What I presented at the Great Lakes History Conference on A People’s History of Grand Rapids
Since the theme of this year’s conference is Division and Reaction: Democracy in Peril, my paper will present on a People’s History of Grand Rapids.
I would contend that the issue of rule by the people, democracy, has always been in peril in the area that is now called Grand Rapids, and I will support this argument with several examples. But first, I want to share a story about 2 separate incidents that took place within 10 days of each other in late May of 2020 in Grand Rapids.
In the 3rd weekend of May, the American Patriot Council hosted a rally at Rosa Parks circle in downtown Grand Rapids. This is the same group that had one month earlier held a rally at the Lansing State Capitol, with lots of white guys with guns walking in and out of the Capitol building with no resistance from the Capitol security. At their rally in Grand Rapids, where about 200 people showed up, they were openly calling for the arrest of Gov. Whitmer, the Michigan Attorney General and the Secretary of State. Once again, there were numerous white men with guns present, along with the fact that no one was wearing a mask in the middle of a pandemic.The GRPD was keeping their distance throughout the rally, mostly sitting in squad cars around the perimeter of the park. Several of the organizers of the rally were later brought up on charges of for participating in the January 6th insurrection in Washington in 2021. In addition, several of the armed men who were on the stage at the rally in Grand Rapids, were later charged in the attempted plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer.
One week later, also beginning at Rosa Park Circle, Black organizers had organized a rally and march to call attention to the numerous police killings of Black people across the US, with George Floyd being the most recent. None of the Black organizers or the thousands of people who attended the rally/march had guns. This Black Lives Matter rally/march did not asks for a permit and the police did not have an issue with that, based on their lack of response to the march, which took over the street on Fulton and Division. The march then came to the Grand Rapids Police Station, which had some barricades set up, with around 50 bike cops lined up with riot gear. This march/confrontation was initially non-violent until the GRPD began shooting tear gas and sped canisters at protesters. After that, protesters set fire to several cop cars, smashed widows of government buildings and some businesses in the downtown area. Numerous arrests were made, the Mayor called for a state of Emergency, brought in the Michigan National Guard and imposed a curfew for downtown Grand Rapids.
I shared these two stories from May of 2020 to primarily make a point that when white men with guns who are calling for the arrest and removal of State government officials, the state did virtually nothing to limit their speech or to attack them with tear gas or other crowd dispersing weapons. However, when BIPOC people, without guns, were protesting police murders of Black people, the response from the state was markedly different. There were cops in riot gear, cops preventing the public from entering the police station, plus there were regional police departments, the Kent County Sheriff’s Dept. and even Michigan State Police on hand to suppress those who were confronting state violence. The clear racial bias in how the state responds to public resistance is clear and can only make sense when we recognize that the contrast of these actions are rooted in White Supremacy.
Now, I wanted to share a few other historical examples from Grand Rapids, which challenges the notion that somehow the current political climate is more divided than at any time in the nation’s history. I want to use four examples: 1) looking at how Euro-Americans treated Indigenous people in what is now called Grand Rapid, 2) the Capitalist Class response to the 1911 Furniture Workers Strike and its aftermath, 3) the backdrop to the structural racism that the Black people in Grand Rapids were dealing with, which erupted in the riot of 1967, and 4) how the LGBTQ community fought against homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism in Grand Rapids in the 80s and 90s.
There are numerous other examples I could provide, but these four should be sufficient to make my point that from the very founding of Grand Rapids, there has always been division and reaction, and that the only way for marginalized communities to be able to be part of this city was to fight for a more expansive sense of democracy and to resist the reactions of the dominant society to submit to their worldview.
Indigenous Resistance
In Z.Z. Lydens’ book, The Story of Grand Rapids, Lydens attempts to portray what happened to the native population as mild compared to other parts of the country. “The history of Grand Rapids does not have a backdrop of conflict with the Indians. There were no tales of raids and scalping and scourging of the settlement with flame.”
The reality is that thousands of Indigenous people lived along the Grand River prior to the European invasion. Most in these native communities experienced displacement by force, religious colonization, the flooding of their communities with alcohol, and displacement through legal maneuvers known as treaties. There were numerous treaties that resulted in the takeover of Native land by settler colonialists throughout what is now called Michigan, but settler colonialists have a long history of violating those treaties.
In terms of what this meant for Native people who lived along the Grand River, many of them fled to other areas in the Great Lakes in the first half of the 19th century, hoping for a better chance to survive.
While it is true that the level of violence against Native people in the Grand River area was not as overt as it was for other Indigenous nations, the violence was real and systemic. Lydens’ commentary above is instructive since it purposely works within a limited understanding of violence and ignores how settler colonialism functions.
Settler Colonialism was practiced in what is now Grand Rapids through traders like Louis Campau and Lucious Lyons, alongside Christian missions on both sides of the Grand River, the Baptists on the westside and the Catholic on the Eastside. These mission pitted Native people against each other and the Baptists got one indigenous leader, Chief Noonday, to sign the 1821 Treaty of Chicago, which ultimately paved the way for the displacement of Native people and the takeover of lands by Euro-American Settler Colonialists. The Catholic Church also played a major role in taking Native children from their communities and placing them in boarding schools in three keys places in Michigan, a tactic that falls under the broader category of genocide, as defined by the UN’s Genocide Convention of 1948. I would therefore argue that the major contributing factors in what Euro-Americans did to Native people in the West MI area were rooted in the ideologies of Manifest Destiny, Christian conversion and Capitalist expansion.
Worker resistance to the Furniture Barons
In the Spring of 1911, some 6,000 furniture workers went on strike to demand the right to unionize, the right to better working conditions and better wages. The Grand Rapids furniture barons responded by bringing in scab workers and using local police to suppress the strike.
The 1911 strike was founded on longstanding worker grievances. As early as 1909, the workers discovered that the price of the furniture they produced had increased by 10%, and they demanded that their wages be increased. Some of the workers who called for the increase were fired shortly thereafter for being agitators.
