in any MA plan”.
Imagine an organized protest of that magnitude from NY happening here in Michigan. Would that not be an appropriate action for the MEA? Remember however that the Neoliberals in NY were able to push their privatized health initiative with the full agreement and support of the Municipal Labor Committee which consists of 102 public sector unions in NY and voted for the Medicare switch in March of 2021! The democratic party and sister unions evidently lose little sleep over any privatization!
Is Anybody Fighting?
Unfortunately there are few political leaders fighting against MA! Bravely there are a few and their actions are under-reported and obfuscated but their stance is nonetheless correct and
should be supported and espoused! A dozen U.S. senators and 3 witnesses sharply criticized MA marketing schemes and lack of coverage during a finance committee hearing in October of 23. Recently Senators Markey, Warren, and Brown joined in urging HHS and CMS to protect Seniors, and hold insurance companies accountable for abuse in MA! Senator Mark Pocan may be the most aggressive advocate for Medicare continuance as he has challenged the legality of private Insurance companies selling a private plan pretending its Medicare. Such advocacy against Medicare’s enemies is scarce and the clock is close to midnight especially when reviewing the recently released conservative Project 2025. While conservatives have always been opposed to most social programs, they have stated unequivocally in Project 2025 their intentions to make MA the default enrollment option for all 65 year old retirees! Simply put, all seniors at 65 would automatically be placed into MA. No one doubts the Trump administration would enact the components of Project 2025 if re-elected!
Anti-Social Program History
G.W. Bush was just another run -of- the- mill right wing ideologue in a line of conservative anti social program politicians dating back to 1933 when the Social Security attacks began. However he had a specific crusade his entire political career which he boasted about endlessly. His forte was to end Social Security and Medicare! When Bush left office he claimed his greatest regret was not to have privatized Social Security! He knew he had privatized Medicare with no regrets.
Ronald Regan, another member of the conservative litany changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican because of his repulsion for SS and Medicare. Republican Mike Lee vowed at a campaign rally in 2010 that he would phase out SS and Medicare and ranted he would pull them up by the roots and get rid of them. Today we have an undesirable union and bipartisan proclivity from both parties to favor wealthy corporate interests called neoliberalism. Regan ran on a Mantra of privatization and deregulation and today we see the battle lines with all remaining public institutions and social programs to supplant public with private! To fool us Bush signed an act which contained the MA scheme on December 8 2003 cleverly titled The Medicare Improvement and Modernization Act. Equally revealing he pretended to be concerned with the well-being of SS while telling his base he would end it! An example of his real Social Security appreciation manifested when he withdrew 1.37 trillion from SS to pay for his tax cuts for the rich and never repaid it!
Stand and Fight
Medicare was initiated on July 30 1965 and for 59 years has protected the health and welfare of millions of Americans. It has been estimated that just between 1999 and 2013, 300,000 American lives were saved by its existence. Life expectancy also increased by 5 years from its inception to 2018! One of the greatest social aspects of the program is that it was created for people over 65 regardless of income and medical history! The humane aspect of Medicare is its designated care for the elderly at their vulnerable age restoring personal health and dignity. It is difficult to comprehend how anyone could try to end a plan intended for the elderly and disabled offering help to those unable to afford the high cost of private coverage. We must stand against their damaging efforts to ensure the continuance of Medicare for our children and all Americans!
Image used in this article is from Health Care For All-Washington
It’s Women’s History month and one good way to celebrate it is to look back at the incredible work that women’s movements have done in Grand Rapids. This is a three part series, focusing on the women’s suffrage movement, the movement for reproductive justice, and the fight against sexual assault and objectification of women. This 3 part series is taken from my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids.
Womyn’s Action Network
In recent years there has been a rallying cry to fight “The War on Women,” in reference to national and state efforts to diminish legal protection for women around reproductive rights and rape. The organizing has mostly been inside the electoral framework of fighting legislation and supporting or opposing political candidates. While electoral politics is one strategic approach to fighting for the rights of women and non-men, it is certainly not the only one.
In the early 1990’s, four Grand Rapids women – Karen Henry, Sister Jackie Hudson, Marge Kuipers and Sue Ablao – created the Womyn’s Action Network (WAN). (Note: the spelling of “womyn” with a “y,” was one common in feminist circles at the time, to avoid the sexism in the standard spelling, which contains the word “man.” Though the founders of WAN were trans-inclusive, as time has progressed, that spelling of “womyn” is now often used by anti-trans and often white feminists who deny that trans women are women and/or who feel that including trans women invalidates the fight against patriarchy.)
