Weekly Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for December 20th
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.
Information
Getting Serious About Halting Israeli Genocide
This Is Not a War Against Hamas
Israel’s War on Gaza Is a Campaign of State Terrorism to Crush the Palestinian People
Jewish Demonstrators Block Bridges in 8 U.S. Cities to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza
ACTION ALERT: NYT Misrepresents Zionism’s Opponents as Anti-Jewish Bigots
Youth must confront America’s role in Gaza genocide
Israel attacks hospitals in Gaza’s north and south
Analysis & History
VIDEO: How to Reverse Gaza’s Humanitarian Crisis — And Hold the Perpetrators Accountable
Local Events and Actions
Tell Rep. Scholten to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to End US military aid to Israel. Wednesday, December 20 from 5:30 – 6:30pm, Rep. Scholten is hosting a telephone town hall. Lets get everyone to call in pressure Hillary Scholten to stop being complicit in Israeli war crimes! (855) 286-0280.
Check the FB page for Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids for updates on actions/events.
GRIID end of the year in Review: Part II – Monitoring the far right in West Michigan
The function of journalism should be to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable!
It’s time for our annual year in review, where we look at GRIID reporting on the far right in West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Power Structure, and our reporting on social movements in Grand Rapids. On Monday, we posted Part I of GRIID end of the year in Review: Monitoring the Local News Media. Today, we’ll take a look at the Far Right in West Michigan.
The Far Right in West Michigan
The Far Right in West Michigan can be individuals, organizations and movements that seek to impose their ideological views on the rest of the public, often through propaganda, but sometimes using violence. The Far Right often has a relationship with the Grand Rapids Power Structure and sometimes these two groups overlap. GRIID has been monitoring the Far Right since 2009, but I have also been monitoring them since the 1990 in print media, on cable TV and in other online platforms.
GRIID has posted a few stories about police-apologist groups in Grand Rapids, with one being in January and a second post about the same pro-cop group that was promoting an anti-trans message.
In February, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was getting lots of coverage in the Grand Rapids news media around his criticism of Critical Race Theory in public schools, but none of these news agencies had reported on the Grand Rapids-based entities that are promoting the same reactionary nonsense about the same issue. GRIID made a post about several far right entities in GR that were using the same tired White Supremacist talking points against Critical Race Theory.
In July, GRIID posted a piece reminding people about the KKK marched with thousands in downtown Grand Rapids, with crowds cheering along the route.
In October, GRIID posted a piece after Ryan Kelley was sentenced to jail time for his involvement in the January 6th attempted insurrection in Washington, DC. However, the local coverage of Kelley’s sentencing pretty much ignored the fact that he was the founder of the far right group the American Patriot Council, the role that group played in opposing the stay at home policy in Michigan in 2020, the rallies they organized in Grand Rapids and Allendale, both of which featured area members of militia groups, some of which were connected to the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer.
However, the far right group that GRIID wrote about the most was the Acton Institute. I wrote 6 separate pieces about the far right think tank, all of which are listed below. In fact, I have been monitoring and writing about the Acton Institute pretty much since their founding in the early 1990s. The Acton Institute is one of those far right groups that is connected to and overlaps with the local Grand Rapids Power Structure, making them even more influential with the ideological propaganda.
Henry Kissinger was not a war criminal, says the Acton Institute, and other far right claims
New Grand Rapids podcast sheds light on the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools
A new podcast called, GRPS Uncovered, takes a critical look at the history of the Grand Rapids Public Schools, through interviews with people who went to school in this district.
GRPS Uncovered is a project started by Professor Leanne Kang, who currently teaches at GVSU and is the author of the book, Dismantled: The Breakup of an Urban School System: Detroit, 1980–2016.
So far, GRPS Uncovered has produced three episodes, which you can listen to at this link. All three episodes shed light on important history in the Grand Rapids Public Schools, but I was particularly drawn in by episode 2, which is an interview with a former Black student who attended South High and was part of the bus program, where he was bused to Union High School, which was completely opposed to Black students attending the then all white student body.
These oral histories are critical not only for our understanding of this history, but because they provide insight into the lived history of people, many of which we are not familiar with.
We encourage you to listen and share these podcasts and use them as teaching tools for learning local history and as a resource to potentially impact current policies at the GRPS.