Just prior to the beginning of the strike, the Grand Rapids Employers Association sent Francis Campau to deliver a message to the press, in order to influence public opinion, that workers were being treated fairly. Francis Campau was the grandson of the brother of Louie Campau, the so-called founder of Grand Rapids.
Furniture workers, on the other hand, had a very different view of life working in those factories. One important source that reflected the worker’s perspective was a booklet called, History of the Grand Rapids Furniture Strike: With Facts Hitherto Unpublished.14 This document was created by Viva Flaherty, a secretary at Fountain Street Church and a known Socialist. Flaherty documented the 1911 strike because she believed that the “people of Grand Rapids are awakened and enlightened and they can be trusted with the whole truth.”
Flaherty makes it clear in her version of the story that the strike was able to endure because of the seven unions that were involved, with membership of over 4,000 workers in thirty-five shops in Grand Rapids. She also documented that the Christian Reformed Church would not grant their members the right to be part of the union, since labor rights and organizing were not “founded on divine right.”
Flaherty documents the kind of wages earned by those in the furniture industry, stating that of the eight thousand furniture workers employed in Grand Rapids, most made less than $2 a day.
The Strike lasted until the early part of August and had the support of several of the city commissioners, and most vocally the Mayor of Grand Rapids. In addition, the Catholic Bishop of Grand Rapids, Bishops Schrembs, was also a vocal supporter, stating: “I consider the present labor situation in our city as a most deplorable one from every point of view. I would welcome and hasten the day when compulsory arbitration will force men dealing with their fellow men to let fairness and justice come to their own through reasonable methods rather than through the cowering of men’s hearts through the cruel pangs of hunger of their wives and children.” Schrembs was later moved to the Diocese of Toledo as a form of punishment for speaking out in support of furniture workers.
Now, the striking furniture workers did not win most of the demands they fought for, but their fight did build a larger culture of resistance and solidarity. This was evident in the 1911 Labor Day parade, with 10,000 people marching in the parade and hundreds more watching from the roadside. At the time, Grand Rapids only had a population of 100,000, thus 10% of the community walked in the Labor Day parade.
However, The 1911 furniture workers strike was perceived by the furniture barons and other members of the local power structure as a serious threat. Those with a great deal to lose at the hands of striking workers took other steps to protect their interests. And they did not forget that Mayor Ellis had denied them permits for a private army. The City of Grand Rapids was made up of 12 political wards in 1911, with many of the wards dominated by certain ethnic groups – Polish, Dutch, German, Italian, etc. Most of the ethnic groups – and many of the wards – supported the furniture workers strike.
In order to hold power, in 1916 the furniture barons and their political cronies decided to change the Grand Rapids City Charter to do two things:
- Gerrymander and reduce the diversity of the political wards, down from a 12-ward system to a 3-ward system, with 2 representatives for each ward. This would give immigrant and ethnic groups, who were also predominantly working class, less say in local government.
- Eliminate a strong mayor and make future mayors into glorified city commissioners with only one vote. The balance of power shifted to the non-elected city manager position.
This has been the political system in Grand Rapids ever since, because the members of the Capitalist Class were so threatened by the working class, thus they changed the political system in their favor.
The Black Freedom Struggle and the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids
For decades the Black community in Grand Rapids was subjected to all forms of discrimination during the Jim Crow era, with legal and institutional racism, Red-lining, road blocks to getting higher paying jobs, limited educational opportunities, along with being completely shut out in the realm of electoral politics.
This began to change with the growing Civil Rights Movement, which saw national speakers, like Malcolm X coming to Grand Rapids in 1962, a substantial contingent of people going to DC to participate in the historic March on Washington in 1963, a solidarity action in Grand Rapids in response to the church bombing in Alabama just weeks later, where 3,000 residents participated in a march, and an increasing amount of community-based organizing to create more Black autonomy.
An increase in Black Consciousness led to students organizing at South High, with demands around more flexible dress codes. These demands led to what was known as the Mustache incident, where Black students protested dress codes that forbade young men from growing mustaches. South High students, working with Grand Valley State College students participated in a walk out.
A WOOD TV8 editorial addressed the issue of the student walk out stating:
Events of yesterday and today in Grand Rapids South High are most disturbing. Last night, there was a demonstration at South High. In it were some Grand Valley State College students, some South High students and a few adults. It was well organized and had to be planned. The demonstration was a shocking act of irresponsibility. It could have triggered a riot that could have resulted in property damage, injuries and even deaths. The most frightening part of the incident is that Grand Valley students who participated were not at all involved in the good grooming dispute at South High. The demonstrators started something that could have tragic consequences, even yet.
In a subsequent WOOD TV8 editorial, the student protestors were referred to as “animals” throughout the editorial.
In May of 1967, Kwame Ture (then known as Stokely Carmichael) was scheduled to speak in Grand Rapids, which led to pushback from several high profiled city officials. Kwame Ture did speak at Fountain Street Church on May 17, 1967 and spoke about the constant presence and violence of white cops in Black neighborhoods and counseled that Black cops should not join the current unions that were under the umbrella of the AFL-CIO, since they practiced racism in their ranks. One final comment was Ture’s response to J. Edgar Hoover, who claimed that he was part of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM). Ture responded by calling Hoover “a note taker” who stood by and ineffectually jotted musings while the cops surrounded Black people and beat them.
Ture also met with about 300 members of the Black community at First Community Church AME. People spoke with passion about their dissatisfaction with community conditions, with public education, and with the Campau Housing Project in particular. Ture encouraged high school students from Central, South and Ottawa to get organized and become part of SNCC.
Only seven weeks after Ture’s visit, the head of the Grand Rapids Urban League, Paul I Phillips, warned Mayor Sonneveldt, the City Manager and the Grand Rapids Chief of Police that according to the national Urban League office, Grand Rapids was on a “dangerous list” of cities with racial tensions. Mayor Sonneveldt, the City Manager and the Chief of Police “positively denied that riots were possible in the city.” Less than two weeks after Phillips warned city officials of a potential uprising, people in the Grand Rapids Black community exploded with anger. After some isolated incidents of rock-throwing, police officers had pulled over a car of Black youth, believing the car had been stolen. As in many over-policed Black neighborhoods of urban centers around the nation, this incident was the spark that led to a three-day uprising in July of 1967.