From the organizational brochure: “The Womyn’s Action Network works to eliminate violence against women and oppression of women through self-empowerment and the resurrection of womyn’s voices.” WAN came together in 1992 and began their feminist work with an event that satirized media representation of women.
The First Annual Media Bash was an awards ceremony featuring both misogynistic and empowering images of women in print and broadcast, all in order to grant the Dick and Jane Awards, based on the patriarchal 1950s schoolbooks for early readers.
- The Dick awards were given out to the ads that were “the most degrading, demeaning and disgusting,”
- The Jane awards were given to “those ads that portray us in the most positive and affirming ways.”
Marge Kuipers had this to say about the Media Bash:
Especially memorable was WAN’s “Dick & Jane Awards” which took place at the temporary UICA building on Monroe Avenue. The room was packed with an enthusiastic assembly of women (along with a few men) who hooted, hollered, and hissed at the images that were projected on the screen of the advertising industry’s exploitation of women. The ‘Dick Award’ was presented to the ad the audience considered to be the worst of the worst.
Karen Henry, one of the group’s founders and an Arab-American woman, understood the importance of critically looking at representation in the media. The Media Bash was a creative way to reframe gender representation, which often normalized the sexualized objectification of women and girls.
In addition to the Media Bash, WAN organized or participated in Take Back the Night marches, challenged sexist local radio billboards (some from 94.5 WKLQ Radio), spoke on campuses, facilitated forums, and created a Women Now Forever Scholarship. The scholarship was for women attending or wanting to attend college and gave preference to women of color as well as lesbian and bisexual women.
WAN was deeply committed to confronting sexual assault. In the early 1990’s, they co-sponsored a talk by the feminist author Kay Leigh Hagan, who had just published a book entitled, Fugitive Information: Essays from a Feminist Hothead. During Hagan’s talk, she addressed how the Take Back the Night Movement was originally created in the 1970s by those who had experienced sexual assault and rape. In the early years of the Take Back the Night marches, they were designed to be public and to raise a ruckus. Often these early marches would go through parts of the community where sexual assault was committed, or in the neighborhoods of known perpetrators. Hagan made the point that as the event became national and international, these marches had become less radical, turning into candlelight vigils rather than a public denunciation of violence against women.17 (In many cities, Take Back the Night now includes all survivors of sexual assault, including trans individuals and men.)
In addition to the Take Back the Night actions, WAN sponsored the Clothesline Project locally. The Clothesline Project was both an art installation and a mechanism for sexual assault survivors to tell their story by painting on a t-shirt, with images or words. These shirts would be displayed on a clothesline to provide an opportunity to inform the public and to allow friends, family and community members the chance to honored the lived-experience of those who have been sexually assaulted. The Clothesline Project was displayed at art spaces, like 10 Weston, run by Nancy Lautenbach.
The Womyn’s Action Network was based on an inclusive and cross-issue framework. WAN members participated in:
- the annual Pride event in Grand Rapids,
- World AIDS Day,
- anti-war activities,
- community-wide anti-violence campaigns.
The organization was committed to looking at issues through a holistic race/class/gender lens, which included, according to their literature:
- challenging corporate-defined beauty,
- fighting femicide, rape, battering and harassment,
- addressing health issues like breast cancer, menopause, and menstruation.
Though WAN survived for only three years, from 1992 – 1995, they accomplished an amazing amount of work in that brief time and inspired many in Grand Rapids to find and define their voices to fight back against patriarchal systems of oppression.
Congresswoman Hillary Scholten just voted to for a bill that cements genocide as official US policy.
On Friday, 185 Democrats and 101 Republicans voted in favor of H.R. 2882, a $1.2 Trillion spending bill that is 1.012 pages long.
A total of 112 Republicans and just 22 Democrats voted against this bill, with most of the Democrats opposing the legislation being from the Progressive Caucus.
One of the main reasons why members of the Democratic Progressive Caucus voted against H.R. 2882 was because of what it included regarding the Israeli genocide being committed against the Palestinians. There were three essential aspects of H.R. 2882, which are relevant to the US support for Israel’s current genocidal campaign:
- The legislation gives Israel $3.8 billion in weapons.
