Confronting the harsh realities of breathable air, the need for Climate Justice and Radical Imagination
Grand Rapids has the worst air quality in the US right now. This is the headline that I keep seeing over and over on numerous news outlets.
If you go to AirNow.gov and put in your zip code, you can see what the air quality is right now. While I am writing, it says that the Air Quality Index is 202 of Particle Pollution, which means that the air is very unhealthy to breathe and can cause damage to the lungs and heart. It is especially dangerous for those who already have sensitive or compromised respiratory issues.
Right now, it is not safe for me to go outside and work in my garden, so I will stay inside until I have to go to work, where most of the residents in the adult foster care facility I work at have health conditions that put them at a very high risk with the current air quality.
What is it that we were saying at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, that this was the new normal. Lets’ face it, the current air quality is not just because of the Canadian wildfires, it is the result of the current Climate Disaster that we are facing on a global scale. We cannot be content with the fact that rejoining the Paris Accords is an adequate response to the current Climate Catastrophe, especially since the Paris Accords are largely a market based solution to the Climate Crisis.
It is important that we come to terms with the fact that the US environmental movement, since the first Earth Day in the early 70s, has primarily been a white movement. This is not to say that the mainstream environmental movement has not done important work, but the white-led movement has not made the lives of Black, indigenous of latinx people a priority. And it’s not a question that environmental groups need to start recruiting Black, indigenous and latinx members, since that is definitely an inappropriate response, indeed, it is a racist response. What environmental groups need to do is to educate themselves about how larger ecological issues are impacting communities of color, they need to listen to Black, indigenous and latinx voices and then ask what they can do to support the ecological concerns of those communities.
A good place to start would be to learn about the Environmental Justice Movement, which began in the early 1980s, and was specifically a response to the white environmental-led organizations and their failure to see structural racism as an environmental issue. Read the statement and principles that came out of the Environmental Justice Movement, which is radically different than what white eco-groups were/are about. The preamble to the Environmental Justice Movement state reads:
WE, THE PEOPLE OF COLOR, gathered together at this multinational People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, to begin to build a national and international movement of all peoples of color to fight the destruction and taking of our lands and communities, do hereby re-establish our spiritual interdependence to the sacredness of our Mother Earth; to respect and celebrate each of our cultures, languages and beliefs about the natural world and our roles in healing ourselves; to ensure environmental justice; to promote economic alternatives which would contribute to the development of environmentally safe livelihoods; and, to secure our political, economic and cultural liberation that has been denied for over 500 years of colonization and oppression, resulting in the poisoning of our communities and land and the genocide of our peoples, do affirm and adopt these Principles of Environmental Justice:
The Environmental Justice Movement is rooted in the struggle against Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy and Capitalism, thus any white-led environmental group needs to be about the same kinds of things.
White-led environmental groups put too much faith in government to make the changes we seek. How can we realistically expect governments, at any level, to actually fulfill the will of the people? Governments are too compromised by the power of the fossil fuel industry and business in general. All one has to do is look at how much money corporations give to candidates and how much money they spend on lobbying to realize that local, state and federal governments are help captive by the power of these corporations, plus they are compromised by their allegiance to the economic system of capitalism.
Again, we need to learn from to global climate justice movement, which is primarily led by Black, indigenous and other communities of color. We need to see how the resistance at Standing Rock and all other indigenous-led struggles against fossil fuel companies are using Direct Action as their strategies for resistance, not collaborating with big business, like most of the mainstream, white-led eco groups, often referred to as Gang Green.
Another critical issue with the mainstream, white-led eco groups is their failure to take a stand against militarism. US militarism and US imperialism is one of the main driving forces behind Climate Change. A recent report from the National Priorities Project and the Institute for Policy Studies, shows that 62% of discretionary sending by the US is on militarism, which is a major contributor to the current Climate Catastrophe. How can we claim to fight for Climate Justice and a real sustainable future, when the US spends nearly two-thirds of its budget on militarism?
Virtually every week there is a new study that comes out about human-caused climate change and the need for radical structural change before it is too late. Unfortunately, most of the white-led environmental groups are still spending most of their energy trying to either get people to change their personal consumption habits or appeal to governments to enact change. We have to stop being fooled by these approaches, start coming to terms with the seriousness of climate change and start learning from Black, indigenous and other communities of color that are rooted the struggle against White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism and Capitalism.