The Michigan National Guard were called in to help suppress the riot and the GRPD created a perimeter around a several block area in the near Southside of Grand Rapids, where they determined who could come in or out of that section of the city.
Dozens of Black people were arrested for a variety of crimes, along with a few white people. However, the white people that were arrested, were arrested for showing up in Black neighborhoods with guns hoping to “put down the rebellion.” In fact, the GRPD had received numerous calls from white residents asking if they needed help with the “Black problem.”
A July 26th editorial in the Grand Rapids Press stated: The lawless behavior of a few Negro citizens has made a mockery of civil rights, and everything that has been done up to this point to improve the Negro’s social and economic standing has been a waste of time, money and effort.
The very next day, the Grand Rapids Press ran a story that centered the reactionary culture’s fear about urban Black communities. The July 27th story was based on calls that a Press writer made to people in bedroom communities near Grand Rapids, communities that were almost exclusively white.
We heard they were coming here on Tuesday. We all had our guns ready if we had to.
– a white woman from Ionia
I think it is terrible. They are destroying their own property – hurting their own cause.
– a white woman from Lowell
It is a terrible thing to say, too, but authorities should open fire on them, do something drastic to wake them up.
– a resident of Saranac
The troops should have orders to stop them anyway necessary.
– a white man from Holland
Fighting homophobia, transphobia and heterosexism in Grand Rapids in the 80s and 90s.
Like the rest of the country, the struggle for equality for the LGBTQ community in Grand Rapids was difficult and it took decades of struggle even to win some of the most basic rights.
For those who resisted heteronormativity, it was dangerous. Being out often led to being ostracized from family, from ones place of worship, or worse, it could mean losing your job or being harassed, bullied or beaten. Meeting in private homes or in a few select bars were the only real options for those who identified as part of the LGBTQ community.
This all began to change in the 1980s, when members of the LGBTQ community began to organize and to fight back against homophobia. Based on dozens of interview we did for a documentary on the LGBTQ community in Grand Rapids, the catalyst for getting organized was in 1988, when people from Grand Rapids went to the march in Washington DC. Motivated by their experience at the march, local members of the LGBTQ community formed the Lesbian and Gay Network, which began working on numerous issues, like organizing a Pride Celebration in Grand Rapids.
The first Pride Celebration was held in June of 1988, although the Mayor of Grand Rapids would not support the event, nor provide a declaration for the event, even though Mayor Helmholt had written proclamation for the following events the same year – Michigan Beverage News Week, Family Sexuality Education Month, Polish Heritage Month, National Roofing Week and Bozo Show Day. Mayor Helmholt did deny another group a proclamation, a neo-Nazi group that was hosting an event in Grand Rapids that same year.
The Network was also working on the issue of HIV/AIDs, since the disease had already impacted so many members of their community. The national LGBTQ movement had forced the Reagan Administration to create an AIDS Task Force, but many of the members of the Task Force were anti-gay, like Rich DeVos, the co-founder of Amway. Years later, it was reported what DeVos thought about his time on the AIDS Task Force saying:
When HIV first came out, President Reagan formed a commission and I was honored to be on that commission. I listened to 300 witnesses tell us that it was everybody else’s fault but their own. Nothing to do with their conduct, just that the government didn’t fix this disease. At the end of that I put in the document, it was the conclusion document from the commission, that actions have consequences and you are responsible for yours. AIDS is a disease people gain because of their actions. It wasn’t like cancer. We all made the exceptions for how you got it, by accident, that was all solved a long time ago. That’s when they started hanging me in effigy because I wasn’t sympathetic to all their requests for special treatment. Because at that time it was always someone else’s fault. I said, you are responsible for your actions too, you know. Conduct yourself properly, which is a pretty solid Christian principle.
Bruce Roller, a Christian Pastor and a member of the LGBTQ community said that there was tremendous bias towards those with AIDS, and a great deal of ignorance. Roller said that medical staff would not touch AIDS patients, nor bring food into their rooms. Many ambulance companies and funeral homes also refused services to those who had AIDS or who had just died from AIDS.
Beginning in the early 1990s, the LGBTQ community also took on the task of changing the City’s anti-discrimination ordinance, to include sexual orientation to the list of things that people could not be discriminated on. Members of the Network did letter writing campaigns, public educational forums and kept going to the City Commission meetings demanding a change.
In 1992, the first of several public hearing were held on the anti-discrimination ordinance. Lots of people from the LGBTQ community spoke in favor of the ordinance change, but there were also numerous people, mostly claiming to be Christians, who spoke out against the proposed ordinance change, often using religious texts to justify their position. Grand Rapids, and West Michigan as a whole, was deeply opposed to LGBTQ inclusion, but it is also important to note that many of the wealthiest families in the greater Grand Rapids area also funded numerous anti-Gay groups in Michigan and across the US.
Despite the opposition, in 1994, after a two year campaign, The Network was able to get enough votes for the City Commission to adopt a revised version of the anti-discrimination ordinance, which would include protections against discrimination for sexual orientation.
With the examples I have provided, the very notion of democracy has always been in peril and it has always been evolving, especially when some of the most vulnerable communities began to demand equate treatment.
In my research into the history of what is now called Grand Rapids, I believe that democracy has always been limited and in turmoil and that only when social movements have organized to confront systems of power and demand changes, has any real notion of democracy been practiced.
Deconstructing the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce reasons for endorsing the GRPS November bond vote
Some three weeks ago, parents, students and community members came out to an event being held by the Grand Rapids Public Schools. It wasn’t a protest per say, since the group was in full support of the November bond vote for the GRPS, but that they wanted to make sure that GRPS Administration and the School Board would prioritize funds for very specifics issues that are based on what the community is demanding. You can read about those demands at this link.
