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Saturday, November 16, 2024
Politics

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“I learned to be a black woman in this community. This is my home, and the idea that i might not be a good fit is an idea I never gave a lot of consideration to.”

Let’s stop acting like this isn’t a major event. Yesterday the House of Representatives swore in our newly elected officials and it looked like a good time. Unlike some of our other legislative offices, the gathering looked like a colorful cornucopia of congressional excellence. Along with a record-setting amount of women sworn in, we can’t overlook that Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois became the youngest black woman in history sworn in to office.

That’s right Rep. Underwood is creating history assuring that her name will one day be recalled in history books as the youngest black woman to represent any state. Even with this historical moment, Rep. Underwood’s achievement seems to have been looked over in major news outlets. So here is what we should know about Illinois’ State Representative, Lauren Underwood.

Rep. Underwood in a 32-year-old Registered Nurse from Naperville, Illinois. She earned her Masters from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University. This is also not her first run in the political arena; she was a policy professional in the Obama administration in 2014. She then went on to work at the Dept of Health and Human Services as a senior adviser, where she helped to implement the Affordable Care Act.

Rep. Underwood was able to to defeat Randy Hultgren, the republican candidate running against her on November 6 of 2018. She ran a tight race and managed to earn 52.5 percent of the votes. With her appointment, this means Democrats have a 13-5 advantage over Republicans in the Illinois delegation.

According to in interview with the New York Times, for Rep. Underwood, losing this race was not an option. She stated:

“I learned to be a black woman in this community. This is my home, and the idea that I might not be a good fit is an idea I never gave a lot of consideration to.”

Syllabus Magazine

Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion

http://www.syllabusmagazine.com

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Last night, the Senate passed a sweeping Criminal Justice Reform Bill, titled the “First Step Act”. In a rare, bipartisan decision, the act was passed 87-12; supporters claim the bill passed by the Senate will make the justice system fairer, reduce overcrowding in federal prisons, and save taxpayers money. It will also benefit drug and non-violent offenders. Here are 10 things to know about the First Step Act:

      1. This bill will not affect state prisons, it only affects prisoners in federal prisons; these prisoners only make up less than 10 percent for America’s prison population. However, the passing of this bill is a start to changing an extremely biases justice system.
      2. Passing the First Step Act includes the retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. This law reduced racist powder and crack cocaine sentencing charges. The Legal Defense Fund has been fighting for this reform, and it is important that this has been included in the First Step Act.
      3. Sentences will be applied retroactively (Earned Time Credits) for many inmates who were sentenced with extreme time under these “crack laws”. Many individuals who have been sentenced to extreme time in prison, may be set to be released once the bill is passed. Currently, they have estimated 3,000 federal inmates serving time for crack cocaine offenses will have their time reduced.
      4. This bill also ends the practice of “Stacking” charges. Stacking drug charges would take drug offenses that happened prior to the conviction, which would make a person a multiple-offender for sentencing purposes- even though they were never previously convicted.
      5. The First Step Act, if passed, will order Federal prisons to stop shackling pregnant women while they are in labor, basically treating them humanely while they are giving birth to their babies.
      6. This act also allows judges to help out low-level offenders, with minimal criminal histories, who cooperate with the government in cases that don’t include violence. to possibly receive lower sentences than the mandatory minimums. This way they can get back into society faster and pay taxes, rather than be tax burdens.
      7. Our Federal governments has locked up people for decades without preparing them on how to properly enter society with the right tools; which leads to more crime. This bill would expand job-training for prisoners re-entering society, and it would require that these inmates be housed within 500 miles of their families when possible.
      8. It has been a slow, arduous, process in getting these modest reforms passed. This is a big picture of how difficult it becomes to get “bad laws” off the books once they have been established. Liberals are quick to label these as “anti-crime”, “anti-drug” – and people simply buy into the rhetoric, making it hard to fix “bad laws”.
      9. Although the bill contains modest changes, there are many who have doubts that this is a first step, many believe because of the difficulty of our government being able to work together, this may be the only step.https://twitter.com/sensanders/status/1075405630360428546?s=21
      10. These are the Senators that opposed and tried to sink the bill Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark-R), Barrasso (R), Enzi (R), Kennedy (R), Kyl (R), Murkowski (R), Risch (R), Rounds (R), Rubio (R), Ben Sasse (Neb-R), Shelby (R), Sullivan (R)