We need to radically imagine a different kind of future. We can no longer afford to think that we can maintain our current levels of consumption and our way of life, by simply using green energy. This is a false solution and it is a lie. We cannot return to normal after the pandemic, since before the pandemic, the systems of White Supremacy, Capitalism, Heterosexism, Ablism and Patriarchy were the norm and still are. If we want a future as human beings, then there needs to be serious, radical and revolutionary goals to work towards. Here is a short list, all of which are connected to Climate Justice, if we are willing to do the intellectual, emotional, social and cultural work to see how these things are connected.
- We need to acknowledge that we are all living on indigenous land.
- We need to ask indigenous communities what they want from us moving forward.
- We need Defund the US military. The US military is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels and its primary function is to occupy other people’s lands and protect the interests of global capitalists.
- If we Defund the US military ($886 billion for 2023), imagine how that kind of funding on an annual basis could radically alter lives of people, particularly BIPOC communities.
- Abolish the Police. Again, it would reduce violence against, Black, indigenous and latinx communities and re-direct police budgets to those communities.
- All environmental groups must incorporate into their missions an anti-Settler Colonial, anti-White Supremacy, anti-militarism, and anti-Capitalist framework.
- Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex.
- Abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Abolish the Agri-business system of food and practice Food Justice and Food Sovereignty.
- End all Fossil Fuel Subsidies and demand reparations from the fossil fuel industry for decades of ecological destruction, the murder of countless Black, indigenous and latinx people and the role that the fossil fuel industry has played in deny climate change.
- Make all utilities publicly controlled, and by public I mean community-based control.
- Make public transit free.
- Make housing free for everyone.
- Make health care free for everyone.
- End wage slavery.
- End representative government and move towards direct democracy and local control.
There are plenty on news entities that exist in the greater Grand Rapids area, many of which GRIID has monitored over the past 25 years.
With the digital age of journalism, the amount of news has grown exponentially, but such growth hasn’t often resulted in more drive-by journalism, journalism that doesn’t hold systems of power accountable, and journalism that provides little or no historical context.
How many people have heard of wearegrandrapids.com? It is a more recent local “news” entity that practices drive-by journalism, which is journalism that tries to get clicks and rarely provides any follow up stories or contextual information. wearegrandrapids.com is owned by Town Square Media, a media conglomerate that is the largest owner of radio stations in the country, with 357 radio stations and 74 websites like wearegrandrapids.com.
Yesterday, wearegrandrapids.com post such a story, entitled, Have You Ever Heard about the Wealthy Street Boys in Grand Rapids? The article is written by Joe Pesh, who is an on air personality for WGRD radio. He has no formal training in journalism and his story is primarily based on stories that Joe’s wife’s uncle told him when he was a patrol officer with the GRPD in the 1990s. In addition, the images used with the story are nothing more than stills taken from a WOODTV8 news clip from 1997.
The article was essentially a joke by any reasonable journalistic standards. However, what the article actually does is to first, normalize White Supremacist ideology, and secondly, to engage in historical revisionism, by presenting a Black gang that dealt crack cocaine as nostalgia.
Both of these dynamics are deeply problematic. The story normalizes White Supremacy, since it presents mostly images of Black people who fit all the stereotypes about that most white people believe when it comes to drugs and Black people. Even asking the question, Have You Ever Heard about the Wealthy Street Boys in Grand Rapids?, reflects a White Supremacist ideology, since the writer had no intention of discussing the larger historical context about the very existence of a Black gang in Grand Rapids.
When it comes to historical revisionism, the post on wearegrandrapids.com fails to explore a who range of issues that would be extremely relevant to our collective understanding on the larger War on Drugs in the US that began with the Nixon Administration. For those wanting to explore more deeply how the US War on Drugs was designed to specifically target Black communities, with a strategic plan to expand the use of state violence against the Black population, then read Clarence Lusane’s book, Pipe Dream Blues: Racism and the War on Drugs.
In addition, it is vitally important that we understand the larger context of why there was a Black gang on Wealthy Street in the late 1990s in the first place. Here are some of the major contributing factors:
- During the 1960s, and especially after the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids, white people were leaving the urban core of Grand Rapids in large numbers. This resulted in a massive disinvestment in neighborhoods that had become predominantly Black.
- The US economy had become de-industrialized, especially beginning in the 1970s and culminated with the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, which has resulted in massive job displacement, which Public Citizen has documented.
- Part of the massive dis-investment in the urban core was caused by white flight, but it was also the result of the 1995 ballot initiative in Grand Rapids to increase the number of cops and to provide even more of the City’s budget to the GRPD. This meant that a minimum of 33% of the City’s budget would now be spent on policing.