- The legislation defunds UNRWA while Palestinians are starving.
- The legislation defunds a UN investigation into Israel’s violations of international law.
- The legislation sanctions the UN Human Rights Council if it highlights Israeli abuses.
According to Stephen Semler, a co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, the adoption of H.R. 2882, “cements genocide as official US policy.”
Oh, and by the way, both Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow voted for the Senate version of the $1.2 Trillion spending bill just after midnight on Friday, which was then signed by President Biden on Saturday.
Interestingly enough, in her weekly newsletter, Rep. Scholten said nothing about what was in the $1.2 trillion spending bill and only complained about Republicans did. Rep. Scholten said nothing about voting for another massive US military budget, and most importantly, she said nothing about US military aid to Israel and the other three points listed above. It seems that Rep.m Scholten is ok with the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, especially since she has been voting for it and justifying it since she went on her AIPAC-funded trip last August.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of March 24
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
What’s the real purpose of Biden’s Gaza port?
International Legal Rulings Are Helping Block Arms to Israel
Israel killed Israelis, confirms new 7 October documentary
Israel Is Still Flouting the ICJ’s Genocide Order
More Than 40 Pro-Palestine Orgs Refused to Meet With Biden in Chicago Last Week
Trade Unionists Shut Down UK Arms Factories Demanding Halt Of Arms Exports To Israel
Biden’s Sanctions on Israeli Settlers Are Just for Show
Analysis & History
“WE HAVE TO START THINKING IN TERMS OF DECOLONIZATION”
“Humanitarian Violence” in Gaza: Architect Eyal Weizman on Mapping Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign”
Local Events and Actions
See above graphic for protests in Grand Rapids.
Tell the City to pass a Move the Money resolution
Call on the Grand Rapids City Commission to follow in the footsteps of the City of Hamtramck, which passed a “Move The Money” resolution, that urges Congress and Biden to divest from war and fund our communities instead. Email the City Commission here: https://bit.ly/MoveTheMoneyGR
It’s Women’s History month and one good way to celebrate it is to look back at the incredible work that women’s movements have done in Grand Rapids. This is a three part series, focusing on the women’s suffrage movement, the movement for reproductive justice, and the fight against sexual assault and objectification of women. This 3 part series is taken from my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids.
The Reproductive Justice Movement
In the history of the United States, women and gender non-conforming people have rarely had bodily autonomy. Not until the early 1980’s did every US state finally overturn the laws that made married wives the property of their husbands.
There is one area of bodily autonomy which remains an active struggle: reproductive justice and the right to an abortion. Abortion was legal until 1873, when the federal government outlawed it. Contraceptives were outlawed at the same time, after a contingent of male doctors lobbied intensively for these changes. Like the rest of the US, in Grand Rapids, people did not have the legal right to have an abortion until the 1973 US Supreme Court decision known as Roe V. Wade made it legal.
This doesn’t mean that people were not defying the law and choosing what to do with their own bodies. For decades prior to Roe V. Wade, birthing-age people were seeking out and creating their own networks and resources to practice reproductive justice.
In Grand Rapids, many people are familiar with the Choice Fund at Fountain Street Church (FSC), which provides funds for people seeking abortions and reproductive medical care to help cover costs, transportation, and more. What is less known is that the Choice Fund had begun in the mid-1960s in a very clandestine fashion, long before Roe V. Wade made medical abortion legal.
In a 2021 interview, Dani Vilella, a long-time reproductive justice activist, shared that people working with FSC were going out of state to have abortions. This eventually prompted those who were connected to FSC to create the Choice Fund. In fact, the Choice Fund remained clandestine until the early 1990’s, primarily to avoid the wrath of the anti-abortion movement. The danger was harassment, especially from the religious branch of the anti-abortion movement that dominated West Michigan, which violently targeted clinics that were performing abortions. The money raised by the Choice Fund would go directly to the Heritage Clinic for Women, covering the costs for those who wanted to have an abortion.
Beginning in the late 1980’s, the anti-abortion attacks escalated in Grand Rapids. Operation Rescue, the anti-abortion group led by Randall Terry, came to Grand Rapids on several occasions. Protests and efforts to stop people from choosing to have an abortion were intense and often confrontational.