    https://twitter.com/sentomcotton/status/1075117658071334912?s=21

Syllabus Magazine

Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion

http://www.syllabusmagazine.com

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Women around the country decided that this election year, they would get in the game instead of standing on the sideline. From Julia Stratton of Illinois, who was elected Lieutenant Governor, to Krystal Simmons to was elected to the House of Representatives for South Carolina, women around the country have been responsible for flipping their districts from Red to Blue. Check out a few of these trailblazing women below.

Syllabus Magazine

Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion

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#Voting Squad

So, do you have your voting squad? Michelle Obama, despite her family being threatened with pipe bombs, have been working nonstop to get voters to the polls, especially during these midterm elections. Her latest campaign is called #VotingSquad

“You are the best messengers to get out the vote. You know who’s too busy or too forgetful or who might flake out on Election Day. I want you to reach out to five people in your life, in your family, at your school, your congregation, wherever. Just pick at least five people for your Voting Squad. Then do whatever it takes to get them to vote. Tag each other on Instagram and Facebook. Post group photos. Put everybody on a text chain. And then get to the polls on or before November 6th. Because when we all vote, we all do better.”

The instructions are easy :

  1. Reach out to five people in your life (family, friends, classmates, coworkers, congregation, etc)
  2. Do whatever it takes to get them out to vote (tag them on FB/The Gram, Post photos, text groups)
  3. Then GET TO THE POLLS on, or before November 6th
  4. Go sign up your squad at WhenWeAllVote.org/Squad

Remember, we are only 11 days away, so make your voice heard.

Syllabus Magazine

Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion

http://www.syllabusmagazine.com

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Turning Horror Into Hope

Across the country we are seeing women and more people of color who are taking the leap, and jumping into the political deep sea. Most recently, Lucy McBath has decided to get her feet wet, and is running for U.S. Congress for the state of Georgia’s 6th Congressional district. McBath’s mission is to fight for the legacy of her son, Jordan Davis, and fight for national gun reform.

McBath is a national spokesperson for Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense for America. Most importantly, she’s a mother and a two-time breast cancer survivor – so if anyone is a fighter, it’s definitely Lucy McBath. However, she is best known as the mother of Jordan Davis.

She described Jordan and fun, active and a kid who wanted to know about everything. If you remember, 17 year-old Jordan was murdered by a white man, because he refused to turn down the music in a vehicle.

In an interview with Now This Politics, McBath says she was advised by another woman to wait and not run for Congress. McBath responded, “Ithink you just get to a point where you stop waiting for someone else to do it, and say ‘why not me?“

As the daughter of two civil rights era activists who marched alongside her parents during this era, McBath says she was living a somewhat normal life, until the senseless murder of her son. She says the murder of Jordan sparked something that was always there, but had not been sparked in some time.

McBath was considered the dark horse, she came into the race last, didn’t have all of the resources in comparison to the other candidates, and was the only minority female running. Despite it all, she was able to clench the nomination and is now in the running to take her seat on the House floor. In the Now This interview, McBath says that black woman have been the backbone of this country and “our experiences give great credibility to what’s possible for young women and little girls.”

“You feel for her as a mother,” said Cheryl Brown, 60, in a New York Times interview. “Years before meeting Ms. McBath, Brown kept a Jet Magazine cover featuring Jordan Davis at her Atlanta-area home. The cover read, “Is Your Child Next?,” and it resonated with Ms. Brown because she, too, fears her black son could fall victim to racist violence.“

Lucy McBath’s heart is definitely in her campaign, and in her purpose. Let’s hope she wins in the upcoming Georgia election, and we pray that through her, Jordan Davis’ legacy will continue.

Source: NowThis and NY Times

Syllabus Magazine

Syllabus Magazine, the Carolina’s source for Music, Culture and Fashion

http://www.syllabusmagazine.com
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