- Members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure wanted to make downtown Grand Rapids a tourist destination. There became a massive effort to “revitalize” downtown, an effort that was largely led by the DeVos family and led to the creation of Grand Action in the early 1990s to design development projects that those with deep pockets would primarily benefit from. The first project was the Van Andel Arena.
- In 1996, the Clinton Administration functionally ended welfare as we know it, by signing into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. This policy was designed to force people who were utilizing the state’s safety net to get work, which resulted in the perpetuation and expansion of poverty in the US, particularly in BIPOC communities.
Therefore, when you dismantle much of the manufacturing sector, reduce government assistance, disinvest in Black neighborhoods and increase the number of cops and budgets for policing, you will create a cause and effect dynamic that both forces people into illegal means of making money, and a justification to punish them at the same time. All of this should be understood as Structural Racism in Grand Rapids, which I discuss in Chapter 2 of my book, A People’s History of Grand Rapids.
On Saturday, some 20 members of Movimiento Cosecha made the trek from West Michigan to Detroit to pay a visit to Rep. Tullio Liberati’s home.
Everyone rode down together, which provided opportunities for people talk and visit with each other, especially since it was a 3 hour drive. Most of the people who were talking were from Mexico, and they were talking about what part of the country they were from and regional language differences. However, what caught my attention most, was the conversations they were having about food. While I sat there listening to these conversations I thought to myself that these people not only have great relationships with each other, but they are rooted in and connected by deep cultural bonds.
Once we arrived to our destination, we parked about 6 blocks away from Rep. Liberati’s home. The group decided to walk there with signs and banners, but waited until they arrived at the Representative’s home before unfurling the banner, engaging in chants and live-streaming the action.
Most of the Cosecha members stood on the sidewalk, facing the house and began chanting Driver’s Licenses Now! A small delegation walked up to Rep. Liberati’s home and knocked on the door, hoping to engage him in conversation about the current Driver’s Licenses bill. After several knocking attempts, no one came to the door. However, the group continued to chant and livestream the action, explaining why passing Driver’s Licenses for All was so urgent and important.
Eventually, several neighbors came out of their homes and a few walked over the see what was happening. One Latina mother was very receptive to the Cosecha action and talked with organizers for several minutes. Then there was an older white man who seemed confused about what was happening and thought that since the Representative wasn’t home, that it didn’t make sense to keep chanting. As the crowd safety person I let him know that this action was being livestream, so continuing the action was still relevant and important for sending a message.
A few other people driving in the vehicles, stopped to take pictures/video and most seemed supportive of what was happening.
Why target Rep. Liberati, a Democrat?
Ever since the November 2022 Election, it has been know that the Democrats now controlled the State House, the State Senate and the Governor’s office in Michigan. They have set their priorities and already passed some mild reforms. However, not all of the Democrats in the State House support passing a Driver’s Licenses for All bill, with Rep. Liberati being one of them.
The coalition of groups that haver been working on passing this legislation, known as Drive Michigan Forward, has been working in the inside game, hoping to pressure State lawmakers to adopt the introduced legislation on driver’s licenses. They have been meeting with elected officials, doing some public education and phone banking to get the driver’s licenses bill passed.
Movimiento Cosecha has been working on this issue for a longer period of time, at least since 2018, even before there was proposed legislation. This immigrant justice movement chose to work on this issue, because that is what the undocumented immigrant group has been demanding. Movimiento Cosecha has also been working with Drive Forward Michigan to get this current legislation passed and encouraging people to contact legislators to support the bill.
However, Cosecha also believes in pressuring elected officials in multiple ways, especially using Direct Action as a tactic to pressure politicians to meet their demands. Cosecha has continued to visit the offices and homes of Democrats who are either not on board with passing the current driver’s licenses bill or those who are not moving quickly enough on this urgent matter. I wrote about the lack of Democratic Party participation in the May Day march organized by Cosecha, which included the Senate Majority leader Winnie Brinks.
What people have to realize is that without driver’s licenses, the undocumented immigrant community is at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. Like any family, they primarily rely on driving cars to go to work, to buy groceries, take their kids to school or to medical appointments. Movimiento Cosecha went to Rep Liberati’s home on Saturday to communicate this urgency, especially because of the fact that if the Democrat-control Michigan legislature doesn’t pass this bill before next Thursday, they will be off for the next two months.
It is urgent that people send messages to the people in the graphic here below and tell them to make passing a driver’s licenses bill a top priority. The undocumented immigrant community lives in constant fear and many of them don’t have the luxury of taking time off to vacation, like the members of the Michigan legislature. Democrats can’t continue to to claim to support progressive issues and then not take action to adopt policies that the communities most impacted are demanding.
