Remembering the Grand Rapids Furniture Workers Strike of 1911: Lessons for contemporary organizing and resistance
This week marks the 113th anniversary of when some 6,000 furniture workers went on strike in Grand Rapids to protest working conditions, wages and the lack of an 8 hour work day.
I have been researching this historic event over the years and want to offer the following information for those who want to familiarize themselves with this history, learn from it and think about the significance of working class tactics for todays organizing efforts.
First, I highly recommend Jeffrey Kleiman’s book, Strike: How the Furniture Workers Strike of 1911 Changed Grand Rapids.
In addition, on the Grand Rapids People’s History site, I have written or republished numerous articles based on my own research over the years as it relates to the 1911 Grand Rapids Furniture workers strike.
There is a two-part article written by Michael Johnston, who is know by many as the unofficial labor historian of Grand Rapids. In Part I of his two-part series, Johnston provides important historical context, a context that led to the massive worker walkout on April 19 of 1911.
In Part II, Johnston writes about the role that the IWW (industrial Workers of the World) played in the 1911 strike and how the local power structure and even many of the other unions saw them as a threat.
I also include in this primer on the 1911 furniture workers strike, some articles about other factors that played into the outcome of the strike. First, I look at the role of religion and how Christian Reformed Church members were told not to participate in the strike, while the Catholic Bishop at the time was in full support of the striking workers.
Then there are those who documented the strike at the time. I wrote a piece that contrasted the observations of Viva Flaherty, a socialist, who provides a great reflection on what happened during the 1911 strike, and how one of the Furniture barons (R. W. Irwin) gave his opinion about what took place.
In another article I have written, I note that there were 10,000 workers marching in the Labor Day parade in 1911. Not only was this an impressive number of workers, but it was essentially about 10% of the entire population of Grand Rapids in 1911. Imagine if 10% of working class people took part in a contemporary Labor Day parade, march or direct action.
In yet another piece, I contrast the living conditions of those in the capitalist class – the Furniture Factory owners – and those who actually created the wealth for these men – the furniture workers.
Lastly, I include an article about the backlash from the 1911 furniture workers strike. The capitalist class was not happy about the 1911 strike, even though they ended up winning. However, those in power are never content with just winning certain battles, they want to prevent future attempts to challenge their power. What the Robber Baron class did was to change the City Charter, which resulted in decreasing the number of city wards to just 3 and eliminating a strong mayor position. The result of this charter change would make it harder for working class people to have real representation on the city commission and to make the mayor a glorified commissioner.
Again, it is important that we come to terms with understanding this local history, reflecting on it and think about what it means for current struggles against the power structure in Grand Rapids. How can working class people organize today? Do we need a union for those in the Non-Profit sector and is it important to create new union models that are not simply extensions of the Democratic Party, but truly independent and autonomous of systems of power, unions that actually represent the interests of working class people?
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of April 15th
It has been 6 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. We will also provide information on local events and actions that people can get involved in. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
‘Genocide Enablers’: Gaza And The Corporate Media
Israel’s killing of aid workers is no accident. It’s part of the plan to destroy Gaza
AMID GAZA WAR, COLLEGE CAMPUSES BECOME FREE SPEECH “TESTING GROUND”
Israel and US deliberately gutting international law in Gaza
Israeli Firms Are Working Overtime to Sell Stolen Palestinian Land to US Jews
Analysis & History
These Stunning Images Show Palestinian Life Before the Nakba
Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse
Local Events and Actions
Power the Palestine: Weekly Protest in Grand Rapids
Wednesday, April 17 at 6pm – 7pm, Monument Park
Graphic used in this post is from https://visualizingpalestine.org/#visuals
The world is watching genocide unfolding before its very eyes. Palestinians, aid workers and journalists are being murdered by the Israeli military, often using US weapons, and still the US Congress and the Biden Administration continue to send weapons and voted for more military aid to Israel.
Just yesterday, in a story from Aljazeera, their reporter stated, “At least 33,545 Palestinians have been killed and 76,094 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive.”