On October 2nd, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce announced that they were endorsing the GRPS bond vote on November 7th. The GR Chamber states in their announcement the following:
GRPS is seeking voter approval of a 20-year, $305 million bond proposal to fund capital, technology and security projects.
- The bond is the same rate as the 2004 & 2015 bonds, 3.85 mills.
- Educational building construction, consolidation improvements, renovations of auditoriums and athletic facilities, technology upgrades, playground improvements, and safety & security improvements will be paid for with the bond.
- GRPS buildings are currently at 51% utilization for student capacity. This proposal will allow GRPS to consolidate educational space and will alleviate an estimated $145 million in deferred maintenance costs.
It is important to note here that what the GR Chamber of Commerce is claiming the money will be used for does not align with what the Urban Core Collective’s Education Justice campaign is calling for.
Equally important are the two talking points that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce provide on the GRPS Bond vote.
- A stable, strong and growing GRPS will retain and attract families, talent and job providers in Grand Rapids. They need 21st infrastructure to make this a reality and the business community urges support.
- Chamber leadership will continue to engage with GRPS on improving outcomes and how school property can best be utilized if no longer needed.
These two talking points are instructive, plus anyone who cares about the future of public education should be rather concerned about what the influential business entity thinks about public education.
The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce supports the GRPS bond vote because they want to, “retain and attract families, talent and job providers in Grand Rapids.” Strange, I always thought that public education at the K – 12 level was an opportunity to not only assist students to learn, but to teach critical thinking and further develop in students a curiosity about their community, their country and the world.
What the GR Chamber of Commerce wants to see out of the GRPS is to provide a talent pool for the businesses they represent, plus a steady stream of working class people who can fill positions in the service industry. This fits the two tiered system that the GRPS has, where “more talented” students go to places like City High, while students who are less likely to go to college, can take classes to be part of the Hospitality and Tourism industries.
The second point, where the GR Chamber will, “engage with GRPS on improving outcomes and how school property can best be utilized if no longer needed.” Could this be because GR Chamber members like Rockford Construction are always looking at getting contracts with the GRPS or working with other developers to turn former GRPS facilities into apartments or condos?
Lastly, while I understand that people might think that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce endorsement of the bond vote in November is a good thing, it ignores their stance on other critical issues. Within the past year, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has initiated and supported the criminalization of the unhoused in Grand Rapids, and has opposed many of the recent legislative efforts in Michigan to move the economy in a more just fashion. This is why we need to see the GR Chamber’s endorsement of the bond vote as nothing more than looking out for their own interests, where students are seen as talent, rather than as critical thinking members of the community.
In any case, the hidden hand of of foundations can control the course of social change and deflect anger to targets other than elite power.”
– Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy
For the past 10 years, GRIID has been monitoring foundations in West Michigan, particularly the large family foundations that those who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure have created. Our monitoring of local foundations has been part of our larger critique of the Non-Profit Industrial complex in Grand Rapids.
GRIID has been providing information and analysis on the various DeVos Family Foundations, using the most recent 990 documents that foundations are legally required to submit. These 990 documents must be submitted within a three-year period, which is why the 990s that we will be examining are from 2020, since most foundations prefer to submit their 990 documents at the last minute, thus minimizing public scrutiny. So far we have posted articles about the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation, the Cheri DeVos Foundation, the Jerry & Marcia Tubergen Foundation, the Steve and Amy Van Andel Foundation, the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation and the Jandernoa Foundation.
Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation
Edgar and Elsa Prince are the parents of Erik Prince and Betsy DeVos. Although Edgar has been dead for several years, the foundation that is in his wife and his name, continues the legacy of funding the Religious and Political Right. The Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation began in 1979, and current has $4,747, 065 in assets. The information that follows is based on the 990 document for 2021, where the foundation distributed $3,102,5000 to the four categories we have been using throughout this series. You can find this information on GuideStar.org just by typing in the Edgar & Elsa Prince Foundation.
Religious Right
- Prison Fellowship Ministries – $125,000
- Our American Values – $30,000
- Gateways to Better Education – $30,000
- Women’s Rights Without Frontiers – $20,000
- Pregnancy Resource Center – $10,000
- Alliance Defending Freedom – $100,000
- Protect Life Michigan – $40,000
- Wycliff Bible Translators – $25,000
- Center for Urban Renewal and Education – $40,000
- Haggai Institute – $300,000
- Focus on the Family – $105,000
The Haggai Institute is a Christian evangelical entity that provides leadership training for people around the world to convert people. The Haggai Institute believes that only Jesus can bring joy to the world, not governments, education or any other spiritual tradition. The Prison Fellowship Ministries was founded by former Nixon Administration staff Charles Colson, who was sentenced to jail for his role in the Watergate scandal. The Prison Fellowship Ministries practices far right Christianity and is part of the State Policy Network, which connects far right groups across the country to promote policy changes at the state level, changes which further the far right agenda. The Alliance for Defending Freedom is a Conservative Christian group of lawyers that defends religious groups around anti-LGBT policies and other religious right issues.
Political Right and Think Tanks
- Acton Institute – $25,000
- Freedom Alliance – $30,000
- Council for National Policy – $15,000
- Mackinac Center for Public Policy – $7,500
- Turning Point USA – $35,000
- Rutherford Institute – $25,000
Freedom Alliance is an entity that was founded by convicted Iran Contra scandal participant Col. Oliver North. American Values is another conservative religious entity, which perpetuates the so-called values of the United States, but are rooted in far right principles. In a recent post they made the following comment: In the aftermath of the Rittenhouse verdict, Marxists and revolutionaries took to the streets, using his exoneration as a match to try to set America ablaze. Make no mistake about it: They are Marxist and they are revolutionary. These radicals want a race war in America. Turning Point USA is a right-wing youth and student group, with a mission to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.”
