Friends,
In this time of poisonous and divisive politics, we’ve got to support the few clear voices for compassion and justice. Please read and forward the compelling email below from Rainbow Coalition founder Mel King and Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner. They explain why we must secure Jill Stein’s full participation in this year’s race for Governor.
There are only four days left for us to ensure that Jill’s campaign gets state matching funds, and gets into all the televised debates. Please respond with a donation right away by going to http://www.jillstein.org/contribute. Then please send this on to your friends who believe it’s time to chart a new course toward a healthy, just, secure Commonwealth. Thanks so much.
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Dear Friend,
As you know, times of great economic stress open the door to ever greater extremes of demagoguery, racism, and prejudice. We see this happening in the Massachusetts gubernatorial election, and do not want to sit in silence and let this threat grow.
In the first gubernatorial debate hosted by channel WBZ last Tuesday night, the four candidates for governor were asked a question about the provision of public services to new residents in need, unjustly labeled “illegal” because of the place of their birth. The case of one such person was described who was living in public housing while “close to 20,000 people were on a waiting list for subsidized housing.”
Candidate Charlie Baker said he would support legislation that cracked down harder on these newcomers. State Treasurer Tim Cahill was even more explicit, endorsing a police crackdown and suggesting that these people were responsible for our high unemployment rate. The Governor simply stated that existing laws are doing a good job of denying services to these new residents. Responding to the suggestion for a greater state police pressure on these people, the Governor sited budgetary pressures that limit new responsibilities for police.
Fortunately there was one voice in the debate that saw the true moral nature of the question and challenged the dehumanizing statements by Baker and Cahill. Jill Stein pointed out “It is really misplaced for us to be going after little guys and encouraging people who are struggling for housing, for jobs, for health care to be fighting with each other. Immigrants did not create this problem. The crash in our economy was created by the abuses on Wall Street and the bailouts of the banks and the off-shoring of our jobs. And that’s where the problem fundamentally needs to be fixed.”
She is absolutely on target. The reason we have 20,000 people waiting for housing is not because there are thousands of “undocumented” human beings in need who are occupying our available housing. The reason is that our Commonwealth has not made the commitment to providing adequate housing for its people.
We need Jill’s voice in this gubernatorial race. Jill Stein is an articulate and dedicated advocate for economic justice, universal health care, public education, government transparency, and for giving people control over their own lives. That is why we are writing to you to ask you to help ensure that Jill stays in this race and is heard.
If she can raise another $40,000 by September 24, she will qualify for state matching funds, and secure her place in the major televised debates that have threatened to exclude her. And that will make this a race that will change politics in Massachusetts forever.
Please consider donating whatever you can afford (up to the $500 contribution limit) today by going to www.jillstein.org/contribute or by sending a check made payable to “Friends of Jill Stein” to Friends of Jill Stein, 1558 Dorchester Avenue, Boston, 02124. We have to ensure that our voices for justice for all residents of the Commonwealth are heard in this debate.
Sincerely,
Chuck Turner and Mel King