Thoughts on Baltimore

Protests, riots, uprisings, they all spring from some sort of anger, and the situation in Baltimore is no different. Last Tuesday, after days of peaceful protest, and demonstrations by community leaders, protests turned violent, with buildings burning, looting, and police and protestors alike being injured. To dismiss this as a senseless riot is to forget not only the years of oppression that people of color in this country have faced, but the daily fear that many people of color experience when they walk in the street and interact with the police.

The FBI’s Justifiable Homicide Report released in November of 2014 stated that 461 people were killed by the police in 2013, which is thehighest rate of police killings in two decades. Across the nation, black people are three times more likely to be killed by the police. The nationwide rate of police shootings of civilians is .13 per 100,000 people, but that rate increases dramatically in Western states. In Albuquerque, my home, the rate of police shootings is over 30 times the national average, with4 people per 100,000 being shot by the police. While black men are the most likely to be shot by the cops in population dense areas, out West, in more sparsely populated areas, it is the mentally ill whoare more likely to be shot by the police.

There are 461 reasons to be angry. There are countless more stories of police brutality that go unreported due to the undesirability of the victim, or their mental state. Those are reasons to be angry. And with all that loss of life, and all those reasons to be angry, there is little to no accountability for police officers who kill Americans, as few face indictment by grand juries, let alone criminal consequences for their actions.

The protests in Baltimore are a result of that anger. The days of peaceful protest and organizing by community leaders are a result of that anger. The riots last night were a result of that anger. People are free to form their own opinions on the riots, but if you do not understand why people are angry, you need to take a closer look at the data and statistics available, and ask yourself why you’re not more horrified and enraged by police brutality itself, instead of being horrified by the community’s reaction.

Currently, the state, in the form of the police, appears to have unchecked power to kill American citizens. They may not be citizens that look like you, they may not be people you come in contact with, but the state has an ability to end a human life without any sort of fair trial, and little to no consequence to the person who committed a crime or murder, justified or not. This is an issue that affects all Americans. It is an extreme overreach of state power that should make all citizens of this country nervous.

I have relatives who work in law enforcement, and I fear for their safety. How can you not? If someone you loved was putting themselves in dangerous areas, trying to protect people, how could you not be worried about them? But I realize that the way I fear for my cousin, who chose to be a police officer in a dangerous area, is the same way countless mothers, fathers, siblings, and friends fear for those they love. A country with fewer police shootings will not only protect youth and adults of color, it will hopefully increase trust in the police, which creates a safer country for us all. This is an issue that affects us all, whether we fear for our relatives in law enforcement or our relatives walking peacefully in the street.

(Finally) Ready for Hillary

I’ll confess. I didn’t come out of the womb Ready for Hillary. I wasn’t even Ready for Hillary in 2008. Until recently, I still wasn’t Ready for Hillary. I was Holding Out Hope for Joe Biden, or Assuming Elizabeth Warren Would Run, or even Maybe Going to Give Bernie Sanders A Try. But I was, and on some level remain, Skeptical of Hillary.

After the November Midterm Elections, and with Hillary Clinton’s announcement that she would be running for President in 2016, I can finally say that I am totally Ready for Hillary.

Why did it take so long? And what made me eventually change my opinion?

I’m Skeptical of Hillary for the same reason I’m Angry About Jeb. I do not like that we are living in an American oligarchy. I don’t like the idea that our political history could read Bush, Clinton, Bush, first black president, Clinton. I really don’t like the possibility of Bush, Clinton, Bush, first black president, Bush. An oligarchy is defined as a small group of people who have control over a country or institution, and in looking at the political landscape in this country, it’s hard to argue that we are not living in an oligarchy.

According to one study by academics at Princeton, opinionsand causes supported by lower income people, and interest groups that represent them, have no effect on policy. Rather, it is the richest and most powerful that are able to make their ideas heard, and advocate for change, whether they exert their influence with large campaign contributions, or through high-powered lobbying firms.

The idea of a rich and powerful elite controlling my country, with little opportunity for others to try to run for office, is initially why I did not like the idea of another Clinton presidency. In a lot of ways, that skepticism is still there, and I think it does raise important issues that American as a country needs to discuss.