There was also a recent story about two US trauma surgeons who just came back from Gaza. They stated in a recent opinion piece they wrote, entitled, As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel’s Genocide in Gaza.
As humanitarian trauma surgeons we have both seen incredible suffering. Collectively, we were present at Ground Zero on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Boston Marathon bombing, and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti on the first day of these disasters. We have worked in the deprivation of southern Zimbabwe and the horrors of the war in Ukraine. Together we have worked on more than 40 surgical missions in developing countries on three continents in our combined 57 years of volunteering. This long experience taught us that there was no greater pain as a humanitarian surgeon than being unable to provide needed care to a patient.
But that was before coming to Gaza. Now we know the pain of being unable to treat a child who will slowly die, but also alone, because she is the only surviving member of an entire extended family. We have not had the heart to tell these children how their families died: burned until they resembled blistered hotdogs more than human beings, shredded to pieces such that they can only be buried in mass graves, or simply entombed in their former apartment buildings to die slowly of asphyxia and sepsis.
This is why I was so disgusted to see a recent post on Facebook from Rep. Hillary Scholten who engaged in a hypocritical and performative act centered around the Israeli hostages, despite the fact that she has never publicly condemned the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. Here is what she wrote:
Today, I’m wearing blue to show my support for the hostages who have been held by Hamas since the horrific attacks on October 7th. We continue to pray for their safe return and must do everything in our power to bring peace to the region.
AIPAC must really have Rep. Scholten in their pocket to get such a disgusting display out of her in the midst of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinians.
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.
Two weeks ago, we deconstructed a meme that was clearly created to make a point about the 2024 Elections and the Presidential candidates, which was rather misleading. In today’s Deconstructing memes, I want to look at a meme that makes certain claims about what is means to be an anti-fascist.
There are no images with this meme, just text, which reads:
There is no organization called “ANTIFA.” Antifa stands for anti-fascism. World War II veterans were Antifa because they fought fascism. Anyone who is against fascism in Antifa. There is no membership card. Everyone should be Antifa.
There certainly are some parts of this text that I agree with, such as the fact that antifa is not an organization, but it is often small groups of people organizing against fascism. It is also true that there is no membership card, and that anyone can be an antifascist.
The parts of this meme that are problematic and misleading are the point about “anyone who is against fascism is antifa” and “World War II veterans were Antifa because they fought fascism.”
It is important that we understand the history of the anti-fascism. There are several good books on the topic, such as Mark Bray’s Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, and Gord Hill’s, The Antifa Comic Book: 100 Years of Fascism and Antifa Movements.
First, it is important that those who first identified as antifascists, were groups in Italy, Spain and Germany that were actively resisting the growing fascist movements led by Hitler, Mussolini and Franco. Those movements had been around for more than a decade before the US entered WWII. In each of these cases, the antifascists were made up of either anarchists, socialist or communist groups, all of which opposed fascism and capitalism.
Another common element about antifascist groups have been that they engaged in direct resistance, often using force. In addition, antifascist groups wanted to replace fascism with social and economic relations that were based on cooperation instead of competition.
A third element of what makes someone an antifascist is that whenever fascism gets organized, antifascists respond. In a contemporary settling, this means that when the Proud Boys, the KKK, or other ALT Right groups come to town, antifascists will confront them and kick them out of their communities. It’s an active form of resistance, one that doesn’t allow for people to sit back and just make statements.
On the matter of World War II veterans automatically being antifascists, it is a bit of a grey area. First, those in the US military during WWII were fighting against Hitler and Mussolini because they didn’t have a choice. Those soldiers were merely following orders, not helping to plan an antifascist plan. Equally important to note is the fact that the local Italian and French antifascist groups that were able to win back their communities and cities from fascist forces, were often removed from power by British and US forces who came through after the fact. As Noam Chomsky notes in his book, Deterring Democracy, US and and British military forces actively removed the socialist, anarchist and communist movements that had defeated the fascists in Europe. Chomsky states that these antifascist forces were often replaced by fascists collaborators they had defeated, “to weaken unions and other popular organizations, and to block the threat of radical democracy and social reform.” The fascist collaborators were more inclined to embrace capitalism and the social order that came with it.