In response, John Nuerenberg co-founded the group Pro-Choice Advocates of Greater Grand Rapids (PCA), in part because of groups like Operation Rescue protesting at clinics in Grand Rapids. “One of our main purposes was to act as patient protectors against the Operation Rescue folks at the area women’s health clinics.”
Even if Operation Rescue had never come to Grand Rapids, literally hundreds of churches in West Michigan embrace an anti-abortion stance, some evangelical, some Christian Reformed. The Catholic Church is also heavily invested against abortion rights. Many of these churches would include information in their church bulletins about protests and other so-called “pro-life” actions happening in Grand Rapids, Lansing, or in Washington, DC, even sharing a call to action from the pulpit to target reproductive clinics and their patients.
Additionally, there are thousands of religious people in West Michigan that make regular contributions to Michigan Right to Life. Several members of the West Michigan elite have collectively contributed millions of dollars to anti-abortion groups and other “family values” organization that want to keep cisgender men in a dominant role in society, which means they do not want women and other genders to have bodily autonomy. In Russ Bellant’s book, The Religious Right in Michigan Politics, he cites the DeVos family, Peter Cook, the Prince family, the Van Andel family, and the DeWitt family all as major funders of the anti-abortion movement. Many of these same families continue to make significant financial contributions to anti-abortions groups like Right to Life.
40 Days of Choice and More
The financial and ideological support for an anti-abortion stance contributed to more serious acts of hate and violence against reproductive health patients, clinics, and health educators. Besides physically blockading the entrance of clinics, anti-abortion protestors use graffiti or douse the entrance with butyric acid, which smells like vomit and is difficult to get rid of once it is used.
Many members of the Religious Right in West Michigan have also participated in a campaign they refer to as 40 Days of Life, which started around 2008 and has continued to this day. During the Lent season, religious extremists come to a reproductive health clinic for 40 days in a row to pray, to protest, and to shame patients as they enter and exit.
As a counter, abortion defenders created 40 Days of Choice campaigns and actions over the years, primarily as a means of countering the anti-abortion forces. Defenders would show up to provide support to the patients coming to clinics, as well as acting as volunteer security to intervene if any of the anti-abortion folks attempted to harass, shame, or do bodily harm to those entering the clinic. In a 2012 interview, a 40 Days of Choice participant said that she would often witness anti-abortion protesters spitting on the women who came to the clinic. In addition, the people who owned the building right next door to the clinic were staunchly anti-abortion, so the clinic staff would have to constantly remind people to not park on their property, since they were known to be both verbally and physically abusive towards those who came to show support for the patients who came to the clinic.
With the election of Donald Trump, the overtly bigoted and misogynistic Republican presidential candidate, in 2016, those committed to defending the right to an abortion mobilized to go to Washington, DC to protest the inauguration in early 2017. The blatantly anti-feminist and anti-abortion rhetoric coming from the Trump administration reinvigorated the Reproductive Justice Movement to provide security and accompaniment at local clinics in Grand Rapids. A new wave of young people began showing up and working with the clinic to provide support to their patients, keeping anti-abortion protestors at a distance.
In May of 2020, two anti-abortion protesters were arrested at the Heritage Clinic in Grand Rapids. In an anonymous interview at the time, a clinic employee shared that some involved with the protest were the group Red Rose Rescue.
On the day of their protest, they showed up in a large group, gathering outside of the clinic. When patients exited their vehicles, they would either shout loudly at the patients or would directly approach them. They were verbally aggressive and their voices were elevated (we could hear them screaming from inside the clinic). One particular protestor, a woman named Caroline Davis, was seen and heard screaming to patients, “Repent your sins”, “You’re going to regret this every day”, and more. Many members of the group entered the building in the stairwell in an attempt to gain access to inside the clinic, but due to the safety and privacy measures we always have in place, in addition to the diligence of precautionary measures our staff took, they were not successful with entering. Patients came into the clinic visibly shook up and unhappy. Patients disclosed to us that protestors had approached their cars and physically banged on their car windows. One protestor held open the door to the clinic for a patient and told her to “have a nice day” (in a way that felt insincere and manipulative to the patient). Another patient came to her appointment in a vehicle with a business logo on the side, and a protestor called that business to inform them of where they were, violating their privacy.
