On Monday the nation watched as Barack Obama stood before us to be
sworn in for a second term. There was much to see, and whether you are
someone who agrees with the President’s politics, largely there was
consensus that what we witnessed on Monday spoke to a country much
different than the country that Martin Luther King Jr, whose name and
legacy we remember on that third Monday in January, lived, struggled and
died in.
The day spoke to possibilities when we act as our better selves.
In Connecticut, with our state still reeling from the December 14th
Sandy Hook tragedy, the legislature is attempting to act with our better
selves in mind and has established a bipartisan super committee that is
to look at the Sandy Hook tragedy and craft a response that is not
generated by any one side of the political aisle. The committee had its
first meeting on Friday. It is clear to me that we must carefully
think through what if anything we do in response to that singular and
shocking occurrence.
It is also clear, for me in shocking relief, that we must think about
our response to what I have called the more banal slow and almost
imperceptible mass murder of young people living in urban environments
in our own state. Cursory statements during discussions of our response
to Sandy Hook are not nearly enough. In a previous update I stated that
the actions we take now are things that some of us were fighting for
and being ignored, put off, or outright rebuked. That was a mistake. To
fail now to address urban guns head-on, too, will prove to be a
mistake.
House Minority Leader Cafero demonstrated with his admonition to
Robert Crooks, a gun lobbyist, just what a different world we inhabit
today. Cafero’s words inspired me to think some about what that means
for both sides which generated a
blog post on the 15th. Later in the week a discussion about just how real this is for those making the decisions brought out
the pen again.
As always it is my intention to keep you informed so I send out this update and participate in several forms of social media:
Facebook,
Twitter and
Tumblr. Please feel free to join me there and pass on the word.
Thursday 1/24 – CT Voices for Children Annual Budget Forum (Cap Old Judiciary Room)
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