But we don’t need to discuss those issues right now. Right now, we need another Democratic president, and that is why I’m Ready for Hillary.

I think Hillary can win, not just the Democratic nomination, but the overall election. 59% of Democrats say that there is a “good chance” that they will support Hillary Clinton in the election, compared to 23% ofRepublicans who say the same thing about Jeb Bush. If Clinton already has an substantial edge with the Democrats, my entirely unscientific assessment of the situation is that Hillary could win a general election. At the very least, she has a better chance than anyone else the Democrats could nominate (sorry Vice President Biden, I would have run your campaign).

I’m not just Ready for Hillary because I think she can win. I’m Ready for Hillary because I think she has to win. I’m not going to outline all the reasons I vote Democrat, but I will outline the main reason, the reason I think that everyone needs to really think hard about who they are voting for.

Currently, the Supreme Court is only slightly in favor of preventing abortion. There are four liberal justices who would not dream of eliminating the protections laid down in Roe v. Wade, and there are four conservative justices who would welcome the opportunity. There is a swing justice, who usually airs on the side of protecting abortion, but if a fifth conservative justice is put on the court, Justice Kennedy will be unnecessary. Whoever America elects in 2016 will be the person who can appoint justices who will serve for years to come. This election is not just about immediate policy, it’s about the far reaching effects of ideology in our judicial system. In 2016, make sure to actually show up, and vote for a candidate that will protect women’s rights not just while they are in office, but for years to come. Not to mention the backsliding the court and the country will do with regard to economic equality, gay rights, and protections for minorities.

Not only do I think Secretary Clinton is the best person to protect those rights in the short and long term, I think that with the visible and invisible sexism that still plagues every woman in our society today, from street harassment to Federal laws that dictate what we can and can't do with our bodies, it would be incredibly powerful, and frankly, necessary to have a female president. 

And that’s why, despite my discomfort with our American Oligarchy, I am, without a doubt, Ready for Hillary.

Wait For It

167 days. That’s how long new Attorney General Loretta Lynch waited to be confirmed. After sailing through a confirmation hearing, the extremely qualified lawyer waited longer than the past seven attorney generals combined to have her nomination be voted on by the Senate. Unsurprisingly, she sailed through the vote, with 56 Senators voting for her, and 43 voting against. Ten Republicans joined all the Democrats in confirming Attorney General Lynch at the nation’s first African-American female Attorney General. Only Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) did not vote.

Interestingly, Senator Cruz also abstained from a vote held yesterday on S.B. 178, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. This bill, in contrast to the somewhat close vote to confirm Attorney General Lynch, passed with the other 99 Senators voting in favor of the bill. How did a bill that was previously contentious enough to create an unprecedented delay for a presidential nominee pass with the support of almost every Senator?

The bill, as you may recall, was held up by a debate about whether or not funds could be used for abortions. The Hyde Amendment already is in place to prevent the use of Federal funds for abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the mother (see this post for why that language bothers me). However, language in S.B. 178 would have expanded this rule to cover non-taxpayer funds, and make it even harder for victims of human trafficking to access abortions.

In the end, the Senate reached a compromise. The new bill will create two funds that support victims of human trafficking. One fund will be built by collecting fines from traffickers. It will be used to cover survivor services, and is not subject to the restrictions of the Hyde Amendment. The other fund will draw mostly from “community health center funds,” which are subject to Hyde restrictions.

A bona fide compromise! Except that the fund for survivor services doesn’t include healthcare, and therefore, even though it is not built with government funds, it cannot be used to help women access abortions, or other forms of reproductive healthcare. All types of healthcare will be supported through the second fund, which cannot be used to pay for abortions for victims of human trafficking, unless they happen to fit a small set of circumstances.

The confirmation of Loretta Lynch is indeed historic, and she will be an excellent attorney general. But her confirmation came on the heels of the continued disrespect for women's agency over their own bodies. Hopefully, Attorney General Lynch can use her position to begin to work against the seemingly never-ending flow of abortion restrictions put in place by governments around the country, but with 99 Senators supporting this bill, it will be an uphill battle.