Towards the end of the interview, the clinic employee shared some of the most important aspects of reproductive rights:
Many times, people hear ‘reproductive justice’ and think that it is solely a pro-choice vs. anti-choice issue. It is so much more than that, though. It is ensuring that people who want to have and raise children have the adequate means to do so, and should be able to build a family on their own terms.They should be financially prepared with a living wage, paid family leave, and unbiased employers. We need social structures that allow for anyone regardless of background to receive proper pregnancy and childbirth care. There should be easy access to free or affordable contraceptives, STD/STI/HIV testing, and safe sexual health measures, such as condoms or other birth control, PrEP medication, etc. Equal access to abortion care, regardless of reason. Comprehensive sex education in public and private schools. Freedom from sexual and domestic violence. Supporting LGBTQ parents, teen parents, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Other issues that are often overlooked or not considered to be – but are 100% interrelated with reproductive justice – include food security and access to clean water; unwavering support of gender and sexual identity/presentation; immigration justice; environmental justice; disability justice; indigenous rights; and more. We must build and sustain safe communities for EVERYONE.
It’s Women’s History month and one good way to celebrate it is to look back at the incredible work that women’s movements have done in Grand Rapids. This is a three part series, focusing on the women’s suffrage movement, the movement for reproductive justice, and the fight against sexual assault and objectification of women. This 3 part series is taken from my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids.
Just two years before Grand Rapids officially became a city, a large gathering of women held in Seneca Falls, New York. Some historians identify this, the 1848 Women’s Convention, as the beginning of the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the US, though it largely excluded Black women. But 19th century abolitionist and feminist Lucretia Mott suggested that the first women’s conference was actually 11 years before, the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women of 1837 in New York City.
The National Scene: Fighting Patriarchy while Upholding White Supremacy
21st century feminist historian and author Helen LaKelly Hunt agrees with Mott that the 1837 Anti-Slavery Convention was the real origin of the modern Women’s Rights Movement, since the early suffragists who attended were as equally committed to the end of chattel slavery, which would liberate Black women and families, as they were to white women’s liberation.
However, by 1866, in a meeting where Black freedom fighter Frederick Douglass and white feminist Susan B. Anthony argued about whether to prioritize suffrage for Black men or suffrage for white women, Anthony said, “I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman.”
Sojourner Truth gave her famous speech in 1866 in Akron, Ohio, where it’s reported she said, “I feel I have the right to have just as much as a man.” (The speech that became widely known during the Civil War by the title “Ain’t I a Woman?” was in fact a variation of the original speech. It was re-written by a white woman that portrayed Truth speaking in a stereotypical Southern dialect, though Sojourner Truth was from New York and grew up speaking Dutch as her first language.) Through the late 19th century, Black feminists Frances Harper and Anna Julia Cooper continued to fight for Black women to be included in the women’s movement. And in the 1913 suffrage parade in Washington DC, Black organizer Ida B. Wells-Barnett defied the racial segregation imposed by white feminists. Instead of walking at the back of the procession as instructed, Wells-Barnett declined to participate at all, only to jump from the crowd during the march to join her state’s white delegation, taking and holding her place between two white women.
While the national suffragist movement struggled with white supremacy, the fight in Grand Rapids, just as white in nature if not more so, had its additional challenges.
The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Grand Rapids
In 1874, there was a campaign by the Michigan State Woman Suffrage Association (MSWSA) to adopt a referendum in the Michigan legislature to allow women the right to vote. The Grand Rapids Women’s Suffrage Association (GRWSA) was founded the same year. Although some women played a role on the leadership team, the president of GRWSA was Judge Solomon L. Whitney, a white man.
A few months after their founding, the Grand Rapids Women’s Suffrage Association invited writer and women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who spoke to an audience of 1,000 people at the Pearl Street Universalist Church.
To build the movement to win women’s voting rights in Michigan, local communities and suffrage associations needed to increase their numbers. In 1880, Grand Rapids held its first Suffrage Convention, with delegates attending from across the state. Efforts like these paid off, for the state legislature granted some women the right to vote in local school board elections the very next year. Yet these rights did not yet extend to communities with larger school districts, like Grand Rapids. There, women could not vote in school elections until 1885, a big year in that more women won the right to, not only vote for school boards, but to run as candidates themselves.
The heralded 20th century arrived, yet women had still not won the right to vote in all elections. However, through persistent and continued organization, the fight against the male-dominated political landscape raged on. In 1908, at the state constitutional convention, women won the right to vote on bond measures and local taxation proposals.
