The 2016 General Elections are coming up fast. We are already neck deep into primary season, and the smell of politics is in the air. As many of us old tyme Kossacks know, general election season means much more than just the Presidential election here. We also have elections for a third of the Senate, all of the House of Representatives, and many, many local elections coming up in 2016.
This invariably means that there will be a host of diaries written by prominent politicians and candidates for office, seeking our votes, money and support in their upcoming battles to either keep the seat they already hold or win a new one. Which means that us normal, everyday kossacks are in a unique position. They need not only our votes, but our energy and time as activists and access to our (sometimes very deep) pocket books so we should be asking them something in return!
As many of you are aware, the Michael Brown Over Police Rights Act was crowd sourced here at Daily Kos in 2014 as a response to the tragic events in Ferguson, Missouri after the shooting death of Michael Brown by Ferguson PD. This proposed bill addresses many of the problems in policing and criminal justice with the ultimate goal of protecting black lives, so there are no more Mike Browns, Tamir Rices, Eric Gardeners, Sandra Blands. We all know that something must be done to stop our police from becoming roving death squads -- The Michael Brown Over Policed Rights Act is that something we have all been waiting for.
In the spirit of applying direct pressure to our lawmakers, we have come up with a template that all kossacks are free to use when interacting directly with lawmakers, candidates and other Very Important People both locally and nationally. This template can also be used outside of Daily Kos -- at other forums, in emails, heck even printed out and snail mailed.
Its time to turn the heat up on our lawmakers and put the pressure back on them to once and for all reign in rogue police. We are calling on all Kossacks interested in ensuring that no more black lives are lost: if you see a candidate for higher office, politician or other prominent figure post a diary here or an article anywhere else, use this template and ask them where they stand on the Michael Brown Over Policed Rights Act. Its time to spread the word, and hold our lawmakers accountable for this mess. Please check the comments of this diary for text and code to recreate the table below. Every future diary of Support the Dream Defenders will link to the most recent code (We assume the letter will evolve).
Hello (politician/VIP),
I need your help!
The United States has a unique problem which, in the name of human rights and justice, must be solved with all urgency. According to the Guardian's The Counted, 715 (check before use as this statistic changes daily) people have had their lives snuffed out by police violence so far in 2015. At the current rate, our police will have killed 1,100 by year's end. Police in the United Kingdom have, on the other hand, killed two people in the past three years. The United States averages 3.19 deaths per day. The statistics collected in 2015 point to an even more pernicious and insidious problem -- institutional racism in our policing. Four times more black people have been killed so far this year compared to their white peers. This problem is clearly unsustainable from a human rights perspective.
There is a proposed solution to this slow motion tragedy, however.
The members of the Daily Kos community crowdsourced the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act to reform modern policing and protect Black lives. This proposed bill aims to:
- Prevent racial prejudice in policing.
- Identify problem areas like Ferguson, Missouri before they blow up.
- Reduce violence in policing.
- End mass incarceration.
- Address unfairness in policing (such as extraordinary numbers of alleged offenses per population)
- Ensure police are held accountable for dishonesty and malfeasance.
- Propose solutions to the current lack of reporting on policing statistics (especially regarding race and force, both lethal and non-lethal).
- Provision body cameras to police officers.
- Eliminate weaponized police equipment in problem jurisdictions.
This proposal is one of the absolute best ways to address the problems facing our policing and criminal justice systems. We at Support the Dream Defenders officially request your position not only on the issues facing modern policing and criminal justice, but also your opinion about the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act. We understand that your power may be limited in this area, but also understand that the soft power you have within (the democratic party/progressive movement) could go a very long way to having this proposed bill introduced, passed and ultimately signed by the President.
We hope to hear from you and look forward to working with you in the future.
Thanks for your consideration,
(UID/Real Name)
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#LetOurPoorPeopleLive
Update on Our FOIA Progress
All governors and their enablers acceded to our requests or caved to our demands. Only one state investigated to see how many poor people would suffer and die. Only Texas. None of them expanded Medicaid. Not one. They don't give a s$$t. They don't give a rat's a$$. They don't give a flying f$ck how many poor people die, how many suffer, how many lose their homes. They claim to be Christian, yet ignore our poor. Ebola killed 2 Americans. Those Republican poorkillers axe 63 Americans per day!
