DFNYC reaction to the Trayvon Martin verdict

These past 72 hours have seen an outpouring of public sentiment regarding the verdict in George Zimmerman’s trial for the killing of Trayvon Martin. Experts are lined up in 24 hour cycles to comment on how our vaunted post-racial society has really not gone so well. From our perspective as a local political action group, we have just been subjected to a most egregious public administration failure.

That perspective is contingent upon several details, not the least of which is a jury’s inability to convict a man who - from all the evidence presented and broadly displayed across media outlets, points directly at his guilt. But the larger public administration failure is in allowing the environment to exist wherein the confluence of legislation, thought patterns, and instruments create this tragedy as a logical outcome. The failure in this case was buckling to pressure from the American Legislative Council (ALEC), passing laws directly endangering the public, and in particular a broad band of society.

More firearms in the public’s hands does not make us safer, it makes firearms more likely to negatively affect the public. In turn, when a young man is profiled, judged without trial, and summarily executed by a non-official, undeputized, notoriety seeking individual hoping to ascribe himself power, we feel the loss personally. We feel it to such a degree because we - as a progressive group, - fight so adamantly for creating environments of safety, prosperity, and individual liberty. These are violated by Stand Your Ground laws, Stop-and-Frisk initiatives, precedents set by the Zimmerman trial, eliminating sections of the Voting Rights Act, or when the ATF goes without executive leadership for years on end.

When one entire group of people must question their survivability rate for going to the store at night in their own neighborhood, when that same group sees its Civil Liberties significantly diminished only weeks before, when the African American community is suffering in terms of educational and economic outcomes, incarceration rates, and the State of Florida contributes setting a precedent to allow anyone who is not from their community to eliminate anyone from their community and be released on his own recognizance, we have regressed. We have regressed to a period in our history over which wars were fought, and many lives were lost.

This - ladies and gentlemen of the jury, - I tell you is not the America we had envisioned for the 21^st Century. We, that is, from the Progressive community. But from great tragedy comes great hope, and there exists the possibility that the combined efforts of the FBI and Attorney General Eric Holder will yield a fruitful and instructive hate crimes case. For now we wait with baited breath.

This fight became a cause celebre not only because of one young black man. This fight is everyone’s: no matter the color of your skin, your creed, your place of origin, it is reason to be afraid until such time as Stand Your Ground can be removed.

For us, as a Progressive group, we frequently discuss the term that is our moniker with differing results. What we do agree on is that “progress” as such means we all travel together towards a brighter future. Under the umbrella and careful shepherding of groups such as ALEC, Stand Your Ground, the diminution of the Voting Rights Act, and George Zimmerman’s acquittal all occurred. As a local Progressive political action group, we refuse to sit by and allow this to pass into history without raising our voices. Over the weekend, many of us participated in the protests here in New York. Undoubtedly more actions will be forthcoming. We welcome your thoughts and ideas.

DAB

DFNYC

NYC Council District 41 - Brooklyn

In NYC Council District 41, incumbent Democrat Darlene Mealy is running for re-election and being challenged by several candidates in the Democratic primary to take place on September 10th.

Neighborhoods: Bedford Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, Crown Heights, Wingate, Ocean Hill. 

Candidates: (Big thanks to Decide NYC!)

Listed in alphabetical order by last name:

Kathleen Daniel, Borough President Appointee to the Community Education Council in Bedford Stuyvesant
Al Jackson, Pastor at Highways and Hedges Church
Darlene Mealy, incumbent city Councilmember
Byron Wright, Member, DC1707/AFSCME Community & Social Agencies Employees Union

For a great write-up of this race, including new and old district maps, check out DecidedNYC's 41st Council district page.

To return to our main Hot Races 2013 page, click here.

Annette Mont: DFNYC is Sad to Report the Passing of Beloved Brooklyn Linkup Host

DFNYC is sad to report the passing of our longtime Linkup host and grassroots Brooklyn political organizer Annette Mont.  She lost her battle with cancer at the age of 71 on June 11th.  Our thoughts are with her family; her husband Stuart Mont, her daughter Randi, her son Ira and daughter-in-law Jill, and her two grandchildren.

Annette volunteered for Howard Dean's presidential campaign, and when we first met her, we were impressed at her intelligence, her friendliness, her straightforward nature, and the wonderful community of progressives she was a part of in the Sheepshead Bay / Midwood area of Brooklyn.   Annette and Estelle Glasser were the hosts of Meetups (Linkups) at Annette and Stuart Mont's home, a historic Dutch Farm house in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

Annette had an impressive career helping children. She worked as a teacher, a guidance counselor and a child psychologist.

Annette was also a preserver of New York history. She and her husband lived in the Wyckoff-Bennett homestead, an original Dutch farmhouse in Brooklyn. Here is a short heartwarming video about the house with Stuart and Annette. One of the best lines is a great representation of Annette's personality: "For the record, I don't believe in the ghost."

Video - Annette & Stuart Mont in their historic home

Daily Kos post - by Rosalie Caliendo

Voting Open Until 5pm Today & Photos from DFNYC Bash

 Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families after the tragedy at the Boston marathon.

The Ballot is Here! Voting in DFNYC's endorsements is open now until Tuesday, April 16, 5:00 P.M. (Extended due to tax day.) Click here to read our endorsement rules and fill out your ballot.

Answers are Here! Read candidates' responses to our 2013 Candidate Questionnaire. Candidates, click here to submit your responses. We are posting them as they come in.

Photos from DFNYC's Annual Bash - Click here for photos from DFNYC's Annual Bash w/Gustavo Rivera, Liz Holtzman & Melissa Mark Viverito at Chelsea Manor this past Wednesday, April 10th.  Click here to make a contribution!

Thank you to Won Tamura for graphic design.