Author Archives: Jeff Smith (GRIID)
1989 Flyer on the US Invasion of Panama that was distributed in Grand Rapids
Last week we posted a flyer that was created by the Latin America Working group at the Institute for Global Education on the Guatemalan Genocide and the Columbian Legacy. We discovered another flyer that was developed in response to the … Continue reading
GR Central American Solidarity flyer connects Guatemalan Genocide to Columbus Legacy
We came across a flyer the other day that was produced in 1990 by the Latin American Working Group from the Institute for Global Education. The flyer talks about the Columbian legacy and the genocidal policies in Guatemala during the … Continue reading
Reversing the Missionary Position: Documentary recounts the experience of GR activist involved in the Central American Solidarity Movement
(Disclosure: This documentary is based upon a book written by the same person who hosts the Grand Rapids People’s History Project, Jeff Smith) In 2003, I wrote a book about my experiences doing Central American Solidarity work, Sembramos, Comemos, Sembramos: … Continue reading
Honoring the Legacy of Milt Lennox
Yesterday it was reporter that Milt Lennox, former owner and founder of the Apartment Lounge had passed away. As a member of the LGBTQ community, Milt not only was a major supporter of numerous LGBTQ rights campaigns in West Michigan, … Continue reading
The Trial of Vern Ehlers: Dramatizing War Crimes
In 2003, just months after the US invasion/occupation of Iraq had begun, activists in Grand Rapids with the People’s Alliance for Justice & Change organized a mock trial for then Michigan Congressman Vern Ehlers. The mock trial was a piece … Continue reading
The Role of Church & State in Native Displacement in West MI : Settler Colonialism in Grand Rapids Part II
Last month we posted a piece that names the founding of Grand Rapids as a manifestation of Settler Colonialism. We pointed out that Native communities that lived along the Washtanong, what Settler Colonialists now call the Grand River. We also pointed … Continue reading
Campaign to Boycott Salvadoran Coffee was part of the Grand Rapids Central American Solidarity Movement in the early 1990s
The US backed counterinsurgency war in El Salvador saw one of its darkest days in November of 1989, when Salvadoran soldiers (many of them trained at the US Army School of the Americas) murdered six catholic priests, their cook and her … Continue reading
The Wall of Fame: Wealth and Influence at GVSU
When reading radical historian Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States, it becomes clear early on that one can not talk about social movements without talking about the power structures that those movements fought against. Whether it was … Continue reading
When Grand Rapids Saw Red: Early Grand Rapids Labor History Part II
(This is Part II of a two part series by local labor historian Michael Johnston. Click here for Part I) It didn’t matter that he was dressed in his army uniform, medals for heroism pinned to his front shirt pocket. … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 