Education Institutions
- Holland Christian Schools – $478,000
- Zuni Christian Mission School – $30,000
DeVos-owned, created or connected groups
- Christian Leadership Institute – $25,000
- West Michigan Aviation Academy – $222,500
- Artprize – $40,000
Groups Receiving Hush money
- Wedgewood Christian Youth and Family Services – $15,000
- Family Promise – $30,000
You can clearly see that the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation primarily funds the Religious Right and the Political Right, even though sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the two. The Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation is a perfect way for the family to hide some of their wealth from taxation, but allows them to use it just like direct political contributions, often working in tandem with campaign contributions.
We will not be dismissed or ignored: Day one of the Cosecha Michigan encampment in Lansing
Yesterday, Cosecha Michigan kicked off the first day of a three day encampment at the Lansing State Capitol, in their ongoing commitment to win drivers licenses for the undocumented community in Michigan.
As always, there is a great deal of activity that takes places at the capitol. When we arrived in Lansing there were hundreds of advocates and car crash survivors gathered at the capitol to call for new laws that would help provide care to more than 7,000 crash survivors who lost their benefits after Michigan made changes to its no-fault law in 2019.
Because another rally was taking place, Cosecha held their press conference on the westside of the capitol building. Several members of Cosecha Michigan spoke about their years-long campaign to win drivers licenses. One Cosecha member, Erica, talked about how the Lansing State House and Senate had been controlled by Republicans for the past 40 years, which has meant that the demands from the movement to won drivers licenses were dismissed and ignored. She went on to say that with the Democrats taking control of the State Legislature this year, they continue to see that drivers licenses have not been a priority for lawmakers. She also said that their concerns continue to be ignored and dismissed, which is why they often use the chant, Licenses Yes, Promises No.
The State House was in session yesterday, so the about 20 of the Cosecha Michigan activists went up to the 3rd Floor to engage in a longstanding tactic of disruption, which you can see here in this short video.
One thing that I love about Cosecha actions is that they always explain, in Spanish, what they are doing and where they are during that particular action. During this action they made it clear that this building and these chambers are paid for by their taxes, and that these politicians are always claiming that they work for the people, yet the issues most important to Cosecha are constantly ignored.
The group of activists then went back outside to share some food and talk about the next plan of action for the day. Of course there was lots of community building and laughter, since this group of Cosecha activists have been working together on this issue since 2018.
Rejuvenated by the food and fellowship, Cosecha Michigan activists then went op to the 4th floor to sit in on a Senate Transportation Committee meeting, which began just after 3:30. The meeting had already begun by the time that Cosecha activist had arrived, but there only appeared to be one agenda item, so the meeting did not last long at all. You can watch the video at this link, which shows Cosecha members in the Transportation Committee meeting and as soon as the meeting finished, they began chanting and demanding that the committee hold a public hearing on the proposed legislation, the Drive Safe Bills, which you can learn about at this link.
Once again, a Cosecha activists explained what was happening after the disruption and why winning drivers licenses is so important to the undocumented community. It was stated that having drivers licenses would reduce their fear of being stopped by police and potentially arrested or detained for not having a drivers license. This Cosecha activist then shifted gears to say, “We do the work in Michigan, the hard work like picking the food that everyone eats. Without us the economy in Michigan would collapse and all we are asking is the right to obtain drivers licenses, to be safe and to have the same kind of mobility that other families in Michigan have.” You can watch the Cosecha Michigan activists attending the Transportation Committee meeting and the follow up explanation in the video at this link. https://www.facebook.com/cosechagr/videos/980999182980458
The Cosecha Michigan activists then went back outside for more food and fellowship, which is really a thing of beauty to see and participate in. I am always amazed and inspired by not only the passion and commitment they display in the fight for justice, but how caring they are with each other and how welcoming they are with people who are new to the movement.
The next task was to then set up the encampment on the east side of the Capitol building area and see if the security people would enforce their policy of not allowing any encampments on the property, even on the surrounding sidewalks, which they claimed were also the property of the State of Michigan and NOT public space. The cops did come out and made it clear that people would have to move, so the Cosecha activists moved across the street to the City building, to the same space they set up their encampment last year, as shown in this picture here on the right.
For the next few days, you can support Movimiento Cosecha Michigan by coming to their encampment, learning about the Drive Safe Bills and taking action to help get those bills passed, you can donate to their work at planton2023.com and you can follow the encampment progress here https://www.facebook.com/cosechamichigan.
An opportunity to promote a living wage campaign in Grand Rapids and other economic justices demands
There is proposed legislation in Lansing right now, legislation that would lift the ban on what is now referred to as the Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act. According to an analysis of Senate Bill 0171:
The Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act, prohibits a local governmental body from regulating the employment relationship between a nonpublic employer and its employees. Among other prohibitions in the Act, a local governmental body may not require an employer to pay an employee a wage higher than the State minimum hourly wage or other fringe benefits, regulate strike activity, or regulate an employer’s hours or scheduling of employees.
If Senate Bill 0171 were to be adopted it would provide greater opportunities for workers and the communities they live in to earn higher wages, have better benefits and allow workers to engage in more militant strikes, moving from symbolic picketing to wildcat strikes.
Of course, there are organizations within the State of Michigan that are opposing this legislation, along with several groups from West Michigan. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce crafted a letter opposing SB 0171, with dozens of organizations signing on to the letter. Among those groups that are from West Michigan, are the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the West Michigan Policy Forum.
The West Michigan Policy Forum released their own statement on why SB 0171 should be opposed, with the claim that, “ life will get more expensive, and jobs will disappear across our state.”
Similar legislation was proposed in the State House of Representatives back in March. However, the State House version of the proposal hasn’t received the same kind of attention as the Senate version of the bill.
An opportunity to adopt living wage standards
If SB 0171 and HB 4237 were to be adopted, it would merely lift the ban on these critical labor issues. However, the real work would be at the municipal level, which could then make decisions on adopting living wages and other more radical labor demands.
One way to think about this, as it relates to wages in Grand Rapids, is to think about what it costs for people to rent in this city currently. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, for the average person in Grand Rapids to afford rent in this city, they would need to earn an hourly wage of $25.50, for 40 hours. Therefore, a minimum wage for Grand Rapids should be $25.50 an hour, but a living wage should probably be $30 – $35 an hour.