On Thursday, June 22nd, GRIID interviewed Delia Fernandez-Jones, Professor of history at MSU and author of the recent book, Making the MexiRican City: Migration, Placemaking, and Activism in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
This interview is 25 minutes and 30 seconds long, plus we include the interview questions here below. At the end of the video interview, Delia said these were the best interview questions she has been asked about the book since it came out.
GRIID – What motivated you or inspired you to write this book?
GRIID – You told me in a previous conversation that you grew up in Grand Rapids and that your family ran a business here. How did that lived experience impact how you approached the book?
GRIID – Your book focuses primarily on the Mexican and Puerto Rican diaspora population in Grand Rapids, between the 1950s and the late 1970s. What was it about this time period that compelled you to write about it?
GRIID – There were some interesting entities that existed in the period covered in your book, probably none more so than the Latin American Council. What sort of things did this entity accomplish during the years it was in operation?
GRIID – What have been some of the largest challenges for the communities that you wrote about, especially considering how entrenched the white, conservative power structure is in Grand Rapids?
GRIID – In your book, you talk about some individuals who thought that the Latin American Council was too mainstream and that they were presenting a more radical approach to making change. In other cities there were groups like the Brown Berets or the Young Lords, but these movements did not exist in Grand Rapids, so do you think that those challenging the LAC were politically radical?
GRIID – The Latin American population has become even more diverse in Grand Rapids in recent decades, especially with the large Central American population. How has this shift in the make up of Latino/Latinx population been a benefit and/or a challenge to the previous generations of Mexican and Puerto Ricans in Grand Rapids?
60 years ago a freedom march was held in Detroit, sort of a test run for the march in Washington
While most people are familiar with the great march on Washington that took place in 1963, the freedom march in Detroit two months prior is lesser known.
On Sunday, June 23, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr led 200,000 marchers in Detroit to demand freedom, jobs and equality. Part of the reason that there was such a large turnout was because of work of a Black coalition of workers called the Trade Union Leadership Council and the grassroots organizing of Rev. Al Cleage Jr. After the march there was a rally held at Cobo Hall, where Rev. Cleage Jr spoke, along with several other civil rights leaders. Cleage Jr. urged marchers to boycott A&P Stores until they hire Black store manager.
Unfortunately, mot of the commercial media didn’t include comments from Rev. Cleage Jr., chasing instead to focus on what Dr. King had to say. For example, the Grand Rapids Press quoted Dr. King, saying, “We want all our right, and we want them here and we want them now.” In fact, there were two articles in the Grand Rapids Press (Pages 1 – 4) about the Detroit march in June of 1963. Neither of the articles on the Detroit march were on the front page and a great deal of the focus was on whether or not the march was peaceful. There was some coverage of the fact that a list of demands on civil rights were made, but only a few of those demands were mentioned in the articles.
It is unfortunate that there was not more substantial coverage of what Dr. King had to say. In his June 23, 1963 speech, which was powerful and included a demand from the Johnson Administration to proclaim a second Emancipation proclamation, one that focused on economic freedom. Reminiscent of his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. King stated in his speech after the march:
They are telling us over and over again that you’re pushing things too fast, and so they’re saying, “Cool off.” Well, the only answer that we can give to that is that we’ve cooled off all too long, and that is the danger. There’s always the danger if you cool off too much that you will end up in a deep freeze. “Well,” they’re saying, “you need to put on brakes.” The only answer that we can give to that is that the motor’s now cranked up and we’re moving up the highway of freedom toward the city of equality, and we can’t afford to stop now because our nation has a date with destiny. We must keep moving.
The June 23, 1963 march on Detroit was organized primarily by Dr. King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the UAW. Both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the UAW President Walter Reuther were featured speakers at the march.
In many ways, the Detroit march was held as sort of a test run to see if these organizations could pull off a march with hundreds of thousands of people. Detroit was chosen because the UAW had a large number of union members in the Motor City and Detroit was also one of the most critical northern cities with a major black population that was representative of police violence against blacks and other forms of structural racism.
In fact, the issue of police violence would haunt Detroit residents again, just days after the June 23, 1963 march, when a young Black woman named Cynthia Scott, was shot twice in the back by a Detroit cop. Three days later, the prosecutor ruled that the cop who shot Cynthia Scott out of self defense because Scott was a “fleeing suspect.”