I understand the sentiment reflected in the ANTIFA meme, but apart from being too simplistic, it is also misleading and doesn’t sever the public since it doesn’t provide a more robust history or understanding o what antifascism really is.
This week, the Acton Institute posted a story by one of their contributors, Mike Cosper, who does Christian podcasts for various religious media outlets.
Cosper posted an article entitled, There Shall Be None to Make Him Afraid: American Liberty and the Jews. In my opinion the article is all over the place, where the author is trying to make connections that make no sense.
The article begins with talking about the police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, although Cosper doesn’t call it a murder and offers questionable information to justify the police murder of the 18 years old Brown. Cosper continues to make wild claims with the next paragraph, stating:
“The impact is easy to trace. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) departments were opened in academic, corporate, and government institutions. The New York Times published the 1619 Project, a Pulitzer Prize–winning work of revisionist history that reframes America’s founding myth around the institution of chattel slavery and not the personalities and ideas of the founding. A new race consciousness permeated Hollywood, reshaping unwritten criteria for casting and awards.”
Clearly, Cosper is of the persuasion that DEI practices are somehow radical and that Hollywood is to blame for much of the race-centered culture war. Of course this is nonsense, since the response to the police murder of Michael Brown was rooted in an abolitionist critique of policing which has existed for decades within the Black Freedom Struggle. DEI workshops and trainings had nothing to do with the Movement for Black Lives and the national outrage over the police murder of Black and other BIPOC people.
Cosper then makes another ridiculous claim that Black Lives Matter chapters around country “celebrated the Hamas massacre of Israelis on October 7.” It is true that the Black Freedom struggle and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle has deep roots (see article in the Nation), but to claim that the Movement for Black Lives is antisemitic is just not based in fact. I would also suggest that people read Angela Davis’ book, Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.
Ultimately, the article that Mike Cosper posted on the Acton Institute site argues that BLM activists and Kyle Rittenhouse are the result of right and left “radical binaries.” Again, an absurd comparison, where Cosper offers no meaningful articulation of his claim.
Cosper then makes another leap in his so-called analysis, to suggest that the existence of antisemitism should be how we measure the social fabric of the country. In a section subtitled, The Canaries in the Coal Mine, Cosper states: “Anti-Semitism’s reemergence here and now ought to serve as final, damning proof of the corruption of the political ideologies that have come to dominate our culture.” While I agree that antisemitism should be rejected and not tolerated in social justice movement politics, it is not the only measuring stick. Anti-Blackness, white supremacy, xenophobia, transphobia, anti-Islam and any form of collective discrimination and systemic oppression should be rejected.
Lastly, Cosper then uses George Washington as a model for rejecting antisemitism, based on some letters he wrote to Jewish communities after he became President in 1790. While I get the sentiment reflected in the letters that Copser cites, we should not forget the fact that under Washington’s presidency, chattel slavery was legal, that women were the legal property of their husbands and those who didn’t own land couldn’t vote. In fact, the only people who could vote when Washington was President were white men who owned land. In addition, Washington was part of a landed gentry system that continuously engaged in the theft of Indigenous land, which was reflected in how Washington saw Indigenous people when he said, “Indians are both beasts of prey, tho’ they differ in shape.”
If Mike Cosper thinks that George Washington is a model for how to treat people, because he wrote welcoming letters to Jewish communities, while simultaneously marginalizing Black, Indigenous, immigrant and non-christians communities, then that is a pretty fucking low bar for what liberty means.
Once again, a contributing writer to the Acton Institute displays both their ignorance and ideological bias, thus making it clear that the Acton Institute always supports the dominant narratives of the Capitalist Class within the US.
Last Thursday was the 2nd anniversary of the murder of Patrick Lyoya at the hands of the GRPD. April 4th, 2002, the GRPD had Lyoya pulled over after they ran his plates. The GRPD cop who confronted Lyoya chased him for a while then got him on the ground, where Patrick was face down, and then shot him in the back of the head, execution style.
