Page 8
May 17, 2017
CAREERS EDUCATION
New Prices
Effective
April 1, 2017
O PINION
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
(Hallway Extra)
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Area/Oriental Rugs:
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool) :
$40.00 Minimum
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Extensive Pre-Spraying)
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $69.00
Loveseat: $49.00
Sectional: $109 - $139
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $49.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
SEE CURRENT FLYER
FOR ADDITIONAL
PRICES & SERVICES
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
American Justice Now Feels Laughable
Attorney
General shows
distain for police
reforms
e bony s laughter -J ohnson
Heard any good jokes
lately? Desiree Fairooz
did. But laughing at it
got her thrown in jail.
That’s right: Fairooz
was just convicted for
laughing during the
confirmation hearing of
now-Attorney General Jeff Ses-
sions in January 2017. She’d
attended the hearing, in her own
words, to “oppose his ascent to
the most powerful law enforce-
ment position in the country.”
From his vote against the 2013
renewal of the Violence Against
Women Act to his openly hostile
rhetoric towards immigrants,
Sessions’ record is spattered
with examples of efforts to dis-
criminate against marginalized
groups.
So, when Senator Richard
Shelby began his line of ques-
tioning by praising Sessions for
his “extensive record of treating
by
all Americans equally under the
law,” Fairooz did what anyone
who’s just heard a joke would
do: She laughed.
Fairooz was then ejected from
the hearing room by Capitol Hill
police, then jailed and processed.
Stunningly, she was convicted of
two counts of unlawful conduct
on Capitol grounds.
She faces a year in
prison with the pos-
sibility of additional
fines and community
service as well.
Desiree
Fairooz
was right to laugh
at the misplaced praise heaped
upon Sessions. The former Al-
abama senator’s civil rights re-
cord is laughable.
For proof, look no further
than the decision from the Ses-
sions-directed Department of
Justice to forgo prosecuting the
two police officers responsible
for the death of Alton Sterling,
an unarmed black man in Baton
Rouge whom the officers pinned
to the ground and shot to death
last year.
In the entirely false dichotomy
between defending police officers
and pursuing justice for the vic-
tims of police violence, Sessions
has maintained no illusions about
which side he falls on.
As a senator, Sessions partic-
ipated in a hearing provocative-
ly titled “The War on Police,”
in which he chided the Obama
administration for investigat-
ing police misconduct. Sessions
disdained such investigations as
indicative of “an agenda that’s
been a troubling issue for a num-
ber of years.”
As attorney general, Sessions
announced in April that his De-
partment of Justice would re-
view all reform agreements the
Obama administration made
with local departments. He’d
previously disparaged those civ-
il rights reforms as “dangerous”
for their tendency to “undermine
respect for our police officers.”
That decision signals that Ses-
sions not only intends to under-
mine existing reforms, but that
he’s taken the first steps to make
good on his professed interest in
doing away with them altogeth-
er.
Now, it seems that the attor-
ney general’s conception of “re-
spect” for law enforcement ex-
tends to empowering officers to
commit violence with impunity
as well. By not prosecuting the
officers who killed Sterling, he’s
sending a powerful message:
Victims of police violence have
no advocate in the Department
of Justice.
At best, the department now
makes excuses for police mis-
conduct. At worst, it seemingly
encourages it.
Alton Sterling didn’t end up
pinned on his back of his own
volition. Nor did he fire the
stream of bullets that ultimate-
ly ended his life. Sterling was
wrestled to the ground and shot
to death by a police officer for
being a black man at the wrong
place at the wrong time.
Alton Sterling didn’t deserve
to die — and he didn’t deserve to
have his memory vandalized by
this further injustice offered by
the Department of Justice.
The American justice appa-
ratus has revealed that it’s more
willing to prosecute laughter
than murder. So, the next time
Sessions attempts to tout his civ-
il rights record, do what Desiree
Fairooz did: laugh and resist.
Ebony Slaughter-Johnson is
a freelance writer whose work
covers history, race and the
criminalization of poverty. Dis-
tributed by OtherWords.org.