In 1909, there was a major push to put women’s suffrage on the national stage, with Michigan Suffrage organizers vowing to collect 100,000 signatures from state residents. Though they did not get the 100,000 signatures they had hoped, the Michigan suffragists did secure 30,000 such designations and sent delegates to Washington, DC to participate in a parade. The march ended with a half a million signatures being presented to the US Congress.
Solidarity Tactics
In January of 1911, another attempt to win the right for women to vote was defeated in Michigan. A few months later, the Grand Rapids Furniture Strike began, with thousands of workers, mostly male, demanding better wages, better working conditions, and the right to organize.
Amid the furniture strike, perhaps in a spirit of solidarity, the Grand Rapids suffragists invited a women’s rights activist from England, Sylvia Pankhurst, who was in the US on a speaking tour. In her time in the US, Pankhurst visited with incarcerated strikers in Chicago as well as laborers in factories and workhouses, and she also witnessed the criminalization of African Americans in the South.
Pankhurst and many English suffragists did not limit themselves to so-called acceptable channels to make change. As the Grand Rapids news coverage of Pankhurst’s lecture reported, she spoke about how she and her fellow activists used direct action to force the British Parliament to face the issue of women’s suffrage. Tactics such as smashing windows at the British Parliament, fasting and hunger strikes, hounding liberals in Parliament to take a stance on suffrage, marches in the streets, and targeted arson: all were used by English suffragists to force the issue. The British suffrage movement won the right to vote in 1918, two years prior to their US counterparts. (Diane Atkinson vividly documents the tactics and strategies used by the British suffrage movement in her powerful book, Rise Up Women!)
Though the Grand Rapids-based Suffrage Movement didn’t seem to embrace the more direct-action approach, they did decide to build allies in the fight. The 1911 Grand Rapids Labor Day parade, on the heels of the furniture workers strike, involved 10,000 participants, with thousands more as spectators. Grand Rapids suffragists took notice and decided to participate in the 1912 Labor Day march.
The Equal Franchise Club had a fully decorated float in the 1912 Labor Day parade, sporting a side banner that advocated fair wages for workers: “A Square Deal.” In addition, about 40 suffragists handed out 20,000 tags to those in attendance: “Votes for Women” on one side while the banner message for fair wages occupied the second side. The Grand Rapids Herald reported, “The suffragists met with a most encouraging reception from the men.”
As the Grand Rapids suffrage movement grew in numbers, not everyone welcomed the idea that women should vote. The City Attorney and other Grand Rapids officials publicly opposed women’s suffrage, as did large sectors of men in the Grand Rapids Christian Reformed Church. In November of 1912, there was a local ballot initiative to allow women to vote in city elections, but influenced by these conservative factors, more men voted against than for.
In 1913, the active and growing suffrage movement felt a blow at the state level: the Michigan Equal Suffrage Amendment lost by less than a thousand votes. Suffragists were outraged that the vote was “stolen” from them during the referendum, according to an article in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on December 19, 1912. Following the election was a major push for vote verification, which resulted in numerous counties, including Kent County, marking a further reduction of votes for women’s suffrage.
When the US entered World War I in 1917, many women’s suffrage groups, including those in West Michigan, decided to support the war effort and take an active part, particularly to encourage people to buy war bonds. The Equal Franchise Club even sent a telegram to President Wilson asking him to grant women’s suffrage as a war measure. “To a large number of thinking women in America the granting of the franchise to women by federal amendment would be a pledge of sincerity and integrity in our great war for democracy.”
Yet some women’s suffrage groups that did not jump to aid in the US entry to WWI. The National Women’s Party came out against the war, which was met by a strong denunciation from the Grand Rapids Equal Franchise Club. The Club wrote in response to the NWP’s anti-war stance, “It is unfortunate that so much publicity is given to the tactics of the woman’s party, comprising only 5 percent of the suffragists of this country, while 95 percent of the suffragists are active in war work.”
As WWI was winding down, the fight for women’s suffrage again took center stage, with a new vote in Grand Rapids in November of 1918. This time, voters for women’s suffrage won the majority vote for city elections. At the national level, the 19th Amendment was finally ratified in 1920.
