Thank you, Jeffrey Sanchez
118 members of the “Lift the Cap on Kids” Coalition including my organization, Poor Peoples United Fund, and I would like to thank my representative Chairman of House Ways and Means, Jeffrey Sanchez, for ensuring passage of benefits to 8700 babies currently excluded from Transitional Assistance to Families with Dependent Children TAFDC, This will provide much needed nutrition to infants without taking food from their siblings. I appreciate my Representative getting rid of this archaic and dangerous rule.
Georgia Mattison
Jamaica Plain Resident
50 years, few lessons learned
It’s hard to imagine that it’s been 50 years, 1968, since we witnessed the violent death of two good men, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy – brave and compassionate patriots, the former (King) being investigated by his own government because of purported Communist ties and “subversive” activities … ironically, because he crusaded for human rights, because he wanted to disrupt our own version of apartheid right here in the “land of the free and home of the brave.”
Those were dark years with the slaughtering of innocent victims in Viet Nam and the death of so many of our own young men in an unjust and disastrous war based on lies, The My Lai massacre should have been enough to alert us to the need to change direction, but it took another 7 years before the United States came to its senses and left that region.
Unfortunately, we did not learn from our mistakes and we find ourselves 50 years later mired in “conflicts” that continue to generate huge revenues for our military-industrial complex, all of which are connected to the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses. What politicians failed to recognize was that the more involved we get in a region to instill our beliefs, the more adamant the resistance, especially when you’re dealing with beliefs that have been cultivated over centuries. That the Russians, the British, the French, etc. failed in efforts to “tame the tiger” meant nothing to our misguided and naïve leadership, especially as it was far more inspired to protect our oil interests than it was to bring about democracy. Those centuries of cultivation and religious beliefs can only harden the resistance and inspire the kind fanaticism we’ve witnessed in ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc. Whether we leave today or tomorrow, nothing the United States has “accomplished” will last. That’s the real lesson we must learn.
What we also witnessed in 1968, however, was the power of resistance to the “establishment.” How the younger generation forced disruption in our old ways of thinking and brought about unprecedented self-examination, recognizing that our government had become corrupt and had to change direction. As misguided as Washington was then, one could easily say that the extent of corruption is far greater with today’s regime, one that is blatant – IN YOUR FACE!
It’s time for the youth of America to stand up and take back our country. Pick up the banner, man the barricades, and rally old and young alike to resist – to bring about the change necessary to put our country back on the right track, the one that leads to true liberty and justice for ALL!
Michel L. Spitzer
Jamaica Plain resident
Where is Jeffrey?
Last night (May 16) a forum was held at the Longfellow House in Roslindale, and all of the candidates for office in Suffolk 5 were invited.
Jeff Sanchez, the House Rep for the district, didn’t just not show up, he declined the invitation in spite of repeated efforts by the organizing committee, Progressives of West Roxbury/Roslindale.
All of the candidates so far this year except Sanchez have shown up at previous forums.
I am the only candidate who has run against him (in 2010) since he was elected to office with 38% of the vote (there were eight candidates in that election in 2002).
He didn’t show up at any of the organized debates between him and me in 2010 either.
Is this any way to treat a democracy? Obviously, he doesn’t want to face a challenge. Nika Elugando, his opponent, did appear, and she received a standing ovation after her talk. Jeff Sanchez needs to show his face at a forum with the other candidates.
Jeffrey Herman
West Roxbury resident