If Grand Rapids is organized and people can create an economic justice working group to make this kind of a demand around wages, along with other demands for workers, then the proposed legislation would be a good thing. You can bet that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and other members of the Capitalist Class will oppose such things, plus they already have a cozy relationship with Grand Rapids City officials, so it will definitely be a fight to win economic justice policies and a living wage campaign in Grand Rapids.
However, it should be noted that throughout history, that battles over wages and other economic justice benefits have come about because of struggles won by labor unions and other economic justice centered groups. In fact, improved wages and benefits have always been won by campaigns organized by working class people. Even if the proposed legislation does not get adopted, workers can get organized in any sector to make demands and win economic justice battles for their families and communities.
Community Coffee Hours with Elected Officials: Creating road blocks for real community engagement
About 10 years ago now, a dozen activists decided to show up at the Rainbow Grill in Grandville to talk with a Conservative State Representative about LGBTQ and Immigration issues.
The Conservative State Representative had been using this spot for years to fulfill his community engagement obligations. However, on one Saturday morning he got more than he bargained for, when 12 activists, sat down with him in a restaurant booth (2 at a time) to confront him on his stance on numerous issues. This State Representative did not stick around to meet with all 12, since he was only there for an hour, so the activists followed him out to his car to continue to share with him their thoughts and feelings about his voting record. 
This lesson taught me that elected officials don’t really like to engage with the community, especially if they don’t get to determine how engagement will happen.I’ve thought about this a great deal more recently, since there have been several instances where Movimiento Cosecha has attempted to talk with State Senator Winnie Brinks, but were told by her staff that she was not available. A similar interaction was had by a continent of housing justice activists who attended the Rent is Too Damn Hight rally in Lansing on September 5th. In this instance, the staffers in Senator Brink’s office had locked the doors and were unwilling to meet with housing justice activists.
I attended a recent Community Owns Safety Coalition meeting in Grand Rapids, where we talked about the Rent is Too Damn High Rally and inability to meet with Senator Brinks that day. We talked about trying to meet with State elected officials when they host coffee hours in Grand Rapids. This tactic was decided upon, since not everyone has the ability to just take off work and go to Lansing during the week to meet with elected officials. The other reason is that there are several proposed state bills that housing justice activists would like to see get passed and meeting with elected officials in Grand Rapids would be more accessible for many people.
Community Coffee Hours
The Community Owns Safety Coalition meeting I mentioned earlier was this past Wednesday, so later that night I wanted to find out which State Representatives and Senators would be hosting their next community coffee hours. I was able to find several upcoming community coffee sessions, but most of them were happening on Friday, September 29th.
Being that these meetings were happening in less than 48 hours, it would make it difficult to mobilize people to attend, with such short notice. In addition, all of the community coffee hours I came across for September 29 were during the day, which also meant that if you work 1st Shift, you would not be able to attend. Another aspect of these opportunities to tell state elected officials what was on your mind is that they generally only lasted for 1 hour, which really limits how much time you have to talk about specific legislation or the issues that you want addressed.
There was one other major road block that one of the housing justice people I know encountered, specifically with a community coffee hour with State Rep. Skaggs and State Senator Brinks. They too were hosting a meeting for 1 hour – from 10:15 – 11:15am, on Friday, September 29th. However, they were not including the location of where the event was being held. Instead, they had this link for people to fill out. One of the housing justice activists I know filled it out on Thursday when they found out about the meeting, but didn’t receive a response until 8 hours after the meeting had already been held.
The housing activists then sent a message to a staff member for State Rep. Skaggs stating,
“You sent the information on the location of the Community Coffee Hour for Rep Skaggs and Sen. Brinks 8 hours after it happened. I submitted the information on Thursday, which would have been ample time to receive information on the location, so I am puzzled as to why you would send this information out after the fact. In addition, why is it that you do not post the information on the location on social media, like Facebook? That is where I found out about the coffee hour. Why make people jump hoops to get information on the location?”
Here is the response the activist received back from Rep. Skagg’s staffer:
“I am sorry that the email did not deliver to you until after the event. I very confused as to how that happened as I sent out all emails regarding the location early this morning at the latest. I understand that is extremely frustrating and unprofessional. If you have concerns or questions for Representative Skaggs, I would be happy to relay them to him or set up a meeting for you to chat. As for withholding the location of the coffee hour, that was not our office’s choice. Because we were hosting with Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, we had to follow her office’s security procedures which required people to register before receiving the location.”
Ok, so why does Senator Brinks have security procedures when it comes to meting people in her district? This makes me suspicious that the housing justice activists not receiving information on the location of the meeting as a mistake, but that they didn’t want them to attend.
The text included with the Facebook event for the meeting with Rep. Skaggs and Senator Brinks states in part – These coffee hours are a great chance for us to hear directly from you about how we can best represent you in the capitol. Really? It seems that if elected officials really want to hear from the public about how best to represent the communities they represent, then they would hold community meetings more frequently, at various times to allow more people to participate, and to stop making people jump through hoops to even find out where they can meet with elected officials. Elected officials are constantly telling us that they work for us, but the limited opportunities to even have a face to face conversation with them in the districts they claim to serve, make it difficult for this writer to believe their commitment to community engagement.
GRIID is offering presentations and classes on A People’s History of Grand Rapids for organizations, congregations, classrooms and book clubs
It has been 6 months since the publication of my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids. Book sales continue to be strong and I have two conference presentations coming up, along with a talk at the local Pax Christi meeting in October.
If your organization, your congregation, non-profit or classroom is interested in having me come and to talk about A People’s History of Grand Rapids, there are several ways that that can happen.
First, I can do a one time presentation or have an informal conversation with any group that just wants to spend 1 – 2 hours talking about the book, why I decided to write it and how I went about doing research for A People’s History of Grand Rapids.
Secondly, I can do shortened class discussion with people who want to read the book, but discuss it with a group. A shortened class could be 2, 3 or 4 sessions, where people could either read the entire book and discuss during those session, or they could chose certain chapters to read and discuss.