Yet the ratification of the 19th Amendment did not mean all women could vote: only white women. Along the way, the national women’s suffrage movement lost their original 1837 commitment to racial equality, replaced by an allegiance to white supremacy. The movement lost the ability to say that their work benefitted all women. This has always been a major criticism of the women’s suffrage movement in the US, which created long-standing tensions between white women and women of color who did not trust that white women would have their back in all gender justice fights.
Once again we see Grand Rapids continuing this path of development in the downtown area, projects that will attract tourists and talent, all at the expense of the thousands in this city that are struggling to survive.
In the March Downtown Development Authority (DDA) agenda packet, on page 28, there is a list of 7 projects, with the expected costs and a map of their location, shown here.
The cost for each of the projects are:
- Corewell Health Ambulatory Building – $20,000,000 investment
- Center for Transformation & Innovation – $110,000,000 investment
- Studio Park Residential Tower – $52,000,000 investment
- Wealthy & Sheldon Lofts – $17,500,000 investment
- Corewell Health Parking Structure
- Lyon Square Reconstruction – $12,000,000 investment
- GRPM River’s Edge Work – $12,000,000 investment
Total investment – $223,500,000
The Corewell Health Parking Structure is on hold – as best I can tell – which is why there is no estimated cost next to that project.
The Corewell Health Ambulatory Building is a project that will put lots of money in the coffers of Rockford Construction, which GRIID has been monitoring for the past decade, particularly their involvement in the DeVos/AmplifyGR project.
The Center for Transformation & Innovation is another Corewell project that continues to perpetuate the Medical Industrial Complex.
According to an article on MLive, the Studio Park Residential Tower will likely have, “44 studio apartments, 99 one-bedroom units and 22 two-bedroom units. Previous estimates provided to the city of Grand Rapids indicated a studio would go for $1,594, while a one-bedroom would go for $2,028. A two-bedroom unit would cost $2,870. The 24 condos in this project would start at $595,000 and up for each.
The Wealthy & Sheldon Lofts, which are on the corner of Wealthy and Division, will have 58 apartments, with retail space on the ground floor. The studio apartments would go for $1,175 a month, the one-bedroom for $1,531, and the two-bedroom for $2,817, according to another MLive article.
GRIID has previously written about the Lyon Square Reconstruction project, which is also being managed by Rockford Construction, a project that will create a pocket park along the Grand River between the Amway Grand Plaza and DeVos Place.
Lastly, the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s River’s Edge Work project will upgrade the riverfront portion of the Public Museum, along with improvements to the trails that connect the downtown GVSU campus, the Gerald R. Ford Museum, and Ah-Nab-Awen Park.
The $23,500,000 price tag for these project will see more than 50% of the funding come from the pubic sector, specifically through the State and City use of tax dollars, even though the public has had no real say in such projects, despite the claims of community engagement.
In addition, all of these projects will fulfill the goals of Grand Rapids City officials and the Grand Rapids Power Structure, which are to attract more professional talent to the area, along with making the downtown more attractive to tourists when they attend an event at the Convention Center, the arena, for ArtPrize, or the soon to be developed outdoor Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium.
It’s never a question of money, but priorities
One thing that GRIID has been pointing out over the last decade has been the inherent contradiction with the City’s willingness to support and subsidize development projects at the expense of neighborhoods, particularly low income neighborhoods where a disproportionate number of BIPOC people live. On top of that GRIID has also been shouting out the fact that the City and the Business Class can always find and use public money for these sorts of projects, while claiming there just isn’t enough funding for truly affordable housing, mass transit, combating food insecurity or for people to make a living wage (which is $25 p/h at the low end).
As always it is important to talk about what $223,500,000 could be used for, particularly to benefit the thousands of families that are struggling to survive in this city. For example, if we could imagine providing families with say a home that was valued at $150,000, which is not a lot these days, but could provide some housing security, how many homes at $150,000 could be bought and paid for from $223,500,000. The answer would be 1,490 family homes. Given the current housing crisis in Grand Rapids, wouldn’t providing paid for homes to nearly 1500 families be preferable? Besides, the Capitalists in this city can certainly afford to pay out of pocket for all these projects without using one cent of public money.
Last week, on the fourth anniversary of the police murder of Breonna Taylor, Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom used the day to exploit the memory of Breonna and those fighting to expose and abolish policing in Grand Rapids.