Charting Our FOIA Progress: #LetOurPoorPeopleLive #STDDs
(Dark green indicates we have heard back.)
|
State |
Sent |
Heard Back |
Recipient |
Deaths |
Alabama |
|
|
Gov R.J. Bentley-R |
215-562 |
Alaska |
|
|
Gov Bill Warner-I (Thanks!) |
0 |
Florida |
|
|
Gov Rick Scott-R |
1158-2221 |
Georgia |
|
|
Gov Nathan Deal-R |
561-1176 |
Idaho |
|
|
Gov Butch Otter-R |
76-179 |
Kansas |
|
|
Gov Sam Brownback-R |
113-330 |
Louisiana |
|
|
Gov Bobby Jindal-R |
249-542 |
Maine |
|
|
Gov Paul LePage-R |
31-157 |
Mississippi |
|
|
Gov Phil Bryant-R |
141-343 |
Missouri |
|
|
Sen Kurt Schaefer-R |
218-700 |
Montana |
|
|
Sen Art Wittich-R |
50-117 |
Nebraska |
|
|
Gov Pete Ricketts-R |
67-212 |
North Carolina |
|
|
Gov Pat McCrory-R |
455-1145 |
Oklahoma |
|
|
Gov Mary Fallin-R |
174-439 |
South Carolina |
|
|
Gov Nikki Haley-R |
209-551 |
South Dakota |
|
|
Gov Dennis Daugaard-R |
36-95 |
Tennessee |
|
|
Gov Bill Haslam-R |
284-759 |
Texas |
|
|
Gov Greg Abbott-R |
8000-9000 |
Utah |
|
|
Rep Gregory Hughes-R |
102-316 |
Virginia |
|
|
Sen Kathy J. Byron-R |
266-987 |
Wisconsin |
|
|
Gov Scott Walker-R |
139-671 |
Wyoming |
|
|
Gov Matt Mead-R |
22-69 |
|
|
|
Total per Year
(Lowest Estimate) |
23,000 |
Notes:
Abbreviations R Republican. D Democratic. I Independent. Gov Governor. Sen State Senator. Rep State Representative.
Alaska: Gov Bill Warner will sidestep the GOP-controlled legislature and expand Medicaid on his own as of July 16, 2015. Thank you, Gov Warner! Indiana: The Governor now supports the Medicaid expansion. Montana: Montana is waiting for federal approval of their version of Medicaid expansion. Utah: Gregory H. Hughes is the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Wisconsin: STDDs continue to support Citizen Action of Wisconsin; however, we filed our own FOIA request for Wisconsin.
Source: Health Affairs Blog: Opting Out Of Medicaid Expansion: The Health And Financial Impacts.
Next Action Steps:
1. Letters to the editor by readers, Kossacks, and followers and members of Support the Dream Defenders.
2. Press releases by readers, Kossacks, and followers and members of Support the Dream Defenders. |
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About Support the Dream Defenders
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders invigorate three ongoing projects:
1. We coalesced to support the Dream Defenders in Florida and their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. The Dream Defenders defend the Dream of Martin Luther King Jr. by "develop(ing) the next generation of radical leaders to realize and exercise our independent collective power; building alternative systems and organizing to disrupt the structures that oppress our communities." Please donate here.
2. Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014. This bill quickly gained the support of the NAACP and the ACLU. The NAACP forwarded our bill to members of Congress, and we distributed it to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other progressive members of Congress. President Obama signed into a law a small piece of our bill in December 2014. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature.
3. Our Freedom of Information Act project. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Ebola has killed about 9000 people in total; Republican governors kill 23,000 people PER YEAR by refusing federal support for Medicaid, a story ignored by traditional media. Our project forces those governors to out themselves, clapping them in a Catch 22. We will publicize our results through letters to the editor, press releases, and petitions.
More information about STTDs here.
You can receive all future stories of Support the Dream Defenders by clicking here. Then click "Follow," which will make all STDD stories show up in "My Stream" of your Daily Kos page.
This is a community diary.
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