A third option would be to do a full length GRIID Class using A People’s History of Grand Rapids. Full length classes through GRIID are usually 2 hour class for 8 weeks, but since there are 10 chapters, I would be open to doing a 10 week class.
All of this is negotiable, in terms of the length of a one time presentation, a shortened class version or a full length GRIID class. I can also do the classes virtually, if people want to have a book discussion remotely.
To book a presentation, an informal conversation, or a class for your organization or classroom, send an Email to sjeff987@gmail.com. The cost for any of these options is negotiable.
Lastly, if you don’t have a copy of the book, I still have some to sell or you can purchase them through Schuler Books. In addition, I also have A People’s History of Grand Rapids in PDF form, which you can also purchase by requesting a PDF copy. Just send an Email to Jeff Smith at sjeff987@gmail.com.
GRIID will be organizing a virtual class beginning in January of 2024, a class that will probably be held on Monday nights.
What are we really celebrating with the Top 25 Most Influential Latinos in West Michigan?
Recently, the publication Vive Michigan, just published their list of the Top 25 Most Influential Latinos in Michigan. I’m assuming the online bilingual magazine means influential Latinos in West Michigan, since this is where the publication gets distributed and all of the Latinos listed are from West Michigan.
When I saw this list, like most lists of “important” or influential people, it rubbed me the wrong way. Having said that, please don’t think that I am suggesting that those listed as the Top 25 Most Influential Latinos don’t do any good. I believe that good/bad dichotomies make things too simple, they don’t allow for complexity and they certainly don’t address structural issues or systems of power.
Then there is the question of how these 25 people were chosen. Vive Michigan says that those chosen were, “Curated meticulously through a comprehensive selection process from more than 600 nominations, this inaugural list serves as a spotlight on the individuals who are redefining what it means to be influential in West Michigan.” Ok, so curated by whom and who was involved in the nominating process? Were those Latinos who pick our food, work in the kitchens and change the bedding at hotels consulted or invited to nominate people? It seems unlikely, which means that the process is deeply flawed.
More importantly, those who were nominated are certainly people who would be considered as part of the business class or the professional class. It seems to be from my count that those who own or manage businesses at the majority of the 25 Most Influential Latinos in West Michigan, followed by people in positions of power – lawyers, judges and elected officials. There were a few on the list that work in the non-profit sector as well.
Over the past few years, GRIID has critiqued the Top 200 Most Powerful Business Leaders in West Michigan, which does include a few Black and Latino professionals. In that analysis, we make it clear that the list represents people who make up the local power structure or those that don’t do anything to challenge it. In many ways, I think the same thing about the list of the 25 Most Influential Latinos in West Michigan. But to be more specific, here are a few questions that we might ask ourselves when we look at this list.
- Are the people on this list in any way at all a threat to systems of power, privilege and oppression in West Michigan?
- Of the people who are on this list, have they internalized the values of the systems of power, privilege and oppression in West Michigan?
- Do those on this list act as a buffer against grassroots organizing in the Latino community to challenge systems of power, privilege and oppression?
- Are those on the list challenging or working to dismantle the structural racism and White Supremacist systems that prevent Latinos from living a good life?
- Are those on the list fighting with the immigrant justice movement in West Michigan to win Drivers Licenses for undocumented people?
- Are those on the list doing the important work to prevent or challenge the harm being done to Latino immigrants that are being targeted by Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents to arrest, detain and deport Latinos?
- Are those on the list working to make sure that all Latinos can afford a safe home to live in and to keep their children from experiencing poverty?
- Are those on the list fighting to make sure that all Latinos make a living wage, especially those who are migrant workers and those in the service industries?
Unfortunately, these are not the kinds of questions that Vive Michigan was asking. Instead, it seems that what Vive Michigan is essentially doing is mimicking the same type of celebrity peddling that the Grand Rapids Business Journal (Now Crain’s Grand Rapids) has done and will continue to do. In fact, there are two people in the Top 200 Most Powerful people list that are also on the Top 25 Most Influential Latinos list. It seems that what we are celebrating with the Top 25 Most Influential Latinos is celebrating those who don’t want to disrupt business as usual or the status quo.
Who doesn’t support paid family and medical leave in Michigan? The West Michigan Policy Forum
In May, Senate Bill 332 was introduced, legislation that would provide paid family and medical leave. In a September 6th statement from Governor Whitmer’s office, it states:
Too many Michiganders cannot be there for their families without sacrificing a paycheck. No one should have to choose between their health, their newborn, or a sick relative and paying the bills and putting food on the table.
In May, the proposed legislation went to the Housing and Human Services Committee, but there has been no public hearing on the matter as of yet, thus it remains in that committee.
In Whitmer’s address to state lawmakers in late August, the Governor had this to say about the paid family and medical leave bill:
“It helps workers be there for their families. It gives you breathing room to get better when you’re sick, to bond with your baby or care for a family member. Right now, 77% of Michigan workers do not have access to paid family, medical leave.”
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has come out against the proposed legislation, which is consistent with their position on anything that would benefit workers. You can read their position on the issue here, then click on SB 332.
One of the organizations that makes up the Grand Rapids Power Structure has taken notice of SB 332, and has posted 3 articles within the past week alone. The West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF), which is the leading right wing organization in West Michigan on public policy in Michigan.
In the first article from the WMPF, they are making an old argument, which says that the proposed legislation will negatively impact small businesses. This is one of the oldest and most common arguments from groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the West MI Policy Forum. The reality is that these entities don’t really care about small businesses, which have virtually no representation on their boards. Also, what were these pro-businesses doing to help prevent small businesses from going under during the peak of the COVID pandemic?
In a second article on the West Michigan Policy Forum’s website, they are making the argument that it will negatively hurt the working families around the issue of taxes. This article says nothing about how the current tax policies in Michigan overwhelmingly benefit the business class over workers, plus they don’t acknowledge that one of the first priorities of the West Michigan Policy Forum was to eliminate the business tax back in 2011.
