KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The City of Kalamazoo is responding to the weekend of violence between a white nationalist group called the Proud Boys and a counter-protest in downtown Kalamazoo.
The rally stemmed from a Twitter post written in July that indicated the group may hold a demonstration in the city. On Saturday, the group arrived around 1:30 p.m. and began chanting and marching.
Earlier in the day, a vigil was held at Arcadia Creek held by the First Congregational Church after they heard about the possible Proud Boys rally. The group had received a permit for the counter vigil, while city officials said the Proud Boys did not.
Violence later erupted between the two groups, leading to at least 10 arrests. Among those arrested were an MLive reporter and a legal observer from the National Lawyers Guild. Public Safety Chief Karianne Thomas later apologized for the reporter’s arrest during a press conference Sunday.
It was later confirmed that charges against eight of those arrested were dropped, including the three charges that were turned over to the Kalamazoo County Prosecutor. It’s unclear the status of the remaining two arrests.
Thomas also said that she did not believe those arrested were part of the Proud Boys.
She added that some members of the counter protest were armed and wearing ballistic vests.
During a virtual meeting Monday, Commissioners spoke at length about the rally and what happened leading up to it, as well as what will be done in the future should similar events occur.
Chief Thomas was unavailable to comment during the meeting, leading Commissioners to discuss the matter with City Manager Jim Ritsema instead.
Ritsema said that video footage from police body cameras will be reviewed to see if members of the Proud Boys committing crimes can be identified.
“There were arrests made that shouldn’t have been,” Ritsema said. “We shouldn’t have arrested people from Kalamazoo and we should have arrested Proud Boys. We have the ability to go back, and we are looking back at video to identify and follow up with charges if there is a need for that. We will do so if we’re able.”
He later said that any videos taken by citizens of the rally should be submitted to authorities and the city for help in identifying those involved in the violence, adding that the city will treat this as a learning experience going forward.
Questioning of Ritsema was opened by Commissioner Chris Praedel, who said that when the city makes a mistake, it must be acknowledged.
Praedel explained that the legal observer, who had clear identification as a member of the National Legal Guild, was arrested in the events that unfolded, while no Proud Boy members were arrested and allowed to leave Kalamazoo.
“Those people should have been protected citizens of that day, and not only were they arrested, but when that mistake was made, they were then lodged in jail, even though after that it was known that they had been people who should not have been arrested,” Praedel said.
Pradel said he was able to speak with both the Observer and the reporter, who confirmed that they had identification and identified themselves as such.
“Certainly, the Proud Boys were very much instigators, very much doing violent acts,” Praedel said. “They had clearly made several traffic violations, whether it be blocking the street with their vehicles, whether it be marching down the street without a parade permit, whether it be coming out of a parking structure without license plates. So how to we reconcile that with the community and reassure them that justice still can be done for the people that perpetrated these acts in our community?”
Ritsema responded by saying that the goal was to protect the community and restore order, but said that the city should have more anticipatory in what could have happened during the rally.
“We could have been deployed better, but it’s really a case where we’re gonna move forward with learning from the event,” Ritsema said.
He also said that, in addition to searching for recordings of criminal activity through body camera footage, they would also review what happened leading up to the arrests of the Observer and the reporter.
Praedel said that the two who were arrested should be involved in future discussions. Ritsema said that Chief Thomas was planning on meeting with both of those individuals.
Praedel, along with other commissioners, said that the city needs to have better communication with its residents going forward, which he felt was a large issue in this case.
“We absolutely have to constantly improve our public communication, and that’s true both in public safety and with us as commissioners,” Praedel said. “It is absolutely inexcusable that people don’t hear from our city in the immediate aftermath of a crisis. They need to see us, and we need to be able to answer what we’re able to answer.”
Vice Mayor Patrese Griffin said that the Proud Boys assembling in Kalamazoo was unsurprising, adding that racism is alive and present in Kalamazoo, and that the police should have had a better response planned ahead of time.
