The Grand Rapids Association of Pastors opened their third year of regular meetings at Madison Place on Thursday, September 21. Since we had a number of new pastors, including a number of pastors new to Grand Rapids, Rev. Kate Kooyman described who we are and what we do: This is a group exclusively for pastors so we can explore uniquely pastoral roles and perspectives on issues of justice. We want this group to be about unity. We want to meet across all lines--urban/suburban, denomination, culture, national origin. Even our meeting schedule is part of this unity: we want to be in each other's churches. We want to be about reconciliation. We know there are reasons we don't know each other and we have to be intentional about crossing lines of animosity to get to know each other. We meet to talk about justice issues, controversial issues to do with politics and policy, because the flourishing of our people is affected by these issues. Pastor Darrell Delaney, Campus Pastor of Madison Square Church, reminded us of Jeremiah 29:7, "And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare." He pointed out that Madison finds it "a privilege and an honor to be in this community" and to work for its peace and prosperity, not only because they have good things to contribute, but also because the people of the community bring good things to them. This was a fitting opening to the meeting, since we were about to hear from Willie Patterson and Jon Ippel about the community development work of AmplifyGR, a nonprofit organization committed to bringing neighbors, local businesses, and community organizations together to "build a more safe, healthy, economically robust community." Amplify works in the Southeast neighborhoods of Boston Square, Cottage Grove, and Madison Square. The Executive Team invited AmplifyGR to talk to G-RAP because, as Rev. Kooyman said, "A lot of deeply impactful issues we're experiencing in our communities are coming together in their work, and they've drawn a lot of heat but not a lot of light." Willie Patterson, Engagement Director of AmplifyGR, was grateful for the opportunity. He noted that his grandfather was a pastor, so he appreciates pastors' "ability to talk about hard things with love." Patterson has worked in the Grand Rapids community his "whole life," at LINC and Believe 2 Become. Executive Director Jon Ippel was thrilled to return to his hometown after ten years in Florida. Amplify grew out of Believe 2 Become's work in the schools of Grand Rapids. The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation and Cheri DeVos Foundations saw that so much of what happened in the schools was affected by what happened in the communities, with housing, child care, economic opportunity. They founded Amplify to address the wider community issues, and, together with Rockford Construction, purchased a number of properties in their targeted neighborhoods. Ippel admitted that their work is full of thorny issues: Before 2009, the question was, 'How do we stem economic and population loss out of our neighborhood?' Now, with the influx of capital into our neighborhood, we have the challenges of gentrification. How do you work on issues of injustice and the rapid move of gentrification?How do we channel the market so equity is grown? How are we protecting and preserving affordable housing at the same time? It's more complicated. But they are committed to working through the complicated issues with a full array of neighborhood, corporate, and civil partnerships. The partnerships are the key to any work that will be done, since Amplify brings the parties together for projects; it doesn't implement any development projects. There are four areas they're focusing attention on:
So far, they're hoping to use the distressed buildings they and Rockford Construction purchased as economic engines to bring in employers that will hire locally and provide a living wage. They're hoping to bring in Grand Rapids Community College for continuing education that will increase economic opportunity. They are talking with the InnerCity Christian Federation and Home Repair Services about housing issues: protecting and preserving opportunities for existing home owners, maintaining rental properties, excessive utility costs, and lead abatement. Ippel stated that, regarding any new construction for housing, they will have "an 'affordable first' strategy." Of course, he admitted that "how we define 'affordable' needs to be fleshed out as we look at where the people are in the neighborhood, as well as tax codes, etc." They are looking at ways to strengthen the public and charter schools in their target area, includes ways to boost English language learning support for the influx of refugees those neighborhoods have seen. And as a result of community conversations, they're looking at child care options as one solution for parents who wish to participate in the economic development that will occur. Willie Patterson spoke about their model for ensuring full participating, which he called holistic engagement. They want to engage all parties with a stake in the thriving of those neighborhoods: residents, faith-based groups, funders, government, non-profits, interest groups, developers, businesses, and schools. As of this writing, they've had three meetings to introduce themselves to neighborhood residents and brainstorm solutions with them. Their hope is to use future community meetings to vote on what the top priorities are, and to drill down to specifics after that. He said that, "we're looking for natural leaders to rise through the process so Amplify is kept accountable." So far, the key opportunities that have come out during the brainstorming sessions are:
Although the meetings are, so far, scheduled through the fall, Ippel said, "We're very early in this process; the scale is decades. We'll keep engaging through the next five to ten years, but the process to get to detailing actions and priorities and establish our governing board will go through December 7." However, the meetings have not gone smoothly. People have been concerned that development will mean displacement of longtime neighborhood residents. They are concerned about the foundations and companies that are behind AmplifyGR. But mostly, many people believe that, as Ippel put it, "There's a secret plan and this is all for show." He was clear that, "We have ideas, but not plans. We're looking at best practices in this community and other places, and learning from the mistakes in other places. Our focus here is how do we journey together to figure out what this will be." Amplify plans to have a governance role for residents, but he was unsure what the exact role would be. Ippel detailed their commitment to diversity across the board, not just in the future construction sites, but with vendors, restaurants, and their own office. He praised Rockford Construction for "leaning into" issues of diversity by looking at ways they can support existing small and emerging companies by helping them build capacity so they will be able to bid for larger jobs when the time comes. One of the pastors expressed concerns about Amplify's use of the East Lake Foundation's work in Atlanta, Georgia as a model, specifically because East Lake decided to exclude people with criminal records from the opportunities they developed. Ippel praised how the East Lake Foundation turned around their community, especially how they took the school district from the worst performing in the state to the fifth best in Atlanta. But he acknowledged that what they created was too restrictive. He said, "We can learn from their failures and incorporate more inclusive processes and outcomes. We don't have a practical path for how to do this regarding criminal records, but we have a commitment to being more inclusive than Atlanta." Another pastor asked for some number they're looking at regarding the affordability of housing. Ippel said that their plan is to have one-third of the housing at very low rates that would be affordable for a household making $18,000 per year or less. The next percentage of affordable rates would apply to those making around $40,00 per year. He admitted that "a lot of this will be dictated by financing, so our hope is to partner with a company with experience with mixed housing." The final question of the meeting came from a pastor who wanted to know what Amplify saw as the bright spots of the neighborhood. Jon Ippel answered without hesitating: The connectivity and neighborliness of the community is strong. Their deep-rooted relationships are a tremendous asset. In our survey, we asked, 'What do people say you're good at?' And we got so many answers about cooking, painting, and the arts. There are tremendous creative talents. So how do we curate the right kinds of spaces that allow people to do what they're great at? Willie Patterson added: This is a community that's wide-awake, that's aware, that's looking for opportunity, resources, and data to make the best decisions. They care about one another, about their homes. The people are the asset. If pastors and church members want more information, or want to be involved in the brainstorming and decision making process, there are a few options:
As we do with all of our speakers, we closed the meeting by praying for Patterson and Ippel personally, and for the work they're doing. Our next meeting is on Thursday, October 19, 11:30am - 1:00pm, at City Life Church at 574 Division Ave S. Here are some resources for those interested in learning more:
The meeting on September 28 ran into problems when it was discovered that, of the 100 people there to vote on action priorities, fewer than 10 were residents of the target neighborhood: "Boston Square residents shut down AmplifyGR vote," the rapidian. "AmplifyGR meeting: What does community ownership look like?" the rapidian "AmplifyGR greeted with skepticism at first community meeting," MLive East Lake Foundation, Atlanta NPR piece about East Lake
1 Comment
Thank you to Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church for hosting us on Thursday, May 18 while you held your weekly lunch for returning citizens—CLEAR (Coalition, Leadership, Education, Advice, Rehabilitation), an organization that helps ex-offenders adapt to civilian life and stay out of prison. You were doing a lot of important work in your building that day. One of the benefits of sitting with G-RAP pastors at lunch is that I have the chance to hear about ministries all over Grand Rapids. Rev. Geoff VanderMolen of Calvin Seminary told the table about the final day of the course he teaches for the Calvin Prison Initiative (Calvin College’s B.A. program for prison inmates): “We told the students, ‘We’ve prayed for you all semester and we have a blessing from God for each of you.’” The students were given the choice of whether to come up for the blessing: every student did, even the non-Christian students. He said, “It was moving to see these men weep,” and it was moving to lay his hands on their heads and shoulders, giving them the blessing of touch without aggression (a rarity in their prison environment). Lieutenant William Brutto of the Salvation Army, Pastor and Head Administrator of the Kroc Center, told us about his unique role there, and how his position as pastor and administrator of the programs has affected their hiring practices: “Everything we do is ministry. When hiring, we say, ‘You’re the pastor of that water park. Same on the soccer field. Same on the basketball courts.’” Rev. Dale Dalman of Esperanza Covenant Church talked about the positive experience of having the Walker Chief of Police come to his church to speak with them and answer their questions. The meeting itself was focused on what has happened in G-RAP and in our city after our April meeting, when we heard from a variety of community leaders about the March 24, 2017 episode, when Grand Rapids police officers pulled their weapons on five unarmed African American boys, handcuffing some and holding them in police cruisers even after no weapons were discovered on them. Executive Team and local and state leadership Rev. Emmett Harrison, a member of the Executive Team of G-RAP and Lead Pastor of Oakdale Park CRC, told us what the Executive Team has been up to. They’ve met with the Grand Rapids Chief of Police, David Rahinsky. Rahinsky has asked that G-RAP agree to be a communication focal point, so that the police department could notify us “so we could help—if there was harm, to prevent the further harm of an explosion of violence.” Rev. Harrison explained that, “We will continue to work out the details. It does commit us to be active, to respond when there are incidents.” The group discussed this request, as well as the related issue of what we, as pastors, can ask of the police department, to hold them accountable. The Executive Team also met with representatives of the police unions for both the officers and the command staff. The police unions shared their members’ sense of feeling oppressed by the press attention and the G-RAP team shared their hopes for the future of training of police officers—and both of their hopes that getting to know each other could “bring the temperature down.” Rev. Nate Moody, a member of the Executive Team, was contacted by a representative of Governor Rick Snyder’s office. This resulted in a meeting between the governor’s representative and the Executive Team, where both parties shared their visions—the governor’s vision for the role economic development has to play, and the pastors’ vision for justice in our city. Aftermath for the families But our main purpose in May was to hear from the families of the boys involved in the police incident: to give them the floor so they could speak frankly about what has been happening in their lives and their boys’ lives, and to pray for them. Rev. Stedford Sims, G-RAP member, is the grandfather of two of the boys. He’s been concerned about how the families have felt used by some religious leaders in Grand Rapids, so he was grateful that G-RAP wanted to show concern for the parents, to “sit with the parents and hear from them and pray for them.” Bomesa Sims, stepfather to two of the boys, didn’t mince words: “I feel like this is a little too late. The stage my kids were put on was nothing they or we were ready for.” He’s frustrated that local leaders have made demands on the parents’ behalf without any input from the parents about what their point of view actually is: “Don’t use me and my boys to jump on your agenda.” He’s frustrated that the parents are no longer being invited to meetings about local policing issues. He’s frustrated that the story has already “come and gone, and nobody’s trying to figure out how this doesn’t happen again. Let’s deal with changing these protocols.” He called on the pastors to understand the power they have to bring more people to the table, the power they’ve already showed to bring in representatives of the Kroc Center and the governor’s office. He called on G-RAP to recognize that, “People come to the church for help. It’s the first place they go. So don’t just meet with officials when something’s happened, because it’s not stopping.” He called on us to be more community minded, and not think we have to get people through our church doors to help them. Ikeshia Quinn spoke to her frustration at how the adults in her kids’ lives have responded: “I rely on the coaches for my boys, but Coach Bo was the only coach who reached out to them.” She also spoke about how the incident has changed her boys and affected her family. They are heartbroken and overwhelmed. They no longer play basketball after school, and they don’t do simple things outside of the house that they used to do; they’re exhausted and terrified. They’re still asking her, “Why? Did we do anything wrong?” She can only keep repeating that they didn’t do anything wrong. We learned about the toll social media and teasing at school is taking on the boys involved and on their siblings, and the toll on the parents as they try to navigate their family’s needs with the attention and demands put on them. *** It was a heavy meeting, but right to hear from these families and to pray for them. Lieutenant Brutto let them know that their boys had just come from the Kroc Center’s Pray and Play night, so they had been prayed for before they headed home on March 24. Rev. Kate Kooyman closed our meeting with these words: “We are faith leaders who think we can speak together against injustice in this city. Faith leaders need to own our power in this community, listening to the Holy Spirit when it prompts us to come together.” *** We are on summer hiatus, so there will be no more meetings until September.