The function of journalism should be to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable!
It’s time for our annual year in review, where we look at GRIID reporting on the far right in West Michigan, the Grand Rapids Power Structure, and our reporting on social movements in Grand Rapids. However, let’s begin with a review of our stories where we dissect the local news media, which has been part of the work of GRIID when it was founded in 1998.
Monitoring the local news media
We begin with a story from early January that had to do with the political shake up in Ottawa County and how the local news media reported on it. The GRIID article was entitled, What the commercial news media isn’t telling us about the group behind the firing of several Ottawa County officials. The article primarily points out that the local news failed to adequately report on the group Ottawa Impact. GRIID also did a follow up story on the coverage of Ottawa Impact on January 11th, which pointed out the failure of local news media to provide sufficient information on what policy changes this far right group was making.
Another issue that GRIID has been monitoring is the ongoing legal case against the GRPD cop who killed Patrick Lyoya and how the local news media has been reporting on it. The first story GRIID wrote in 2023 about how the local news media was reporting on this case was on January 12, where I wrote that the local media primarily framed the issue from the perspective of the the lawyers representing the cop who killed Lyoya. There were three other stories I wrote about how the local news media reported on the Patrick Lyoya case: on January 31st, regarding the County Prosecutor’s commitment to this case; the terrible narrative crafted by the local mews media on the 1 year anniversary of when a cop killed Patrick Lyoya; and one final article about the ongoing biased coverage of this case from early September.
On the issue of the GRPD, there were a few other articles I posted that critiqued the local news media, particularly around the issue of the police proposal to purchase drones. The first article I wrote had to do with the MLive coverage of this issue, back on February 22nd. There was a second article, which had to do with an interview that WZZM 13 did with Police Chief Winstrom, where they didn’t even bother to question or challenge the top cop. I also wrote 2 critiques of how the local news media reported on City meetings/hearings on the GRPD proposal to use drones, where in both cases the commercial news media coverage was awful on March 29 and April 27.
Another critical issue in 2023, was the proposed ordinances from the City of Grand Rapids ordinances that many believed would further criminalize the unhoused. One example was from the business press, Crain’s Grand Rapids, which essentially relied on the perspectives of those in the Capitalist Class when it came to the proposed ordinances.
One last major issue that the local news media did a poor job on was the local responses to the Hamas attack on Israel in early October and the ongoing organizing since then. I deconstructed a story from channel 8 regarding a pro-Palestine rally and then another critique of how channel 8 reported on a pro-Israel rally the following week.
Of course, there were many more articles I wrote that dissected local news media from 2023, all of which you can check out at this link.
Rep. Scholten uses the weak justification of national security for why she voted for the $886 billion US military budget
On Friday, I posted an article about the US House of Representatives and the US Senate both voting to approve the largest US military budget in history at $886 billion.
The US military budget is always one of those things that receives bi-partisan support, since such large amount of military funding is necessary to maintain US Imperialism abroad.
On Saturday, Rep. Hillary Scholten posted her weekly newsletter, where she addressed the importance of voting for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Scholten mentioned the US military budget in two separate part of her weekly newsletter, which are posted below, with my own analysis of the comments.
However, before addressing Rep. Scholten’s vote for the largest US military budget in history, it is important to talk about language, since the vote was on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As most of you probably know, the US used to refer to the military as part of the War Department. This change took place in 1947, at the beginning of the so-called Cold War with the former Soviet Union. Choosing to change the War Department to the Defense Department was an important PR move, since the US wanted to present themselves in a more positive light around foreign policy.
However, the actually function and practice of US foreign policy maintained a very imperialist posture, as the US shifted their justification for interventions abroad as a fight against Communism. Take for example the CIA coup in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954. While fighting Communism was the justification, the US interventions in both of these countries was primarily about protecting economic interests. In Iran, the US opposed their government’s decision to nationalize the oil and use that wealth for the betterment of the Iranian people, and in Guatemala, the government was engaged in land reform, which threatened the interests of the United Fruit Company. American writer and journalist, Stephen Kinzer, has written books that address both of these US interventions, which I highly recommend – All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror, along with, Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala.