I end with this post with the murder of Cynthia Scott to elevate Dr. King’s point about not giving in to gradualism or reformism, but to take seriously the urgency of the moment, especially for Black Americans.
Sources used in this post:
All Labor Has Dignity: Martin Luther King Jr., edited and introduced by Michael Honey
A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Abuses of Civil Rights History, by Jeanne Theoharis
A People’s History of Detroit, by Mark Jay and Philip Conklin
The Political function of Philanthropy: DeVos Family Foundations – Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation
“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.
Over the next several weeks, GRIID will provide some information and analysis of 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 possible scrutiny. So far we have posted article about the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, plus the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation.
Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation
GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation has been one of the largest in West Michigan, which was founded in 1992. According to GuideStar, in 2020, the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation contributed $16,590,424, leaving them with $79,921,409 of funds left in their foundation. To see the 990 document for 2020 from the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, go here.
The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2020, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few. Below is a listing of each from these categories, with a dollar amount and a brief analysis.
We also include groups that are DeVos owned or created, along with liberal non-profits. With the liberal non-profits, we believe that funding from foundations like the DeVos family foundations is a form of hush money. When we say hush money, we mean that these entities will not publicly challenge the system of Capitalism, the wealth gap, structural racism and other systems of oppression, which the DeVos family benefits from and perpetuates through their own political funding.
Religious Right
- Alliance for Children Everywhere – $100,000
- Base Camp Urban Outreach – $20,000
- Bridge St. House of Prayer – $50,000
- Christian Leader NFP – $50,000
- Covenant House Michigan – $25,000
- Keystone Community Church – $120,000
- Life International Inc – $100,000
- Luis Palau Association – $150,000
- Partners Worldwide – $40,000
- Pregnancy Resource Center – $30,000
- Young Life – $50,000
Far Right Think Tanks
- Acton Institute – $75,000
- American Enterprise Institute – $500,000
- Mackinac Center – $50,000
- National Constitution Center – $2,000,000
- The Seminar Network Inc. – $500,000
Education-centered groups
- Calvin University – $100,000
- Cornerstone University – $30,000
- Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative – $265,000
- Godwin Heights Public Schools – $48,000
- Grand Rapids Christian Schools – $161,000
- Grand Rapids Community College Foundation – $631,000
- Grand Rapids Public Schools – $93,500
- Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation – $720,000
- Grand Valley State University – $195,000
- Hope Academy of West Michigan – $78,500
- K-Connect – $125,000
- Leading Educators Inc – $1,855,250
- Ottawa Area ISD – $87,000
- Potter’s House – $125,000
- Purdue Research Foundation – $5,175,000
- Rehoboth Christian School – $200,000
- The NYC Leadership Academy Inc – $345,000
- Wake Forest University – $250,000
The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation has a long history of contributing to the Grand Rapids Public Schools, particularly through the GRPS foundation, known as the Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation, which we documented in 2019.
DeVos-owned, created or connected groups
- ArtPrize – $50,000
- Grand Action Foundation 2.0 – $50,000
- Grand Rapids Initiative for Leaders – $30,500
- Orlando Magic Youth Foundation – $90,000
- West MI Aviation Academy Foundation – $315,000
Groups receiving Hush $
- Access of West Michigan – $30,000
- Baxter Community Center – $50,000
- Bethany Christian Services – $475,000
- Degage Ministries – $165,000
- Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids – $200,000
- Family Promise of Grand Rapids – $135,000
- First Steps Kent – $75,000
- Heart of West Michigan United Way – $525,000
- ICCF – $30,000
- Kent County Habitat for Humanity – $125,000
- Kids Food Basket – $27,500
- Lifequest – $20,000
- Oakdale Neighbors – $37,120
- Safe Haven Ministries – $120,000
- The Other Way Ministries – $60,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service – people fleeing domestic violence, those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and immigration. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the DeVos family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups. One thing that is unique about the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation is the amount of money they give to non-profits that are in the 3rd Ward of Grand Rapids, where AmplifyGR is location, which is an entity they created.
Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The Doug and Maria DeVos has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID documented 10 years ago when we started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, like all of the DeVos family foundation, compliments the campaign contributions they make to further impact public policy and promote their religious and capitalist ideologies.
Back in December, the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce put forth a proposed ordinance that would criminalize the unhoused so that businesses, shoppers and tourists would not have to be bothered by the presence of those who are being slowly crushed by capitalism.