Executive Team Dr. Timothy Harris, Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church Rev. Emmett Harrison, Oakdale Park Christian Reformed Church Rev. Jack Kooreman, Grace Christian Reformed Church Rev. Kate Kooyman, Office of Social Justice, Christian Reformed Church Rev. Nathaniel Moody, Brown Hutcherson Ministries The Grand Rapids Association of Pastors has come full-circle: we formed in 2015 after the events at Ferguson, and on April 20, 2017 we gathered to learn about and talk through our concerns surrounding a recent local policing event. As Rev. Kate Kooyman said,
"We wanted to have a conversation with each other so we could have a united voice for justice. Since then, we've talked about injustice in education and immigration. These recent events have gotten us back to the heart of why we started coming together. What is the role for faith leaders in this moment?" The meeting at Brown Hutcherson Ministries drew members of GRAP, as well as independent citizens, local media, denominational representatives, Calvin College professors, City Commissioner Joe Jones, NAACP Grand Rapids President Cle Jackson, LINC UP Executive Director Jeremy DeRoo, and The Micah Center Executive Director Allison Colberg. The leaders of the three justice organizations formed an expert panel that presented to the group, with clarifications coming from Commissioner Jones. We ended the meeting with a time of open comments. Events of March 24, 2017 First, NAACP Grand Rapids President Cle Jackson walked us through the events of March 24, 2017, when a group of five 12- and 14-year old boys were subject to a military-style police stop. After an alleged call to Grand Rapids police about a large fight involving African-American teens on the basketball courts of the Kroc Center, a patrol car in the area was flagged down by a resident of that neighborhood. The resident told the officer that he'd seen a group of five African-American teenage boys with a gun, and that a couple of those young men were dressed all in black. Shortly after leaving that conversation, the officer saw a group of five African-American boys, one of whom was dressed all in black. He pulled over, drew his gun on the boys, and ordered them to get down. The boys complied, although the 12-year-old "melted down, screaming, 'I don't want to die,' and 'They're going to kill me!'" Jackson added, "I'm in public health and we call this social trauma." Then one of the 14-year-olds tried to calm the 12-year-old down, and another of the boys melted down. Neighbors came out and were saying, "They're just kids." The officers kept the kids laying on the ground, and tried to get the neighbors to go back into their houses. Jackson praised the boys: "The five young boys were stellar. They followed orders. They said 'sir' the entire time." Soon, an additional half-dozen officers arrive at the scene, and all point guns and tasers at the boys on the ground. They are each ordered to get up, put their hands up, and walk backwards towards one of the officers. The NAACP Grand Rapids President paused. "As an African-American man, I've lived this story. When you're walking backwards, hands up ... what if one of these officers says, 'I saw him running'?" He let the audience imagine the rest. The twelve-year-old was the first to reach an officer and be searched; no weapon was found. When the officer learned his age, he told his colleagues, and then put the boy into the back of one police car. One of the 14-year-olds, who was dressed all in black, reached an officer; he was ordered onto his knees, handcuffed, and searched. No weapon was found. He was put into the back of another police car. This was repeated three more times, until all the boys were in the back of police cars. Jackson asked, "Why did you handcuff those babies? Why, if there's no threat, did you keep them in the car as long as you did? They knew the kids ages. They searched them and knew there was no threat. Why would you have handcuffed them and put them in the car?" After all the boys were in the cars, held for some time, one of their mothers arrived at the scene. Jackson said, "She fell on the ground, screaming, 'I just need to see him and know he's okay.'" The officers would not let her see her son, and she continued to be upset. Her son heard this, and asked whether the officer would let him just stick his head out of the car so his mom could see him. His request was denied. Eventually, the boy said, "I don't want my mom to get hurt." At that point, the officer let him step out of the car for a moment to reassure his mother. Jackson was blunt: "There's a glaring disparity in terms of how black and brown youth is treated by law enforcement. All of us are aware of the racial profiling report that just came out. All of you in this room should be outraged. And they are related." The Twelve-Point Plan The remainder of Jackson's comments, and many of Jeremy DeRoo's and Allison Colberg's statements referenced the 12-point plan to improve community and police relations that was accepted by the City Commission in January of 2015. (Here is an article from the city about that plan.) Jackson, DeRoo, and Colberg were all concerned about the narrative about this plan that the city is promoting. Jackson said, "The narrative of the city is that they were on board with this voluntarily, and with no pressure. No. The plan was co-authored by LINC UP, the Urban League, and the NAACP. We had community forums, media about the reforms, and multiple meetings with city leadership to even get it to a vote to the city commission. It was forced by community pressure." The Micah Center's Director, Allison Colberg, also countered how the city presents its part in the process: "The City Commission presents a narrative of them noticing a problem and going to the community for input, when the pressure came from others. There is a narrative that the police department should be praised for addressing a systemic issue that shouldn't have been there in the first place." Colberg spoke about one aspect of the plan: "Recommendation 3 — Calls for enhancing Police Officer training to provide mandatory cultural competence training and mandatory Implicit Bias Training for all Police Officers to improve citizen interactions through departmental performance metrics." She noted that the original recommendations from the community called for police bias testing, as well as bias training, but that was removed before it went to the Commission for a vote. The issue for her is that, "bias testing doesn't provide data" that could make the training more effective. LINC UP Director Jeremy DeRoo spoke about Recommendation 8, that called for the city to conduct a survey on racial disparities in traffic stops, the results of which were released two days before GRAP's meeting. DeRoo outlined the study's findings: "African Americans are stopped twice as much and searched twice as often when stopped, but criminality is found at the same rate [as other racial groups stopped]. The report shows that there is not increased criminality. African Americans are stopped disproportionally in areas where there are more African Americans. The same is true of Hispanics in Hispanic communities. There is something going on with how the GRPD is training its officers." Colberg ended with a plea to the gathered pastors: "One role for GRAP and for pastors is in pushing back on the narrative that the work is almost done. Faith leaders in Grand Rapids can be really effective in not letting the attention go away." Voices of the Community The public portion of the meeting ended and we had a time of discussion and sharing of concerns. People in attendance were concerned that we spend so much time training kids how to respond to the police, but not much training the police in how to respond to African-American kids. Some people told stories of times they were roughed up by police in Grand Rapids when they were teenagers. One person spoke about training for officers to know how to deal with people who are traumatized, that their passion is not the same as aggression. One attendee noted that the company that consulted on the bias training had recommended that the police do scenario training, which would put officers in a simulated situation, but that the GRPD is not including scenario training. Another person noted that the talk in Grand Rapids centers around training, but not of outcomes and accountability. It was brought up that the Grand Rapids Public Schools do bias assessment testing, so there is precedence for that in our community. Grand Rapids Public Schools Speaking of GRPS, John Helmholdt was our final speaker of the afternoon, there to talk about the millage vote on May 2. After listening to our conversation, he quoted Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal: "The greatest equalizer is a good quality education." Grand Rapids Public Schools have seen serious improvements. Graduation rates are up 50%. It's seen it's first enrollment raise in 20 years. But Helmholdt said, "There is uncertainty in funds from the state. There is huge uncertainty with federal funds; it looks like funds for after-school programs and teacher training could be eliminated. These cuts could set up back and we could lose our momentum." This millage could alleviate that uncertainty but providing "local, stable, reliable funds. It would cost the average homeowner $3.75 per month." He encouraged the pastors to vote for the millage and to educate their congregations. Day Without Immigrants The Micah Center is part of Un Dia Sin Inmigrantes / 1 Day Without Immigrants. They invite everyone to march with them at noon on May 1, starting at Garfield Park, at 398 Burton Street SE, or to express solidarity through not buying goods and not working. See the Facebook page for more details. Next meeting: Thursday, May 18, 11:30am - 1:00pm (place to be determined) As Rev. Kate Kooyman said at our February meeting, "In light of recent executive orders, increasing fear, and marginalization of immigrants, we're going to interrupt our regularly-scheduled program regarding education, to talk about immigration." Kooyman led us through a workshop that explores what God is calling us to do regarding immigration. The first action was not to delve into Scripture, but into the regulations and bureaucracies that make up our current system. Kooyman noted: "Scripture has a lot to say about immigration, but we can't have a fruitful conversation unless we know how the current system works." There are four ways to immigrate to the United States:
This option is available to you if you:
Note that even if you qualify under the final possibility, it can take 6-10 years for the visa to go through and your employer will have to prove that there are no Americans to fill that job and be willing to wait for you. Once you are in the U.S., your visa belongs to your employer, not to you. There is a temporary two-year visa program for agricultural workers, but only 5,000 of those are available per year. Rev. Kooyman noted that Michigan alone could take all those visas every year. As a result, she said, "Seventy percent of agricultural workers are undocumented because the federal government doesn't raise the numbers." Family Preference If you are the spouse, fiance, parent, or child under 21 of a U.S. citizen, you qualify for one of the easiest ways to legally immigrate to the U.S. There is no limit on the number of visas for people in this category, and the process is easy enough to complete on your own (with no legal help): green card first, and eventually citizenship (wait to naturalization is 6-7 years). A sibling of a U.S. citizen can apply for a visa and a green card, but (depending on marital status) you will have to wait an average of 11-22 years for the green card, and additional 6 years until naturalization. Adult, unmarried children of a U.S. citizen will only have to wait 6-14 years to receive a visa; married adult children 7-15 years. Once you have a green card, you'll have to wait 6 years until naturalization. If you are the spouse or minor child of a legal permanent resident you are eligible to apply for a family preference visa, but you'll wait between 5-7 years for it. If you are a married adult child of a legal permanent resident, you are not eligible for this visa; single adult children have a chance, with the wait time depending on your home country (average 9-14 years). Refugee and Asylum "A refugee isn't just a desperate immigrant. You have to be fleeing from a specific kind of persecution: religion, ethnicity, race, national origin, political affiliation. So mudslide and hunger don't fit." Then Kooyman told us about the second question: "Can you prove it?" Which can be much more difficult to answer--the government of your birth country is unlikely to provide proof that your father died in prison on trumped-up charges. A refugee also doesn't arrive on America's border straight from their country of origin: you have fled your country, gone to a safe place, and landed in a refugee camp where the United Nations screens and proves your claims. If you are one of the lucky 1% who get selected for resettlement in another country, that country screens you again. To come to the U.S., your screening process takes up to two years and involves five federal agencies. Any blips in the process (including bureaucratic delays you have no control over) take you back to the beginning. An asylum seeker must experience provable persecution in the same categories as a refugee, but has the resources to get to the United States, so they claim that status at the border of the U.S. If you claim asylum, you will access to a good attorney, so you'll need money or a connection to a church who will help you. Diversity This is a lottery-based system that is meant to increase diversity in the U.S., so to come into the country this way, you'd have to come from a country that is underrepresented in the U.S., have at least a high school education or two years of experience in an in-demand field, and access to a computer and a scanner to complete the application process. You'll also need the ability to resist all the scammers who promise to buy you a visa--it is a lottery system, so paying money to a middleman doesn't help your case. How many of us succeeded? Rev. Kooyman set out sample visa applications for each of those paths, and then gave each of us an identity; we had to choose which way to try to enter the country, and fill out that visa application. This was my story: "You are a 13-year-old girl from Honduras. You were spending a month with your grandparents in the mountains when a terrible hurricane hit Honduras. Though you were safe, you could not contact your mother. When you returned home, you heard from neighbors that she had left for the United States in an attempt to receive temporary protected status, and that once there she would send for you and your grandparents. Three months later, you will have not heard from her, and your life feels like it is in ruins. You have decided to leave for the U.S. to find her, knowing only a few clues about where she might have gone." I tried to claim family preference, because I knew my mother was somewhere in the U.S., but since she was not a legal permanent resident, I was unsuccessful. The actual-me, Natalie Hart, was born in Canada and claimed American citizenship as a minor through her U.S. citizen mother; I easily gained American citizenship, getting my U.S. passport all of two months after application (in the mid 1980s). The 17-year-old from Nicaragua whose father was undocumented in the U.S. and whose mother in Nicaragua had just died, couldn't come to the U.S. The 24-year-old from North Korea whose father was killed and mother tortured repeatedly, whose is hiding with relatives in China (and has been captured by the police there and sent back to North Korea twice) had a good case for refugee status (if she could prove the torture, etc.), but had to get herself to a refugee camp where she wouldn't have a choice about which country she was resettled to and would have to wait a very long time to see whether she'd be chosen for resettlement. The 23-year-old from Romania with a teaching degree and excellent English with an aunt and uncle who are U.S. citizens didn't succeed. The 47-year-old Palestinian construction worker didn't succeed. Of our number, one person with high-level skills in an in-demand field with a shortage of experts, who also had lots of money, was successful in getting a visa to come to the United States. This very frustrating experience was a revelation for many of the pastors in attendance. For others, who were either immigrants themselves or helmed churches with many immigrant congregants, it was an old story. One person there told of being undocumented twice in the process of becoming a permanent resident, just because the bureaucracy was so slow. Hearing from those who serve immigrants The March GRAP meeting left attendees heavy hearted. We heard from pastors who serve largely-immigrant congregations and discovered how terrified their people are at having their families torn apart, whether because of deportation, relatives not being allowed back into the country, or bureaucratic delays and increasing inflexibility. A pastor whose church is part of a robust local denomination reported that nobody from any of his governing bodies had reached out to him to see how he or his members were doing. These congregations and pastors are feeling very alone. Now what? "We need to be standing with the vulnerable." Grand Rapids is nationally known as a place that resettles refugees, but Rev. Kooyman is disturbed by how that has become controversial, even in the church. She reminded us of the scriptural call for us to exhibit hospitality, and love of the other (philoxenia) not fear of the other (xenophobia). She encouraged local pastors to lean into the politics, to talk with their congregations about what they experienced at the February and March meetings, and to admit their own ignorance and determination to learn. Her hope and her prayer is that "the church can be the church that goes beyond the walls and drops the barriers." Kooyman is seeking to gather a group of people who are willing to come with her and speak with the Kent County Sheriff Laurence A. Stelma, who is a strong Christian. Since the county sheriff is over the Grand Rapids police department, and since there is "a lot of grey area with collaborating with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)," she believes it is important to open up a line of communication between Sheriff Stelma and local pastors. Please contact her if you would like to be part of that group. If you would like your congregation to experience this powerful and illuminating workshop, please contact Rev. Kate Kooyman at the Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice, (616) 224-0807, or osjha@crcna.org.