Rep. Scholten’s newsletter comments
“Our big task this week was to make sure that lapsing authorizations in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization did not expire–mission accomplished. We passed extensions on each of these that will continue to allow these critical funds to flow to agencies tasks with our national security and our safety in the skies. Passing the NDAA was only possible because the extremist policy riders added by fringe members of the Republican Party were finally stripped so the reauthorization passed by suspension with bipartisan support.”
The only real point with this first comment from Rep. Scholten that I want to address is the claim that passing the $886 billion (an amount she omits) US military budget is for “national security.” The Congresswoman never qualifies how $886 Billion in military spending equates to national security, so here are a few questions I have for Rep. Scholten in regards to so-called National Security:
- Does the national security of the US depend on the more than 700 US military bases abroad?
- Does the national security of the US depend on selling massive amount of weapons to countries like Saudi Arabia, which perpetrates human rights abuses against their own people?
- Does the national security of the US depend on the so-called dozens of counter-terrorism campaigns and US military exercises in several dozen countries? See report.
- Does the national security of the US depend on massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons?
- Does the national security of the US depend on having a military budget that is the largest in the world and as big as the next 7 countries’ military budgets combined?
Here is the second comment from Rep. Scholten regarding US military spending.
Unfortunately, Speaker Johnson sent us home without voting on a bill to ensure the United States is doing its part internationally–and domestically–in supplying much-needed aid for our allies and our border security. As we look to an aid supplemental, my TOP priority is ensuring that the United States supports our democratic allies around the world in the struggle against tyranny, terrorism, and extremism, and absolutely does so in a way that protects civilians and delivers essential humanitarian assistance. It’s also making sure that these conflicts–in Ukraine and Israel specifically–do not expand into larger conflicts, particularly ones that would require the direct engagement of U.S. soldiers.
In the above statement, Rep. Scholten wants to blame the Republican House speaker for not voting on funding for humanitarian relief for “our allies” and for “our border security.” Again, there are no amounts of funding provided and the use of security is included, which in the case of the US/Mexican border, security is code for keeping undocumented immigrants out.
Next, Rep. Scholten says that her top priority is to make sure the US, “supports our democratic allies around the world in the struggle against tyranny, terrorism, and extremism, and absolutely does so in a way that protects civilians and delivers essential humanitarian assistance.” No examples are provided, so we don’t know which countries are fighting tyranny and terrorism. In addition, the so-called humanitarian assistance the US provides is rather insignificant compared to the $886 billion US military budget, which is consistently spent for violent purposes that causes humanitarian crises in the first place.
Lastly, Rep. Scholten states, “that these conflicts–in Ukraine and Israel specifically–do not expand into larger conflicts, particularly ones that would require the direct engagement of U.S. soldiers. Scholten fails to mention that there are numerous US foreign policy scholars, like Noam Chomsky or Gilbert Achcar, who have critiqued the US role in Israel and the Ukraine as increasing the chances of impacted larger regional conflicts.
In the end, there are no details provided for people who live in the 3rd Congressional District, details that would help us understand how Rep. Scholten can justify voting for the $886 billion US military budget, especially while so many people living around the country and in her district that are barely surviving with the high cost of rent, lack of adequate health care, working in low wage jobs and not being able to meet basic needs for their families. As Dr. King would say, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
Rep. Scholten, Senators Peters and Stabenow all vote to approve the largest military budget in US history
Within the past 24 hours, both the Senate and the House voted to approve the largest US Military budget in US history.
The Senate vote was 87-13, with both Michigan Senators voting in favor of the $886 billion military budget. However, they didn’t just vote to approve the military budget, because Democrats and Republicans are always including other issues when proposed legislation these days.
In the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), based on a story from Common Dreams:
“The NDAA includes an extension of surveillance authority that the government has used—and heavily abused—to access the communications of activists, journalists, lawmakers, and others without a warrant.
The four-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was tucked into the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as proposals to reauthorize the spying authority drew backlash from civil liberties groups and some members of Congress.
Given an opportunity to remove the extension from the NDAA on Wednesday, 65 senators—including 31 Democrats —voted to keep it in the military policy bill, which ultimately passed in an 87-13 vote. (Peters and Stabenow also voted for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act funding.)
As the ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice, and other advocacy groups noted in a letter to congressional leaders last month, the FBI has used Section 702 authority to “gain warrantless access to the communications of tens of thousands of protesters, racial justice activists, 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign, journalists, and members of the U.S. Congress.”