The lawyers representing the GRPD cop who killed Patrick Lyoya have used the legal system to delay having a try, they even attempted to have the courts determine that no trial was necessary.
Over the past 2 years, GRIID has been following the case and regularly commenting on the boas that the local commercial news media has practiced concerning justice for Patrick Lyoya. Last week, I saw a very similar type of reporting from the local commercial news media, specifically on the 2nd anniversary coverage, plus the two actions that were organized by the autonomous group Comrades Collective.
2nd anniversary coverage
All four of the local daily commercial news agencies did their obligatory 2nd anniversary stories. Thew MLive story did sort of a comparison between the case of George Floyd and Patrick Lyoya, citing legal experts, the lawyers representing the cop who murdered Patrick, the lawyer representing the Lyoya family and one judge. It is important to note that Patrick’s family was not cited in the story, nor any of the numerous groups and organizations that have been fighting to demand justice for Patrick Lyoya.
The TV news coverage for the 2nd anniversary of Patrick’s murder was not much better. The WOODTV8 story provided a summary of the legal case, along with use of the body cam video from the day that Patrick was murdered. The reporter said they were going to speak with people who had been marching, but instead the story cited the lawyer representing the Lyoya family, along with Dee Jones, who has been to protests, but also commented that the City has been listening, a sentiment that most people who have been organizing on behalf of Patrick would not agree with. The 6 minute story then shifts to comments from Cle Jackson with the NAACP, who criticized the delays in the trial. In addition, WOODTV8 used a quote from Chief Winstrom about what his department has done since the murder, although the reporter doesn’t question the validity of the comment. The 2nd anniversary story ends with a preview of the candlelight vigil.
The WZZM13 story on the 2nd anniversary was much shorter and relied exclusively on the lawyer representing the Lyoya family and local law professors. The WXMI 17 story was also shorter and they cited no one for their story, simply providing a rehash of the body cam footage and an overview of the legal case.
Candlelight Vigil
All four of the daily news agencies reported on the candlelight vigil that was organized by the Comrades Collective. The MLive article provided an overview of the candlelight vigil, plus they did provide an excerpt from the statement that the Comrades Collective had released to the news media. In fact, MLive was the only local commercial news agency to include at least part of that statement.
WOODTV8 included a short overview of the legal case, but most of the story was about the Comrades Collective organized vigil. Unfortunately, the channel 8 reporter talk to former Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack, who said just the opposite of what the statement the Comrades Collective had released for the 2nd anniversary.
The WZZM13 story used too much of the body cam video, but at least the centered the voices of Patrick’s family who also spoke at the candlelight vigil. Lastly, the WXMI 17 story spent almost half of their coverage rehashing the case, also using lots of body cam footage. However, the story then did include several comments from Patrick’s father and brother, along with comments from one of the local activists.
March for Patrick Lyoya
Unfortunately, the only local commercial news agency to report on the march that was held on April 6, was WXMI 17. The march was also organized by the comrades collective. The Fox 17 reporters were present for several hours during the march, yet the story was only 2 minutes and 26 seconds long. The story provides an overview of the march and mentions the two times that the GRPD either detained or arrest people who were safety cars behind the march, but they never mentioned the charges or why the GRPD was so hell bent on harassing and intimidating the marchers. The WXMI 17 story did cited members of the Lyoya family who participated in the march, a former cop who marched and a member of the Grand Rapids School Board who also showed up to protest the lack of justice for Patrick Lyoya.
Overall, the coverage of the 2nd anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s murder mostly rehashed information the public already knew. The coverage of the candlelight vigil and the march did center the voices of the Lyoya family, but mostly ignored or excluded the perspective of the group that organized both events. More importantly, the local news coverage failed to further investigate the impact Patrick’s murder has had on the community, along with failing to question the ongoing function of policing in Grand Rapids, which continues to suppress activists and target the most marginalized communities.
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!
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 