Kooyman is running a Church Between Borders Immigration Workshop in Grand Rapids on Saturday May 20, 9:30am - 12:00pm, that is open to anyone who wishes to attend. Go here for information and registration. On November 17, we gathered at City Life Church on Division SE to talk about how our congregations were faring after the election, and to explore our public response as faith leaders. The key question we considered together: What is most important for us to say, to do, and to be?
Our table conversations were shaped by the practice of restorative circles: for each table, there was a "talking pen," and whoever held the pen was the only person talking. When each person had answered the question at hand, the pen was passed to the next person without discussion until everyone had spoken. It was a simple and effective way to ensure that everyone had a chance to be heard. After several times round each circle, the discussion was opened up and we shared what we'd talked about at our tables. The three most often mentioned responses:* 1. The church should not be afraid to be prophetic: "We have to risk raising the prophetic voice." 2. The church should stand with the vulnerable: "Whatever else we do, we have to stand for those who are most vulnerable to injustice." 3. The church must do something, and not "wait and see." Many options were suggested, from statements to sign to 100 days of prayer to yard signs for our church buildings. The Executive Committee, Rev. Jack Kooreman, Rev. Nathaniel Moody, and Rev. Angel Ortiz, plus Rev. Kate Kooyman, are meeting to pray over and debate all the options. They are still taking suggestions and comments, so if you were not at the meeting and you have something to contribute, please let us know. We do not meet in December, so there is time before our next meeting in January to make your voice heard. It was clear that our churches are hurting. One pastor spoke of intending to have one moment for a prayer of lament in the Sunday service after the election, but it turned into a service-long pouring out of the people's pain. A pastor of a majority-Hispanic church begged for people to reach out to the Hispanic community in Grand Rapids; he said that his church already tends to isolate itself, and after the election rhetoric of mass deportations and blame of immigrants and refugees for the ills of society, they could retreat even further. Other pastors spoke of their struggles in politically and racially mixed congregations, where their people were both angry at each other and walking on eggshells. It was also clear that we draw strength from the Lord. A number of pastors spoke to the need to remind people that God is in charge. One pastor spoke about how the baptismal promise they make in their church informs everything they do: "We promise to strive towards justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of all made in the image of God." As always, the pastors pointed to prayer as the right response, no matter what the question is: "We need to pray because we're all suffering separately and being face-to-face means we suffer together." The Grand Rapids Association of Pastors will continue to work toward unity, reconciliation, and justice. Please let us know what you'd like to see us do in response to the election and the current cultural climate. We pray for you, our pastors, that you will experience miraculous moments of joy and peace as you lead us in this very, very busy church season. We will see you again on January 19 at 11:30am (location to be determined). * I chose not to quote pastors by name so as to not inhibit their ability to speak freely. Deanna Rolffs has worked in education in West Michigan for over twenty years (18 years as a consultant with the Kent County Intermediate School District, and 5 years with Partners in School Innovation), which made her an excellent choice to educate G-RAP about the history of education-related racial discrimination in Grand Rapids -- to show us how we arrived at the education system we currently have. Partners commits to 5-7-year partnerships with individual schools, supporting them with curriculum and assessment, as well as with issues of race, glass, and gender inequities. They take the time to help individuals understand not only systemic racism and oppression, but also their own implicit and explicit biases and how those can play out in the classroom. Roloff said, "We help primarily white teachers who primarily serve students of color understand how we, as educators, can perpetuate those biases." Through this work, she says, "We can develop the building blocks to lead them toward a more equitable system in which more of us are together." She invited the pastors to walk around the room and explore the timeline she'd installed on the walls. The timeline was adapted from Todd Robinson's 2012 work, A City Within A City: The Black Freedom Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since the pastors in the room and in G-RAP are from different backgrounds, and many are relatively new to Grand Rapids, she wanted us to start from the same position of knowledge: "What we're experiencing now is all of our history, whether we directly experienced it or not." For reasons of space, we've focused on the directly education-related entries, but there was so much more about lack of job possibilities, racism in entertainment options, and housing discrimination. Here are selected entries from the timeline: 1910-1940 First Great Migration: 1.6 million black southerners moved north. The black community in Grand Rapids grew from 665 in 1910 to 2,795 in 1930. July 4, 1925, Independence Day: The Junior Order, women of the Klan, and Klansmen marched unmasked throughout the streets of downtown. Grand Rapids. City ordinances placed minimal restrictions on KKK parade demonstrations. 1920s Grand Rapids Social Club (GRSC) provided a place for black women to engage in political discussions and freely express their views, as they were banned from women's organizations in white community and exiled from leadership in the male-dominated GRNAACP. Topics included "The Negro Woman's Contribution to History," and, "The Unpublished History of the Negro Versus the Published." 1949-1950 The number of black children in Campau area schools (Henry, Franklin, Sheldon, and Vandenberg) increased from 280 to 836. By 1950, 91% of all black elementary students in the district were enrolled in these four schools. At Henry School, the addition of 80 black students, combined with the departure of white students to other districts or nonpublic schools, meant that it went from 38% to 80% black. This represents the beginning of the shift from integrated classroom experiences to racially isolated learning environments and fewer resources for "inner city" schools. Following the Depression and 25 years of no new school construction, the Reavis Study lists Campau Schools as the first building priority, but school board officials decide to build new schools at the periphery of the city. A special school tax raises $10 million, which builds 16 new schools: 14 in the growing suburbs (e.g., Alger Heights), and 2 in the city center. 