Ritsema said that police should have been staged differently.
“If we can reduce the amount of opportunity for altercations, I think that’s a helpful goal to keep the community safe and do what we need to do regarding the group that’s here,” Ritsema said.
Commissioner Erin Knott added that the city should have listened to black leaders in the community when it came to the Proud Boys Rally and the counter-protest.
She also asked how soon Proud Boy members on video that have committed a crime could be issued arrest warrants.
Ritsema estimated that an investigation could take a few weeks in identifying suspects, citing protests that turned violent in Grand Rapids earlier this summer.
“If [the public has] any footage they believe will help us identify folks, get that to us ASAP,” Ritsema said. “I understand from what happened in Grand Rapids, they were issuing arrest warrants weeks after the event, based on review of video footage, identifying who that is, and going and pursuing an arrest warrant. We will undertake that as best we can and hold people accountable to the criminal actions that they made that day.”
Ritsema confirmed to Knott that a special task force will be dedicated to reviewing video material.
Knott also said that because some of the counter-protesters were armed, then it was not a peaceful protest.
Following comments by Knott, Commissioner Eric Cunningham said that the accountability comes back to the commissioners, and that they had disappointed the Kalamazoo community.
“We have a job to do, a piece of that is protecting our community and a piece of that is protecting our city administration,” Cunningham said. “Honestly, we failed them. We have to find ways to ensure that our citizens our safe, our communication is strong, and that there is accountability when it comes to leadership within our city administration.”
Cunningham was in agreement that the city must establish better communication channels, and that all charges should be dropped against the citizens arrested.
Commissioner Jeanne Hess said that the ideals of the Proud Boys could not further divide the Kalamazoo community.
“If we allow our discourse and our actions and thoughts to separate ourselves from one another in this community, whether we’re separated by race, gender, class or neighborhood, than the Proud Boys have won,” Hess said. “The last thing I want is for the Proud Boys to win this community.”
City Attorney Clyde Robinson also said that, despite the message of the group, they cannot be legally banned from holding rallies within guidelines.
“You may not like their speech, but they have a first amendment right to give that speech,” Robinson said. “They have a right to come into the community, they don’t have the right to incite a riot, but they have the same rights as anybody else to occupy public space to voice their message.”
He said that crime must be actively committed to constitute an arrest.
“It’s complicated, but they have to actually engage in a criminal act before they can be arrested, as opposed to being arrested for who they are,” Robinson said.
Towards the end of the discussion, Mayor David Anderson added that these conversations cannot be ignored.
“We can’t have these conversations out of the limelight, we can only have them when they are noticed in advance, and while public can watch in real-time, and while comments can be made,” Anderson said.
Anderson added that while the board doesn’t always have the right answer to every issue, public participation and feedback was crucial to the function of the board.
“The best job we can do is bringing the seven of us together to share our different opinions and our different perspectives and work together to set the stage for asking our administration, led by the city manager, to do the job for the citizens in this community that we desire to be done,” Anderson said. “We have to be a model and demonstrate how people with a variety of backgrounds can work together to accomplish the things that I believe are foundational principles that we all believe in.”
Over a hundred citizens had called in with various messages relating to the protest. Some voiced their support for the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety and Chief Thomas, while others called actions taken by the department “deplorable” and “disgraceful.”
One even went as far as to say that the City of Kalamazoo is a disgrace to the country itself.
Other citizens who didn’t live in Kalamazoo called in from areas like Chicago to express their disappointment with the actions taken.
Comments were also made in regards to calling for the resignation of city leaders and Chief Thomas due to the rally response, with some saying they believed KDPS favored the Proud Boys over Kalamazoo citizens. They pointed to some Proud Boys driving vehicles with no licence plates as an example.
They also aimed criticism at the press conference Chief Thomas held Sunday.
Commissioners were still fielding public comments after 12:45 in the morning. They finally recessed just after 1:30 a.m. and will reconvene to finish their agenda at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
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