The GR Chamber proposal would criminalize the unhoused for coming within a certain distance of business entrances, bus stops, ATMs and other sites in downtown Grand Rapids. In addition, it would punish people for lying down on park benches or in doorways. Fines would be levied for the first infraction. or jail for those unable to pay the fine – which would be virtually every person who is unhoused, and jail for a second infraction, along with an increased fine. You can read all the details of the Chamber proposed ordinance here.
In response the City of Grand Rapids said, well, we have numerous ordinances in place already and we want to see if more enforcement will work. The City of Grand Rapids, specifically through the Public Safety Committee, then held a few community forums, paid an outside agency money to facilitate them and then provided a summary of those sham meetings to the committee at their May 23rd meeting, which you can read here.
At the Public Safety Committee’s May 23rd meeting, members of that committee made some pretty awful comments about the unhoused and those struggling with mental health issues.
Now the City of Grand Rapids is proposing new ordinances in order to deal with the unhoused, which they see as a nuisance. On top of that, the City’s ordinance proposal shares some of the same language and punishments directed at the unhoused that the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce proposed 6 months ago. However, the City of Grand Rapids will not adopt the proposed ordinance before allowing the public to weigh in at their 2pm meeting on July 11, a meeting which is conveniently at a time when most people are unavailable.
The City of Grand Rapids made this decision to host a public hearing during that June 13th meeting of the Committee of the Whole. You can read the newly proposed ordinance language at this link, beginning at page 109. It is worth reading these new proposals side by side with the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce proposal, 
which you can find here.
MLive reported on the City’s new ordinance proposals and the public hearing as well. They provided a brief summary of the proposals, cited Grand Rapids City officials and Josh Lunger from the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce. Lunger was provided with lots of space to talk. MLive wrote:
Josh Lunger, the chamber’s vice president of government affairs, said Tuesday the organization is excited to see the ordinances proposed Tuesday as well as additional supports that the city says will address the concerns raised last winter. “Our top priority is that we want to have a thriving community that’s vibrant, that’s active, where people feel safe and comfortable and they want to come out and enjoy this,” Lunger said. “And if this moves us there then we will be thrilled.”
Lunger makes a living trying to influence public policy, which isn’t that difficult considering how much the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce contributes to get people elected to the City, County and State offices. Also, his notion of a thriving community that is safe and comfortable is really his way of saying that the Chamber, and now Grand Rapids City officials, want the business community, consumers and tourists to feel safe and comfortable. It also means that Lunger and his accomplices at City Hall are complicit in the criminalization of the unhoused, those that are the very victims of the brand of Capitalism the City and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce embrace.
Fortunately, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union, along with other potential groups in Grand Rapids, will be organizing an effort to counter the Chamber of Commerce/City of Grand Rapids plans to criminalize the unhoused. Go to their Facebook page to find upcoming actions and information resources to oppose the criminalization of the unhoused.
Last week, a worker at WOODTV8, posted a comment on social media stating that management at channel 8 had sent out a memo, which said that they were going to scale back on Pride coverage and that if they are covering Pride events to “consider how to make the story balanced and get both sides of the issues,” according to a story on MLive.
The MLive article also cited a WOODTV8 News anchor Michele DeSelms, who wrote on Twitter that by mandating staff cover the “other side” of Pride events, they would be required to give “equal time to hate and discrimination.” DeSelms also stated:
“Our newsroom immediately stood up to the 2 managers who wrote a memo mandating that we cover ‘the other side’ of Pride events: essentially requiring us to give equal time to hate and discrimination. We said no, and will continue to fight for our LGBTQ colleagues, family members, friends and the community. This fight is not over.”
These comments, and others, from channel 8 staff are encouraging. In addition, A spokesperson for Nexstar Media Group, the corporate parent of WOOD TV, issued an apology Thursday, June 15, and said the memo isn’t consistent with the company’s values.
“We’re looking into the situation at WOOD-TV, as the communication regarding the station’s coverage of Pride month activities in the area is not consistent with Nexstar’s values, the way we cover the news, or the respect we have for our viewers,” said Nexstar spokesperson Gary Weitman.
Personally, I’m not convinced by the Nexstar “apology”, considering that broadcast media conglomerates are primarily driven by ratings, not by content or journalistic integrity. As someone who has monitored the local commercial media market in West Michigan over the past three decades, I can tell you that providing space for anti-LGBTQ voices and perspectives happens all the time, whether those voices are coming from the political right or the religious right. In fact, so much of the parent push-back on book bans and school curriculum is driven by organized homophobia and transphobia. And the parent groups, politicians and religious leaders who take an anti-LGBTQ point of view are regular sources in local news media reporting, including WOODTV8.
