Tag Archives: social-justice

The idea is freedom and human dignity

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Excerpt from Don’t Sleep Through the Revolution by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1966:

I’m sure that each of you has read that arresting little story from the pen of Washington Irving entitled Rip Van Winkle.

One thing that we usually remember about the story of Rip Van Winkle is that he slept twenty years. But there is another point in that story which is almost always completely overlooked: it is the sign on the inn of the little town on the Hudson from which Rip went up into the mountains for his long sleep. When he went up, the sign had a picture of King George III of England. When he came down, the sign had a picture of George Washington, the first president of the United States.

When Rip Van Winkle looked up at the picture of George Washington he was amazed, he was completely lost. He knew not who he was. This incident reveals to us that the most striking thing about the story of Rip Van Winkle is not merely that he slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution.

While he was peacefully snoring up in the mountains a revolution was taking place in the world, that would alter the face of human history. Yet Rip knew nothing about it; he was asleep. One of the great misfortunes of history is that all too many individuals and institutions find themselves in a great period of change and yet fail to achieve the new attitudes and outlooks that the new situation demands.

There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution. And there can be no gainsaying of the fact that a social revolution is taking place in our world today.

We see it in other nations in the demise of colonialism. We see it in our own nation, in the struggle against racial segregation and discrimination, and as we notice this struggle we are aware of the fact that a social revolution is taking place in our midst. Victor Hugo once said that there is nothing more powerful in all the world than an idea whose time has come. The idea whose time has come today is the idea of freedom and human dignity, and so all over the world we see something of freedom explosion, and this reveals to us that we are in the midst of revolutionary times. An older order is passing away and a new order is coming into being.

You can get the details of Charlie Baker’s budget cuts by public record request

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It worked!

To ring in the new year, I requested the details of Charlie Baker’s $118M in cuts to the state budget because his office told me repeatedly that the details of Charlie Baker’s budget cuts are not available for public circulation. And. It. Worked.

Unfortunately, the document they sent me was byte-for-byte identical to the list of cuts I found on Senator Eldridge’s website late last month. That list is incomplete is still incomplete. Non-earmark cuts total $64M. And I still do don’t know the details whatever Charlie Baker slashed from the state in those missing $64M of cuts.

Here’s the same document we already had: Charlie Baker’s 9C secret listing of budget cuts by line item and earmark.

Service from the Office of Administration and Finance was swift. I have to say, I’m impressed. The public records officer wrote back within one business day.

Because I had finally found someone who wasn’t trying to make it hard for me to figure out what was going on, I wrote to her to ask why this document wasn’t already posted publicly with the other information about the FY17 cuts?

(I accidentally got the name of the public access officer’s name. Her last name is Kim, not Tori. Deputy Counsel Kim, I’m very sorry.)

Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2017 at 10:07 PM
Dear Deputy General Counsel Tori,

Happy new year! And thank you very much for your prompt response.

Can you tell me why the document titled “December 6 9C earmark list” is not available on http://www.mass.gov/anf/budget-taxes-and-procurement/state-budget/fy17-budget-info/fy17-budget-savings-information/ or any other publicly accessible page on your website?

Thanks again very much!
Josh

She responded first thing the next morning. Again, I was really impressed and really happy to receive a prompt, direct response from someone in the Governor’s office. While just receiving an email at all was encouraging, her answer was a bit disappointing.

Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 at 9:25 AM
Dear Josh,

The materials posted online at www.mass.gov are those communicated to the Legislature under the law governing 9C action. The earmark list was an additional, separate document that we provided in response to your public records request.

I hope that helps.

Best regards,

-Tori

So, the Governor does the absolute bare minimum required by law when it comes to posting information that effects millions of people across the entire Commonwealth. That’s not the sort of leadership I want from my governor. I’d like the Governor to make it as easy as possible for the people of Massachusetts to know how his cuts to public services will effect them. So I thought I’d help him.

Within minutes of reading Deputy Counsel Kim’s response—hoping that she was still at her computer— I scrambled to ask her to post the list of cuts by earmarks for state services on the Governor’s website:

Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2017 at 9:27 AM
Dear Tori,

Thanks again for the swift response.

The earmark list makes it much easier to see which individual programs will be effected locally by the Governor’s cuts. To show that the Governor and his administration are dedicated to transparency in government, will ANF post the December 6 earmark list with the other FY17 budget savings documents?

Thanks again very much,
Josh

Can you guess what happened next? Silence. Not a yes, not a no. Nothing.

Call the Governor and ask for government transparency

Please call the governor’s office (617) 725-4005 and ask Charlie Baker to post the 9C budget cuts by earmark online. Here’s a script you can use:

Hi, my name is Joshua Reyes and I live in Cambridge, MA. Who, may I ask, am I speaking with? Hi, John! How are you today?