Michigan Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow both bragged about their votes in favor of the largest US military budget in history, primarily arguing it providing funding for military installations in Michigan. Of course, they fail to mentions that this does very little for most residents of Michigan, where so many do not make a living wage, have inadequate health care, and where the rent is too damn high.
In the US House of Representative, the vote was 310 in favor, 118 against and 6 members not voting. Of the Michigan members of the House, every one of them voted in favor of the $886 billion military budget, including the 3rd Congressional Representative Hillary Scholten. The only member of the Michigan House that did not vote for the massive US military budget was Rep. Tlaib, who was the only one with courage to question US militarism and US imperialism, like she has been recently with the unconditional support for Israel that has been coming from the Biden Administration.
In a statement on Scholten’s support for the $886 US military budget, she chose to highlight an increase in pay for US military personnel, along with the absurd notion that there are energy conservation projects in the US military. What Peters, Stabenow and Scholten selectively chose to omit in their justifications for the $886 billion US military Budget are the following:
- The US Military Budget makes up 56% of the total US federal budget, which means that the US prioritizes militarism over everything else.
- It means that the US spends more on militarism than most other countries around the world according to the National Priorities Project.
- It means that US Militarism is valued more than providing food assistance to people, providing decent housing to Americans, forgiving student debt (which Biden promised in 2020, but then lied), and to make sure that we don’t have a single payer health care system. The fact is, in the US, it is never a question of funding, rather a question of priorities. By voting for the $886 billion US military budget, Peters, Stabenow and Scholten prioritize military spending over human needs like food, housing, health care, relieving studnets debt, etc. See the Institute for Policy Studies report entitled, The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare.
- It means that those who voted for the $886 billion US military budget chose to provide massive subsidies/corporate welfare to the US weapons manufacturers.
- It means that the US does not prioritize the seriousness of Climate Change. The US military is one of the worst contributors to the current climate crisis, even worse than most countries on the planet. In addition, US militarism is in many instances about maintaining or gaining access to fossil fuel reserves around the planet, thus making the US military sort of the hired assassins for fossil fuel companies. See the report Climate Collateral: How Military Spending Accelerates Climate Breakdown.
Therefore, with Sen. Peters, Sen. Stabenow and Rep. Scholten voting for the $886 billion US military budget, they ultimately voted for US Imperialism, corporate welfare, accelerating the current climate crisis and prioritizing militarism over meeting the basic needs of people living in the US and Michigan.
Weekly Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for December 14
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.
Information
‘Moral Insanity’: Biden Admin Bypasses Congress to Rush Tank Shells to Israel
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-2666509472
This Is Not a War Against Hamas
https://theintercept.com/2023/12/11/israel-hamas-war-civilians-biden/
‘Israel-Hamas War’ Label Obscures Israel’s War on Palestinians
https://fair.org/home/israel-hamas-war-label-obscures-israels-war-on-palestinians/
Gaza Is A Weapons Lab For The Arms Industry
https://znetwork.org/zvideo/gaza-is-a-weapons-lab-for-the-arms-industry/
Pro-Israel PACs poised to spend big to unseat progressive members of Congress in 2024 election cycle https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/12/pro-israel-pacs-poised-to-spend-big-to-unseat-progressive-members-of-congress-in-2024-election-cycle
Israel committing “horrific crimes” against starving civilians in Gaza
Israeli Apartheid Free Zones Toolkit https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/TOOLKIT_BDS_PRINT.pdf
The Forcible Transfer of 85% of Palestinians in Gaza Is a Crime Against Humanity https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-forcible-transfer-of-85-of-palestinians-in-gaza-is-a-crime-against-humanity/
Analysis & History
HOW ISRAEL COMMODIFIES MASS KILLING THROUGH ITS “PALESTINE LABORATORY” https://theintercept.com/2023/12/13/intercepted-podcast-israel-palestine-military-equipment/
History of Gaza: On Conquerors, Resurgence and Rebirth https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/history-of-gaza-on-conquerors-resurgence-and-rebirth/
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges addressed the Middle East crisis with a talk titled “The Genocide in Gaza” on December 6, 2023 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/chris-hedges-the-genocide-in-gaza/
Shane Burley On The Weaponization Of Anti-Semitism, Resistance To War Heats Up https://itsgoingdown.org/this-is-america-191/
Israel’s new far-right government: Unprecedented challenges and opportunities https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/BDS%20Analysis%20of%20New%20Israeli%20government-Unprecedened%20challenges%20and%20opportunities-5%20Mar%202023-Corrections.pdf
Local Events and Actions
Tell Rep. Scholten to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to End US military aid to Israel. Wednesday, December 20 from 5:30 – 6:30pm, Rep. Scholten is hosting a telephone town hall. Lets get everyone to call in pressure Hillary Scholten to stop being complicit in Israeli war crimes! (855) 286-0280.