1950s Grand Rapids School Board establishes selective geographic attendance zones; this allowed white parents near Henry to send their children to Congress and Hillcrest. GRNAACP pressured School Board members to make boundary adjustments: "We believe that 8 years of overcrowding at Franklin and 6 years of overcrowding at Sheldon and Vandenburg means that nearly 2,000 children have been denied an opportunity to gain a sound elementary education in healthy school surroundings." The School Board "studied" the issue for 11 years and continuously voiced a belief in racial equality and equal opportunities, but failed to take any remedial action. 1965 South High, where Gerald R. Ford attended, was the district's elite school in 1957. By 1965, the student population had shifted from predominately white to roughly 1,037 black students and 945 white students -- their reputation shifted to being a "tough school." Parents voiced concerns that the "Board of Education and its staff have failed to make South High School an outstanding example, locally and nationally, of what can be done to make both White and Negro families proud of the school and proud that they live in a community that practices racial tolerance." White teachers in Kent County routinely requested and were granted transfers out of integrated schools. November 16, 1966 400 black students from South High walked out to protest the “good grooming” policy that forbade facial hair. The next day, for the first time in Grand Rapids’ history, several black parents quietly protested outside the school with signs that read, “This is Michigan Not Mississippi.” This sparked significant debate in the city (including a WOOD TV editorial calling on protester to control their "animal element"), and on December 1, 1966, the facial hair ban was rescinded. July 24, 1967 Isolated property damage and police profiling erupted into four days of unrest and violence throughout the city, involving hundreds of young people, resulting in 350 arrests, 44 injuries, and significant property damage. The Grand Rapids Urban League Task Force of 12 black and 3 white young people spent weeks before the unrest, actively engaging young people and connecting them to summer projects and activities. During the "uprising" they prevented splinter groups from organizing into a single force and helped to keep property damage to a minimum. 1968 After decades of neglecting school development needs in the central city, the District enacted a Master Plan in response to issues of racial imbalance among student populations across the district. They closed two high schools in the "inner city" and one-way bussed black students to outlying schools. John Bracey, a concerned South High student asked: "Can't you achieve quality education and integration by busing white students into the inner-city instead of busing black students into the outer city?" September 13, 1968 Just 8 days after black students began to be bused to outlying schools, students clashed at Union High. School was closed; black students were blamed for the fighting. Their complaints about ongoing racial slurs were ignored by the administration. The schools superintendent resigned. December 18, 1968 Students, bused to Union from the former South High School recalled the hatred expressed by many white students, including holding signs printed with racial slurs as they arrived each day. At school board meetings, angry white parents yelled racial epithets. May 27, 1970 Notes signed by the Creston Ku Klux Klan ignited racial controversy between students, leading to a hallway fight and nearly half of the Creston black students walking out. The black students were perceived to be disorderly and told to board buses to return them to their neighborhoods. White parents perceived the problem to be the "invasion" of black students into their suburban schools, not their children's attitudes or behaviors. 1972 The GRNAACP filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 51 students, accusing the G.R. Board of Education of managing a bi-racial, segregated school system. They cited segregated employment practices, budget appropriations, and "racist curriculum." They lost. 1974 Between 1968 and 1974, the number of racially imbalanced schools increased from 9 to 11. With the "voluntary transfer policy," fewer than 1% of children in suburban schools were black, Latino, Native American, or East Asian. The tax base for schools was significantly higher in the suburbs than in the urban center. The GRNAACP appealed the 1973 decision, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the school board had violated the constitutional rights of black students. 2012 (statistics from The Michigan Department of Education, Center for Educational Performance and Information, 2012) There has been little improvement in living conditions for black residents over the last 20 years. 42% of black families live below the poverty level. Median income for black families is 51% of the median income for white families. Black representation on school board and city commission is little changed over 20 years (1-2 members). 2012 High school graduation rates: black students, 40.59%; Hispanic students, 42.62%, white students, 53.63%. This was a powerful presentation, made even more so because the pastors were mostly silent as we moved from item to item around the room. During the table talk following the timeline reading, a number of pastors told stories of growing up in Grand Rapids during the 1960s. One person had gone to South High, and had never felt like it was "tough school." Another person's husband had been one of those students on the Urban League's Task Force in 1967 and was shot. Grace Christian Reformed Church, then a majority black church, was a source of peace and safety during that time. Others had grown up in the "black belt" -- the zone in the city where black families could buy or rent homes. We had all seen the results of redlining (banks refusing to give loans or insurance for houses in neighborhoods with black families) when we drove to our meeting place at Madison Square Church: from high on Heritage Hill down to Madison and Hall. Rev. Nathaniel Moody was, at one time, the only African-American member of the School Board. When they were asked, "What are the implications for us as faith leaders in Grand Rapids?", Dr. Timothy Harris called on the pastors of all denominations and backgrounds to establish relationships with each other because knowing and trusting one another will change how white pastors see their city, and improve the influence of black and Hispanic pastors. He said, "We could be a model for the nation of working through our divides and working together -- we have so many churches in such a small place." Thank you to Pastor Dave Beelen of Madison Square and Pastor Brad Knetsch of Madison at The Ford for hosting us.
Join us for our November meeting for another tough but good and necessary conversation. We will meet on November 17 from 11:30 - 1:00 pm at City Life Church, 574 Division Ave S, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. Our community has made national news after students from Forest Hills Central, a predominantly white high school, waved a Betsy Ross flag and a Trump banner during a football game hosted by Ottawa Hills High School, a predominantly black school. The Betsy Ross flag is used by the Patriot Movement and xenophobic groups that advocate white supremacy. In the context of Grand Rapids’ history of school segregation based on race, this action caused deep harm.