The third, and final article, features WMPF’s Board Chair John Kennedy, who argues that if SB 332 were to be adopted that it “would be disastrous” for Michigan. What Kennedy really means is that SB 332 would likely increase taxes on Michigan businesses and allow for greater flexibility for when people can take family and medical leave. All of this would of course be beneficial for workers and their families, which people like Autocam Medical’s CEO John Kennedy doesn’t make a priority.
What is important to note about John Kennedy and other members of the West Michigan Policy Forum is their consistent commitment to putting profits over workers, their role in the interlocking systems of power in Grand Rapids and their significant campaign contributions to Republican candidates and incumbents, all of which support their policy platforms that line up with the WMPF vision – like Right to Work, undermining Public Education, attacking public sector unions, increasing austerity measures in state policies and supporting tax policies that benefit those with the most wealth. This is just one of the many reasons why those who identify as being part of the left or even progressives, should not ignore what groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum are doing.
A negative view of Christianity, legalized pot and people’s lack of faith in institutions is why America is in chaos, claims Doug DeVos’ podcast guest
It has been about 10 months since I last posted about Doug DeVos’s podcast called Believe!. In the podcast, DeVos interview former US Vice President and Presidential Candidate in 2024, Mike Pence. In true Orwellian fashion, DeVos and Pence were both talking about “leadership.”
There have only been five new podcasts in the past 10 months, but you have to remember that Doug DeVos is very busy figuring out ways to continue to expand his family’s wealth.
In today’s post, I want to talk about one of the more recent podcast from September 6th, with Aaron Renn as the guest. Renn used to be a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research is a far right think tank that was founded by Reagan’s CIA Director, William Casey. Like most far right think tanks, the Manhattan Institute opposed Critical Race Theory, LGBTQ equality, was a big supporter of the US War on Terrorism, plays a significant role in denying Climate Change and is a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council. However, the think tank’s bread and butter is to promote free market capitalism.
Since Renn left Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, he joined the more Christian-focused organization known as American Reformer. As an example of where the American Reformer is coming from, here is an excerpt from their most recent article about 10 days ago, entitled, Manning the cultural ramparts. Here is the first paragraph in that article:
Despite the lawlessness, violence, and anarchy that was unleashed by Floyd’s death, America did not fundamentally change on that day. What had been there under the surface for quite some time, however, was revealed in all of its ferocious malice. May 25th, 2020 was, as it were, the storming of the Bastille of the American left’s cultural revolution. It is a revolution still underway, though there are some encouraging signs that a counter-revolution has begun.
Apparently, the problem all along has been the American left, not the cops, not structural racism, not debilitating poverty of the corruption that permeates electoral politics.
The topic of discussion between Renn and Doug DeVos is, When Did The World Start Going Crazy? In the synopsis that is provided about the show it states:
Aaron Renn blames the 1960s. That’s when traditional morality began to decline, going from a positive thing to a neutral thing in people’s lives. Now the situation is even worse: morality is largely viewed in a negative light – with disastrous effects on people’s health and happiness.
Here are some of the main comments in the discussion and my responses.
- Christianity used to be the norm and Christian morality was the dominant view in the country. Now, Christianity is viewed negatively. I would argue that Christianity as an institution began to be more questioned and rightfully so. More importantly, the dominance of Christian values in the US is still very present, particularly in major institutions.
- People who identify as Christians in a public way are marginalized or stigmatized. Renn doesn’t really provide concrete evidence to support this claim. My experience as someone who used to identify with Christianity and then rejected it, is that, particularly in West Michigan, in most circles, cultural, social, etc. is that being outwardly Christian does not marginalize you, it makes you part of the club. I work at Hope Network, which is a Christian non-profit. I don’t know how many times that when people ask me something about myself and I talk about the years I spent in Latin America, they just assumed I was doing missionary work. My response used to be I did human rights work, but now I say, I was actually doing work that was anti-missionary work. See my documentary, Reversing the Missionary Position: Learning Solidarity on Mayan Time.
- Doug DeVos asks what are the implications for us today with a country that is falling apart? Some of Renn’s response was that there are too many single moms or that marriage rates are falling. And of course, he thinks that this has a great deal to do with the “decline of Christianity.” Renn only offers antidotes, without any real analysis.
- At about 38 minutes into the conversation, Doug DeVos raises the question of “why am I here?” DeVos then says that if people don’t have faith, then how can they cope in the world or feel like they have meaning. This observation really struck me as a very infantile view of the world and of one’s self. Again, my experience is just the opposition. When I no longer identified with Christianity (or any spiritual tradition) I began to be even more fully human and the world was a much more interesting and exiting place.
- At around 45 minutes in DeVos and Renn began to talk about immigration, sort of the Ellis Island dynamic, where the country became more tolerant. I would suggest that there is a much different narrative about new immigrants, a narrative that is presented in the book, American Intolerance: Our Dark History of Demonizing Immigrants.
- DeVos then wants Renn to talk about Grand Rapids, even though Renn is not from here. This hasn’t stopped Renn from talking about Grand Rapids, as he does in an article from 2018 in the online publication City Journal, entitled, Manufacturing a Comeback, Grand Rapids has become a midwestern economic star and is generating new industrial jobs. This article is essentially looking at Grand Rapids through a pro-business lens, where the DeVos and Van Andel families are thought of as gods.
- At 54 minutes into the conversation, Renn then decides to gush about the DeVos family, saying that they are deeply rooted in this community. Renn uses the example of when Calvin had a new President come in and wanted to do a capital campaign to get rid of a $25 million debt. He said the Calvin President was able to raise the money in 8 months, where people with money came forward and didn’t want their name on a building. First, the effort was to pay off a debt, not to build a new building. Second, most of the names of buildings on Calvin’s campus has the name of particular religious families with very deep pockets.
Like all of Doug DeVos’s guests, Renn provided little analysis, made vague claims about what’s wrong with this country and blamed it on the lack of Christianity in society. And like all guests, Renn did not want to speak ill about the US, but he did heap a great deal of praise on free market capitalism, something that made Doug DeVos very happy.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 