A second point about this controversy over reporting on LGBTQ issues, like Pride, is that to the degree that there has been improvement from local newsroom is a direct result of the decades-long organizing that the LGBTQ movement has done to challenge institutions like the news media. We need to always remember this point, whether we are talking about racial justice or LGBTQ justice, the work of movements is at the root of why things have changed or improved.
WOODTV8 giving space to the Religious Right and the LGBTQ movement holding them accountable
In 2009, the Indymedia group I was involved in, Media Mouse, posted this story on how WOODTV8 was planning on providing an anti-LGBTQ group a slot to post their hate message. Here is that story:
According to reports in the Grand Rapids Press and online, WOOD-TV is considering airing a paid program produced by the American Family Association that purports to expose “the radical homosexual agenda” and “its impact on the family, the nation, and religious freedom.”
The special–titled “Speechless”–was originally supposed to air on WOOD TV an hour before President Barack Obama’s news conference Monday. However, the program was pulled because the station believed that it was not the appropriate lead-in to the news conference. WOOD TV 8’s General Manager released a statement saying:
“The scheduling of the show slipped through our filters…
We don’t pre-judge people’s ideas or opinions…
However, we have restrictions on controversial programming and key time periods. We are willing to sell a paid program time period during traditional paid program times. We have offered them Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009 from 2-3 p.m. We have not heard if they have accepted that time period. If the show airs, we will have disclaimers at the beginning and end of the show stating that these are not the opinions or views of this station.”
WOOD TV is clearly intending to run the program–lets not forget that it will make them money–thereby ignoring the anti-gay nature of the program. Critics have pointed to the American Family Association’s history of anti-gay activism as well as inaccurate claims made in the film as reasons for the station not to air it.
Colette Beighley of Grand Valley State University’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center called the program “irresponsible programming” in The Grand Rapids Press stating:
“If an organization came into Grand Rapids and wanted to air biased programming slamming the Asian community, West Michigan would send a message that that puts Asians brothers and sisters at risk.” Beighley also said. “Grand Rapids wants to be a cool city and one of the cornerstones of a cool city is diversity.”
There was also a Facebook group that got lots of people to contact WOODTV8 and demand that they not give the American Family Association airtime to promote their anti-LGBTQ ideology. The campaign was effective and channel 8 pulled the plug, thus denying the American Family Association an opportunity to broadcast their hate-filled message in West Michigan.
Juneteenth celebrations are happening all throughout Grand Rapids over the next several days, like the one that is happening on Monday, June 19th at Dickinson Park.
Interestingly enough, when I visited the City of Grand Rapids site, I came across information about how most City services will be closed on Monday, in observation of Juneteenth. Certainly one might think, well how nice that the City of Grand Rapids is not only acknowledging Juneteenth, but giving many of their employees the day off. I’m not as excited by the City’s announcement, in fact, I am pissed off by it.
Juneteenth is celebrated because on June 19th 1865, some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas to make sure that Black people who were still enslaved in Texas would be able to gain their freedom. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.
So, if Juneteenth is rooted in Black people gaining their freedom, then shouldn’t we evaluate the City of Grand Rapids’s current treatment of Black people in this community? Actions do speak louder than words.
Grand Rapids and the Black Community
There are no shortage of metrics to figure out how Black people are doing in Grand Rapids and how committed the City of Grand Rapids is to supporting the only emancipation of Black people.
According to a Kent County Health Department report, 32.9% of Black people live in poverty in Grand Rapids.
The City of Grand Rapids has not adequately invested in the 3rd Ward, where a disproportionate number of Blacks live. However, the City doesn’t hesitate to spend millions when it comes to projects like the downtown Amphitheater.
Most Black people living in Grand Rapids do not make a living wage, which means a disproportionate number of Black people do not own homes and are forced to rent. However, even with rental costs at an all time high, according to the National Low Income Hosing Coalition, rental costs in Grand Rapids would require people to make on average $25.50 an hour to afford rent.
The level of policing by the GRPD in Black neighborhoods is disproportionately higher than white majority neighborhoods. Black people continue to be targeted, harassed and intimidated by the GRPD, which results in their being a higher incarceration rate for Black people from Grand Rapids.
Black-led groups like Defund the GRPD have been demanding a reduction of the GRPD’s budget since 2020, a reduction to at least the 1995 Charter minimum of 33% of the budget. This would free up millions that could be invested in the Black community to meet the needs that they would determine.
