Grand Rapids, MI – After the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a couple hundred protesters expressed anger over the unjust and undemocratic ruling by taking to the streets. Two separate protests – one at Monument Park and the other at Rosa Parks Circle – united in a march to the Kent County Courthouse in downtown.

Grand Rapids, MI – Christopher Schurr, the Grand Rapids cop who executed Patrick Lyoya, has been charged with second-degree murder by Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker. Charges were announced at a June 9 press conference. The decision comes nine weeks after Lyoya was gunned down at a traffic stop on April 4. The family, along with local activist groups, have called for Schurr to be fired and charged with murder. Schurr turned himself in to officials in Calhoun County, and termination from Grand Rapids Police Department is now proceeding, according to Chief of Police Eric Winstrom.

Grand Rapids, MI – El presidente mexicano Andrés Manuel López Obrador anunció que planea largarse de la Cumbre de las Américas porque la administración de Biden rehúsa invitar a todos los países y líderes de América Latina. México mandará en su lugar su Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores. La administración Biden por ahora ha rehusado invitar a Nicaragua, Cuba y Venezuela porque a la Casa Blanca no le gusta ni sus gobiernos ni sus líderes.

Grand Rapids, MI – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced he plans to bail on the Summit of the Americas because the Biden administration refuses to invite all the countries and leaders of Latin America. Mexico will instead send their foreign minister. The Biden administration has so far refused to invite Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela because the White House does not like their governments or leaders.

Grand Rapids, MI – West Michigan labor unions, politicians and socialist groups rallied and marched for International Workers Day on May 1 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. More than 70 union members and Asian-American, Chicano/Mexicano, and Black community activists and politicians gathered. The local unions also expressed solidarity for immigrant rights and justice for Patrick Lyoya, the young African man executed by Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr.

Grand Rapids, MI – On Wednesday, April 13, the Grand Rapids Police Department released four videos of Patrick Lyoya’s murder at the hands of a GRPD officer, who they still refuse to name. Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, was a Congolese refugee, and a father to two daughters.

_Demand city convict killer cop _

Grand Rapids, MI – A crowd of hundreds marched to the Grand Rapids City Commissioners meeting, April 12, to demand both the release of the raw video showing the murder of Patrick Lyoya and the arrest of the still-unnamed killer cop. Lyoya was a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant executed by the Grand Rapids Police Department last week. In the days after his death, citywide mourning and protests against the police have increased and are expected to surge after the release of the video this Wednesday.

Grand Rapids, MI – Hundreds marched to remember Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old African man murdered by Grand Rapids police in Michigan. Lyoya’s family led a march, April 9, through the Black neighborhood of Boston Square to a vigil for their first-born son.

Grand Rapids, MI – On March 8, International Women’s Day, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Michigan organized a rally attended by 20 community members in defense of reproductive rights. Assembling in downtown Grand Rapids, speakers included Olivia Lashley in FRSO; Aly the Activist, chairwoman of the Royal Black Panther Party of Grand Rapids and Charli Karnstein, a member of the local Socialist Alternative chapter.

The FRSO and class-struggle labor unionism

Grand Rapids, MI – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization is hosting another online meeting for the growing numbers of members on Thursday, February 17 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We will use Zoom to welcome our new members who joined since the last meeting on capitalism destroying the environment.