By Jennifer Jones Austin
Since the inauguration of Donald Trump to the Presidency, the nation
has been viciously and repeatedly assaulted with deliberate actions
taken by the Executive and legislative branches of the federal
government. From President Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2018
that cuts deeply into education, health, income supports, and housing
and community development, and a tax plan that would benefit the wealthy
while doing little to ensure economic stability for vulnerable
Americans, to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ shift of the Department of
Justice from efforts aimed at advancing fair and equal justice, to the
GOP’s shameful efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in a
manner that would take healthcare away from as many as 34 million
people, and now the President’s decisive statements giving a nod to
white supremacy in America, our American ideals of liberty, opportunity,
democracy, and equality for all are being challenged before our very
eyes.
What is clearly discernible from these and several like actions taken
by the current Administration and the Republican-led Congress is that
there is a lack of moral leadership at the highest levels of our
government to truly make our nation “great” in the way the words of our
forefathers suggest. What is less clear is where we as a people stand
and what we will do.
Representative Joe Kennedy expressed these sentiments early on with
his speech on the House Floor on March 8, 2017, characterizing the
actions of the Trump administration and the Republican controlled
Congress, even before the ugliness that spilled onto the streets of
Charlottesville:
It codifies a world view by this administration that is dead set on dividing America among the lines of the god of your prayers, who you love, where you come from, or your fate and fortune. We see it in their tax plan, in their budget cuts, in immigration policy, and now, in healthcare.
In a world view that scapegoats the struggling and the suffering, that sees fault in illness, that rejects the most basic universal truth of the human existence — that every single one of us, one day, will be brought to our knees by a diagnosis we didn’t expect, a phone call we can’t imagine, and a loss we cannot endure.
So we take care of each other. Because, but for the grace of God
there go I one day. And we hope that we will be shown that mercy too. It
is the ultimate test of the character of this country confronting our chamber today — not the power we give the strong, but the strength in which we embrace the weak.
As a people and as a nation, who are we? Will we choose to be the
“city on the hill” where democracy reigns, and not only do we care for
our neighbor but we demand and work for policies and programs that edify
us all? We must educate ourselves on the issues, donate and volunteer with organizations on the frontlines, and lobby our elected officials for just policies. We must call out racism and discrimination when we experience it or see it, and participate in peaceful rallies and marches
for causes meant to bring about awareness and change for our most
vulnerable neighbors. It is no longer okay to sit on the sidelines, for
if we do we may find ourselves living in a society where the American
ideals of liberty, opportunity, democracy, and equality for all are
nothing but a faded dream.
Jennifer Jones Austin is the CEO and Executive Director at FPWA and is
co-host of a segment about poverty and national policy for the
nationally syndicated radio show, Keepin’ It Real with Rev. Al Sharpton, which airs Thursdays at 2:00 pm ET.
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