Our community’s truth is this: We have taught our children that racialized inequity is normal. We have taught them that our shameful history of slavery, segregation, and oppression is acceptable to joke about. We have not helped them take responsibility for the serious consequences of their actions, or given them a safe place to make mistakes and grow from them. As pastors who preach during what Dr. King called “the most segregated hour of the week,” we repent for our complicity in creating and maintaining religious systems that have strengthened this separation and enmity. All our kids -- those taught to oppress and those taught to accept oppression -- are harmed by this. They’re all victims of our racist policies, our careless polarized rhetoric, and our intentional segregation from one another. After decades of local policies that have created communities and schools intentionally segregated by race, and in the midst of a national atmosphere of vitriol and polarization, the children of this community are now reaping what we have sown. We support the community of Forest Hills Public Schools, which is working hard to build its racial and cultural competency, and we applaud the apology Superintendent Dan Behm issued. We support the community of Grand Rapids Public Schools, and we are heartened by Superintendent Teresa Weatherall-Neal’s honest assessment of the harm caused and gracious acceptance of Behm's apology. This what good leadership looks like. As faith leaders in Grand Rapids -- a community which Forbes has deemed both the best place to raise a white family and the worst place to start a black business -- we stand with parents and students and educators and leaders who are serious about engaging in face-to-face community dialogue, not only about our history and our current experiences, but also about how to move towards a more peaceful, just, equitable, and unified Grand Rapids. We wish to call Grand Rapids to begin a conversation that better serves our community, and better models the sacrificial and reconciling love of Christ for our kids. We must elevate the stories of the children, teens, and families who were harmed by this incident, and allow ourselves to admit that harm occurred -- whether due to malice or ignorance. We must understand and reform the policies that have led us to exactly this moment. We must translate our dialogue into action. Our historic actions have created our current community; it is time to create something new. The actions we take today will shape what we will become. --The Grand Rapids Association of Pastors (grpastors.org) is a coalition of pastors from across the denominational, racial, and economic spectrum committed to work toward unity, reconciliation, and justice. Signatories to this statement: Rev. Jathan Austin Rev. Katherine Lee Baker Rev. Jerry Bishop Rev. Joyce Borger Rev. Khary Bridgewater Rev. Benjamin Bruins Rev. Jerome Burton Pastor Randy Buursma Rev. Rodrigo Cano Rev. Dale Dalman Pastor Jim Davis Rev. Robert Dean Rev. Chris DeBlaay Rev. Paul DeVries Rev. Steve De Vries Rev. Gina Dick Rev. Chana Edmond-Verley Rev. Michael Fedewa Rev. Alex Fernandez Pastor Michael Gafa Rev. Jermone Glenn Pastor Christopher J. Hall Rev. Dr. Timothy Mark Harris Rev. Emmett A. Harrison Sr. Rev Rebecca Jordan Heys Pastor Kenneth W. Hoskins Rev. Shannon Jammal-Hollemans Rev. Dr. Mary S. Hulst Rev. James Jones Rev. Sarah Juist Pastor Brad Knetsch Rev. Jack Kooreman Rev. Kate Kooyman Rev. Dallas Lenear Rev. Artie M. Lindsay Rev. Adam Lipscomb Rev. Andre' B. Love Rev. Douglas M. MacLeod Rev. John Matias Pastor Deborah J. McCreary Rev. Dennis McMurray Rev. Mark Milkamp Pastor Samuel Moffett Rev. Nathaniel Moody Rev. Cynthia Nawrocki Rev. Billy Norden Rev. Mara Joy Norden Rev. Dan Oglesby Rev. Angel Ortiz Rev. Nurya Love Parish Pastor JR Pittman Rev. Jen Porter Pastor Leatha Roberts Pastor Byron Salguero Pastor Amy Schenkel Rev. Charlie Selmon Rev. Stedford E. Sims, Sr. Rev. Tanner Smith Rev. Chase R. Stancle Rev. Chandler Stokes Pastor Peter TeWinkle Rev Andrew Vanover Mr. Jason Vermeulen Rev. Joshua Wall Pastor Willie E. Waver II Rev. Mike Wernick Rev. Les Wiseman The Grand Rapids Association of Pastors got back into gear after our summer hiatus on September 15, 2016, with a meeting at Brookside Christian Reformed Church in this open, skylit space. We had intended to learn about racial inequity in the education system in Grand Rapids (from 1910 on) from Deanna Rolffs from Partners in School Innovation. However, with recent events in our city, we wound up crafting a response to the Forest Hills Central High School student display of a Betsy Ross flag alongside a Donald Trump banner, as well as to Forest Hills Superintendent Dan Behm's apology, Grand Rapids Public School Superintendent Teresa Weatherall-Neal's statement, and the ensuing media storm. You can read that response here. The discussion was frank and wide-ranging, spiritual and heartfelt, and also rollicking, with laughter and also cheers when a well-turned, just-right phrase was suggested. One point brought up by a number of pastors was the need for relationship among the different churches in our organization, for our congregations to know each other. Dr. Tim Harris of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church said, "We need to be together and have relationship so we can work together in our communities." Well, this Sunday, he, Rev. Carl Pace, Jr. of True Light Baptist Church and Dr. Randy Buursma of First Christian Reformed Church are doing something about that. The three churches are coming together for a joint worship service. Let me repeat that: on Sunday morning, when they normally meet separately, they are joining their worshipping voices together. Not a separate service. But for their regular Sunday morning worship.
Rev. Pace and Dr. Harris will lead in praise and worship and Dr. Buursma will preach the Word. There will be a combined choir from all three churches. Pilgrim Rest and First CRC will meet in their own buildings at 10 a.m., with Pilgrim Rest driving busses to bring people to True Light, and First CRC hosting a prayer walk between the two buildings -- hopefully gathering curious community members as they go. The service will start at True Light at 10:45 am on Sunday, September 18. I am certain that it will be glorious. For the past two years, Brown-Hutcherson Ministries and Grace Christian Reformed Church have held a combined Candlelight service the week before Christmas -- a service that had long been important for both congregations. They blend Brown-Hucherson's choir concert with Grace's Lessons and Carols service into a shared worship experience that is beautiful; I am a member at Grace, and this service has become one of my favorite parts of the Advent season. Blessings to you, True Light, Pilgrim Rest, First CRC, Brown-Hucherson, and Grace CRC. May this be the beginning of a trend towards uniting in worship and building relationships so we can better spread the love of God throughout our community. “We are having the wrong conversations that give the wrong impression. Let’s change the conversation about immigrants.” Our very own Rev. Kate Kooyman opened the inaugural gathering for the Blessings Not A Burden initiative on June 23. Around 75 people met at the Taqueria El Rincon Mexicano for a deeply delicious pupusa buffet, and to celebrate the truth: immigrants add to, not subtract from, our society—economically, culturally, spiritually. Earlier that day, the Supreme Court's tie vote had upheld the lower court's block of President Obama’s executive actions on immigration that expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and created Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). That decision affected a number of speakers. Following are the speakers in their own words. Colin Watson, Director of Ministries and Administration of the Christian Reformed Church, born in British Guiana (now Guyana) Why do we care about immigration? About the plight of immigrants? We can’t avoid it. It’s right at the core of our faith, of God’s command to love our neighbor. We can’t escape God’s use of immigrants, how he’s used the foreigner, the sojourner—God uses the Other to bring a blessing to the world. Throughout history, God has been using the Other, the ones considered less-than, to bless the world. God used Ruth’s line—Ruth, an immigrant—to birth King David, to birth Jesus. We can’t avoid this. It comes straight from our faith, from the Bible, from our God…. Any time we hear people being Othered, our antennas should go up and we need to speak up. Lucy Godoy Kessler, co-owner of Taqueria El Rincon Mexicano, born in Honduras I am a little bit sad. I am happy that people like you want to support immigrants and our struggle in this country. But I am sad that the Supreme Court was not able to help generations of people who have been in this country. We all come from immigrants. Immigrants