N o ve m b e r 26, 2014
jportlanh (Obstruer
Page 7
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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. M orial is presi-
belief that, as she states, “Jus- dent a n d c h ie f executive of-
tice is only served when people fic e r o f the N ational Urban
feel protected by their govern- L ea g u e.
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