A movement to protest outside a Tesla showroom near Grand Rapids appears to be gaining steam after a second week.
On Monday afternoon, about three dozen people stood outside the showroom on 29th Avenue in Kentwood to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk. It was not a huge crowd, but it was the second week in a row for protesters. And now there are plans to continue the demonstration on the coming Mondays.
Elizabeth Jenkins said she accidentally became the organizer of the protest after looking into protests at other Tesla dealerships nationwide, and deciding that West Michigan should have its own protests.
“Last week I told my mom, ‘I accidentally signed up to make a protest, do you want to come with me?’ And I thought it was just her and me.”
Instead, dozens showed up. And since there was interest to do it again, Jenkins said she planned a second event, with more to come after this week.
Jenkins’ mom, Eileen, said she didn’t expect the small protest to make a big difference, but it’s important for her to make a statement.
“I don’t think that it will affect Elon Musk very much,” Eileen Jenkins said. “I think he looks at us as minor. But I do think that money is the only thing he understands, and this is the only way we can — I don’t know — make a money statement.”
Protesters have been making statements at Tesla showrooms around the nation in recent weeks, including regular protests at the Tesla showroom in Ann Arbor.
They oppose deep cuts made by a new government agency known as DOGE, spearheaded by Musk. Eileen Jenkins said Musk had taken the purse strings from the government by slashing programs without oversight from Congress.
The protests at the showroom just outside Grand Rapids started later than others around the nation, and so far have been smaller than some seen in other cities.
But Monday’s demonstration drew some who’ve not been part of protests in the past.
Tom Northway said he was a former Republican who hadn’t gone to a protest since he protested against the Vietnam War.
He said he’s been increasingly alarmed by both Trump and Elon Musk, and he was inspired watching an interview with Nobel Prize winner Maria Ressa, a journalist in the Philippines whose outlet, Rappler, pushed back against the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, despite facing prosecution. Still, Northway said initially he wasn’t sure if he wanted to join Monday’s protest. He followed along with the event plans on social media.
“I looked up and saw there was only five people, and I thought, ‘Eh I don’t think I’m going to do that,’” Northway said. “And then there were 10 last Saturday night, and then yesterday afternoon I looked and it was 140. I said ‘Okay, I got a couple hours that I can spare and I got nothing else to do.’”
On Monday, he stood across the street from the Tesla showroom with his dog Jagger and held a sign that said, “Elon Musk is a Nazi,” a statement he said he felt comfortable with after seeing Musk give a gesture that appeared to some to be similar to a Nazi salute following a speech in Washington D.C.
“I have no problems carrying this and thinking I’m correct,” Northway said. “If somebody doesn’t stand up and say this is wrong, if everybody sits back on their couches, then nothing gets done.”
A Kentwood police officer at the front of the showroom said staff did not wish to comment on the protest.
