From left to right: Young and alive Mike Brown, brother Andre and sister Deja in happier times.
Tonight we review the possible impacts of Daily Kos over the tumultuous past year since the killing of Michael Brown. Tomorrow (8/29) marks exactly a year from
our first diary proposing the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act (MBOPRA). Below we present what we have all accomplished with the help of this and other communities:
Milestones, Accomplishments, Actions in Brief
Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act
1. We crowd-sourced the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act in about seven weeks at Daily Kos. More than 700 Kossacks supported us. We also created state version of the Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act.
2. We sent the law to all the NAACP branches. At least one local branch forwarded the proposed law to the national headquarters in Washington, DC. Hilary Shelton, the successor of Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP, wrote to tell us they wanted to promote our law and add it to the three laws they had already been promoting. Now they have four laws to promote.
3. We sent the finalized version of our federal bill to all of the members of the Black Congressional Caucus and to the leadership of the Progressive Caucus.
4. We sent our law to the American Civil Liberties Union, which responded "We want to partner with you."
5. President Obama signed a law in December 2014 which included pieces of our law.
4. The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing issued a report in February 2015 which included parts of our bill.
5. The Department of Justice investigated the Ferguson Police Department and issued a report by on March 4, 2015. The report can be read here (PDF). That report included parts of our bill.
6. The Campaign Zero action-plan recommendations were informed by the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing (Vox.com).
At this time we have no direct evidence that our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act was directly quoted in any of the above reports.
Our Freedom of Information Act project
1. Sent Public Records requests to all the Republican or State Legislators who were holding up Medicaid Expansion asking them the "Catch 22" questions: What have you done to find out how many people are dying because you refuse to Expand Medicaid, and, What are you doing to find out how many people are filing for bankruptcy because of your refusal?
2. We received responses from all the Governors save three: Wyoming, North Carolina and Kansas. (Details below.)
3. All of the responses were that the Governors or State Legislators have done nothing to find out how many people they are killing or forcing into bankruptcy. Except that Texas did have a few documents showing that Governors Perry and Abbott knew they were killing as many as 9,000 Texans every year and sending 61,000 into bankruptcy.
4. Wyoming we threatened to sue, and they immediately caved and gave us their response. (They had done nothing to find out how many people they are killing either).
5. We had to sue Governors Brownback and McCrory to finally get a response to our Public Records requests. They both surrendered almost immediately. North Carolina surrendered only two days after we sued them! (Neither state is doing anything to find out how many of their working-poor citizens they are killing and bankrupting).
6. We have contacted members of the national media to get this story before the public.
Public Opinion
In the past year, public opinion has changed on the national scene:
Key: gold line is % of population that does NOT believe the Nation Needs to Make Changes to Give Blacks Equal Rights; brown line is % of population that BELIEVES the Nation Needs to Make Changes to Give Blacks Equal Rights
#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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