I was wondering whether Charlie Baker supports a transparent state government?

I have read Governor Charlie Baker’s December 9C budget cuts listed by earmark. This list makes it much easier for individuals to understand which specific public services will be effected by his recent budget cuts. To show that the Governor is dedicated to a free, open, and transparent government, will he post the 9C budget cuts by earmark with the other documents on the FY17 Budget Savings webpage for the public to read?

I’d like a response. If the answer is no, I’d like to know why the governor refuses to post a document that will make it easier for people to understand how his decisions will effect them.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Please let me know who you speak with and what they say!

You can help a service Charlie Baker defunded!

You can help the individual services, too! Charlie Baker defunded the Samaritans, Inc., a suicide prevention and support service. The good folks at Samaritans have fielded over 2.5 million calls. Consider giving them some of what Charlie Baker took away!

Grinch Charlie Baker takes away food from hungry children for Christmas

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Imagine being a child at home on Christmas.

"Freedom From Want" - NARA - 513539

What if there wasn’t any food in your house, how would you feel? How would you feel when you found out the governor doesn’t think you’re important enough to feed?

For Christmas this year, Grinch Charlie Baker, in a dazzling display of cold-heartedness, cut a grant of $110,000 from the state budget that funds Food For Free’s Cambridge Weekend Backpack emergency food program for children. The Cambridge Weekend Backpack program provides 500 of the city’s poorest kids food on weekends because, without it, they’d go hungry. (You can donate to help them out!)

Charlie Baker, is this how you lead the state—by taking food from the mouths of hungry children? I want better from my governor. So last Thursday I called his office and spoke with one of his aides to ask when Governor Baker plans to reinstate the funding.

Here’s a script you can use to call, too! It’s easy: just call (617) 725-4005.

Hello, how are you? My name is Joshua Reyes and I live in Cambridge, MA. I read in the Cambridge Chronicle that Governor Baker recently cut state funding for a program called Food for Free. Have you heard about that program?

I just want to remind you that Food for Free provides food to poor children on the weekends who would otherwise go hungry. They serve about 500 kids where I live in Cambridge.

Having food to eat is a basic dignity and these kids should not be expected to provide for themselves. Taking away food from poor kids is an especially horrible Christmas present from the governor. Can you tell me when Governor Baker plans to reinstate funding for Food for Free?

Thank you and have a good day!

Carry the giving spirit of Christmas all year round. Please call Charlie Baker’s office today to tell him to give back the food food he took away from hungry kids. Please let me know how it goes!

Charity Spotlight: Massachusetts Bail Fund

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I recently donated to the Massachusetts Bail Fund. I love them. Here’s why:

Would you like to go to jail without receiving a trial? Nope. Me, neither. But that’s how the justice system works.

When you are suspected of a crime and due in court, you usually have two options: wait for the trial in jail or fork over money as bail. If you don’t show up to court, you lose the money. If you do, you get it back once the case is closed.

When the type of justice you get depends on how much money you have, the wealthy always win out. If you can afford to drop $500, you get to go home, go to work the next day, and continue with your life.

But what if you couldn’t afford bail? We lock you up to wait for your turn in court. Taxpayers pay $125 each night we force you to stay there. You have no control over how long it’ll take for a date in court to open up. You could wait weeks, months, and sometimes years, for a trial. Those bills add up. Meanwhile, you don’t show up to work because you’re behind bars. You lose your job. You can’t pay your bills. Your life is ruined before you even make it to court, just because you couldn’t post as little as $50 for bail.

The Massachusetts Bail Fund fronts the bail for clients who can’t afford it themselves. When a case closes, the fund gets the money back. Last month, they posted bail for 382 people.

And it works: half of the cases were dismissed. That means the judges decided that it wasn’t worth the time to finish these cases. No harm, no foul. Without help from the bail fund, nearly two hundred people would have sat in jail just to wait in line to go back home. In October, they lost only 4 bails. That’s a 99% success rate. Imagine if everything worked 99% of the time. That’s a world I’d like to live in.

Since the money goes back to the bail fund after each case closes, your donation can be re-used to help more people. That’s good for the clients, that’s good for their families, that’s good for the community, that’s good for law enforcement, and that’s good for you, the taxpayers. What a smart investment!

I love this fund because I’m cheap. Instead of shelling out $4,000 a month to lock someone up just to hang out, I’d rather the state spend it on something that I use, like the MBTA. I’m just selfish like that. Charlie Baker, fix the T.

Look up bail funds in your state! Or donate to the Massachusetts Bail Fund.