On Wednesday, March 13th, Chief Winstrom submitted an opinion piece in the Detroit Free Press, headlined, I’ve worked on hundreds of search warrants. No-knock warrants do more harm than good. There is a lot to unpack in Winstrom’s opinion piece, but there are a few important critiques I was to make here.
First, I think it is important to point out that Winstrom, like all cops, is using what some refer to as Copaganda, which is a form of double speak that cops use to justify their actions. While Winstrom makes the claim that no-knock warrants do more harm than good, he repeatedly provides so-called exceptions in his opinion piece. Early on in Winstrom’s piece he states:
“Now, let me be clear, search warrants are a valuable and necessary tool to help provide for public safety. Evidence of some of the most heinous crimes and arrests of the most violent criminals are often the result of the effective use of the search warrant tool. But immediate entry no-knock warrants do more harm than good and should be eliminated except in the most extreme circumstances.”
Ok, so what exactly is an extreme circumstance and who gets to make that call? We all know that cops get to make that decision, so what might be extreme to some could be normal to others. This is similar to the GRPD’s drone policy where City officials said that drones use that violated privacy or was used to monitor protests and target activists are instances of “extenuating circumstances.” City Manager Mark Washington said that drones could be used to monitor protests that aren’t permitted and are potentially interfering with roadways. Again, the GRPD gets to decide on what is extreme and what is not. Winstrom then gave several examples of where no-knock warrants are still “necessary.”
Second, Winstrom seeks to downplay the violence and traumatic realities with warrants. Chief Winstrom says:
“The GRPD has transitioned to a safer “surround and call out” tactic. In the “surround and call out” procedure, officers secure the perimeter of the dwelling subject to a search warrant, attempt to establish communication with any occupants, and provide individuals the opportunity to leave the residence prior to making entry to conduct a search.”
Having one’s residence surround by the police, who are fully armed with multiple weapons, announcing they have surrounded your residence can induce life-long trauma for people they are targeting. This assessment contradicts Winstrom’s claim that, in using their approach to warrant searches, “it can prevent trauma and violence to all involved and avoids unnecessary damage to property.” And let’s be clear, the disproportionate number of people who have the cops surround their place of residence are poor people and BIPOC people. Plus, in those circumstances where the police are outside your place of residence demanding to come in can often result in people being shot or forced entry because the police heard something or saw people moving around. I would challenge anyone who says they would not be psychologically impacted by the fact that their place of residence was surrounded by cops who will justify taking you out if THEY determine you did or said something they felt was extreme or fell under he extenuating circumstances category.
Third, the comment that Winstrom made about Breonna Taylor was nothing short of insulting. He said:
“I am reminded of just how important this policy change is given that our Grand Rapids Police Department’s headquarters sits on commemorative Breonna Taylor Way — a constant reminder of the tragic impact police decisions can have on human life and public trust in police. Today is the anniversary of Taylor’s death. The Grand Rapids native was fatally shot when officers entered her Louisville, Kentucky, home with a no-knock warrant.”
I seriously doubt that Winstrom gives a shit about Breonna Taylor, especially considering how the Louisville PD has dealt with this case from day one. There is a scathing report from the Department of Justice accusing the Louisville police of unlawfully discriminating against the city’s Black population, as well as people with behavioral health disabilities. People might also do well to watch the Democracy Now! episode with an attorney and community activist speaking on the 3rd anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s murder.
It is also instructive that Winstrom mentions that the GRPD headquarters sits on the street that has a commemorative designation of Breonna Taylor Way. The only reason there is a commemorative street designation is because activist and family members of Breonna Taylor fought to get the designation. In fact, many of the same activists involved in that effort have been harassed, abused and targeted by the GRPD since the May 2020 uprising in Grand Rapids.
Lastly, it is worth pointing out that on the 4th anniversary commemoration of Breonna Taylor in Grand Rapids, Winstrom was present, based on the media coverage. It’s bad enough that Winstrom dared to show his face at such an event, but what is even more insulting is that he used that event as an additional opportunity to promote his position on no-knock warrants. The arrogance of cops and of white people, like Chief Winstrom, to take up space at an event about a Black woman murdered by cops is disgusting. Such an event should be an opportunity to center the voices of those who have been most affected by police murders. White people, especially cops, should not only keep their mouths shut during such events, they should not attend an event that commemorates a victim of police violence.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 