The GRPD murder of Patrick Lyoya, despite BIPOC organizers pleas to defund, plus these same organizer predicted this would happen. On top of that, since Patrick’s murder, the BIPOC organizers who have been speaking out against his death at the hands of the GRPD, which has resulted in the GRPD targeting them with harassment and arrest. Even a Coalition of Grand Rapids Pastor’s called out the city for their treatment of people protesting Lyoya’s murder.
These are only a few examples of how Black people are treated in Grand Rapids. However, the evidence is pretty damning and if Grand Rapids wants to really celebrate and honor Juneteenth, then they ought to work on advocating for the ongoing freedom that Black people deserve.
The Political function of Philanthropy: DeVos Family Foundations – Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation
“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.
Over the next several weeks, GRIID will provide some information and analysis of 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 possible scrutiny.
Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation
GRIID has always begun our Foundation Watch work by looking at the foundations associated with the most powerful family in West Michigan, the DeVos family. The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has been one of the largest in West Michigan, which was founded in 1989, the same time that Dick DeVos was the CEO of Amway. According to GuideStar, in 2020, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation contributed $12,994,900, leaving them with $50,056,750 of funds left in their foundation. To see the 990 document for 2020 from the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, go here.
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2020, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few. Below is a listing of each from these categories, with a dollar amount and a brief analysis.
We also include groups that are DeVos owned or created, along with liberal non-profits. With the liberal non-profits, we believe that funding from foundations like the DeVos family foundations is a form of hush money. When we say hush money, we mean that these entities will not publicly challenge the system of Capitalism, the wealth gap, structural racism and other systems of oppression, which the DeVos family benefits from and perpetuates through their own political funding.
Religious Right
- Family Legacy Missions International – $10,000
- Haggai Institute International – $10,000
- Museum of the Bible Inc. – $50,000
- Partners Worldwide – $25,000
- Right to Life of Michigan – $25,000
- School of Missionary Aviation Technology – $120,000
- Teachers Who Pray Inc – $100,000
- Willow Creek Association – $860,000
These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the DeVos family is committed to. For instance, Right to Life Michigan spent $9,343,500 to defeat Prop 3, which allows people to legally chose to have an abortion.
Far Right Think Tanks
- Acton Institute – $70,000
- American Enterprise Institute – $350,000
- Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy – $640,000
- Mackinac Center for Public Policy – $50,000
- National Review Institute – $150,000
- Prager University Foundation – $70,000
These Think Tanks influence public policy in individual states, like the Acton Institute and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy does in Michigan. The American Enterprise Institute does the same think at the federal level, which is why they are based in DC.
Education-centered groups
- Alliance for School Choice – $1,000,000
- Ferris State University – $10,000
- Foundation for Excellence in Education – $10,000
- Grand Rapids Community College Foundation – $150,000
- Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation – $25,000
- Grand Valley State University – $150,000
- Holland Christian Education Society – $100,000
- Michigan State University – $212,500
- Northwood University – $253,000
- Potter’s House – $400,000
- University of Maryland Park College Foundation – $750,000
Some of these education centers are local, where the DeVos family has spent decades cultivating relationships and influencing campus policies. Then there are groups like Alliance for School Choice, which promotes education privatization, an organization that has worked closely with Dick and Betsy DeVos for several decades.
DeVos-owned, created or connected groups
- ArtPrize Grand Rapids – $250,000
- Grand Action Foundation 2.0 – $100,000
- Grand Rapids Initiative for Leaders – $10,000
- Orlando Magic Youth Foundation – $90,000
- Start Garden Foundation – $200,000
- West Michigan Aviation Academy – $390,000
Of course all these entities that were created by DeVos family members, also promote their ideological religious and capitalist values. On top of that, it also means that DeVos family members are funding their own entities and using their foundation to fund their own pet projects, like Start Garden – which promotes entrepreneurial capitalism – or the West Michigan Aviation Academy – because it promotes the privatization of education.
Groups receiving Hush $
- Dégagé Ministries – $105,000
- Dwelling Place of Grand Rapids – $200,000
- Family Promise of Grand Rapids – $100,000
- Inner City Christian Federation – $25,000
- Kids Food Basket – $5000
- Mel Trotter Ministries – $5000
- Wedgewood Christian Services – $255,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service – people fleeing domestic violence, those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and immigration. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the DeVos family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups.
Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The Dick and Betsy DeVos has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID documented 10 years ago when we started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, like all of the DeVos family foundations, compliments the campaign contributions they make to further impact public policy and promote their religious and capitalist ideologies.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 