leave our families and countries with immense desire to work hard. We in the Hispanic community work hard and start businesses. We can see it all in Grand Rapids, in Grandville Avenue, 28th Street—but not only restaurants, it’s bakeries, beauty salons, technical companies. We have a good community of artists and people who work for education. Forty percent of Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants and they employ 3.6 million people. These are companies like Google, like eBay. So how can we be a burden? Sepa Nashale, born in Democratic Republic of Congo Be patient with me, English is my fifth language. When refugees come here, we face so many challenges. Learning English. Finding jobs; we come from good jobs in our country, but we have to work in factories when we get here. Finding housing. The kids go to school and want to copy the other kids, and we worry they will lose our culture. Transportation, when not knowing English is a barrier to a driver’s license. Immigrants and refugees do not have choice, they are taking any job they can, and the U.S. benefits from our young labor. When we work hard, we go to university, we buy homes, we contribute to the country. I’ve been living in Grand Rapids for three years now. I am going to Calvin College and I am working to support my family, five kids and my wife. I am a member of the Refugee Task Force at Church of the Servant. When I came I was welcomed and I feel I’m home. Shannon Jammal-Hollemans, Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice, born in U.S. I am a proud Arab-American. My father grew up in Lebanon in poverty…he had to leave school after 8th grade. When he came to Grand Rapids, he started a business that has employed local people for decades. Michigan has the highest percentage of Arab-Americans in the U.S.; they contribute $544 million to the Michigan economy. For every immigrant that comes here, one and a half jobs are created. When an immigrant starts a business, they employ local people—and immigrants are three times more likely to start a business than those of us native-born. My father’s also a Muslim, so Trump’s rhetoric disturbs me…. My Christian faith has been shaped by my Muslim father. Christie Carlin Knetsch, Director of Student Ministry, Madison Square Church, born in U.S. I was born to a teen mom who was 15 when she gave birth to me. When you grow up like that, often you wind up in a lot of transition…. The immigrant was the family that made a safe place for me when in a dangerous place. They were from Egypt, and their daughter was my friend. I could knock on her window in the night and she’d take me in. In the morning, her mother would give me food and pray over me as she did her own children. I wouldn’t be who I am without immigrants. My husband is Canadian. Because of our white skin, we have a privilege that our darker-skinned brothers and sisters do not. I’ve seen first hand how we get pushed through a line because it’s assumed we’re no trouble, and we see others who we’d been waiting with get interrogated and treated inhumanely because of the color of their skin. As a believer, it’s my job to make sure we have safe places for young people to talk about these things. I have hope, because it’s young people of all shades who will stand hand-in-hand and demand that our system change. Mariano Avila, reporter for WGVU, born in Mexico Mexicans are descendants of Native Mexicans and the Spanish—the oppressed and the oppressor. That's my inheritance. If you’re white and European, you’ve inherited the history of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Whether you like it or not, you have benefited from genocide and ethnic cleansing. Your children will have that inheritance whether you like it or not. But what you inherit to your children is yours. What will it be? Will you continue the system of Othering and ethnic cleansing? Or will you welcome the Other? My challenge to you is to make sure your inheritance is not what you inherited. Kate Kooyman (CRC Office of Social Justice, born in U.S.) spoke at the end, telling us that the final speaker of the night had hoped to come and speak, but she felt very empty and discouraged, because her parents and her parents-in-law could have gotten legal status if DAPA had been upheld. She is worried. Kate reminded us that, “Policy impacts people.”
The Blessing Not Burden initiative has a few ways to be involved.
* This article was written by Natalie Hart, born in Canada, her father born in the Netherlands. Please forgive me for not having more/better photos of the event. It turns out that I can’t juggle my plate, my phone, my notepad, and my pen without shaking. “Flint is the situation that woke us up—poking the sleeping giant.” Paul Haan, Executive Director of the Healthy Homes Coalition of Grand Rapids came to the G-RAP meeting on June 16 to tell us about the giant that’s been sleeping across Michigan: lead poisoning of our children. It’s been sleeping across Grand Rapids. This chart shows the number of children in that area who tested with too-high blood lead levels, what percentage of kids tested were found to exceed the CDC level, and where that area ranks in the state. The 49507 zipcode has a child lead poisoning rate higher than that of Flint, but due to different environmental reasons. Haan did not share these numbers to belittle what is happening in Flint: “Flint is a tragedy. It is unjust and wrong. Those folks need our everything we can throw at the problem.” But Grand Rapids is in some serious trouble, and our number of lead poisoned kids is on the rise. In Grand Rapids, and many other areas of the state, the lead that is poisoning infants and young children comes from houses that were painted with lead paint prior to 1978, and from the soil around those homes and around factories that used lead paint and/or left a lot of lead particulates from leaded gasoline that have now leached into the soil. This lead exposure comes mainly through the air—through dust generated by home renovations, unsafe painting jobs, and paint left to weather and chip by landlords and homeowners. Rev. Nate Moody expressed concern about many of their older churches that most likely have lead paint, but Haan reassured him that the time of exposure in a church is so much shorter than time spent in the home, that it wouldn’t be a major contributing factor. However, if there were a day care in an older church, “you can run into problems and a need for remediation.” Healthy Homes has been working on the Get the Lead Out campaign for many years. Haan remembers a house they’d been called to by the landlord for a pest issue, but they noticed that there was painting being done, and done unsafely. They suggested to the mother of the family that rented that place that she get her then-10-month-old daughter, Nyicear, tested for lead, two months earlier than the recommended age for first testing: her lead levels were ten times today’s standard: 50(ug/dL). Nyicear was rushed from her doctor’s office to DeVos Children’s Hospital, where she stayed for over a week to get her levels down to a better level. Still, it was three years before the lead in her blood neared 5(ug/dL). Her mother, Randi Challender, worked with Habitat for Humanity to become a homeowner so she could provide a safer home environment for her family. High lead levels have affected members of the G-RAP community, with Rev. Kate Kooyman’s son testing at 4(ug/dL) after a company did not work as safely on her home as they’d promised: “Nobody had told me about this, so I didn’t know until we had this problem. After that we could make a better decision about where not to do daycare.” Rev. Robert Dean had a family in his congregation severely affected during the time he was 3rd Ward City Commissioner, ten years ago: “I had two young men in my church with lead poisoning. Trying to help these families go through the system to get help for these young men was terrible. I’ve seen the impact it’s had on their learning.” When one pastor asked about the symptoms of a lead-poisoned child, Haan gave a rueful smile: “Lethargy. Stomachache. These are things kids show anyway, that’s why the blood test is so important.”
So far, the organization has fixed close to 1,500 homes in Grand Rapids. Haan says, “That sounds like a lot, but compared to the magnitude of the problem, it’s just getting started.” The magnitude is this:
So what can pastors do? Haan suggests the following:
Haan’s final words to G-RAP were stark: “Let’s stop using these kids as canaries in the coal mine.” *** Thank you to Pastor Tim Harris of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church for hosting us this month. G-RAP is on a summer break. We’ll resume meetings in September with a focus on issues of education and equity in Grand Rapids. If you would like to be on the Advisory Committee for Education when it forms, let us know. |
AuthorNatalie Hart Archives
September 2023
|