Check the FB page for Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids for updates on actions/events. https://www.facebook.com/PalestineSolidarityGR
Palestine Solidarity rally organizers expose the cowardly lack of action by the Kent County Democratic Party
Last night, about 75 people showed up to the Kent County Democratic Party headquarter on Fuller NE to demand that they do the following:
- Call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank
- Call for an immediate end to US military aid to Israel, which is $3.8 billion annually
- Publicly oppose the Biden Administration’s proposal to send an additional $14.3 billion in US military aid to Israel
During the rally people marched and chanted along Fuller, but several times marched along the side road where the Democratic Party headquarters are located and looped around the parking lot, chanting loudly in front of the main entrance in order to disrupt their monthly meeting.
Several individuals Democrats came out to “talk” with those protesting, but when they were confronted with the Party’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire and the Biden Administration’s unconditional support for Israel, the conversation ended. Another Democratic Party member told rally organizers that if the crowd became larger than 70 people, that he, “was legally obligated to call the Sheriff’s Department.”
Despite efforts on the part of individual Democratic Party members to make nice with rally organizers, it was clear that they were irritated by the presence of the protesters.
The rally lasted a little more than an hour, but the energy was high the entire time, especially when they were prompted by a rally organizer with the Comrades Collective.
I was talking with one of the organizers about the rally and said that the disruptive tactics were important, since there were lots of people who are newer to movement organizing and anytime they see that people can escalate tactics challenge systems of power, it provides space for people to do the same, eventually becoming more comfortable with disruptive actions.
Another conversation I had was with a local Palestinian American, who told me that 18 members of his family have been killed over the past two months of the Israeli assault on Gaza. This was an emotional gut punch and a sobering reminder that US complicity in Israeli war crimes obligates all of us to resist what is happening. Palestinians are having to deal with the trauma of losing family members, and we just need to sit with that fact for a moment…….and then figure out how to respond and to be part of any resistance efforts that are taking place right now in our communities. #FreePalestine, #CeasefireNow, #EndtheOccupation!
Once again Grand Rapids City officials are unwilling to be part of a global movement for justice in Palestine
Last night, between 50 – 60 people came out to a vigil for the nearly 20,000 Palestinians who have been killed from the Israel assault on Gaza and the West Bank that began after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel.
People came to show respect to the lives lost, to listen to speakers and to then go up to the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting to further push a set of demands from the City, demands that were first presented to them on Tuesday, November 14. These demands were crafted by a coalition of grassroots community groups that has generated nearly 5,000 electronic messages to City officials. Here are the three demands:
- Make a public statement in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank as specified by UN General Assembly’s Resolution made on October 27th, 2023.
- To contact Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, along with Rep. Hillary Scholten, to demand back the tax money that leaves Grand Rapids to fund Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land and the current assault on Gaza. That money should stay in Grand Rapids so we can fund critically urgent community needs.
- To communicate with the public what kind of a response you received from Peters, Stabenow and Scholten.
Several dozen activists in solidarity with Palestinians spoke during public comments to push these demands, many of which pointed out to Grand Rapids City officials that since that City Commission meeting on November 14th, there have been at least 4 municipalities in Michigan that have publicly adopted a resolution calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. Those municipalities are – Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck and Detroit. This further proves that local municipalities can take a stance on these matters, especially when community members make demands.
Grand Rapids City Officials have taken a stand on US foreign policy matters in the past
The response that this is “outside” of the work that City Commissioners are tasked with is simply false. In the early 1980s, when community members who were working on an South African Anti-Apartheid campaign approached the City, they were able to get the City of Grand Rapids to divest funds from the bank the City had their money in and move it to a different bank, since the bank they had been doing business with was profiting from South African Apartheid. You can read the resolution that was adopted by Grand Rapids City officials at this link, pages 33 – 35, plus all the community organization letters endorsing the effort that follow.
