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N o ve m b e r 26, 2014 jportlanh (Obstruer Page 7 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views o f the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. Momentum for Supporting Basic Human Needs Holding policy makers accountable BY THE R ev . M . L inda J aramillo In the aftermath of this m onth’s election, emotions range from celebration to lam entation, depending upon on which political party or candi date that we supported. If the barrage of political ads leading up to the election didn’t already exhaust us, we are now forced to digest the endless speculation of political analysts recounting all the reasons for the re su lts. N eg o tiatio n am ong elected leaders is once again promised as a solution to the gridlock, which has severely dis couraged voter participation throughout the land. In the midst of all the media look forward to modest raises. buzz, it is good to see that com This movement across the coun munities of faith are try demonstrates our support for stepping up to jo in families and shows that we rec forces with non-reli ognize the struggle o f parents gious o rg an izatio n s who must work two or three jobs w orking together to to meet the basic needs of their support basic human household. By supporting these needs. Momentum is workers, we are demonstrating growing and with it we see re our commitment to one another newed energy to hold policy and to improving the economic makers accountable to voter- situation of whole communities. endorsed measures dedicated to Policies responding to the advancing the common good. needs of working families were N eed an exam ple? Voters affirm ed by M assachusetts’s from A laska, A rkansas, N e voters who supported paid sick braska, and South Dakota over leave, and further reinforced by whelmingly recognized the need Oakland, Calif, and two New for a living wage in their states. Je rse y c itie s , T re n to n and Last week these states joined 25 Montclair. Eight similar mea others that have previously en sures passed earlier this year dorsed an hourly wage that sur with several campaigns gaining passes the woefully inadequate strength. Families will undoubt federal minimum wage. edly benefit from these recent Because of this action, nearly actions and economic develop 700,000 low wage workers can ment reports predict that it will also be good for business. California voters also acted to address disparities in their crimi nal justice system and are slowly but surely overturning their 1994 “three-strikes” law, which has disproportionately affected low- income persons and people of color. While the law was in tended to address offenders committing violent crimes, it as has also resulted in life sentences for petty thieves and shoplifters. Californians supported M ea sure 47, which will convert low- level drug and property offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, reducing the sentences o f an estimated 10,000 inmates. In the past, arguments in support of this step concentrated on the excessive cost of implementing the three-strikes law; however, a Los Angeles poll in September indicated that Californians felt that fairness was far more im portant than money. Voters from both sides of the political spectrum led the way to justice by passing M easure 47 with a 58 percent majority. Stories like this were visible across the nation. Voters stepped up in this election cycle to support basic human needs. At the same time scholars at the Pew Re search Institute are documenting a surge of support for churches that engage politically, especially in advancing the common good. It seems that we are at an important moment as a nation, and that we, as people of faith committed to justice and equal ity, are uniquely poised to help hold our elected officials ac countable to the will of the people in this post-election time. Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo is a Witness fo r Justice executive a n d n a tio n a l o ffic e r o f the United Church o f Christ. Applauding the Nomination for Attorney General Loretta Lynch has the values we look for most by M arc H. M ortal I had the honor o f v isitin g th e W h ite H ouse this m onth for P re sid e n t O b a m a ’s announcem ent o f his c h o ic e to su c c e e d Eric H older, who recently de- d a r e d his decision to retire, as A ttorney G eneral of the U nited S ta te s- It had been rum ored for days that L oretta Lynch, who cur- r e n tly heads th e U .S . A tto rn ey ’s O ffice for the East- ern D istrict o f New Y ork, had r is e n to th e to p o f th e P resident’s list. W hile the tim - ing o f the announcem ent, ju st four days after the pow er-shift- ing m id-term elections, may have surprised m any, it also confirm ed the President scorn- m itm ent to seam lessly uphold the civil rights protections and crim inal ju stice reform s that have been so fiercely advo- cated by H older. Lynch, who would be the nation s first A frican A m eri- can w om an A ttorney G eneral, has served more than 15 years as a prosecutor in the of- dent O bam a said, “It is pretty fice that covers eight m il- hard to be m ore qualified for lion people in Brooklyn, this jo b than Loretta. Through- Queens, Staten Island and out her 30-year career, she Long Island, New York, has distinguished h erself as The Senate unanim ously tough, as fair, an independent confirm ed her to lead the law yer w ho has twice headed U.S. A ttorney’s office on two the m ost prom inent offices in separate occasions - once un- the country. She has spent der President Clinton and more years in the trenches as a pros- r e c e n tly u n d e r P r e s id e n t ecutor, aggressively fighting O bam a. te rro ris m , fin a n c ia l fra u d , S he h as an o u ts ta n d in g cyber-crim e, all w hile vigor- record o f successful prosecu- ously defending civil rights.” tions, including the terrorists A n ativ e o f G reen sb o ro , who plotted to bom b the Fed- N .C., the daughter of a Baptist eral R eserve Bank and the m inister and the granddaugh- N ew Y ork subw ay system , ter o f a pastor/sharecropper, some o f New Y ork’s m ost vio- L ynch’s dedication to protect- lent and notorious mobsters and ing civil rights and ensuring gang m em bers, and corrupt eq u alju sticeisp arto fh erD N A . public officials from both par- H er background and experi- ties. She has also won a num- ences also inform her com m it- ber of W all Street financial ment to com m on sense crim i- fraud cases. In 1999, she fa- nal ju stice reform s designed to m ously prosecuted one o f the make our system sm arter and m ost egregious cases o f police fairer. She rem em bers as a brutality in New York City his- child riding on her fath er’s tory, the beating and sexual shoulders to student anti-seg- assault o f H aitian im m igrant, regation boycott m eetings at A bner Louim a. his church. She also recalls In nom inating Lynch, Presi- her sharecropper grandfather la m en tin g , “ In ru ra l N orth ment rather than targeted.” C arolina in the 1930s, if you T hose are the valu es we were poor and black and got in look for m ost in the P eo p le’s trouble w ith the law, you had Law yer. We urge the Senate very little recourse.” to confirm L oretta Lynch as As a law yer and U.S. attor- the next U nited States A ttor- ney, L ynch’s career has been ney G eneral w ithout delay. undergirded by an unshakeable M arc H. 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