In addition, it is worth noting that beginning in 2003, community members had demanded that the City take a stance against the US invasion/occupation of Iraq. The City never fulfilled that demand, but they did hold several listening/discussion sessions on the matter, thus demonstrating once again that if the community engaged them to act around issues that were outside of City business, that they listened to the community.
Grand Rapids Commissioner maintained their unwillingness to act against genocide in Gaza
Despite all of the impassioned pleas from activists and organizers, several of which were Palestinian Americans living in Grand Rapids, City officials refused to take a stand and meet the demands that were presented to them. The refusal on the part of Grand Rapids City officials to meet the demands, begs the question as to why?
Passing a resolution that would call for an immediate ceasefire would demonstrate that City officials do not condone the murder of nearly 20,000 Palestinians, which includes over 7,000 Palestinian children. Such a resolution would signal to the mostly young activists that elected officials can be swayed to do the right thing and be part of a global movement that is also demanding an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
The 2nd demand was to merely request that Grand Rapids City officials have a conversation with Rep. Scholten and Senators Peters and Stabenow, primarily around the idea that of the of the federal taxes that leave Grand Rapids on an annual basis – $2,815,720.00 – goes towards the $3.8 billion that the US provides to Israel in military aid. These kinds of conversations are critical, since it means that members of Congress have to think about how local communities, like Grand Rapids, are impacted and how that amount of money could go directly to things like the current housing crisis that plagues this city. These kinds of potential conversations are what we need Grand Rapids City officials to have with members of Congress, since that amount of money, which is currently being used to murder Palestinian civilians, could meet the concrete needs of so many people right here in Grand Rapids.
Despite the unwillingness of Grand Rapids City officials, activists and organizers who are committed to being in solidarity with Palestine will continue to organize and speak out until there is a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. For updates on actions and events go to https://www.facebook.com/PalestineSolidarityGR.
News coverage of new downtown benches omits important information, critique of hostile architecture
On Friday, WOODTV8 ran a story about the new benches being installed in downtown Grand Rapids.
The headline for the online post on channel 8 reads, Grand Rapids’ new benches: ‘Beautiful’ or ‘aggressive’? The story interviews the director of Communications for Downtown Grand Rapids Inc, Bill Kirk. The channel 8 story claims that the new benches are being installed because of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., which they identify as a non-profit.
Additionally, WOODTV8 interviewed Kelly Roper, the owner of SHOW Salon, who also supports the new benches, along with Anthony Cargill, who is experiencing homelessness, according to the reporter. Cargill doesn’t support the new benches, because they don’t allow people to lay down on them. The new benches have dividers, which Kirk says will assist people when standing up.
While I appreciate the fact that someone who is part of the unhoused community was interviewed, channel 8 didn’t interview community groups that were part of the effort to oppose the ordinances that the City of Grand Rapids adopted, ordinances that some community groups said would further criminalize the unhoused. In fact, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union was the primary group involved in the organized opposition, which started in late 2022, when the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce put forth their own proposed ordinance, with the city adopting their own version – although similar – in July of 2023.
These new benches that Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. has initiated are part of a strategy being used by municipalities in the past few decades that is a direct response to city officials and businesses communities trying to keep the unhoused away from downtown areas. Some refer to this as anti-homeless architecture, while others call it hostile architecture. Here are some examples of what hostile architecture looks like, with number 2 being similar to the benches that Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. has initiated in Grand Rapids.
Another major omission in the WOODTV8 story is their failure to see the connection to those who signed on to the GR Chamber of Commerce ordinance proposal and its connection to those who are Board Members of Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI). In screen shot below is that of the current DGRI Board, with a star next to the names of people who were signatories to the GR Chamber of Commerce proposed ordinance and the two Grand Rapids City officials who endorsed the criminalize the unhoused ordinances adopted in July. Groups like Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. will also have people on their boards who reflect either centers of political power or economic power. I’m guessing that channel 8 didn’t even consider these connections, as for-profit news agencies don’t often consider how systems of power function, and rarely do they even shine a light on those same systems.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 